Time to give the voice channel some va-va-voom

These days, every business knows how important it is to be innovative and leading edge in the way they deliver customer service. With so much competition out there and reduced consumer spending in these uncertain economic times, poor customer service can literally sink a business. If a customer has a bad experience, they won’t spend more or stick around. They may well tell all their Facebook friends and Twitter followers about the poor experience as well, just to rub salt in the wounds.

 

 

When you ask most customer service managers and directors about how they’re upping their game to respond to this challenge, many will be worrying about social media or expanding web self-service capabilities. It’s certainly true that companies must be aware of what is being said about them in the social media landscape, especially when things turn nasty.

 

 

It’s also true that by responding quickly to people who do use social media channels as their first choice they will surprise and delight some customers. But the vast majority of customers don’t start with a Tweet - they pick up the phone instead.

 

 

Voice is still the number one channel for customer service interactions, particularly when people are in a hurry.

 

Paradoxically however, given its importance, the voice channel has seen little or no innovation in the last 20 years, from the customer’s point of view at least. Instead companies have tended to focus on how they can handle the maximum number of calls with the minimum number of agents, regardless of what that does for the customer experience. They’ve often done this by burying the call centre number in their website, pushing you to the FAQ section instead and also by driving as many calls as possible through self service automated voice response menus.