In an era when consumer products and services rapidly commoditize, the customer experience has become the point of brand differentiation. It matters more than ever before – as
evidenced by an increasing number of businesses adding a Chief Customer Officer to their executive leadership team. A good experience has the power to unlock a lifetime of loyalty and advocacy. A bad
one can be relayed across the world with just the click of a mouse. More than 86% of customers say they will simply stop using a brand after one bad experience, and 82% of customers will communicate
their bad service experience with others. The quality of a customer interaction is becoming one of the top reasons for recommending a company.
The new role of the contact center is
connecting the dots to deliver customers the experience they want, when they want it, in the channel of their choosing. This ever-increasing demand for personalized services and more caller-friendly
services is driving companies worldwide to invest in solutions that gain access to the full history of a customer’s past activities and prior interactions over important communication channels.
Equally important, the new contact center must demonstrate the ability to truthfully engage with customers, valuing their opinions and demonstrating they’re prepared to adapt products and
services to the needs of a new, emerging consumer.
In today’s omni-channel environment, competing means enterprises must be at the right place, at the right time, with
the right offer. This is pushing marketing to play its biggest role ever in customer care operations: to optimize touch points with granular understanding of customers’ preferences
For example, during this most recent holiday season, we observed more customers browsing via mobile devices during the morning and early part of the day. However, we did not experience the
corresponding conversion activity until much later in the day or early evening. Also interesting is that many times the conversations were happening on different tablet devices, on PCs or over a live
phone conversation. Consumers are browsing on their smartphone while they commute to work and then buying when they get home. As customer experience professionals, we must align our staffing to have
available skilled workers ready to meet the customer online or on the phone when they’re ready to transact – regardless of channel.
While technologies and best practices
are enabling brands to make strides in improving customer retention, increasing revenues are helping to optimize total operating costs. It’s people on the front lines, dealing directly with
customers on a daily basis, that make the biggest impact. Every day, customer care representatives serve as brand ambassadors. They must tactically execute as close to flawlessly as possible, while
strategically thinking about ways to build continuous improvement.
Well beyond traditional outbound telemarketing campaigns, leading businesses are transforming core support
processes to optimize them for creating revenue. Each positive contact resolution should be linked to a value-add offering for additional services, warranties, refills, peripherals and enhancements.
Sixty-nine% of business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations consider contact centers to be critical to revenue generation.
Executives across the enterprise are recognizing that every
customer touch point must first retain a customer and then turn positive experiences into improvements to the bottom line. Recent research shows that companies need to become far more innovative,
rebooting their strategy to emphasize quality and customer experience, not pricing. In a fast-moving and ultra-competitive marketplace, the customer care agents who are listening and engaging are the
part of the business creating meaningful value at moments of truth that matter.
Customers want better service. Customers say they will pay for better service. Customers are leaving
when they don’t get expected service. We all need to optimize the customer experience and establish clear brand differentiation. Companies will need the right strategies and partners in place to
address the rising importance of the contact center, or face losing their most value assets to the competition.