Customer Satisfaction Starts from Within

Contributed Article by Renaud Charvet, CEO of cloud calling Ringover

Customer satisfaction starts from within 

~ Keeping customers happy starts with employee experience ~

Anybody working in sales will have been told “the customer is always right”, probably several times, throughout their career. Keep them happy, and everything else will fall into place. But ensuring customer happiness requires a domino effect — starting with employee satisfaction. Here, Renaud Charvet, CEO of cloud calling Ringover explains how having access to the right business technology can enhance the employee experience and generate business value. 

Keeping customers happy has always been important, but with constantly evolving expectations, it’s increasingly becoming a challenge. The premise behind ensuring customer satisfaction hasn’t faltered — a prompt, complete service delivery on the first try. But the reality of how to meet this expectation has changed.

Previously, being served promptly meant a few days of back-and-forth email communication, or a couple of long-winded phone calls to resolve a query. But now, with the rise of chatbots and a culture of instantaneity, people want, and expect, service now. Nowadays, 60 per cent of customers expect a response within ten minutes to regard it as ‘immediate’, according to Hubspot. Keeping customers happy is the cornerstone of any successful business. But to ensure outward satisfaction, it’s important to first look within, at employee experience.

Happy employees, happy customers 

Fulfilled, driven and content employees are the first piece of the pie in ensuring customer satisfaction. In order to have a sincere, pleasant demeanor and deliver a more attentive level of service, employees have to be genuinely happy to do their job. It’s not something that can be faked. And as the face of the business from a customer perspective, the demeanor of front-line staff has a direct impact on customer experience, and ultimately satisfaction.

It’s backed by data too. Combined analysis of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and a survey by company review site Glassdoor revealed that across all industry, customer and employee satisfaction are positively linked. In particular, across retail, food service and healthcare, a one-star improvement in Glassdoor company rating on average resulted in a 3.2-point increase in ACSI score.  

So, for businesses where front-line employees are closely linked with customer experience, the impact of employees’ mood and attitude on customer satisfaction is glaringly clear. After all, customer satisfaction is intrinsically linked to customer loyalty. And loyal customers directly benefit business profitability, with a five per cent increase in customer retention rates increasing profile by between 25 and 95 per cent, according to Bain and Company. So, to keep customers happy, it’s crucial to first look at the employee experience.

Elevating employee experience 

To improve employee experience, it’s first important to define what it looks like. And for the majority of America, the future looks hybrid. According to Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index, 38 per cent of Americans have adopted a hybrid blend of working from home and the office, with 53 per cent considering making the switch from their current practice in the next 12 months.

More and more interactions are happening virtually — whether those are internal collaborative conversations or front-line customer service delivery. As such, technology is now a central part of the employee experience. In fact, the two are virtually synonymous, with some people’s entire work experience taking place through, and relying upon technology and workplace tools.

With this in mind, ensuring employees have a seamless set up and are equipped with the right tools to do their job is crucial. According to research conducted by Qualtrics, just 30 per cent of employees say their experience with company technology exceeds expectations. That leaves 70 per cent whose expectations are either just met or go unmet. And unmet expectations ultimately result in a negative employee experience.

Technology for the future 

The customer service landscape is shaping up to be increasingly digital, and so it’s crucial for businesses to implement technology that’s capable of meeting growing needs. A simple desk phone is no longer sufficient — to meet the needs of the modern-day customer, companies need to be adopting a multichannel customer service platform designed to work with the new employee experience, not against it.

Platforms that can be integrated with modules backed by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) abilities not only provide a more intuitive, seamless user experience, but they also open up new opportunities to automate simple tasks. By alleviating some of the workload from typically high-pressure customer service positions, automating in this way will improve employee experience and provide employees with more time and energy to focus on delivering excellent customer service to those that need it.

While employee incentives like gift cards are a nicety, they certainly aren’t the deciding factor in determining employee satisfaction. Listening to feedback and providing the tools required for employees to do their job is far more valuable for both employers and employees. A well-equipped workforce that can perform is likely to be happier, delivering quality service to a more satisfied customer base.

Excellent Customer Experience as an Expectation: Trends in 2023

Contributed Article by Liza Smyth, SVP of Customer Experience for Formstack

With an economic downturn on the horizon for 2023, customer experience is paramount. A positive customer experience drives customer loyalty, leading to retention and, ultimately, a stronger bottom line. According to McKinsey, improving customer experience is the fastest-growing priority for surveyed customer care leaders.

Let’s look at how we expect customer experience to evolve in 2023 and how it will impact forward-thinking organizations.

Keeping pace with customer expectations in 2023 

In the coming year, companies will continue to focus on customer experience, but must also keep up with heightening customer expectations amid stiffer competition. Because of the last few years of digital-first experiences driven by the pandemic, customers now increasingly expect personalized interactions and a secure, seamless buying experience that intuits their needs, regardless of the channel they choose to make a purchase.

An exceptional customer experience is a key factor in your organization’s competitive edge. In fact, 73% of surveyed customers said that experience was a driving factorin their purchasing decisions. Exceptional customer experiences keep customers coming back, and retaining existing customers is essential during times of economic turmoil when new customers are difficult to come by.

Look at the customer experience holistically 

In 2023, the responsibility of customer experience will be shared across the company — from tip to tail, every segment of an organization will play a role in improving the customer experience. Ensure your departments are communicating with each other to deliver the most unified experience, as 85% of customers expect cohesive interactions across departments, according to Salesforce data.

But how do you know if you’re improving your customers’ experiences? The best way to measure CX is to listen to your customers. Customer satisfaction surveys will clarify what you’re doing right while allowing customers to provide feedback. These results will let you dig deeper into what is working and identify pain points to address. This information can help you recognize any silos to break down between departments, which will ultimately improve interdepartmental communication and the comprehensive customer experience.

Invest in digital transformation 

Digital transformation’s second wave will bring humans into the digital experience. This is crucial, as 82% of surveyed Americans said they want more human interaction in their customer experience. Even as digital transformation becomes more commonplace, the human touch is still integral to customer satisfaction.

The most forward-thinking organizations will invest in digital transformation even with the forecasted economic uncertainty. The shift to digital will determine how to personalize experiences, anticipate customers’ needs, and offer a smooth customer experience from start to finish, overall increasing value for the customer and strengthening customer relationships — a result that 72% of surveyed leaders said they expected from a digital shift. Strong customer relationships are linked to improved retention and increased loyalty, both of which will play a part in where consumers decide to spend their money during 2023.

In the coming year, vendors will commence this next wave of digital transformation by using different channels and forums to communicate with customers. Using multiple channels for communication will lead to better data to analyze to identify key insights. Using this data, you can more effectively fulfill customers’ needs and facilitate seamless, intuitive self-help. This pivot to digital will contribute to improved customer experiences.

As the importance of customer experience continues to trend upward, businesses will increasingly look to differentiate themselves through their offerings. The smartest organizations will look at the customer experience as a whole to better unify experiences, while also investing in digital transformation to personalize experiences and assume customer needs in 2023 and beyond.

How Can CRM Implementation Boost Employee Engagement

Employee engagement involves job satisfaction, growth, and the quality of employee output. While pay raises are undoubtedly essential, these three elements directly impact your business’s success. Luckily, they are easy to achieve if you have the right tools to support you. Here are some of the ways CRM implementation can develop and sustain employee engagement. 

What is CRM?

CRM, or customer relationship management, is a software system designed to manage interactions between a business and its customers. It helps organizations track customers’ data in one place and organize them to utilize later. CRM enables you to improve efficiency and time management and impress customers. 

6 Ways CRM Implementation Helps in Employee Engagement

Reduces Workload

CRM solutions are primarily concerned with client data. Thus, software that can manage this data well would enable staff to reduce workload and avoid menial duties, freeing up their time for essential work, such as improving your digital marketing strategies (i.e., earned media) to generate leads. 

TechTarget’s insights on the most recent CRM automation highlight a humanized method of engagement by ensuring that bots give customers information that is specifically relevant to them and pairing them with real people for more complicated queries. It keeps consumer interactions from becoming overly virtual and guarantees that employees are only involved when necessary. Employees will be more productive in related work tasks by having faster access to the information they require for specific clients, thanks to the consolidation of customer data utilizing CRM solutions.

Provides Honest and Regular Employee Feedback

CRM is essential for many internal business activities, including motivating staff and getting feedback. Team leaders and company executives must encourage workers to discuss their workplace experiences and regularly offer candid feedback. Why? Because you can only hope to enhance your internal procedures, make your employees’ lives easier, and make their days more productive with proper and timely feedback.

Your CRM may be the ideal tool for achieving these objectives. A decent CRM platform might include vital feedback functions and forms you can customize because of its reporting capabilities. If you want to encourage your staff further to give direct feedback to management, make these end-of-shift feedback forms or mental health check-ins anonymous.

Increases Employee Confidence

Nowadays, additional features may connect most CRM products to offer more capabilities across a company. In this approach, technology aids internal business activities among staff and handling customer data and interactions. Inspiring teams to collaborate more effectively through CRM-based solutions can increase self-assurance and a sense of community. Over time, this benefits staff productivity because they can work together and manage crucial data on a wide-ranging platform.

Enhances Corporate Wellness and Employee Needs

It’s critical to remember that your wellness initiatives must adapt to meet the changing needs of the modern workforce. The pandemic has significantly accelerated this process, pushing the employees’ demands to shift quickly. It means you must research your workplace, culture, satisfaction, and the elements influencing employee engagement and output in your company.

Suppose you are still managing a remote or semi-remote company. In that case, you may discover that your staff members are hampered by communication breakdowns, organizational silos, and tedious, repetitive duties that sap their energy and productivity. Here is where a solid CRM can come to the rescue.

Ensures Accountability, Trust, and Collaboration

In the new typical, modern enterprises are facing some very particular difficulties. As more businesses adopt hybrid or remote work models, it can be challenging to ensure accountability, trust, and productive cooperation.

Fortunately, good reporting, project and customer monitoring, data storage and conversation logs, and other CRM software features can help reduce some of these problems. Your CRM system stores everything you input, and your staff may instantly access critical information.

A CRM may assist you in maintaining accountability by keeping everything recorded and all data safely held on the platform, which is crucial to workplace culture and general pleasure. It means that by having access to a clear communication track record, everyone—including higher management—will always have a way to settle workplace misunderstandings or disputes.

CRM enables individual team members to remain on top of all projects and activities, monitor customer-specific tasks and objectives, and more, which can help teams collaborate better and hold each other accountable. Stress is decreased by working together in this way, but more crucially, it helps distant teams break through departmental silos.

Boosts Organizational Communication

The idea of cooperation and departmental silos is strongly related to how CRM facilitates better internal and external team communication. Internal communication software, such as that found in CRM applications, typically enables teams to communicate in real-time and directly discuss tasks and projects by attaching notes and messages.

A CRM solution can remove communication bottlenecks and keep all projects and activities going ahead when used in conjunction with a good communication hierarchy in which everyone knows how to use the appropriate communication lanes. On the other hand, CRM enables you to continue having effective and efficient external communication with your clients.

Conclusion

While CRM software is typically used by businesses to increase client acquisition and retention, it’s crucial to recognize the advantages it may provide to your staff as well. When appropriately implemented, high quality use of CRM can improve various factors, including your internal communication and teamwork, as well as your company’s culture.

In 2022 and beyond, make sure to expand the use of CRM beyond sales and marketing and take advantage of the technology to create motivated and engaged employees.

Contributed Article by Katie Pierce

CX and Contact Center Priorities and Technology Investments for 2023

Each year, DMG Consulting surveys our international customer base of enterprise, contact center, and IT leaders and asks them to share their customer experience (CX) and contact center goals, as well as related technology investment priorities for the upcoming year. Figure 1 shows the top 10 contact center priorities for 2023.

^{Source: DMG Consulting LLC, January 2023}

Improving the CX remains the top priority for companies of all sizes and was cited by 81.1% of survey participants, an increase from 76.4% of respondents who selected this item in the 2022 study. The remaining items in the chart reflect the various ways companies plan to enhance their CX. 55.7% of survey participants intend to improve their self-service systems. Since self-service has become consumers’ preferred method of assistance, it is great to see this priority near the top of the list. Reducing operating costs and improving productivity came in 3rd and 4th place, identified by 49.1% and 48.1% of survey respondents respectively. These two goals are typically near the top of contact center priorities, as companies need to keep their costs down. The emphasis on cost reduction and productivity improvement takes on even greater emphasis in tough economic times. This doesn’t mean that companies won’t invest in new systems and operational initiatives; it does mean that investments need to have a strong supporting business case and a rapid payback.

Improving employee engagement came in 5th place, chosen by 37.7% of survey participants. Enterprise executives increasingly appreciate the contributions of their employees in delivering a great CX. Updating contact center systems and technology came in 6th place, prioritized by 35.9% of respondents. This is a similar result to the 2022 edition of this study, which was 35.8%. Good systems and applications are needed to deliver a great CX at scale. In a related category, improving agent automation came in 7th place, identified by 30.2% of participants. Due to innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, solutions that provide real-time guidance and reduce the time agents spend writing after-call summaries can help decrease average handle time while improving the experience for customers and agents.

Undergoing a digital transformation came in 8th place, cited by 28.3% of survey respondents. This category was ranked much higher in the 2022 edition of the study, when 39.8% of survey participants selected it. Digital transformation remains a critical initiative for companies, but once it has started, many enterprises prioritize new initiatives while they work on the old ones. DMG expects to see organizations continue implementing various phases of their digital transformation for at least the next 5 years, as there is a lot of work still to be done.

Migrating systems to the cloud was the 9th place CX and contact center goal for 2023, identified by 19.8% of survey respondents, which was up from 15.5% in 2022. There is no longer a debate regarding whether to transition systems and applications to the cloud; the discussion now is when to make the move. The holdouts, which include the largest contact centers, have started the process. In some situations, this is because their premise-based vendors are actively encouraging them to migrate; in others, it is because companies are accepting that the future of CX and contact center technology involves cloud-based solutions, which is where most of the market innovation is happening.

The goal rounding out the top 10 for 2023 is adding new customer support channels. 18.9% of survey respondents identified this as a priority, compared to 26.8% in 2022. This is an area companies will continually need to address as long as there are new channels.

Final Thoughts

Companies are looking to the future by emphasizing and investing in improving their CX. It may take more time and effort to get a project approved in 2023 than it did in the first half of 2022, but initiatives with quantifiable benefits that also enhance the CX and employee engagement are expected to be top investment priorities this year. 

Essential Features for a Bot that Delivers Impressive Customer Experience (CX)

A bot can be a valuable addition to your customer experience (CX) strategy, but only if it has the necessary features and capabilities. Here are some key things to consider when evaluating whether your bot has what it takes for impressive CX:    

1. Personalization: Customers want to feel like they are receiving personalized attention, even when interacting with a bot. Your bot should be able to use data about the customer’s past interactions and preferences to provide tailored recommendations and responses.
2. Natural Language Processing: A bot that can only respond to specific keywords or phrases will frustrate customers who want to ask questions in their own words. A bot with strong natural language processing (NLP) capabilities can understand and respond to a wide variety of customer queries, increasing satisfaction and reducing frustration.
3. Contextual Awareness: A bot that can remember past interactions and understand the context of a customer’s current question or concern is better equipped to provide helpful responses. For example, if a customer has already provided their name and order number, a bot with contextual awareness can use that information to provide more personalized and relevant support.
4. Omnichannel Support: Customers expect to be able to interact with a brand through a variety of channels, including social media, email, and chat. Your bot should be able to seamlessly integrate with all of these channels to provide a consistent and unified experience.
5. Continuous Improvement: A bot that can learn from past interactions and continuously improve its responses is essential for long-term success. Your bot should be able to analyze customer feedback and adjust its responses accordingly, as well as use machine learning to identify patterns and improve over time. 

By ensuring that your bot has these features and capabilities, you can create an impressive CX that meets customer needs and exceeds their expectations.  Learn how to Build Smart Bots withEnlighten XO on April 25th

Top Customer Service Trends to Follow in 2023

Contributed Article by: Wanda Lafond 

There are a lot of changes happening in customer service, which often make you feel one step behind. To stay ahead of the curve, you should stay up to date on the latest customer service trends. This way, you will be able to resolve customer issues faster and avoid long wait times. So, what are the top customer service trends to watch out for in 2023? 

If you are working in the customer service industry, then you know that it is essential to keep up with the latest trends to keep your customers happy. By understanding the latest updates and integrating them into your business processes, you will be able to provide better service to your clients and keep them coming back. Let’s look at some of the top customer service trends that are going to be in play by 2023.

What Is the Future of Customer Service? 

Customer service has been around for a long time, and it is going to continue to be a vital part of the business world in the years to come. Let’s look at the key trends that will shape the future of this area:

1. Increasing Customer Satisfaction 

Customer satisfaction is important. It can have a big impact on company morale. To increase customer satisfaction, you need to focus on four key areas:  

• Communication. Make sure that your team is well-versed in all the different channels they use to communicate with customers. It includes email, social media, phone calls, and live chat. Make sure that these channels are used effectively and filled with high-quality content so that your customers always have a positive experience when dealing with you. To ensure that your written material is of the highest quality, you can consult the Best Essays Education professionals;
• Service delivery. If something goes wrong with your customer’s order or experience, make sure that you take care of them as quickly as possible. You should also offer discounts or other incentives in cases where service is delivered quickly and without any problems;
• Product quality. It means ensuring that your products meet or exceed expectations in terms of quality, performance, and aesthetics. You should also inspect your products regularly for any potential defects so that you can address them immediately;
• Satisfactoriness. If your customers are happy with what they have bought from you, then they are likely to come back again and again.  

2. Investing in Technology and Analytics to Help Manage Customer Interactions 

Technology can help you automate your processes, track and analyze customer interactions, and optimize your customer experience. Analytics can help you identify patterns and trends in your data so that you can make better decisions about how to serve your customers.

3. Focusing on the Emotional Well-Being of Customers 

Customers today are often hypersensitive to even the slightest hint of unhappiness or dissatisfaction. If you are not catering to their emotional needs, then you are losing a significant part of your potential customer base. Make sure your customer service policies and procedures reflect this by emphasizing emotional support and feedback.

4. Offering Customer Loyalty Rewards Programs 

Today, many customers are more likely to switch back and forth between different brands or providers, depending on the deal that’s available at the time. Make sure you offer customer loyalty rewards programs that keep them coming back to your business.

5. Responding Quickly to Complaints and Issues

Customers today are very quick to complain and issue complaints. Make sure your team is trained to handle customer complaints quickly and efficiently so that you can resolve any issues as soon as possible.

6. Increased Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies 

AI has many advantages when it comes to providing customer service, such as being able to process large amounts of data quickly and accurately. Use AI technology to improve your overall customer experience by automatically detecting issues and suggesting solutions.

7. Supporting Customers Through Digital Channels 

Customers today have a wide range of channels through which they can interact with businesses. They are expecting these channels to be supportive and helpful.

Make sure your team is trained to use all available digital channels to communicate with your clients. Try to respond quickly to any inquiries or complaints they may have.

8. Prioritizing Mobile Customer Service 

More than half of all consumer interactions today take place through digital channels, including mobile devices. Therefore, your team must be ready to provide quality mobile customer service whenever and wherever customers need it most.

9. Implementing Bots to Improve Customer Interactions

Bots are computer programs that interact with people online. They can be used to improve customer interactions by automating simple tasks, such as responding to customer emails or issuing refunds. By using bots in your customer service strategy, you can save time and hassle for both you and your customers.

10. Building Trust with Sincere Data Privacy 

In today’s world, customers are increasingly wary of data privacy. Make sure you take measures to build trust with your customer base by being transparent about how and why you collect data. Doing so will help reassure customers that their information is safe and secure while also helping you improve your overall customer experience.

11. More Virtual Assistants and Video Content

As customer service becomes increasingly digital and automated, customers are looking for more virtual assistants and video content to help them with their interactions. Make sure you invest in technology that can provide this type of support so you can keep your customers happy and loyal.

12. Focus on Voice Biometrics 

Voice biometrics is a technology that uses voice recognition to identify individuals. It has the potential to improve customer experiences by automating tasks such as issuing refunds or responding to customer questions. By using voice biometrics, you can ensure that your customers are always greeted with a genuine and friendly tone.

13. Self-Service and Live Agent Deflection 

To keep customers happy and engaged, it is important to provide them with a self-service option and live agent deflection. Self-service allows customers to interact with your customer service team without the need for human interaction.

It can be especially helpful in cases where automated processes fail or when customers have complex questions. Live agent deflection enables you to redirect customer queries away from living agents and towards self-serve options, which will speed up the process and prevent delays.

Self-service also includes the ability to find the necessary information on your company’s website. It must be clear and concise. Visit writing services such as Trust My Paper for assistance in making your guides look professional.

Conclusion 

By now, you must have understood that customer service is going to be one of the most important things in your business operations. To stay ahead of the competition in your business niche, it is best if you keep track of emerging trends and where customer service stands today.

In 2023, expect a lot more personalized approaches toward improving customer satisfaction levels. Embrace these new trends and turn them into opportunities for growth!

3 Reasons to Update Your Customer Service Infrastructure

Contributed article by Nicole Kelly

When a customer comes to you for help or support, responding quickly can make the difference between having a healthy business or a bust one.   

^{Photo by Petr Macháček on Unsplash} 

Whether it’s something as simple as advising your customer to turn their device OFF and ON again, or working through a complex problem that demands the expertise of an engineer, it’s all about being there for your customers when you’re needed. 

As a growing company, regulating the seemingly incessant stream of inquiries, questions, and calls can be a daunting task. 

To keep the customer satisfaction rating high and earn your customers’ trust, it is necessary to invest in the customer service infrastructure of your business without simply throwing money at the problem. 

In this article, we’re going to talk about ways in which you can invest money in creating a better customer experience for your target audience. 

Reducing the effort your real-life agents have to put in and making good use of AI are the basic grounds for building solutions to achieve this. 

Read on to learn more. 

Why Customer Support Infrastructure Matters? 

No matter how well-put-together your business is and how simple and foolproof your products or services are, some of your customers will likely experience some sort of problem with it.

Or, it may not even be a problem. 

They may simply not be sure how to use the product, how to assemble it, where does this bolt go, and is this thing supposed to light up after I hit the switch? 

The quality of your customer support infrastructure is crucial to the amount of money your business makes and how your customers perceive you. 

For example, a well-organized customer support network will automate the majority of requests and calls, thus reducing the amount of pressure on your agents. 

This is why most companies with online customer support sections on their websites will have you first search for Q&A solutions and only put your message through to an actual representative as a last resort. 

A strong customer support network alleviates the pressure of constantly dealing with customers’ follow-ups and queries on the one hand, and it attracts even more customers on the other. 

Here are a few of the most important takeaways you can extract from improving your customer support structure: 

Getting to Know Your Customers 

One of the most immediate consequences of having your customers send in their queries or voice messages is that you get to know what they want and, thus, their needs. 

Knowing your customers is the prerequisite for running a successful business. The more you’re in tune with what your buyers want and need, the more you can hone your production skills and techniques to keep the existing customers and attract new ones. 

It is precisely for this reason that companies spend millions upon millions of dollars to learn more about their customer demographics and buying habits. 

Anyway, as far as customer support is concerned, having all the crucial pieces of data at your disposal as a customer support representative is the all-important first step. 

For the most part, customers that ring in assume you already know their customer ID, the product they’ve bought, and their call history. (In case they’ve contacted the service before.) 

Adding data storage facilities and easy-access software to your customer support department is of great importance, as it allows your representatives to deal with the complaint or question in a professional, to-the-point, and time-efficient way. 

Resolving Problems Consistently 

If you can fix the problems of your customers consistently, they will see your brand as trustworthy and having an ironclad word. 

This is of massive importance for several reasons. 

First of all, the existing customers who email or call customer support will likely buy your products again. 

Secondarily, having had decent experiences with your customer support, they will also likely recommend your brand to their friends and family. Gradually, this develops the trust necessary to build a strong brand for which your customers will gladly give money. 

Improving Your Data & Company Assets 

Whatever your product or service, improving your customer service structure will set up a platform where you can gather information about the customer experience relatively quickly and with no additional costs other than running the customer service department as it is. 

^{Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash} 

Of course, not all the feedback you get will be particularly valuable. 

That said, every once in a while, you’ll be able to harvest a couple of golden nuggets of knowledge and insight that will help you improve your product or service. 

For example, let’s say a certain number of customers report that the app you made is slow when they try to access a certain menu. You can instruct your team of programmers to tackle this issue and enhance the responsiveness of this particular part of the app. 

Also, if your customers think your product is lacking in features and is getting outdated, this feedback can prompt you to acquire more assets that will help you address this. 

3 Reasons to Update Your Customer Service Infrastructure

The great thing about the modern-day phenomenon of machine learning and AI doing menial jobs for us is that you can significantly improve your company’s standing by updating your customer service department. 

Rather than hiring more operators, what you can do is infuse as much AI as humanly possible into the troubleshooting process so that your agents don’t have as much work. 

Well-made and well-programmed chatbots and other robotic counterparts to the customer service experience can be all it takes to get your business to the next level. Also, employing the help of some answering service companies will help you eliminate the need to do all the hiring work yourself when it comes to finding talented operators. 

Here are the three most important updates you can make to your customer service infrastructure: 

1) Enhance the Agent Experience 

If a customer is patient or desperate enough to reach one of your customer service agents, you want to make sure you give them the optimal experience. 

Setting up a good call center requires a two-pronged approach. 

On the one hand, what you need is a team of agents that will all work like a charm together. This matters because sharing information and quick and easy communication are crucial for getting stuff done. 

On the other hand, your agents need to act professionally and exude patience at all times, even with difficult clients. Leading a distressed client through a difficult situation via phone is not that easy, and not everyone can do it. 

Thus, hiring a team of customer support representatives that can do this for you can massively improve your company image and brand trustworthiness. This goes for both your existing and potential customers.

^{Photo by Arlington Research on Unsplash} 

2) Make Speed a Priority 

It doesn’t much matter if the customer service representative is the most articulate person operating at an international expert level of troubleshooting if they are not there when you need them. 

Many businesses claim to have a 24/7 customer service hotline, but if you call them, they will put you on hold or tell you that their services are not available in your time zone, etc. 

There are a couple of ways in which you can enhance the response speed of your customer service department. Thanks to modern technology, these solutions don’t simply mean hiring more people willing to work extra-long hours.

One of the easiest ways would be to incorporate a chatbot. These virtual assistants can provide a whole lot of solutions to your customers without having to dedicate an agent for it. 

Alternatively, you can also invest in advanced routing technology. This way, pairing up a queued-up customer with the nearest available agent will be a matter of course.

3) Invest & Upgrade Your Self-Service Assets 

Last but not least, once you’ve tweaked and polished all of your existing customer service assets and talent pool, it’s time to reach for AI to get to the next level.

In the not-so-distant past, chatbots were the new hot thing. Nowadays, chatbots are the bare minimum for a customer service department. 

In their stead, there are now virtual assistants that can help your customers pretty much troubleshoot their own issues without the need for an agent. What’s more, in case the problem at hand is too complex for a virtual assistant + the customer himself to resolve, this duo can at least provide excellent feedback for the agent. 

This way, the agent will have much more info to work with, which means less research time and prompt and efficient solutions. 

Conclusion 

All in all, updating your customer service infrastructure has become much more than hiring more workers and placing a headset with a microphone on their heads. 

With the introduction of chatbots, virtual assistants, and smart algorithms that enable quick and easy self-service troubleshooting for most problems, setting up an awesome customer service infrastructure has never been easier and more rewarding for your business. 

It’s Time to Re-Frame Our Thinking Around Conversational AI

Contributed article by Stuart Dorman, Chief Innovation Officer, Sabio Group

It’s seven years since Amazon launched its Echo smart speaker, introducing us all to Alexa and taking the virtual assistant mainstream.

Since then, Amazon and Google have shipped over a hundred million speakers, and it’s estimated that there are now over 100,000 ‘skills’ available for Amazon’s Echo alone.

They represented the first idea of a computer whose entire interface was based on voice. Up until this point, our primary interactions with computers were controlled by keyboards, mice and eventually touch – with everything fed back to us through graphical user interfaces (GUIs).

They are clever pieces of technology – but the most basic form of computer; a voice browser with microphone and speakers with all intelligence behind it based on the cloud. Although basic, it was an ingenious way to capture data to train the machine learning algorithms to improve the performance of the speech recognition.

On launch, the ambitions of both Amazon and Google’s devices were absolutely huge. Initial visions were of Star Trek-style ‘all seeing, all knowing’ computers. Our very own Personal Assistant’s helping to organise our lives, controlling our homes and giving us access to whatever we wanted.

But in reality, they failed to reach their full potential – instead being used today to predominantly play music, check the weather, or turn on the odd compatible lightbulb…

So, what’s stopping us from using them to engage more widely? And does our experience of home devices impact how brands address the conversational AI opportunity?
The challenge Amazon and Google had was that they underestimated and understated the complex relationships and domain expertise that was required when interacting with brands; brands that were concerned in the likes of utilities, insurance, travel or any other services that the average person/household needs.

It was just too complicated – it’s a bit like calling my bank to book a holiday. The poor person on the other end of the phone wouldn’t have the knowledge or tools to fulfil my request. The idea that a universal voice assistant could run our homes and our lives was just too ambitious…

Instead of complexity, we want our brand engagement to be quick, easy to understand and simple to conduct. If we’re dealing with an insurance firm, for example, we expect any conversational AI solution to understand what it is that we’re trying to achieve and offer a self-service option when it’s the right thing to do.

Any solution should be able to capture why I’m calling, work out whether my request can be addressed through automation, or connect me with an advisor when the task needs a human touch. We engage with a bank on financial matters, or when we have issues with our power or water we turn to a utility. At no point would we expect an insurance company or a telco company to help us sort out our holidays… 

Technology is no longer a barrier for conversational AI  

The good news is that technology no longer needs to be a barrier when it comes to deploying conversational AI. Speech recognition keeps getting stronger and stronger, indeed we’re now at the stage where we can synthesise speech to sound almost indistinguishable from human. And with AI processing power now doubling every ten weeks, the computing power that’s assigned to training neural nets and AI engines is becoming more and more accessible. 

This is driving both performance increases and cost reductions, enabling organisations to broaden out their speech AI capabilities and making it possible for CX teams to capture conversations from voice, video and text – wherever they take place in the customer journey. Capturing all these conversations digitally allows brands to unlock new insights and extract value from the data, particularly in the customer service world where conversational AIs can now be trained to become real experts in their specific fields or sectors. 

Building conversational AI with deep, sector-specific context  

Instead of attempting to be a universal assistant, the goal for conversational AI solutions across customer journeys is for them to become real experts in their own field. Effective use of intent capture and analysis techniques will give your AI precise insight into just why your customers are getting in touch. Speech AI solutions can then be trained in detail, with further content and expertise added as new customer issues and topics are raised. 

This will see conversational AI move beyond the first wave of AI-powered voice and chatbot solutions. These tended to replace somewhat clunky IVR systems, and have generally been highly successful with many succeeding in automating between
30-40% of interactions. However, these solutions have often been standalone leading to silo-ed customer data that has been hard to integrate with other parts of the customer journey. 

Moving towards a second wave of conversational AI  

We expect the second wave of speech AI to be much more far-reaching, embedding natural language understanding and AI and automation capabilities across a broader range of applications. Conversational AI and voice recognition will increasingly be used to support CRM and mobile apps, as well as for contact centre advisor support where the AI can listen to conversations, advise on compliance, recommend relevant knowledge articles and give advisors help where it’s needed.

This kind of real-time guidance, backed up by powerful analytics tools and capabilities such as sentiment analysis will help conversational AI deliver consistent, high-quality experiences across extended customer journeys.

To learn more about conversational AI and how you can transform your customer journeys with Automation and AI, download our AI & Automation ebook.

About Sabio Group 

Sabio Group is a global digital customer experience (CX) transformation specialist with major operations in the UK (England and Scotland), Spain, France, Netherlands, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and India. 

The Group, which includes ‘makepositive’, delivers solutions and services that seamlessly combine digital and human interactions to support outstanding customer experiences. 

Through its own technology, and that of world-class technology leaders such as Amazon Connect, Avaya, Genesys, Google Cloud, Salesforce, Twilio and Verint, Sabio helps organisations optimise their customer journeys by making better decisions across their multiple contact channels.  

The Group works with major brands worldwide, including Aegon, AXA Assistance, BBVA, BGL, Caixabank, DHL, loveholidays, Marks & Spencer, Rentokil, Essent, GovTech, HomeServe, Saga, Sainsbury’s Argos, Telefónica and Transcom Worldwide.  

Happy Employees, Happy Customers

Contributed article by Renaud Charvet, CEO of Ringover

~ The secret to unlocking both employee and customer satisfaction ~

United States businessman Harry Gordon Selfridge was one of the first influential people to triumph the phrase “the customer is always right”. A saying that’s traced back to the late 1800s and still valued today, keeping customers happy is key. But ensuring customer happiness requires a domino effect — starting with employee satisfaction. Here, Renaud Charvet, CEO of business telephony provider Ringover, explains how the right business technology can enhance employee satisfaction and improve customer experience. 

Good customer experience starts with good employee experience. When employees aren’t happy at work, their interactions with customers suffer as a result, which can have detrimental repercussions for a business and its reputation.

The impact of employees on customers

Delivering good customer service has never been more crucial. A PwC survey examining customer experience found that in the United States, even when people love a company or product, over half will walk away after several bad experiences, and 65 per cent believing a positive experience is more influential than great advertising.

While companies must acknowledge the importance of delivering good service, they should also understand the pressure this can place on their teams. The Microsoft 2022 Work Trend Index, a study of more than 30,000 employees across 31 countries, predicts that over 40 per cent of the workforce is contemplating leaving their current jobs in the coming year. The main reason why? They feel their workload is unreasonable.

Call centers  

Contact and call centers often have a reputation for being high-stress workplaces. Widely associated with workers being monitored electronically, having tightly controlled schedules and taking an average of 50 calls a day, call centers can be challenging work environments if employees don’t receive sufficient support.

In 2021, almost 300,000 agents were employed, with most centers located in Texas, Florida and California. According to data from Cornell University, almost 90 per cent of employees in call centers report high-stress levels. A further 50 per cent of the agents surveyed said they felt emotionally drained, suffered sleep problems and experienced burnout. Combined, these issues can be a dangerous cocktail for employee dissatisfaction.

What’s more, research from Avaya found that 60 per cent of agents think their companies don’t always provide the technology they need to address customer service challenges, with 34 per cent admitting they don’t have the right data in front of them when speaking with a customer. So how can call center managers help?

Tech is here to help

Giving call center agents the tools to make their jobs easier will undoubtedly lead to less stress, greater employee satisfaction and a better experience all round. This should start with a good customer relationship management (CRM) strategy — which is the blueprint for how a business will maintain the relationship between its customers and its customer service teams. It encompasses all the activities, strategies and technologies a business needs manage interactions with existing and prospective customers.

With a third of agents without the right data in front of them when speaking to a customer, having the right CRM for your business is key to turning this around. Consolidating data into one central location, meaning tasks can be completed more efficiently and with confidence when addressing the customer, will assist employees in meeting deadlines and managing their workload — reducing stress and granting better job satisfaction.

However, to unlock the full potential of a CRM system, it must easily integrate with other vital business applications. Ringover can integrate with multiple CRM systems to offer businesses more than just a telephony system, meaning any area of a business can unite its communications technology with its CRM software. In doing so, companies can match the tools they need to communicate with their customers, with the tools that help them build relationships and work more effectively.  

With customers prepared to leave a brand after just a few bad experiences, businesses must pay attention to the impact low employee satisfaction can have on the customer experience. Businesses must invest in their employees by providing them with all the tools possible to make their jobs as efficient as possible and improve satisfaction.

About Ringover: A leader in cloud communications, Ringover seamlessly combines unlimited calling, group messaging and video conferencing into one easy-to-use app. No expertise is needed to set up and integrates with your CRM or helpdesk tools. Within a few clicks, you’ve gained access to all the data you need to enhance your call centre or sales team’s performance and boost customer engagement.

How Customer Experience & Marketing Goes Side By Side?

Contributed article by Harmanpreet Kaur, Outreach Specialist at Knowmax  

Businesses and organizations—public and private—across all industries and regions are focusing intensely on customer experience (CX). Why would taking the voice of the customer seriously have such a significant impact?  

The answer is simple: competition. Almost every market is overflowing with products fighting for a piece of the action. A satisfying customer experience that considers the emotional aspect of a customer’s interaction with a business can greatly differentiate your offerings from those of your competitors.

You must consider a number of factors when creating a holistic customer experience for your brand, including mapping customer journeys, choosing the appropriate CX KPIs, and even employee experience. We have set up a guide to support you in creating the finest CX possible. Here’s what you need to keep in mind:

What is customer experience?

Every interaction a customer has with a business, at any point in the customer journey, is referred to as the “customer experience,” which is concerned with the relationship between a company and its customers. A consumer’s perception of their interactions with a business is called their customer experience. 

Customer experience is about being there for the customer whenever and wherever they need you, while also making it easy and consistent for them. Additionally, it means making each engagement with the business memorable and significant. It is relational, not transactional. 

It examines the customer’s lifecycle and maps each and every interaction the client has with you. It draws attention to the areas where you’re providing a great experience and creating advocacy. And when you give customers a horrible experience, customers will turn to competitors.

Why is the customer experience such a crucial factor?

Providing excellent customer service is crucial for any organization. The more satisfied consumers you have, the more repeat business you’ll get, the more wonderful reviews you’ll get, and the less friction there will be with returns and complaints. 

Providing excellent CX has several advantages, including 

• better customer loyalty.
• enhanced customer satisfaction.
• improved word-of-mouth advertising.
• positive feedback and suggestions. 

The customer experience can be improved for all business models, including subscription firms that may boost retention and decrease loss, e-commerce platforms that can increase recurring business and decrease returns, and service sectors that can gain recommendations and reduce complaints.

Why marketing and customer service should work together

Customers see your entire business as providing excellent customer service, not just one section.

When treated well, satisfied consumers are your brand’s biggest protectors. They promote your brand positively and offer online reviews, which describe your brand experience.

You need these groups to collaborate, and here are some reasons why. 

• Send a brief message. You can get direct client feedback from your customer service team. Understanding consumers’ purchasing motivations, primary advantages, and challenges they experience can help marketers significantly.
• Over time, the loyalty of your current customers should be raised. Every business relies on customer loyalty; otherwise, it would have to add more consumers in order to stay neutral.  

But how can they accomplish that? Here, we’ll discuss practical marketing tactics for providing a superior client experience.

1. Improve the onboarding process 

To guide the customer onboarding process and send the right messages at the right times, use contextual targeting approaches.

But lack of efficient approaches, ineffective onboarding processes, etc., have become the most common friction points in the customer onboarding journey.

Reducing these friction points is your main objective. Anything that falls short of prior expectations or leads to buyers regret qualifies. Friction causes you to lose the hard-earned lifetime value of your customers. 

Your onboarding materials, or even landing pages, should include FAQs about relevant customer service requirements. Alternatively, you may write a guide to help users use your product. A welcome video can encourage customers to be enthusiastic about utilizing your service or product.

Also, to streamline the onboarding process, a centralized knowledge base can be created by an organization for a better experience.

2. Communicate in a clear, consistent manner 

One of the most critical areas to support your support staff  is content marketing. Along the client journey, you might notice that a lot of queries center around product features. These inquiries should be addressed by marketing long before they develop into leads.

Create your marketing initiatives with clear, consistent messaging in mind. Customers should understand what you expect them to gain from your product. If you’re having a promotion, be sure to explain the terms of the offer. By filling in these gaps now, you can avoid eventual customer service issues and unhappiness.

Regardless of how customers choose to contact you, provide a consistent brand experience by using an omnichannel platform. At least once a year, review your outbound email templates and related documentation.

3. Make a positive learning environment 

Create a learning center as your first step in improving your customer experience. For each issue, evaluate the volume of queries and the effect on the customer experience. Meet once a month to choose new subjects to include in the knowledge base.

Customers, in most cases, first go to a customer self-service portal. Give your marketing team access to the recordings of your sales or support calls to get the most out of this CX strategy. Access to support tickets and account research in your CRM is also included.

Use the precise language that your target audience uses for this method to succeed. It helps content producers create content that appeals to their audience.

4. Boost client loyalty with social media 

One of the first places that clients go for assistance now is social media. According to a Facebook survey, 64% of people prefer messaging a company over other options.

Customers want top-notch customer service. All parties will be informed thanks to a unified customer management platform.

Therefore, it makes sense that you should incorporate social media into your customer service initiatives. Eliminate the silos created by the new marketing channels and offer world-class service to all.

Conclusion

Through such experiences, customers become exposed to a much better higher degree of service through such experiences. As a result, the formulation of expectations is greatly influenced by individual consumer experience. The proper structures, individuals, and technology foundation must come together in a community in order to create an emotional connection with customers.

Author Bio 

Harmanpreet Kaur is an outreach specialist at Knowmax for the past 4 months. Apart from this, she also has a knack for content creation. Apart from this, she also has a knack for content creation. She manages everyday marketing operations, such as outreaching relevant websites, getting content published, and working on various content pieces. She enjoys drawing and reading in her spare time, aside from work.