As we continue to see, customer experience (CX) has moved ahead of product and price as the #1 brand differentiator. True customer delight is shown to not just improve brand loyalty, but also increase customer lifetime value. A research from Forrester measures the CX Index scores and its impact on revenue. And when it comes to CX, a little can mean a lot: Just a 1-point improvement in a CX Index score can lead to an incremental $244 million in revenue for certain industries. In this four part blog series, I will be exploring 4 simple steps to win in the experience economy, starting with building robust CX.
Redesigning CX is a complex process involving multiple functions, people, process and technologies. Where do you start?
While there are various organizational functions like sales, marketing and others that connect with the customer, contact centers emerge as a group that has the largest number of touch points with the customers. They are the hub for customer interactions across the customer journey from awareness, purchase to support and advocacy. Rich interactions across channels, across buying stages and across multiple customer segments, provides a strong case to start your CX transformation from your contact center.
What does it take contact centers to build robust CX?
Robust CX—the kind that builds brand loyalty and creates revenue involves a shift from meeting customer expectations to becoming CX powerhouses. Below are some key CX building blocks that every contact center should look at, to move beyond just servicing customers.
- Need for speed – Need for speed is very high, especially in the always-on, one click digital world. Customers don’t want to wait in queue or getting transferred. With improved global and predictive routing and advanced self-service options, it is possible for to dramatically reduce wait times. Response time or handle time is getting to be less of a concern if the problem gets resolved right. Connecting to the right agents with the right information eliminates the added step of transfers – a classic we all as customers have gone through.
- Convenience – AI driven self-service is gaining a lot of momentum in the market. Enabling customers to leverage self-service that works predictably and provides a seamless transfer to live agents will be a winning formula.
- Resolution to problems – Not all channels are equal and not all agents are equal. Resolving problems effectively is a measure of the both these factors – choosing the right channel of interaction to resolve the issue and routing to the best agent who can solve it. Advanced skills and behavioral routing connecting to the best agent, getting relevant customer data with native CRM integrations, as well as an ability to pivot to a channel that can best resolve an issue are critical to ensure complete resolution.
- Motivated and capable employees –Well trained employees with deep skills on specific domain are two key factors in ensuring customer requests are solved. Providing agents with simple and single desktop with integrated channels and applications goes a long way in motivating them and eliminating manual steps.
Start building a robust CX in your contact center and take the driver seat in building brand loyalty and revenue.
