The hottest trend in business today is what your call center is all about: extraordinary customer service. The writing is on the wall: By 2020, see a fast resolution as their #1 need. Customer experience will make you or break you, but what exactly do you need to do to keep your customers satisfied?
1. Phone is King, But it’s About to Get Dethroned
Hear ye, hear ye: As 2020 comes around, customers will still use the phone above any other channel.
Yes, they think it’s the best way to get issues resolved. No, they’re not happy about it. 41% of customers see a fast resolution as their #1 need from quality customer service. With standard IVRs not fitting 25% of US citizens and data missing from most contact points, customers really have no choice.
Their frustration increases when they wait on hold. About a third of customers believe companies should never put people on hold. Given the choice, 64% of consumers would gladly text with your agents instead. Its fits our lifestyle: Americans make 1-5 calls a day, but send and receive 60 texts on an average day.
2. Social Media Isn’t Hot, But if You Stay Away, You’ll Get Burned
Despite the hype, customer service via social media doesn’t seem to be picking up. Shockingly, only 3% of companies’ communications with customers is done on social networks.
That, of course, doesn’t keep customers from complaining about companies’ poor service on these platforms. If you’re not there, you can’t respond to their comments, rectify your brand image, or solve the actual issue to win back customers’ hearts.
If that’s not motivation enough, turns out the companies who do engage with customers on social media win big. 78.6% of salespeople who used social media to sell outperformed those who didn’t even back in 2012. Statista predicts that social selling will increase by 50% by the end of 2015: $30 billion worth of global sales will be tracked back to social media, versus $20 billion in 2014.
3. If You’re Not Everywhere, it Doesn’t Count
Simply adapting one or two strategies isn’t enough anymore. With so much choice around, customer expectations are high and you have the option to meet them or lose customers to competitors. 95% of customers use more than one channel to communicate with companies, so it’s time for a queen and she’s called omnichannel.
Make it easy for customers to channel hop as much as they want – by being consistent and offering continuity across contact points – and you’ll retain engaged customers who will go the distance with you.
Join us for expert advice on Omnichannel Customer Engagement
[About the author]
Dylon Mills is the Director of Marketing Content Strategy & Development at Jacada. As such, Dylon’s main responsibilities are to strategize, create and deliver content for Jacada’s product portfolio that align with the global Go-To-Market strategy, corporate positioning, and marketing campaigns. Dylon’s prior work experience includes Product Management at one of the top Fortune 500 Technology companies, Symantec Corporation. Outside of work, Dylon enjoys problem-solving and any project that includes building/tinkering with tools. Dylon holds a BS Consumer Economics from the University of Georgia.