How to… Reduce Customer Effort in 4 steps

We have seen how more and more companies are recognising the need to reduce the amount of effort customers must put in to deal with them.

What does this mean for the contact centre? Well, there are four steps any contact centre can take to immediately reduce the amount of effort it asks of its customers:

1) Offer all channels.

Don’t try to force customers to use one channel, arguing that you will be able to provide a superior service through that channel. Instead keep it simple for customers by allowing them to choose the channel that is easiest for them.

2) Introduce a unified desktop.

This gives agents a single, clear view of all customer information across all channels and so not only means customers don’t have to repeat their details every time they speak to a new person at your organisation, but also means agents spend less time opening and searching databases and more time trying to resolve the customer’s query.

3) Manage the customer journey.

Whenever a customer asks for something, think what their next request will be, and try to deal with it before they even have to ask. For example, if someone is calling to request a new SIM card for a new phone they wish to switch to, don’t just send them the SIM, ask them if their phone is unblocked already. Then send a confirmation email after the phone call with clear upgrade, and automatically send them a text the day they receive the SIM with instructions for switching.

4) Use Big Data.

Start making use of the wealth of data now available and the sophisticated analytics tools available to predict what customer needs, even before those customers are aware of them. For example, a sensor in a car tyre which is linked to the dealership that originally sold the car can tell that dealership that tyre pressure is dropping and so prompt the dealership to contact the customer suggesting they come in and get the tyre replaced.