Anticipate Customers Needs

Transcription

1 White Paper Anticipate Customers Needs Deliver more relevant experiences to the ever-more-demanding consumer. Learn how to harness predictive strategies to enhance service and increase sales and loyalty. #4 in the Series Customer Winning Self-Service 1. Intuitive 2. Conversational 3. Personalized 4. Anticipatory 5. Consistent

2 2 Stop wasting my time, says Joe Customer. Wakefield Research recently surveyed 1,000 consumers to learn what annoys them the most in a customer service experience. The top three complaints? 1. Being put on hold (49%) 2. Having to give the same information or repeating themselves multiple times (38%), and 3. Getting transferred multiple times (37%). 1 Methodology By distilling billions of customer interactions and thousands of customer deployments, we learned there are 5 key imperatives of customer winning self-service. 1. Intuitive 2. Conversational 3. Personalized 4. Anticipatory 5. Consistent Predicting the future Your customer relationship is at stake every time you put them on hold or make them repeat themselves. Tolerance is low for interactions that aren t easy. By harnessing predictive strategies to help customers solve problems, you will deliver highly relevant experiences that can grow sales and loyalty. Survey says... The key takeaway in the report by Wakefield Research is that today s consumers have no tolerance for long or complex customer service experiences. Here s why it matters to you: a whopping 56% of consumers surveyed revealed that they have cancelled a service or ended a relationship with a company because of a single bad customer service experience. So anytime your customers are put on hold, or have to repeat themselves, your customer relationships are at stake. This is why imperative four of our 5 Imperatives of Customer-Winning Self-Service is about anticipating customer needs. Because by anticipating their needs, you not only help customers solve problems faster, but you also deliver more relevant experiences that are likely to inspire higher sales and increased loyalty. To increase sales and reduce complaints, be proactive Why do your customers commonly reach out to your company? If they re like most, it s to get a question answered or a problem solved. Most welcomed messages Bank or Financial Services Fraudulent activity notice (70%) Late or missed payment notice (45%) Loan or mortgage refinancing status update (37%) Healthcare Providers Appointment or vaccination reminder (69%) Prescription pick-up or reorder notice (57%) Message encouraging patients to schedule an appointment (39%) Retail A package is ready to be picked up or has been shipped (65%) Message about in-store events (40%) Store credit notice (40%) Utility Company Power or service outage notice (63%) Service appointment reminder (49%) Late or missed payment (45%) You re waiting for your customers to let you know when they have a need. Unfortunately, this isn t what today s consumers want. 1 Wakefield Research, 2014 Nuance Consumer Customer Service Survey

3 3 Today s consumers expect the businesses they patronize to proactively help them resolve issues before they become a problem. In fact, 75% of consumers say that receiving proactive messages from the companies they do business with is extremely helpful and welcome. In addition, 70% say these communications could have helped them avoid issues (such as missed payments or overdrawn accounts) in the past. 2 Many companies are meeting customers demands for proactive outreach by sending automated, cross-channel communication via text message, and voice or smartphone push messages. For customers, it means they have fewer reasons to reach out to your contact center. For your company, the benefits include reduced costs, improved customer loyalty and increased self-service containment. Southwest Airlines template for proactive outreach When an airline must cancel a flight, the impact on inbound customer service channels can be significant. Passengers by the thousands flood the contact center with inquiries about how, and when, their travel issues will be resolved. Southwest Airlines utilizes proactive outreach, namely interactive voice communications, to notify passengers of flight cancellations, and provide them with options to reschedule flights or to speak directly with a live agent. The result for Southwest is happier customers and a reduced influx of calls into their contact center. The company is now expanding their use of proactive outreach to include gate change and flight delay notifications, as well as incorporating a cross-channel approach to that includes a blend of voice, text message and . Read their story. Proactive outreach best-practices When building your proactive outreach strategy, make sure to use the following best-practices: How to harness your predictive insights Identify key goals Are you most interested in driving upsells? Increasing self-service containment? By identifying your goal you can identify the data you need to leverage. Connect disparate data systems Identify the data you ll need to arrive at your goals, and then connect the relevant data source to your selfservice systems. Common systems include contact center infrastructure, CRM and billing. Track customer interactions As customers interact with your self-service and live-agent channels, log their interactions and preferences to inform future interactions. Use data to make intelligence inferences Analyzing all your data in tandem will help your systems learn and anticipate customer needs. Test and analyze your scenarios After building your predictive scenarios, monitor and analyze the results to ensure your achieving your desired outcomes. Utilize preferences and personalization This will not only increase engagement but will also help you gather data that can be leveraged to personalize other interactions. Use a cross-channel approach Deploy multiple channels in concert, based on situations or contact conditions. For example, if outreach via voice results in a busy signal, a text message should be triggered. Ensure consent Ensure your programs comply with all relevant state and federal guidelines such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Connect your conversations Ensure when customers contact your company, your inbound and outbound systems are connected and can provide a streamlined customer experience. 2 Wakefield Research, 2013 Consumer Survey

4 4 To improve containment and self-service completions, quickly identify problems and provide resolutions The Corporate Executive Board conducted a study of 75,000 consumers, which was originally published in the Harvard Business Review and subsequently published in The Effortless Experience, to learn what kinds of customer service experiences inspire or erode customer loyalty. The surprising results? Delighting today s customers doesn t build loyalty. In fact, it s reducing their effort the work they must do to get their problem solved that does. 3 (Explore this issue further in Imperative #1: Create a Flawless First Point of Contact.) One of the most effective ways to streamline your customers experience is to quickly identify their problems and proactively offer solutions before they reach out to a live agent. Many companies are doing this with intelligent IVRs and virtual assistants, which leverage customer usage and behavioral data to proactively anticipate needs. Three steps to streamline your customers experience Here are three steps that any company can take to streamline their customers experience. 1. Understand the big picture The big picture view of your customers means understanding who they are, how they use your services and what you can do to better serve them. Connecting your self-service systems to all data warehouses for example, billing, usage and demographic profiles will give you a holistic understanding of your customers and allow you to anticipate why they are likely calling. 2. Remember their preferences Think about the last time you were on a date. Asking a question once shows you re interested. Asking the same question over and over again shows you re not listening. Your relationship with your customers is the same. Intelligent IVR and virtual assistant solutions will remember key customer preferences, and serve them with relevant options faster. 3. Simplify the experience Armed with the big picture view of your customers; you can now simplify their experience by presenting only the most relevant options. For example, a customer who has pre-paid for a year of service probably isn t calling to make a payment; so why serve it as an initial menu option? In this step, look for easy-to-identify indicators of why a customer might be calling or logging onto your mobile app or virtual assistant, and make it easier for them to get what they need. Start by looking at common scenarios that draw from a single data source (i.e. checking the billing system to see if a payment is past due, is their credit card expired or invalid, etc.). Then be sure to continually monitor how well your predictions perform and make adjustments accordingly. US Airways Strategic Approach to Predictive Self-Service Like many companies, US Airways found themselves saddled with a disjointed IVR, nailed together over the decades. Menus were confusing, answers buried and customers left frustrated with little choice but to zero out to a live agent. 3 Dixon, Matthew; Freeman, Karen; Toman, Nicholas (2010). Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from:

5 5 The company invested in a natural language IVR in order to increase call deflection, decrease call handling time and improve the overall caller experience. Callers who are members of US Airways frequent flyer program are now identified by their phone number, and then served with a personalized experience: Greeted by name In usability testing, people who were greeted by name rated the system higher than those who were not. Information about their trip is proactively provided For example, the caller may be notified if they were recently upgraded to first class. The system anticipates the reason for their call to help speed the interaction For example, if the call is placed four days prior to the flight, the system recognizes that the caller is likely looking to change a reservation. If the call is placed just hours before a flight, it understands they are likely checking whether the flight will depart on time. Since implementing a natural language IVR, US Airways has nabbed industry recognition and accolades for their winning service. Today, they have industry-leading low hold times, and have increased call containment by 5% resulting in millions in annual savings. Read their story. To drive upsells serve relevant options Walk into any Nordstrom s in the world and ask an associate to see a pair of shoes. What you ll find is that their associates won t just show you shoes they ll assemble an entire outfit. Come back a few times and you ll find their associates remember you by name. You ll even get phone calls and handwritten notes about the newest items that fit your personal style. This simple curation has helped Nordstrom become one of the most successful retailers in the world. Today, by harnessing data on your self-service channels such as intelligent IVR and virtual assistants, you can gain insight into customer preferences and leverage it to deliver a similar personalized shopping experience. Two steps to drive upsells through self-service data Track customer interactions and use systems that get smarter Watching your customers behavior can tell you a lot about what they want from your company. By closely monitoring and analyzing customer interactions via IVR, mobile and Web channels, you can find patterns which allude to new opportunities. Use data to make intelligent inferences Harnessing data from multiple sources such as your contact center, billing and customer interaction data, you can anticipate customers preferences and serve up relevant options. For example, if five out of a customer s six calls to their cable company have been to order pay-per-view sports and a big boxing match is starting in an hour, the probability is high that the customer wants to order the match. Even if the customer was not calling to order the match, serving them with the option makes them feel understood and fosters loyalty.

6 6 Getting ahead of your customers When asked how he was able to consistently beat the market and deliver revolutionary innovations, legendary entrepreneur Steve Jobs said, Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves. With today s technology, you needn t have Jobs clairvoyance to understand what your customers want from you. Simply follow the key takeaways outlined in this guide, including: 1. Proactively engage customers to help them avoid problems 2. Quickly identify problems when they do arise and proactively offer resolutions 3. Harness data to drive unique upsell opportunities Take the first steps now by scheduling a strategy session to identify opportunities to better anticipate your customers needs. Just send an to CustomerExperienceExperts@Nuance.com, subject line: Anticipate My Customers Needs. About Nuance Communications, Inc. Nuance Communications is reinventing the relationship between people and technology. Through its voice and language offerings, the company is creating a more human conversation with the many systems, devices, electronics, apps and services around us. Every day, millions of people and thousands of businesses experience Nuance through intelligent systems that can listen, understand, learn and adapt to your life and your work. For more information, please visit nuance.com. Copyright 2015 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Nuance, and the Nuance logo, are trademarks and/or registered trademarks, of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. NUAN CS SP-04, Feb