Embracing the Customer Engagement Revolution. Seven steps to improve customer satisfaction. Netcall 2013 NCE5-GEN

Transcription

1 Embracing the Customer Engagement Revolution Seven steps to improve customer satisfaction NCE5-GEN

2 Introduction 2 A brief overview of the customer engagement revolution 3 Why the customer engagement revolution is a strategic concern 7 Seven steps to embrace the customer engagement revolution? 9 Introduction The customer engagement revolution is affecting every organisation, in every sector and in every industry. Customers basic needs are the same but new forms of communication, increasingly demanding expectations, ease of switching and increased mobility mean managing the customer engagement experience is increasingly challenging. How you respond to the revolution will define the experience you provide to your customers and ultimately, your long-term business performance. This white paper therefore explains what the revolution is and why it must be a board level strategic priority. It also provides seven easy-to-implement steps to embrace the revolution and improve your customers satisfaction as they engage with your organisation. 2

3 A brief overview of the customer engagement revolution The customer engagement revolution refers to the changes in the way customers engage and transact with organisations. While your customers basic needs are the same, how you fulfil and respond to them must change in order to create and retain a competitive edge. Drivers of the revolution include new forms of less intimate communication, increased demands and expectations, as well as less loyal and increasingly mobile customers. Social Media Accessibility Drivers of the customer engagement revolution 3

4 Revolution driver 1: New forms of less intimate interaction The way organisations engage with customers, and customers engage with organisations, has changed dramatically. As each new form of communication has arrived, the level of intimacy has decreased. Body language is lost when face-to-face interactions shift to a call centre. Tone of voice is lost when automated services take over. Your call is of value to us When is my appointment? Lower levels of intimacy combined with internet-based communications are a significant risk. Customers are no longer constrained about speaking their mind. From a negative review to a disgruntled tweet, what was once a view that would only be heard by a limited audience is now heard and used by customers around the world, influencing purchasing decisions. Press 1... I d like to change my address 4

5 Revolution driver 2: Increased demands and expectations At the same time, your customers have increased demands and expectations for speed and efficiency when dealing with their communications. Such high expectations apply both online (such as ) and offline (such as telephone calls). They can be influenced by factors including past experiences, brand reputation and advertising claims. Your customers may now expect to be able to contact you 24/7 and choose their most convenient channel each time. They are driving how, when and for what they use each engagement channel. Slow service delivery is unacceptable and can rapidly lose business or damage reputation. Notably, despite the popularity of internet-based communications, 90% of customers still prefer to resolve issues over the phone. 1 Therefore organisations must supplement their online presence with telephone support to effectively handle more complex enquiries and transactions. Revolution driver 3: Less loyal customers The revolution is not just about expectations and channels. Customers have become less loyal and more willing to change suppliers. Loyalty now needs to be earned and maintained. With extensive market choice, a customer for life is no longer a given. For new products in particular, 59% of UK consumers with internet access will consider switching to a new brand. 2 Moreover, 89% will switch brands for a better customer experience. 3 59% of UK consumers with internet access will consider switching to a new brand 90% prefer to resolve issues over the phone 5

6 Revolution driver 4: Mobile customers The mobility bestowed upon your customers by mobile phone technology is forcing the biggest change to the way they live since the arrival of the car. And in the same way as the car, mobile technology is causing many secondary impacts. It is changing how your customers communicate. Where they communicate. When they communicate. For businesses, the opportunities and stakes are high. Mass mobile technology adoption is forcing new infrastructure and fundamental changes to the engagement experience. 4 With smartphone sales at an all-time high, 5 customers demand and expect mobile-friendly services. Gartner emphasises how four independent forces information, social, mobile and cloud have converged, creating a technology-immersed environment which is driving business at an increasingly accelerated pace (Figure 1). Gartner explains: In the Nexus of Forces, information is the context for delivering enhanced social and mobile experiences. Mobile devices are a platform for effective social networking and new ways of work. Social links people to their work and each other in new and unexpected ways. Cloud enables delivery of information and functionality to users and systems. The forces of the Nexus are intertwined to create a user-driven ecosystem of modern computing. 6 The greatest challenge is to respond to and meet the engagement needs of different customers. Crucially, your customers have become sophisticated users of technology. They are empowered and their experiences are serving to continuously raise their expectations. Figure 1: The Nexus of Forces, Source: Gartner (June 2012) The greatest challenge is to respond well to and meet the engagement needs of different customers. Whether they are young, mobile, impatient or traditional. 6

7 Why the customer engagement revolution is a strategic concern We are now under more pressure than ever to deliver a prompt, positive and efficient customer service. Nearly half of all consumers argue service is more important than price. 7 Yet, inadequacies in and among engagement channels, such as telephone, , mobile and web support, are causing the greatest and most recurring deficiencies in meeting expectations with far reaching consequences (Figure 2). 1. A poor customer experience can reduce efficiency A poor customer experience can reduce the efficiency of your organisation. Customers who are frustrated by long waiting times, mistakes, repetition and inadequate resolution can in turn make several points of contact. This will increase your workload and associated costs. A great experience can lead to shorter transactions and fewer unnecessary contacts. Inadequacies in and among engagement channels are causing the greatest and most recurring deficiencies in meeting expectations. Worryingly, just 26% of companies have a well-developed strategy for improving the customer experience. 8 The following four reasons explain why the revolution must be a board level strategic concern. Figure 2. Consequences of inadequate engagement channels 7

8 2. Poor customer service is rife A survey with more than 7,000 consumers across a wide range of sectors revealed that less than half (49%) feel satisfied with the service they receive. 9 The Direct Marketing Commission highlights that poor customer service is a top consumer complaint. Examples include not being able to get through to a company on the telephone, not having calls returned by a company and being kept waiting for an unreasonable amount of time. 10 Long call waiting times are the most common customer complaint Long call waiting times are the most common complaint (64%). 11 More specifically, when asked what made their experience poor, 25% of customers listed being kept on hold and 11% cited having their call transferred. 12 If consumers are made to wait for what they perceive to be too long, more than half (52%) will simply take their business elsewhere. 48% will assume the business is not well run and badly managed. 89% of UK consumers will switch brands for a better customer experience 3. A poor customer experience can damage the bottom line The customer experience you provide will directly impact your long-term financial performance. Ultimately, how you respond to the engagement revolution will also influence key performance indicators such as customer retention, advocacy and lifetime value. The strong correlation between an integrated customer experience and sales growth cannot be underestimated. Over the course of three years for example, retailers alone have lost almost half a billion pounds in potential sales by failing to deliver a truly integrated and tailored customer experience % More than a quarter of disgruntled customers have taken to posting complaints on social media sites 8

9 4. Customers have the power to damage reputations The combination of the profound changes in engagement channels and the ever-rising yet often unmet customer expectations poses a significant threat. As previously highlighted, lower levels of intimacy mean your customers feel no constraint to speak their mind to a mass audience and they re using multiple channels to express themselves. More than a quarter of disgruntled customers have taken to posting complaints on Facebook, Twitter (see for example #onholdwith) and other social media sites. 14 Research indicates the damaging effects can be far reaching. A single negative customer experience posted in public has the power to wipe out the influence of up to five positive customer messages. 15 A single negative customer experience posted in public has the power to wipe out the influence of up to five positive customer messages. Importantly, if you get it wrong, your customers will voice their opinion to a potentially global audience and take their business elsewhere. If you get it right, your customers will become powerful advocates and have a profound, positive and long-lasting impact on your reputation and market positioning. Embracing the customer engagement revolution? The contact centre is the first point of interaction for many customers particularly those with a complex enquiry or complaint. The experience you provide in this environment is therefore one of the most critical for embracing the engagement revolution and working towards improving customer satisfaction. Making improvements is easy if you have the tools, knowledge and the resources to align your communications. Taking the following steps will therefore help to improve your performance and manage the highest expectations. Seven steps to embrace the customer engagement revolution: Step 1. Provide a positive first point of contact Step 2. Reduce call waiting times Step 3. Use speech recognition software to bypass the operator and route calls direct Step 4. Resolve all types of enquiry quickly Step 5. Automate the customer journey where possible Step 6. Build the capability to shift from online to voice Step 7. Reduce customer effort 9

10 Step 1: Provide a positive first point of contact Regardless of why your customers are calling, a positive first point of contact is essential because the first impression is always important. A positive experience means making it easy for your customers to reach the right person. No one wants to be told their call is important, only to be left endlessly waiting for someone to answer or transfer it. In fact, such an empty tactic can do more harm than good. 94% Customers feel valued if given a call back opportunity The adoption of software incorporating features such as an interactive virtual receptionist and automatic call distribution can ensure an immediate service is provided and the call is delivered to the appropriate person. This will allow a quick and efficient response. You should additionally record and use multiple comfort prompts, such as position in queue or time to answer announcements, to manage expectations and reassure your queuing customers. With 94% of customers saying that being offered the opportunity for an agent to call back makes them feel valued, 16 providing a call back function should be another key priority. Step 2: Reduce call waiting times As highlighted previously, long call waiting times are a major cause of customer service dissatisfaction. However, balancing customer demand against the number of agents available, while maintaining service level agreements and remaining on budget is not an easy task. Using accurate forecasting and workforce management software is essential for providing you with vital intelligence relating to the number of staff required to manage customer demand. Such software typically uses historical and on-the-day data to calculate work plans based on call volumes. By maintaining the right balance of staff level to call volume, your call waiting times and abandoned call rates can be reduced and resolution times increased. You can also minimise the costs associated with under or over staffing, including loss of sales. This can allow you to increase sales and deliver improved service levels at a low cost. Introducing a call back facility will additionally add further benefits. By enabling your customers to remove themselves from a queue and receive a call as soon as an agent is available, long call waiting times can be immediately eliminated. What s more, by spreading the number of inbound calls out over a longer duration, your agents efficiency is also improved. 10

11 Step 3: Use speech recognition to route calls direct You can successfully minimise and even eliminate call transfers and long waiting times by using speech recognition software. Customers simply say the name of the person, department or service they wish to contact to be quickly and efficiently connected. In turn, calls can be reliably, accurately and directly routed to the required contact, irrespective of where they are working and without having to hold for an operator. Real-time directories can also effortlessly guide customers to the intended recipient without having them refer to the latest extension listing. Benefits for your customers include fast call answering within a matter of seconds and efficient request processing. Importantly, the growth of natural language solutions on mobile devices, such as Siri on the Apple iphone, is increasing the use and acceptance of speech recognition technologies. 17 Customers who use speech applications on their mobile phones are generally happy to use speech solutions and will increasingly expect them for straightforward enquiries and transactions. Software advancements also mean speech recognition software can now consistently and successfully interpret regional and global differences, including accents, names and various voice pitches. Call routing success rates with speech recognition software are high at 85-90%. 18 over 85% success rate with speech recognition 11

12 Step 4: Resolve all types of enquiry quickly Speed of resolution is essential for high levels of customer satisfaction. Your customers have little time or patience for needlessly long calls or delayed resolution times. Multiple IT systems can make it difficult for your agents to find the information they need to resolve enquiries quickly. If your organisation is in this position, you should consider software that integrates, unifies and intelligently organises data from numerous business systems and data sources. The time saved by readily available consolidated information, improved accuracy and unified systems will lead to greater efficiency and therefore improved customer service. By reducing errors for example, you can minimise costly and time-consuming repeat contacts. The most advanced software solutions can also offer business process management capabilities. Shorter, more productive calls with fewer errors are within the grasp of every contact centre. Step 5: Automate the customer journey where possible Automation is key to delivering a low cost, successful and efficient customer service. It spans an immense range of tasks and can be combined with speech recognition to reduce routine labour intensive services. From appointment reminders that reduce no-shows by as much as 40%, 19 to payment facilities, to mailing services which allow customers to request information. It can also be used to enable customers to update their contact details. Appointment reminders reduce no shows by as much as 40% In essence, automation can not only allow your customers to choose how they communicate with you, but also provide a 24/7 channel which fits their schedule and lifestyle. Abandonment rates reduced by 22% using click-to-call A single view of a customer 12

13 Step 6: Build the capability to shift from online to voice Many customers prefer to use the internet to do their research and self-serve due to the benefits of convenient access. The use of mobile devices in particular should not be underestimated. Those who are shopping online often want to chat through their queries or seek the reassurance of speaking to someone before they make a purchase. At the same time, many organisations are faced with the challenge of converting a higher percentage of online visitors into customers. Offering a simple, affordable solution, such as an online form that empowers your customers to request a call back is ideal. This facility can minimise abandoned calls, reduce the need to queue, reduce long call waiting times and reduce missed sales opportunities. The requested call can be scheduled at a time convenient for your customer or as soon as an agent becomes available. Crucially, 97% of customers who have used a call back facility say they would use the option again. What s more, 94% of staff said it reduced the number of angry or frustrated customers, making it easier to meet the customer s request. 20 Alternatively or better still, additionally employing a click-to-call facility, which will allow your customers to click on an object to initiate an immediate connection, can increase online revenue by as much as 45%. 88% of click-to-call users say they are more likely to contact a company that offers a click-to-call service than one that does not. By using click-to-call services you can also reduce web page abandonment by 22-25% and increase transaction conversions by as much as 100% compared with free phone callers. 21 Web call back and click-to-call fit perfectly with the increasing use of mobile devices. Smartphone users can research a product and have remaining questions answered by a live agent. Tablet users can request a call and continue to browse the web while speaking to a live agent. 13

14 Step 7: Reduce customer effort It is important to make it easy for your customers to do business with you. Proactive contact is about making customers aware of relevant timely information without them having to seek it themselves. Contact channels include voice, SMS, and social media. click-to-call can increase reward by 45% There are two main modes of proactive contact: a single message to a large audience or a tailored message to an individual. Both have their place when embracing the revolution. A single message broadcast to a large audience is often used to provide product information or in the event of a disaster or major incident. A tailored message to an individual can include appointment reminders, stock availability and delivery updates. Customer acceptance of proactive communications is high when they recognise the messages are timely and relevant to them. Forrester research for example, indicates that 55% of consumers are happy to have a recorded message or real person calling, and 61% are happy to have an SMS update on essential information % consumers are happy to receive proactive phone calls or recorded messages 61% consumers are happy to receive sms updates with essential information 14

15 About Netcall References Netcall is one of the UK s leading providers of customer engagement solutions, supporting organisations to deliver outstanding customer service and achieve a realistic return on their investment. With over 20 years experience and a client base of more than 750 organisations, it has established itself as a major UK player, with an international reputation in the communications industry. Netcall s capabilities provide end-to-end customer engagement solutions to improve service and satisfaction, incorporating; Intelligent Contact Handling Workforce Optimisation Business Process Management Enterprise Content Management For more information or to discuss how to implement any of the seven steps to improve customer satisfaction covered in this white paper, please call or marketing@netcall.com. 1. American Express Global Customer Service Barometer. 2. Nielsen UK Consumers Are Less Brand Loyal When Trying New Products. 3. Right Now Customer Experience Impact Report. 4. Gartner. June The Nexus of Forces: Social, Mobile, Cloud and Information. 5. Deloitte Smartphone Sales to Hit 1bn a Year for First Time in Cited on 6. Gartner. June The Nexus of Forces: Social, Mobile, Cloud and Information. 7. Verint Systems Cited on 8. Econsultancy Multichannel Customer Experience Report. 9. Verint Systems Cited on The Direct Marketing Commission Top Five Complaints. 11. Verint Systems Cited on The Customer Contact Association/Sabio Voice of the Contact Centre. 13. Head The Customer Experience Deficit. 14. Verint Systems Cited on Corstjens, M and Umblijs A The Power of Evil. Journal of Advertising Research. 16. Future Foundation An Experian Company QueueBuster: Improving Customer Satisfaction in the 21st Century. 17. MIT Technology Review Where Speech Recognition is Going. 18. Figure based on a quarterly analysis of multiple Netcall customer systems between 2007 and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals case study, Netcall 2011, Future Foundation An Experian Company QueueBuster: Improving Customer Satisfaction in the 21st Century. 21. Jupiter Research. Cited on MarketingProfs.com Forrester Consumer Preference Report. Netcall is one of the UK s leading providers of Customer Engagement Solutions. Netcall s product suite delivers compelling solutions for end-to-end customer engagement, incorporating Intelligent Contact Handling, Workforce Optimisation, Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management. Netcall s customer base contains over 750 organisations in both the private and public sectors. These include 80% of the major UK multiplex cinemas, over 70% of the NHS Acute Health Trusts, major telecoms operators and leading commercial organisations across many sectors. Hamilton House, 111 Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP1 1BB t f e enquiries@netcall.com w NCE5-GEN