Recession, economic downturn, decline in salaries and the rise in household bills are just some of the terms used daily across all media outlets to describe spending habits and the state of the UK economy. Whilst things are looking up, companies nationally have had to turn to other less-costly strategies to ensure customer retention and survival. Companies that have thrived during this period of hardship are those that have prioritised their customers’ experience to win their loyalty. Companies cannot always control customer spending decisions during these times, but they can offer them seamless interaction and an experience they won't forget.
Exceptional customer experience can be delivered in many forms depending on the company, but one of the best ways is to ensure people leave with a positive experience following contact with their supplier. With people being more considered and careful in how they spend their money, they are more likely to be directly vocal about any concerns they have, whether related to product or service. Unfortunately, customers do not accept any degradation in customer service simply because that company’s sales are decreasing.
Cloud based customer contact solutions have a place in all businesses, regardless of size, and can be an affordable aid to any company that wants to improve their customer's experience.
Here’s how contact centre solutions help with customer experience.
- Start at home – ensure a positive staff experience
If staff are happy, customers tend to receive better customer service. Having the right contact management software in place for staff to use is crucial when dealing with customers. Get an agent friendly solution that is developed with customer experience at its core and that understands the importance of first-time resolution.
- Choice - Make it easy for customers to contact you on the channels they want
Offer contact channels that suit the company and its customers. In a world where digital connectivity has become second nature, it has now become expected that companies offer digital channels as a contact mechanism, whilst still maintaining a place for the traditional phone call.
- Intelligence - Prioritise conversations and wait times
Customer experience is not just about the number of agents a company has working, but it is as much about how they set up and configure a solution to manage the inbound conversations. A solution needs to have the intelligent flexibility to create workflows that suit every company’s needs and the agility to direct a customer to the quickest resolution possible with as much supporting information as is available.
- Visibility - Be seen to be available 24/7
Not every company has a 24/7 operation, however customers now expect a service that allows them to contact a company at a time that suits them. A customer contact management solution should allow a company to provide automated resolution outside of core hours.
- Insight - Customer Experience solutions give you valuable and usable knowledge
Exceptional Customer experience is a competitive advantage. Building a long-term and trusted connection with a customer will pay dividends in the future. To stay ahead of the game however, companies need to continuously improve their experience with solutions that provide very necessary real-time monitoring, reporting and analytics.
If you would like to learn more about how a contact centre solution can improve your customer experience, please contact us today. The experience will be a good one.