Category: Customer Experience

I bought someone a digital gift card the other day. That’s generally a bad idea, since there’s so much waste and breakage, but it was the right answer to the problem in the moment.

The code the person would have to type in to redeem the card was: X5LMFP478DRYTHQY

I’m sure that the team who worked on creating a secure platform for the transfer of billions of dollars of transactions was proud of the hard work they did.

Except no one wants to type this in, and it’s incredibly impersonal.

It could have been just as secure if there was a list of 1,000 words and the code was five of the words. All the words could be positive and easy to spell and remember. Typing in “happy love birthday celebrate friend walrus” is going to be more memorable, fun and engaging, and the computer is smart enough to ignore the spaces.

The day before, the tech support folks at a different big company wanted me to read off the serial number on the bottom of a device. I’m sure the tech folks were proud of the check digits and other elements that were embedded in the serial number, which was printed in grey type considerably smaller than this blog is written in. It included a 0 and an O as well as a 1 and perhaps an l.

And the serial number for my oven requires lying on the floor to read it.

In all of these cases, the organizations failed because they decided that humanity and technical issues don’t overlap. These minor issues I’m complaining about are nothing compared to the life-changing impacts that technology that avoids the hard problems create.

In medical school, they spend days teaching people to operate on lungs, and no time at all helping young doctors learn how to get their patients to stop smoking and get vaccinated. The technologists forgot about the human issues.

This is most glaring when we go near the edges of a bell curve. Disabled people or folks who are out of the mean in any way are shunted aside by what the busy but blindered tech people think is important. A captcha that doesn’t work, machine learning that doesn’t learn well, systems that don’t serve the people who need them…

Technology that doesn’t solve a problem for the people using it isn’t finished yet.

A friend just got handed an unreasonable rejection. It came on a platter, delivered with very little in the way of kindness and no hints at all about what to do next.
It is not personal.
Not about her.
She did nothing wrong. It might not even be about her idea.
No one wants exactly what you want, sees what you see, believes what you believe. That’s normal.
Oh, that happened. Now what?
Go plan another picnic.

AI-enabled human-centric service design is an opportunity to reimagine the contact center and design for emotional experience. By understanding customer sentiment and behaviors and having the guided assistance to respond proactively, AI can elevate enterprises by transforming customer experiences in genuine ways. In doing so, AI will elevate the contact center to become a value-added functional area rather than a cost center, as it traditionally has been viewed. This design can present an opportunity to rethink customer service and break free from conventional models. Source: https://www.nojitter.com/contact-center-customer-experience/human-centered-ai-enables-empathetic-service-approach
submitted by /u/vesuvitas [link] [comments]

We are excited to announce that marcus evans will host the annual O2C conference between the 8th and 10th of November! The event will integrate virtual and physical space to offer a memorable experience to all attendees, allowing people to join either online or in Berlin. As CXM is always happy to support thought-provoking events,…
The post The O2C conference is coming − get your discount today! appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

Favors are part of the glue of our culture. It’s not easy to ask for a favor, it’s not always easy to say yes, but when the two people engaged in this dance find a connection, it means something.

Alas, the modern hustle, amplified by databases and computers, has turned this equation upside down.

“It doesn’t hurt to ask,” the hustling spammer says, using second-order connections to “reach out” to hundreds of people. “No pressure,” they add, as if this diminishes the coarsening of the conversation.

If you ask 100 people for a favor to “get the word out,” then of course you don’t care so much if 80 or 90 people decline. The problem is that you’ve just hurt the relationship you had with these people (as thin as it was) as well as made it more difficult for the next person, the one who actually put some effort and care into making a connection.

The honest first line of the programmatic ask is, “I’m using you to get what I want right now, because I didn’t plan ahead, care enough or show up with enough generosity to do it the old way.”

No one wants to be hustled.

Just because you are in a hurry, know how to use mailmerge and have figured out how to hustle people doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

The production, distribution and care of clothing all have an impact on the environment. If you want your business to become more sustainable, this is the area you need to address. One British company, London-based Jermyn Street Design (jSD), has helped clients to lead innovation in the design of their uniforms for over forty years. We asked jSD Founder Susanne Malim to show our readers some tips…
The post 12 tips for designing sustainable clothing for your employees appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

Data shows that some customers see bots as a cynical attempt for brands to avoid providing service. They feel they’re a way to deflect contact permanently. So, while the brand might realize cost savings with using a bot to deflect calls, the brand might actually erode customer satisfaction and create detractors. To deliver empathy at scale, companies can’t create barriers to service. Effective bots make customers want to engage. They work with customers — not against them. And to create effective bots, bot builders must master these five key concepts.
Don’t Guess Your Customers’ Intents
Make It Personal
Avoid Dead Ends
No Bot Is an Island
Context Is King
Source: https://www.genesys.com/blog/post/5-tips-for-building-bots-customers-love
submitted by /u/vesuvitas [link] [comments]

If you want something that makes your life better, you can buy it.

If you want to get the money to buy something, you can make something or do something that makes someone’s life better.

It stops being simple when externalities, market failures and greed show up.

As the old saying goes: “you can hear a smile through the phone.” It may be a bit cheesy, but it’s true. Studies have proven that tone of voice in customer service is even more important to a successful interaction than the specific words that are being said, and that an agent’s energy will translate to their customer even without face-to-face interaction.
University of California psychology professor Albert Mehrabian, conducted a study which found that when it comes to communication, 7% of meaning is interpreted from the words used, 38% from tone of voice, and 55% from accompanying body language. The 7-38-55 rule indicates that the way in which words are communicated holds more significance than the words themselves.
The Secret Sauce for Increasing Customer Happiness
What does tone of voice refer to?
We know that tone of voice in support and customer service makes a difference, but what exactly do we mean when we refer to “tone of voice”?
The term is used to describe how a voice literally sounds while speaking. People can pick up on each other’s emotions because of the tone they’re using. If someone tells you to “have a nice day,” but in a tone that sounds agitated, you’ll likely leave the interaction with the impression that that person is upset and doesn’t actually want you to have a nice day.

One study found that #communication is interpreted using different percentages of 3 factors: 7% of meaning is taken from the words being used, 38% from tone of voice, and 55% from body language. #callcenter #agentinteractionsClick To Tweet

How does tone of voice improve call center metrics?
When considering the 7-38-55 rule in the context of a call center, it’s important to remember that body language, the most essential piece in the communication puzzle, is missing from agent interactions. Because phone calls rely solely on the spoken word, the tone an agent is using becomes that much more imperative to creating a positive customer support experience.
There are a few ways tone of voice can improve customer service and positively impact call center metrics:

It develops brand loyalty and conveys the values of your company, securing the right type of customers.
It builds trust between callers and agents, leading to satisfied customers who are likely to recommend the service to others.
It leads to positive interactions that boost agent self-esteem, ultimately encouraging future employee growth and success.

How to Create a Call Center Performance Report
Assisting agents on tone of voice.
The best way to ensure call center agents convey positivity to customers is to keep their work environment positive. Happy customers start with happy agents, after all. If agents feel tired and burnt out, that will most likely come across in their interactions, leaving customers with a negative impression of the brand.
Start by ensuring that agents have the technology they need to get the job done as efficiently as possible. Tools like Voice Call-Backs and Visual IVR help to reduce call spikes and take pressure off the agents to get through as many calls as possible, creating space for longer and more authentic customer interactions.
Top 3 methods for training tone of voice.
It’s essential for call center managers to take tone of voice into consideration when developing an agent training program. Although some of us were born with top-tier communication skills, many of us have to work at it.
Building tone-of-voice training into a new hire’s onboarding plan is an excellent way to ensure success in the long-term—they’ll be able to help a customer to feel heard, know how to deescalate situations and communicate in an authentic way.
Here are 3 tips on how to train tone of voice to call center agents:
1. Be a brand-voice champion.
Communicate what your brand stands for throughout the training process. How should customers feel when speaking with agents? What are some key phrases you’d like agents to use that reflect the brand’s values and culture?
These questions will help narrow down specific verbiage agents can fall back on if they’re unsure how to handle a situation and make them feel more confident that they can resolve even the more challenging calls.
2. Encourage empathy.
Arming agents with active listening skills can be incredibly helpful when it comes to keeping customers calm and building trust. Terms like “If I’m understanding correctly, you’re saying…”, “I see, please go on”, and “I understand how that could be frustrating” are all ways agents can express empathy for a customer’s situation and show customers that they really want to help them resolve their issues.
7 Call Center Empathy Phrases Every Agent Should Use With Their Customers
3. Make mirroring a part of training.
Proper energy mirroring is vital when it comes to ensuring that customers feel understood. Set up role playing activities to help teach agents how to mirror. The employee playing the customer should be given scripts with different scenarios and distinct emotional reactions.
Have the agent learn how to interact in a way that mirrors the tone of the customer. If a frustrated customer is agitated, ensure the agent calmly expresses that they understand the frustration in a tone that isn’t overly positive, so as not to further agitate the customer.
In another scenario, you may have the customer express excitement over connecting a new service, in which case the agent should be encouraged to mirror that excitement back to the customer with a positive tone and bubbly disposition.

DID YOU KNOW?
According to the 2021 Customer Experience Trends report by Zendesk, 66% of customers say they’re more loyal to companies that demonstrate empathy and understanding when a customer has a problem.

Don’t forget your online channels.
Mirroring in the social media space and online text chats is also very important. If a message is received that reads as stressed and frustrated, it’s essential that the reply the customer is sent matches that energy. Empathy phrases like: “I understand your frustration” are a key component of empathetic text replies.
Communicating every step of the solution during a live chat can also help to calm a frustrated customer. Before any action is taken, it should be precisely communicated so the customer is in the know about what’s happening. Typing things like “I’m currently accessing your account to see where the error is. This should take me approximately 2 minutes”, ensures the customer knows exactly what to expect, which builds trust in the service they’re receiving.The post Blog first appeared on Fonolo.

In the last couple of weeks, the CXM team provided you with a couple of essential guides reflecting on customer experience. This was all part of our initiative to cover the industry basics and further explore the essentials of effective CX. With that in mind, today we introduce a complete customer success roadmap guide. Following…
The post How to build a customer success roadmap? appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.