Last week, I shared how early on in my career I managed a technical support and customer service center and service was considered a cost center and a necessary evil. How times have changed, and how far most companies have come in changing that perception!
Continuing in that vein, this week I will share our different approach to measuring customer service at that time, and how there are better means of gauging various aspects of service today. (Note: I’m limiting this to live interactions because my time running a service center only saw the beginnings of self-service.)
I’m going to organize this around points in the typical customer service process:
https://customerthink.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-what-to-measure-in-customer-service/
For the last few weeks, I’ve been sharing some memories from my past running a call center and some of the ways in which I have observed customer service has changed. The first installment touched on how customer service was considered a necessary evil of doing business in the past. Last week, I explored how measuring the performance of customer service has evolved. The theme throughout each of these was that if your customer service was still mired in some of these past practices and conceptions, you’re doing it wrong.
https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/youre-wrong-new-customer-service-philosophies-02025456/
October was National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) and the epic Equifax breach serves as just one reminder of the frequent and rising cyber risks and hacking incidents. For customer service organizations, managing the exponential growth of customer data across multiple customer communication channels and platforms is not easy.
http://customerthink.com/why-the-highest-compliance-should-be-your-baseline-for-customer-service-messaging/
Great customer service experiences are few and far between, so when you have a good one, it makes a serious impression. Today, most companies don’t let their customers connect, hear a live voice -- a positive one, at that -- and build loyalty to the brand. An interaction with customer service is often the first step toward alienation, not bonding. But for brands that do it right, the contact makes a different kind of impact -- a good one.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/09/20/why-great-customer-service-is-key-to-a-positive-brand-reputation/
Though 80% of senior decision makers in the UK rate their customer service as ‘excellent’, their customers aren’t feeling quite the same. Our report ‘The Good, The Bot and The Customer Experience’ found there is a significant disconnect between what customers expect and what brands think they are delivering.
In fact, a whopping 91% of UK consumers say they have been left feeling frustrated by the customer service they receive, with top grievances including being left on hold too long and needing to repeat their issue multiple times.
https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2020/jan/13/why-despite-hype-ai-could-be-failing-your-customer-strategy/
It might seem like a good idea to use email to resolve customer issues or to simply solve customer issues wherever they find you. It’s simple. It’s cost-saving. But you know what else it is? Messy and risky. Messy, because your communications with customers are all over the place. There’s not a single, unified platform to manage your customers. Risky, because you can easily overlook customers’ messages from email. While it may be unintentional, you are more likely to neglect your customer issues and lose them, which isn’t exactly good for business. Enter customer service software.
https://mopinion.com/best-customer-service-software/
Is customer service part of the customer experience? Or is customer experience what happens when someone receives customer service? Are they the same thing?
The terms “customer service” and “customer experience” are often confused or used interchangeably. They’re not the same thing, but they are related.
The difference between customer service and customer experience is that while customer service is one piece of the puzzle — focused on human interaction and directly supporting customers — customer experience is the sum of the entire customer journey with your business.
Let’s take a look at customer service vs. customer experience in more detail.
https://www.helpscout.net/blog/customer-service-vs-customer-experience/
A great customer experience is important in all industries, but in a world of ever-growing consumer expectations, it's critical for retailers. In fact, according to Forrester, "the key to successful retailing in 2018 is obsessing about customer experience." Many retailers are already "obsessed" with the customer experience, but the question is: are they acting upon this obsession?
https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/blogs/whats-in-store-for-cx-integrating-insight-for-a-360-degree-view-of-the-customer/
Are you in the habit of closing the loop with customers that offer negative feedback on post-interaction surveys like Customer Satisfaction or Net Promoter Score? I certainly hope so, because it’s a great practice that many companies aren’t in the habit of doing. When I led a customer service team, I was very proud of the fact that we made every attempt at closing the loop with the upset customers we knew about, and by some combination of resolving their issue and offering compensation, we managed to save a good many of them from churning.
But what about those customers that don’t complete a survey voicing their displeasure? What about those where something goes wrong and it’s “too much trouble to complain?” Or perhaps they do complain and the disinterested reply from support is enough for the customer to cut their losses and move on to a company that actually wants their business. And then there’s that statistic where upset customers tell dozens of people about negative experiences while happy customers tell a small handful of their friends. I’m convinced that someone invented that statistic to strike fear into the hearts of customer service leaders with the sole purpose of selling books, software, consulting, etc.
https://www.kustomer.com/blog/voice-of-the-customer-fcr/
After much of the global economy went into recession back in 2008, public confidence in financial institutions took an equally dramatic dive. Whatever the reality, a large percentage of public and media opinion shifted blame towards global ‘bankers’, unseen financial professionals that were painted as the villains of the crisis. Perception and reputation are difficult concepts to quantify, often the evidence for good or bad reactions is anecdotal and is noticeable from talking to individuals or groups. Because the perception and reputation of any business is vital to its on-going success (and indeed its survival!) the use of Voice of the Customer (VoC) technology has become a common and highly prized asset, which the financial sector is readily embracing.
https://mopinion.com/voice-of-the-customer-helps-financial-sector-regain-trust-and-increase-productivity/
