Category: Customer Experience

I’m looking for recommendations of companies that provide an excellent customer experience for SMB customers. The company I work for is redesigning the experience for SMB and I’m looking for inspiration. So far I’ve come up with the UPS Store as a pretty good example, but I’m curious who else you all would suggest. Thanks!
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If you’re designing a package, a cover, a fashion or even a meme…
The goal is to have it be recognizable from across the room.
That doesn’t mean it has to be loud or interruptive. But when we’re looking for it, we should be able to pick it out of a crowd.
‘Across the room’ isn’t about distance, it’s about the emotional gap, about clutter and about the status quo.
Being distinctive is a choice, and it’s not an easy one. Because it requires you to stand for something and to serve a specific audience, not everyone.
A visit to the supermarket demonstrates the power of this approach. Justin’s peanut butter, Pirate Booty snacks and the distinctive Coke bottle all pass the test. So do the best book covers.
But it also applies to the way Linda Oh plays the bass, your therapist answers the phone or Kenji Lopez-Alt writes a recipe.
Distinctive isn’t easy. But it’s worth it.

Customer experience (CX) continues to be a hot topic in the contact center world. Now, more than ever, companies are evaluating their goals and priorities for the coming year in the context of our “new normal”.
Explore Contact Center Trends for 2021
How can businesses position themselves for success when the future is so uncertain? Our resident expert and CEO Shai Berger sat down with seven leading experts and influencers in the CX space to find out what their predictions are for the coming year.
Watch the full video on YouTube ➜
Jeremy Watkin

“If you’re not serving the customer, your job is to serve someone who is.” – @jtwatkin #CX4Now #CX #CCTRClick To Tweet

Jeremy Watkin is a contact center industry leader with over two decades of experience. He is currently the Director of CX at Number Barn and Co-Founder of customerservicelife.com.
This year, Jeremy says that the biggest overarching trend he’s seen is focus on the employee experience and how we treat agents and other staff members who have shifted to remote work. AI is another big topic — specifically, how new technology in this space can help contact centers create a seamless customer support journey.

Watch Jeremy Watkin on CX4Now ➜
Blair Pleasant

“I think AI is really going to help agents feel better about their jobs and what they’re doing.” – @blairplez #CX4Now #CX #CCTR #AIClick To Tweet

Blair Pleasant is a top unified communication and contact center analyst. As President & Principal Analyst at COMMfusion, Blair provides analysis and consulting services to industry leaders and has authored many highly acclaimed studies on the subject.
There are several trends on Blair’s radar for 2021. One of the main trends she explores is the impact of AI in the contact center. She predicts that AI will play a supporting role to empower agents with the information they need to solve customer issues with confidence. This new dynamic could potentially benefit employee satisfaction in the contact center.

Watch Blair Pleasant on CX4Now ➜
Peter Ryan

“Personality types and profiles are very important… if you’re looking to find someone who works well at home, often it will be someone who isn’t well suited to the contact center and vice versa.” – Peter Ryan #CX4Now #CX #CCTR #RemoteWorkClick To Tweet

Peter Ryan is a renowned BPO consultant who has been at the forefront of the services industry for over a decade. He has been advising contact center outsourcers, their clients, industry associations, BPOs and governments on everything from marketing penetration to service delivery since 2003. Check him out at RyanAdvisory.com.
In his segment, Peter discusses a wide range of topics, from the pandemic’s impact on offshore call centers to the challenges of transitioning to a hybrid contact center model. He predicts one of the biggest issues will stem from finding the right agents for each scenario, the ideal remote agent won’t necessarily thrive working part time in a physical call center, and vice versa.

Watch Peter Ryan on CX4Now ➜
Olivia Montgomery

“As businesses build more of that human connection, [it will] increase the expectations that customers have.” – @AnalystOlivia #CX4Now #CX #CCTRClick To Tweet

Olivia Montgomery is a highly experienced Project Manager and analyst who has a broad range of experience in a diverse range of brands. She has been a Sr. Analyst at SoftwareAdvice.com since 2018, where she is responsible for producing detailed surveys, thought-leadership articles, and detailed analysis of project management and small business technology strategy.
Human connection is one of the biggest trends Olivia has seen over the past year, and the customer demand is only growing. She predicts that customer support teams will begin to structure themselves in a more integrated fashion to better serve the customer and create a more human experience.

Watch Olivia Montgomery on CX4Now ➜
Kevin Horgan

“A lot of customers would much rather go in and do something really quick to get an answer, as opposed to waiting on the end of the phone… people want it here and now. – Kevin Horgan, @TCC_UK #CX4Now #CX #CCTRClick To Tweet

Kevin Horgan is one of the industry’s most experienced executives. Heled the charge at the UK’s largest motor association and insurance brand, becoming Head of Sales and Service where he was responsible for over 6 million customers and several hundred employees. Kevin is now Head of Operations at The Contact Company, the UK’s largest private contact center.
One of the biggest topics Kevin covers is the sudden shift to remote work and how quickly the contact center industry had to pivot while managing increased customer demand. Despite this success, the general public perception remains negative as hold times skyrocket and quality of service suffers. To bridge this gap, Kevin says contact centers need to invest in self-serve channels while ensuring they are communicating in real time with their customers.

Watch Kevin Horgan on CX4Now ➜
Justin Robbins

“Perception is based on someone’s reality. For a lot of [customers], they don’t know what it takes to get service right. So, you just need to get it right.” – @justinmrobbins #CX4Now #CX #CCTRClick To Tweet

Justin Robbins is the Chief Evangelist of CX Effect, a leading optimization consultancy. He started his career at 12 years old as a call center agent for a newspaper carrier. Since then, he’s gone on to lead operations at several major hospitality brands, such as Choice Hotels, UBM, and Hershey. He has also advised industry leaders such as 8×8 and Talkdesk.
Justin’s word of the year for 2021 is “integration”. This relates to a few different areas in the contact center. The first addresses the workforce and how businesses will approach the new remote work dynamic as we transition back to the workplace. Second, businesses will have to manage work-life integration for employees, especially for those working remotely. Lastly, Justin discusses how businesses will have to integrate their service models to accommodate how their customers access their resources and goods.

Watch Justin Robbins on CX4Now ➜
Kristyn Emenecker

“If I can attract better humans and make my workplace a place that’s desirable, I’ll have a huge advantage over my competitors… it’s about creating the workspace people want.” – @LIVinEden #CX4Now #CX #CCTRClick To Tweet

Kristyn Emenecker is a long-time customer advocate and customer experience thought leader. After a rapid rise to Vice President of Client Services at TPG, Kristyn moved on to VP roles at Verint and NICEinContact. Today, Kristyn works as Playvox’s first-ever Chief Product & Strategy Officer.
In her segment, Kristyn covered a range of topics, from the importance of empathy in the contact center to the rise of the gig economy and its potential impact in the call center space. She also discussed the importance of employee engagement, especially for remote workers. One of the biggest challenges contact centers will face is creating an appealing work environment for remote agents so companies can attract and retain the best talent.

Watch Kristyn Emenecker on CX4Now ➜ The post Blog first appeared on Fonolo.

For today’s businesses, closing deals and making sales isn’t enough. If your customers aren’t happy with the experience you provide, they’ll leave you without a word.
That’s where CSAT — or customer satisfaction — scores come in. This KPI is essential for contact centers to measure how their customers feel about their service. It’s a great way to explore trends within customer feedback and identify problem areas.
The tricky thing is, CSAT scores can be affected by a wide range of activities in the call center. By analyzing your data and customer feedback, you can pinpoint problem areas in your processes and boost your score!
These 6 tips are great launching points for improving your customer satisfaction.

DID YOU KNOW?
Customer experience is overtaking price and product as the most important brand differentiator for businesses. – SuperOffice

1. Gather and utilize customer feedback.
If your customers have concerns, ask them what they are! This is commonly done through surveys and questionnaires. Most companies choose to request this information after an interaction, while the experience is still fresh.
Once you gather this feedback, be sure to act on it! Identify common concerns and trends between responses. This will help you prioritize the areas to address in your contact center.
2. Offer omnichannel support.
The voice channel remains the most popular choice for customers seeking support. With that said, consumers are looking for businesses that will offer them options and flexibility.
By offering support on multiple channels, you can serve customers in a much more cost-efficient way by freeing up your phone lines for more complex inquiries. Live chat, email, and social media are all considered standard offerings and your customers expect seamless service, no matter how they connect with you.
3. Empower your agents.
One of the most common customer complaints is having to deal with an agent who cannot solve their problem. This can be due to a variety of reasons, from lack of training to role restrictions.
By empowering your agents with the proper tools and knowledge, your customers will receive better service. What’s more, giving your agents more autonomy can greatly improve their satisfaction levels as well!
3 Reasons Why Agent Satisfaction is the New Customer Satisfaction
4. Adopt a call-back solution.
Customer frustrations often surfaces even before they connect with your agents. We’re talking of course about long hold times.
Call-back technology is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to mitigate long hold times. This way, your customers can go about their day rather than waiting in a hold queue. When an agent is available, they will receive an automated call-back. Easy!
5. Reduce friction in the customer journey.
The world is moving faster than ever, and your customers won’t wait for you to catch up. That’s why it’s important to regularly audit your channels from the customer perspective.
The goal is to make the process as easy as possible for your customer to complete their objective. Are your support options easy to locate? Are your IVR channels clearly indicated? Does your setup address the most common needs of your customers? Consider these questions as you conduct your analysis.
7 Easy Ways to Reduce Friction in Your Customer Experience
6. Respond to customer complaints.
Customer complaints are unavoidable. You can’t please everyone — but on the bright side, this feedback can help you identify problem areas in your call center quickly.
Don’t leave complaints unaddressed. Ensure they are answered immediately in a professional manner. Templates are great for streamlining the process, but if your customer feels like they’re getting a cookie-cutter response, they won’t be impressed. Train your agents to tailor their responses to customers.The post Blog first appeared on Fonolo.

When the world was small, our understanding of ‘reality’ was consistent, which is why a good April Fool’s joke felt right. It tweaked the normal just enough to cause us to wonder about what else might not be as it seems.

But the onslaught of manipulated media and amplified division has pushed us away from our small circle of reality. Now we’re aware that so many people have a different lived experience than we do. And we are exposed–sometimes several times a minute–to falsehoods, scams and bullying.

The first of April was a day when we were supposed to be aware that not everything was as it seemed, that we should be on our guard. And now, exhausting as it is, every day is like that.

I’m hopeful that our culture is resilient enough to get back to the truth.

Show your work. Earn attention and build trust. Every day.

Too much spin simply makes us dizzy.

The Sears ‘employee–customer–profit chain’ was among the first empirical research to make the link between attitudes and organisational performance. Published in the Harvard Business Review in 1998, it found a positive correlation between employee attitudes, customer behaviour, and subsequent impact on the bottom line. Much research since has made the same point. However, EX and…
The post The Big Three – Ingredients of Success In EX and CX appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

“The sun is trying to break through the clouds.”

“The virus doesn’t like it when people stay home and isolate.”

“The computer didn’t expect you to type that.”

Of course, the sun, the virus and the computer aren’t people. And genes aren’t actually selfish, and new data demonstrates that we don’t really have a lizard brain.

But these aren’t errors at all. It makes it easier to predict what a non-human is going to do if we imagine that it has motivations and preferences that are like ours.

Two problems can arise, though:

The first is when we assert human motivations that don’t actually do a good job of prediction. For example, imagining that events are motivated by some sort of unrelated specific superstition or narrative.

The second is more problematic: It happens when we personalize other people–imagining that they’re not just humans, but they’re us. “If I were you…” is not always a useful predictor, because you’re not me. And vice versa.

Everyone has their own history, their own biases and their own irrationalities. Personification is a useful shortcut if it helps us make smart predictions about others, but it’s a trap if we assume that we’re the only ones who are right.

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Winning big deals used to mean getting in front of important decisions makers, speaking to them, selling your goods or services and building a genuine relationship with them. This was done through meetings, events and sometimes social outings. Naturally, the pandemic put a stop to all of this. As we look to a gradual reopening…
The post How to use virtual events effectively to close deals in a post-COVID World appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.