Within the business world, one thing constantly under debate is how to acquire, retain and support customers.
Here are some ‘definitions’ of “Customer Experience Management (CEM)”:
- having a 360-degree view of customers to support marketing and sales decisions
- business process change
- reducing queuing times
- routing calls in a contact centre to the best agent to handle a call
- better structured customer self-service
- a unified desktop that supports agents as they handle calls
The purpose of CEM, quite simply, is to ensure that every customer interaction is handled as efficiently as possible but in a way that is most likely to result in an outcome that is positive for both the customer and the company.
Unified desktop
When handling calls, mature companies have implemented a unified desktop system that makes it much simpler for an agent to access all the applications and information they need from one single desktop. However, the most mature companies have gone one step further and replaced the agent’s user interface with one that mirrors more closely the flow of different call types, hides access to systems by automatically pushing or pulling data depending on the customer’s profile and pre-defined rules, and the context of the interaction, changing the information provided to the agent and in some circumstances recommending the next best action. Each of these steps not only reduces average call handling times but increases the effectiveness of the agent and thus improves the likely outcome of the interaction.
Self service not reducing volumes
Another area where companies have looked to improve their efficiency is by deflecting more calls to web-based self service. These sites need to be intuitive to use by deploying natural-language-based scripts and Q&A sessions that recognise the customer and alter the flow and responses accordingly, to prevent customers feeling the need to call in with a problem arising from the self service site.
Influencing the outcome of interactions
Influencing the outcome of interactions is achieved by two primary methods; routing interactions to the right agent, and personalising responses and information as the interaction is occurring.
Both require real-time access to a source of up-to-date customer information that includes all previous interactions (giving the context of the current interaction), event data such as birthdays, customer feedback information that indicates the likely demeanour and preferences of the customer, and profile data so where possible the customer does not have to re-enter data they have already supplied.
The real key is to use information to personalise how the interaction is handled, as it is being handled. This might take the form of more individualised responses from an agent as information is pushed to them by a “smart” desktop, changing the flow and responses on web-based self service, smarter IVR menus, or something as simple as auto-built but personalised responses to e-mails.
Personalising each interaction
The essence of customer experience management is personalising each interaction as it occurs, with a view to positively influencing the outcome. Although there is no guarantee that a good experience will make a customer stay loyal and buy again, it significantly raises the probability that they will.
Traditional measures should be retained:
- average handling time
- customer satisfaction
- net promoter scores
These should be supplemented with outcome measures:
- new net business by customer segment and channel
- net life-time customer values
Measures such as these will enable companies to judge the success of their interaction handling processes and point them to where they can improve the customer experience.
Source: Call Centre Helper. See full article by Richard J Snow of Ventana Research.
