In the 1900s, most businesses were focused on providing excellent customer service. In the 21st century, however, the concept has shifted more towards the overall experience of an individual. Today, people have access to a wide berth of digital information. Which means they are faced with more than just one kind of interaction with any given brand.
This is when customer experience optimization comes into play.
About Customer Experience
The customer experience goes beyond how a person interacts directly with a company. Before, consumers would directly communicate with an organization either face-to-face or through the phone. Thanks to the power of the Internet, those interactions can now cross a wide range of channels. The experience comes from the level of satisfaction a consumer has across those mediums.
Mobile interactions, social engagement and even blog posts on a website will all play into the customer experience. It’s all about how an individual feels about a brand because of these types of interactions. Contact centers are no different.
Because of the number of ways consumers can contact a business, it’s important to focus on all of those access points. For example, some people would rather use live chat from a website than talk on the phone. That flexibility contributes to the customer experience.
The happier consumers are, the more likely the experience is shared with friends and family. This will influence revenue for any organization. Providing an optimal experience is vital to the success of the brand as well as the contact center.
Optimizing the Customer Experience
Although the Internet has created an incredible boost for many businesses, it has also created a lot of competition. Instead of competing with nearby local businesses, a consumer can simply search for another company online. As more people are taking to the Internet to make purchases and research brands, customer experience optimization is vastly important.
There is more involved than treating customers with respect and providing quality service. Luckily, there are plenty of technologies and practices available that have potential to boost a brand’s reputation. In other words, optimization of the customer experience can easily turn occasional buyers into loyal consumers.
Customer Experience Optimization Strategies for Call Centers
Developing a strategy for the customer experience may deliver quick results while strengthening relationships between consumers and brands. As the call center is one of the primary points of contact, it’s imperative to deliver a method that improves this relationship. After all, customer satisfaction is what it’s all about.
Single Customer Views
The Single Customer View, or SCV, is a point at which customer data is integrated into one profile. This often includes data points such as occupations, purchasing behaviors, primary social engagement and even preferred method of contact. In most cases, this information is fed into Customer Relationship Management software, or a CRM. A robust CRM is an invaluable tool when engaging directly with specific consumers.
Customer Experience Personalization
Consumers today want to be singled out and can get frustrated when the content they are presented with is not personalized. This is similar to when the majority of buyers feel more connected to a brand that interacts with them on social media. Delivering content, interaction, and showing products and services customized for an individual is pivotal for success in today’s Internet-driven world.
Collecting Customer Data Across Various Channels
Consumer data can be pulled from many different sources. Collecting all of this information and funneling it into a system helps businesses develop strategies. This includes everything from the types of social accounts customers follow to how often he or she calls a contact center. Most viable information about a person can be used to develop a good report with that particular consumer.
Optimizing for Any Device
Optimization for mobile technology includes more than just making sure a website is responsive to smaller screens. Consumers need to be able to interact with a business from virtually any device they are using. This means implementing touch-to-call, live chat and easy access to important business information from a tap of the finger or a click of the mouse. Speed and appearance are also vital whether communication is from an app or a website.
Using Predictive Marketing to Bolster Efficiency
An effective addition to any call center strategy is the use of predictive marketing platforms. This method takes behavior and marketing data while analyzing the results to discover patterns. As a result, developers get a crystal ball-like view of what could happen in the future. Many marketers already use a kind of predictive marketing by adjusting a strategy based on past statistics. However, predictive analytical tools take the information to a much greater degree. Most of them are incredibly accurate depending on the client industry.
Expanding with Business Tool Integration
An agent is only as effective as the tools he or she uses. Integrating elements such as CRM, helpdesk software and back-office applications helps the agent complete his or her tasks when addressing callers. Like the saying goes, “Knowledge is power.” In this case, knowing a customer’s behaviors and past interactions is vital to delivering a superior and more personalized experience. These types of tools will influence an agent’s productivity as well.
Increasing Agent Satisfaction
Perhaps one of the most important part of any call center strategy to improve the customer experience is agent satisfaction. If an individual is unhappy in his or her job, the end result can be catastrophic when dealing with a potential customer on the phone. By nature, most humans are apathetic to emotional states. If someone is miserable, it influences the attitudes of those around him or her. Focusing on boosting agent satisfaction delivers a more energetic and efficient workplace while delivering a quality service to callers. It also reduces losses from employee turnover rates.
The Internet provides a platform for anyone to speak his or her mind about any given brand. All it takes is a bad report and a company could suffer losses in the form of boycotts or even pulled ad revenue from video broadcasts. With superior customer experience optimization strategies, the call center can help avoid some of those issues.
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