Category: Customer Experience

It’s pretty straightforward to grease a squeaky wheel, or repair a broken window.
Far more difficult is to realize that your room would be a lot more pleasant if you added a window in the first place.

With the level of responsibility, we place upon our customer-facing workers, it’s important to stay on top of trends that positively impact the employee experience (EX). If we can make their jobs easier, shouldn’t we do so? When agents are better supported, they are better able to deliver better experiences to customers, which is incredibly important in today’s crowded marketplace. Here are five contact center innovations that directly impact agents and are reshaping the future of customer service:
AGENTS WORKING WITH SELF-SERVICE BOTS
OMNICHANNEL AGENTS
AGENTS WORKING FROM HOME
GIG AGENTS
AGENTS AS CX INNOVATORS
Full article: https://blog.edify.cx/five-contact-center-innovations-that-are-reshaping-customer-service
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This month we had an opportunity to attend the International Digital Experience Awards (DXA), a trendy and inspiring event hosted by the Awards International team. DXA gathered organisations, teams, and individuals with the best digital practices in the world. They all shared accomplishments achieved throughout the truly challenging year behind us. We’ve seen over 30…
The post Digital Experience Awards 2021: winners announced appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

Tactical approaches can undermine useful strategies.

And knowing your goals and the reason for the game are the best way to avoid the problem.

Tactical thinking forces us to think in innings. It says, “here’s a situation, what’s your best reaction/response?”

The strategic approach has a different question, “Does playing this particular tactical game get me closer to the reason I’m here in the first place?”

Strategies don’t change. They’re not a secret. It doesn’t matter if your peers or opponents know your strategy.

Tactics, on the other hand, change often, and are usually best kept quiet.

So why do we get so hung up on tactics?

It begins with: Strategies can be frightening. If we say what we want and how we hope to achieve it, two things could happen: we could fail, and that would disappoint us, or we could succeed, and that would frighten us.

It’s easier to simply react by engaging in another tactical round that the world has presented to us. You can spend your days doing nothing but playing with tactics, and never realize you didn’t even have a strategy.

What do you want? What change do you seek to make, how do you want to spend your days? How will get you there?

Figuring out which games you aren’t going to play is a fine step on the road to figuring out your strategy.

Unrelated but timely: A post from 13 years ago about meetings, and my podcast from this week about the same topic.

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The events of 2020 profoundly changed the way we live, work, and do business. Contact centers and customer support teams often were on the frontlines, rising to the occasion despite the pressures of sudden remote work requirements, rapid technology changes, and sensitive customer scenarios. This has changed business requirements and priorities for contact center technology. So, whether you’re evaluating new solutions or simply staying up on the trends, you need to understand what’s driving rapid innovation and how organizations are already putting those innovations to work. Let’s discuss the five trends driving the modern customer experience as support channels have become the primary way to connect and manage experiences for organizations and their customers.
Digital Engagement
Remote Work and Operations
Collaboration Tools
AI and Automation
Cloud Platforms
Full article: https://www.nojitter.com/customer-experience/5-trends-driving-essentials-modern-cx
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Every company needs strong customer service to set them apart from its competitors. After all, customers are more loyal to businesses that treat them with respect, kindness and that support their needs.
Customer service in a contact center is especially important. Most call center agents are familiar with the rage of angry customers, frustrated with long wait times, and other problems. Customers calling a contact center want:

Quick resolution.
Human interaction.
Quick connection to an agent.
Knowledgeable, friendly agents.
Multiple communication channels.

These days, customers value empathy in their customer service agents. That’s why it’s so important for contact center agents to channel empathy when they’re providing customer support. Luckily, there are many empathy statements, words and phrases agents can use for customer engagement.
Six Crucial Contact Center Trends Shaping 2021
Demonstrate active listening and understanding.
Active listening is essential for good customer service. Keep your focus completely on the customer, and don’t interrupt. Take in what they are telling you, and respond thoughtfully. Being an active listener builds trust and connection between agent and customer. Here are some phrases that demonstrate empathy in an agent’s effort to understand their customer:
“I see. Please, go on.”
Short phrases of encouragement like this show your customer that you’re listening to their concerns, and would like to learn more.
“If I understand correctly, you’re saying…”
Take time to check in and make sure you’re understanding your customer’s concerns. Paraphrase when they pause and ask clarifying questions if necessary. This shows the customer that you’re making an effort to understand them.

DID YOU KNOW?
An empathetic approach in your customer support can lead to increased sales and strong customer loyalty.

“I understand how that could be frustrating. I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with this.”
When supporting customers, it’s important to put yourself in their shoes and imagine how you’d feel if you were going through their issue. This phrase validates the customer’s feelings and concerns. Additionally, it demonstrates to the customer that you’ve listened to their concerns and understand where they’re coming from.
Demonstrate respect and reassurance.
It’s important for customers to feel reassured and respected during any customer experience. Here are a few statements that reassure customers and show customers that you respect them:
“You’re absolutely right, sir/ma’am.”
The customer is always right might seem like a dated phrase. But, it’s not meant to be taken literally. Of course, an angry customer complaining about wait times and an agent’s incompetence isn’t always right. Regardless, contact center agents should assure and comfort customers along the customer experience journey.
The customer might be incorrect about one fact or another, but their feelings of dissatisfaction are still there. Agents should try to show empathy, respect, and understanding to the customer’s plight. But, don’t overdo it. If you say this phrase more than once or twice, you might come off as patronizing.
“Thanks so much for your patience as we sort this out.”
The customer could be doing other things with their time – they can hang up or just go with another company. Thanking them for waiting demonstrates gratitude for their business.

TIP:
Time is precious to both your agents and your customers. During high volume periods, Voice Call-Backs are a great way to eliminate hold time while easing pressure off your contact center.

“I will resolve this issue for you.”
Notice the active voice in this statement. The agent using this empathetic statement is assuring that he or she will take action to solve their problem. Instead of verbally indicating that the task will be delegated, i.e. my team will, my manager will, etc., the agent is strongly asserting him or herself as the problem solver.
Even if an agent’s team does most of the work, it’s the agent who is coordinating it for the customer.
“I appreciate you bringing this to our attention.”
Customer complaints are always an opportunity to improve, be it operationally or through customer service. When a customer shares feedback, they are giving a contact center a chance to rectify the issue and prevent it from happening with future customers. Acknowledging that shows respect towards your customers.
Conclusion.
Nobody wants to deal with an angry customer. But, it’s possible to diffuse the situation and bring a customer back into better spirits. Use these empathy statements in your call center to demonstrate empathy towards customers, and to keep them loyal to your company.The post Blog first appeared on Fonolo.

A simple but difficult fork in the road for the choices we make.

I did the thing that was:

expedient

easy

safe

what my boss insisted on

generous

brave

new

effective

done by everyone else

deniable

fun

resilient

scalable

unique

selfish

fast

convenient

in sync

remarkable

risky

self-aggrandizing

anonymous

the way it’s always been done.

Do you wish to become a Customer Experience Consultant but don’t know where to start? Analytical thinking and innovation are expected to be the top skills in 2025, which means Customer Experience Consultants will have loads of job opportunities. If you’re looking to become one, now is the time to get informed and start preparing…
The post Customer Experience Consultant: The 2021 Career Guide appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

If you are talking with someone about important things, from the heart, with honesty, it’s entirely possible that what you’re saying contradicts what they expect.

It might be because of the indoctrination of a lifetime of growing up in a particular culture.

It might be because of personal experiences they’ve had with others that didn’t work out very well.

And it might be because what you’re saying contradicts what they’re seeing.

Whichever it is, they nod their head, politely listening, but don’t change their expectations at all. Because they’ve been taught through experience not to believe that things are going to be different.

If you’ve read ten employee handbooks that say one thing when the company does another, you’re likely to not believe the eleventh one.

When you hear a boss say ‘people before profits’, you’re likely to hold back before baring your soul and sharing your fears.

“Trust me” is easy to say, especially when you mean it, but hard to hear.

Showing tends to beat telling, and it takes a very long time to earn trust when you’re running counter to culture.