But how can you truly connect with your customers and cater to their ever-evolving needs? The answer lies within the vast, untapped potential of your customer data. In this blog, we will explore how leveraging customer data can breathe new life into your customer journeys, enabling your organization to stay ahead of the curve and drive meaningful impact to deliver exceptional customer experiences (CX).

The Untapped Potential of Customer Data

Organizations collect a wealth of data at every customer touchpoint, from website interactions and social media engagements to purchase histories and support interactions. This treasure trove of information is not just raw data; it holds the key to understanding customers like never before.

By harnessing this data effectively, brands can uncover invaluable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and pain points. Armed with this knowledge, you can align your products and services to address genuine needs and desires, transforming your CX  into one that is truly customer-centric.

Unveiling the Customer Experience Patterns

Within your customer data are patterns waiting to be deciphered. Every interaction and every decision made by customers leaves behind digital footprints that form distinct patterns. By connecting these dots, you can gain a holistic view of a customer’s journey with your brand.

Understanding the touchpoints where they engage the most and the pain points that hinder their experiences can empower you to fine-tune your CX strategy. This insight ensures that your organization remains agile and adaptive to meet customer demands with precision.

Personalization: A Game Changer

In a world where customers seek authentic connections with brands, personalization becomes a game-changer. Customer data provides the necessary building blocks to craft personalized experiences that resonate with individual customers on a profound level.

From tailored product recommendations to targeted marketing campaigns, personalization demonstrates that your organization values each customer as a unique individual. The result? Heightened customer loyalty, increased engagement, and unparalleled customer satisfaction.

Predictive Insights for Proactive Engagement

Beyond understanding the past lies the power to shape the future. With advanced data analytics and predictive modeling, your organization can unlock the ability to anticipate customer needs and behaviors. By analyzing historical data, you can identify trends and patterns that foretell future demands.

Armed with this foresight, your organization can proactively engage with customers, providing timely support and offering relevant solutions before they even realize they need them. This level of proactive engagement not only streamlines operations but also fosters a deep sense of trust and loyalty among customers.

Overcoming Data Privacy Concerns

Prioritizing data privacy and security is key. Trust is the cornerstone of any successful customer relationship, and safeguardin

g their personal information is non-negotiable. Transparent communication about data usage, stringent adherence to privacy regulations, and implementing robust security measures demonstrate your commitment to protecting your customers’ trust and your brand’s reputation.

Building a Data-Centric Culture

To fully unlock the transformative power of customer data, building a data-centric culture is paramount. This requires more than just investing in data analytics tools; it demands a company-wide commitment to embracing data-driven decision-making. Encourage cross-functional collaboration, invest in training your teams to interpret and use data effectively, and implement data-driven KPIs.

When data becomes the guiding compass of your organization, you set the stage for constant innovation and an unwavering focus on delivering exceptional CX.

Embrace Customer Data, Embrace the Journey

As a CX leader, you hold the key to redefining customer journeys and unlocking success. By leveraging the untapped potential of your customer data, your organization can gain profound insights, unveil patterns, and craft personalized experiences that resonate deeply with your customers.

Embracing the power of predictive analytics can help you stay one step ahead and foster a culture that values data-driven decision-making.

The post Redefining Customer Journeys: The Power of Leveraging Customer Data appeared first on Execs In The Know.

1. Don’t Overthink or Overspend: Keep Your Focus on What Impacts Customer Loyalty

According to recent Gartner research, a reactive CX strategy focused on “fixing” customer experience issues, or even just refining them, does not lead to increased customer satisfaction rates. So, while you should still look at customer data and survey results, often what seems like a problem is actually negligible in the grand scheme of your customer’s perception of your brand. Instead, focus on where it counts most – and where it can make the most impact.

According to Gartner, that focus is “innovating salient experiences linked to product experience… to achieve true differentiation.”

In other words: updates and upgrades to the way your customers experience your product or service are most impactful when it comes to customer loyalty, accounting for over 36% of increase in loyalty. The bottom line is this: once the basics of your CX program are met, the real focus should be in CX initiatives that enhance the product experience, which will in turn strengthen customer loyalty.

2. Reassess Your KPIs & Rebuild Your Journey Maps

When was the last time you assessed your North Star KPIs or rebuilt your customer journey maps? As consumer habits shift, you need to consistently be re-evaluating your measurement tools and benchmarks. Not only will this ensure you’re meeting the needs of your customers, but it also generates efficiency in how you apply your CX resources.

For example: while you might have historically cracked down on AHT, new data may reveal that more personalized (and longer) interactions with your customers may drive higher levels of satisfaction. Making strategic training investments in this area will then generate higher ROI and better CSAT.

How old are your customer journey maps? Your customers are facing the same economic volatility you are, and the ways in which they engage with your brand – and their needs – may be shifting. As a critical first step to understanding your customers biggest needs and challenges, accurate customer journey (and friction) mapping is essential to triangulating your best-path CX strategy.

3. Get Smart About VoC and Business Intelligence

Capturing, understanding, and acting on customer sentiment is critical to properly understanding your customer journey, and where to focus your CX strategy.

• Reignite Your Voice of Customer (VoC) and Survey Program: For a business to create a successful VoC program that actually tells them something valuable, you’ll need consistent insights coming in through as many channels as possible in order to capture the most data, from the most customer types, at different junctures of their journeys with your brand. While you might already use questionnaires or surveys, consider adding additional elements to your VoC program to create a more robust feedback engine. Consider elements like:
  • SMS Surveys
  • 5-Star Surveys
  • Social media monitoring
  • Text & Sentiment Analytics
  • Email surveys
• Build Better Business Intelligence: Business Intelligence is one of the single most important investments you can make in your CX program – and right now, most of your competitors are probably lacking. That’s why you can’t afford to. In fact, 99% of contact centers don’t think their data intelligence strategy currently meets business needs. By harnessing the power of BI and data analytics, you can see the actual breakpoints and pain points in your customer journey, and it’s the only way to build a truly customer-centric program.

4. Empower The Employee Experience

The Great Resignation hasn’t shown any signs of letting up in 2022 and CX programs will continue to contend with an ongoing war for the best talent in an industry already known for its battles with turnover and attrition. Not to mention, replacing a representative is costly. Gartner research puts the price tag at $14,113 per agent.

Largely, most organizations need to focus on engagement. Gartner research found that only one-third of contact center agents are engaged, and those who are not are 84% more likely to search for another job. A Gallup Poll showed that engagement could improve turnover rates in businesses up to 43%.

So why is engagement so low, and retention following suit? Consider the full employee experience:

• Pay & Benefits: The desire to better their paychecks and benefits package, especially during a period of inflation, could be alluring to your agents. Consider if you are competitively compensating your contact center agents – raising pay and/or providing better agent benefits is likely cheaper than replacing them entirely if they leave.
• Career Advancement: You are more likely to see CX agent retention improve when agents can see a career path in your contact center. CX leaders should consider prioritizing promoting from within. For example, create a portal for agents to apply for internal openings that is separate from the one you use for external hires.
• Assist Technologies: Consider technology additions that will help to ramp your agents quickly, set them up for success, and keep tabs on contact center performance with consistent improvement over time, such as:
  • Training simulators that onboard new agents and upskill existing agents to learn new skills in simulated environments.
  • Personalized coaching technologies to seamlessly track, measure, and act on agent performance needs on an individualized basis and identify personalized KPIs and goals.
  • Gamification solutions that integrate real-time coaching and analytics with gamification and incentives have benefits for agents and supervisors alike. Agents are in it to win it, literally, when they are rewarded for their performance. Supervisors are armed with performance data and more engaged agents.

5. Re-evaluate Your BPO or CX Partner For Agility & Flexibility

If you’re not sure whether your CX outsourcer is delivering the quality and results you need, think about what your new CX goals are, and who might be best poised to help you achieve them. Consider what technologies they have available, who their clients are and what industries they play in, and how their strategies, vision, and values align with your own. Here’s our must-have list for any CX partnership:

• Robust Digital and Omnichannel Support
• The Makeup of Their Agent Workforce (Try to secure a team of digitally-native agents)
• An elite selection of technology tools and offerings
• How flexible a partner can be, and how ready they are to face the unexpected
• The more secure and crisis-ready, the better

As the world shifts into increasing levels of uncertainty, it’s vitally important to start building a CX strategy designed for volatility.  In times of economic uncertainty, sticking to a core focus around what success means to you (your KPIs), who your partners are, and how you’re engaging your customers and employees, is a sure way to keep your program focused and ready to withstand any ups and downs ahead.

Guest blog post written by ibex. To learn more about this topic and others, visit our events page to check out upcoming events.

The post Best Practices for Protecting Your CX Program During Economic Volatility appeared first on Execs In The Know.

However, one thing has become a clear trend in the wake of the pandemic (can we say wake yet?): assisted service has a distinctly digital path forward. The long-standing love/hate relationship with live chat seems to be in a love phase once again. Customers and service organizations are increasingly utilizing the channel, fueled by a desire amongst younger generations to communicate in non-voice mediums. Live chat as a stand-alone is, however, becoming rapidly obsolete, being replaced with messaging that supports a variety of digital communications. How humans connect has also changed, by the end of 2021 over 90 percent of the global internet population use a mobile device to go online according to Statista.

This move toward digital communication has put a feeling of disconnection in the relationship between brands and their customers at a time when they’re critical to growth objectives. This relationship is increasingly at risk as costs of switching brands continue to decline. So how can you keep connected with customers in this digital-first age?

If customer service is to transform from “necessary but unsightly cost-center” to “center stage in the company growth strategy” we must be willing to embrace digital-first connection and focus on creating continuous conversations which are driven by contextual data. In order to fulfill our potential as a growth lever, service leaders must harness these four approaches to deliver value to customers in the digital world:

1. Pursue a Human-Centric Technology Strategy

Technology has always existed to enable humans to achieve outcomes faster and easier. At some point, we diverged from this mission and many in the service industry sought to replace humans with technology. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the application of chatbots and virtual assistants. While these technologies hold immense potential to improve our organizations, that will be achieved through reduction of redundant and low-value tasks and enablement of better human-to-human connections. The next phase of improvements should begin from the inside-out, focusing investments on the agent experience and identifying the roadblocks that get in the way of your agents building or deepening relationships with your customers. Begin by observing agent workflows and noting when they’re focused on the screen/system/tab instead of the customer. For many customers, that interaction with your agent could be the only time they truly engage with your company, and you want your agent’s attention to be entirely on the customer.

2. Put Your Data into Action

It’s no secret that an experience which feels tailored to the customer’s needs is better. When companies are able to show customers that they understand their situation and educate them on the ROI of being a customer, not only is the experience lower effort but it’s also higher value to the customer (and company).

To create personalized experiences brands must be able to acknowledge past contacts, reference context on their relationship and recommend relevant next steps; in other words it needs to be driven by data. But even more importantly, customer data needs to be presented to agents in ways they can actually use. Information such as a timeline of recent contacts (with access to notes), the last few purchases and overall customer spend, must be embedded within your agent interface to be useful. But data should not just flow into customer conversations, each interaction presents an opportunity to learn insights which can be used well beyond customer service. Analysis of customer intents should lead other parts of the business to investigate root causes and make fixes. Changes in customer sentiment or perceived personal ROI should be used to create more effective Marketing messages. And customer frustrations with products or policies should lead to changes. When brands put their data into action, using insights to teach customers how to maximize the value they get from the products or services on offer, customer trust and confidence grows. When customers trust your brand, they stay longer, spend more and happily tell others about your brand, the trifecta of customer loyalty.

3. Create a Dialogue

In the digital-first world, service cannot be transactional, and customers do not appreciate when they’re treated as tickets (really, they never have). As new means of communication have been introduced into the market customers have tried, and will continue to try, each and every way of connecting with a company. Unfortunately, as new channels have been added, they’ve often been added as “bolt-ons” creating silos in both our customer and agent experiences. Customers using many different channels is not necessarily a bad thing, it only becomes a high-effort experience when it feels fractured, with customers frequently stopping and starting (over) on their journey to resolution. Leaders must embrace this journey and view their contacts as an ongoing dialogue, the simple back-and-forth which happens in any other type of relationship. Humans today communicate in fluid ways. Imagine texting a friend, getting to a point in the conversation where it just makes more sense to give them a call, but when you do, they have no idea what you were texting about. That’s often what it feels like to customers who need (for a multitude of reasons) to “pick resolution up” at a later time. Perhaps the issue required some investigation on your part. Or the customer had to go pickup their child from school during the middle of a chat conversation. Creating an ongoing conversation means that customers & agents must be able to flow between channels without losing a step. Taking a channel-agnostic view of your customers is a good start to avoiding siloed contacts. This will allow your organization agility in workflows and workforce – quickly able to meet shifting customer needs and transition conversations from one channel to another. Such an approach should also focus on easily adjustable customer flow builders, options for “same agent” routing and embedded contextual information to make conversations personal.

 4. Get Proactive!

Though customers may not be asking for you to reach out to them, they value proactive service when they get it. Proactive outreach puts the company in the driver’s seat, giving leaders control over the conversation and potential avenues to engage with customers. In line with approach #2 above, service leaders should be utilizing their customer data platform to identify opportunities to engage customers with service agents. The best use cases for proactive contact will not be surprising: solving problems customers are not yet aware of (or where they have not taken any action) and teaching customers to appreciate unused aspects of your products. In both cases, an initial digital outreach is the most logical first step. Leaders should have predefined, and measurable, actions which they would like to achieve through proactive contact. This should include both a company-preferred channel path which can be self-service, assisted or some combination of both. Company outreach should be triggered by some type of action, or inaction, by the customer. For example, you’re a meal-box delivery service, and begin noticing a spike in contacts about an ingredient in your latest box; let’s say it was an unfamiliar ingredient. Despite the spike in volume, it’s more likely that you’re not hearing from even half the customers experiencing this issue. Adding an automated email to “impacted” customers, with assurances on the ingredient, and a clear pathway for the customer to take action (such as a replacement ingredient) will build customer confidence, even if no action is taken.

While many customer service norms have changed in the transition to a digital-first world, one thing has remained constant. Great service is built on a foundation of clear communication, helpful humans, and easy resolution. Keeping these principles at the forefront of your strategy will help you to build long-lasting relationships with your customers, no matter what new technological advancements come next.

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Guest blog post written by Dixa. To learn more about this topic and others, visit our events page to check out upcoming events.

The post 4 Ways to Keep Connected in the Digital-First Era appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Research shows that customer operations leaders in large organizations rely on an average of 175 SaaS applications to manage their CX workflows remotely. But often, they do not take the time to evaluate how well these apps work together to create the “flow” that’s crucial to a “workflow.” With little insight into how their processes and technologies are affecting agent productivity, leaders are missing opportunities to improve their efficiency and drive better results.

To address the situation, many companies are looking at tools like Fin’s Work Insight Platform. Tools that solve the problem by providing measurable productivity insights (especially those that reveal how agents really work across SaaS applications) empower CX leaders, enabling more agile customer operations teams, which customers love.

At Execs In The Know’s Customer Response Summit event in March, Fin executives Evan Cummack (CEO) and Charlene Wang (VP of Marketing) led an interactive workshop providing unique insights into how organizations can use program data to understand and improve the performance of their CX and operations teams. As a part of the session, Evan and Charlene shared how companies are currently gathering and utilizing data, while also outlining next-level best practices for how to use data to scientifically improve training, processes, technology, and automation.

The session addressed and answered questions, such as:

• How can CX and operations leaders use data to improve their processes?
• How can you turn agent insights into quantifiable action?
• How can process data power improvements in core areas, like agent training and coaching?
• How can program data be used to identify inefficient processes and technology and drive change?

In most cases, the customer request resolution process is not a linear one. It’s complicated by unnecessary steps and impeded by distractions. This makes it important to find a solution that cuts through all this complexity to provide measurable and actionable insights for CX teams. Additionally, a solution should be easy to install like Fin’s browser plugin which reveals how agents work across applications, enabling better coaching, processes, and technology, leading to greater efficiency and improved CX outcomes.

Unlock More Productive Teams with the CX and Customer Operations Benchmark Report

Did you miss the session? Here’s a recap.

Tens of millions of hours of real-world data captured by the Work Insights Platform has been compiled in Fin’s CX Insider Report: Customer Operations Benchmarks for 2022, which details industry standards around a number of key metrics, including handle time, data loss, agent utilization, and policy adherence.

Here are a few highlights:

• An average CX employee spends only 66% of their day actively working to resolve cases or tickets
• 26% of cases require 5 or more human touchpoints
• 10% of cases require 11 or more interactions to resolve
• A majority of cases require at least 4 unique applications to solve
• A clear correlation between slower page load times and lower agent utilization
• CX agents in the top quartile need less than 3 minutes on average to solve a ticket

Comparing the benchmark statistics in the report to the data received from the Work Insights Platform allows customer operations leaders to evaluate their own processes and identify those that could be improved for greater efficiency and better outcomes.

Download your copy of Fin’s Customer Operations Benchmark ebook now.

Did you know that more than 53% of ticket inefficiencies are the result of poor process definition, under-training, and insufficient knowledge resource management? For more insights like this, gathered from millions of hours of real-world data, and to discover Five Key Strategies to Maximize your Operational Efficiency in 2022, download Fin’s ebook here.

Guest blog post written by Fin. To learn more about this topic and others, visit our events page to check out upcoming events.

The post Revealed: How to Use Data to Transform Agent Actions into Operational ROI appeared first on Execs In The Know.

CLV is a great way to keep track of your customers’ overall perception of your brand, but it can also serve to signal gaps in the omnichannel customer experience, revenue you may be leaving on the table, improvements that can be made in marketing, and more. In order for your team to make the most of this valuable metric, you will need to know both what it is and precisely why it should be used.

Customer lifetime value use cases

Customer lifetime value is the kind of metric you should turn to if you are unsure of the cost you would incur in attracting or retaining customers and would like to ground your strategy in the knowledge that your efforts would produce tangible profits. For instance, CLV can clarify how much money you can expect to make from a single customer (or a highlighted group of customers) over a given period of time. This makes adjusting marketing and retention efforts easier as you can avoid overspending for limited ROI.

Another way that you can use CLV to better your business is by dividing your user base into segments and identifying your highest value customers. Once you have identified the customers who represent the bulk of your business’s annual profits, you can better adapt your business practices to favor them instead of engaging in unnecessary spending to attract customers that do not deliver the kind of revenue your company depends on. CLV’s utility extends beyond basic budgeting concerns, though – you can also leverage insights gleaned from your CLV figures to focus on products your customers want most. Consolidating product lines in this way to match the most prominent interests of your customers can make a big difference in your business’s performance.

Why measure customer lifetime value?

CLV may appear to be closely related to other metrics, such as net promoter score (NPS) and CSAT (customer satisfaction), on the surface. However, since it is based on concrete figures and revenue instead of the opinions implied by net promoter scores and CSAT measurements, CLV can contribute precise insights into the real impact different customer segments have on your company’s performance.

CLV can be used to determine not only which customers are creating the most revenue for your business, but also whether the lower value customers cost more to keep or acquire. These details are critical for strategizing your company’s future development.

How to boost customer lifetime value

Driving better CLV results comes down to balancing improvement with customer communication. Customers will respond to well-executed product and service improvements favorably in many cases, so long as you take the time to communicate such improvements to them.

Improvements can be introduced at nearly any stage of the customer journey to boost CLV. For instance, simplifying your returns policy, setting up a rewards program, or even simply keeping in touch with your customers over the long term with relevant offers and upsells can make a noticeable difference in customer lifetime value.

Using customer lifetime value for call centers

CLV has its place in any organization, including within the scope of a call center’s operations. There are numerous facets of a business’s operations that call centers and contact centers support and CLV can be applied across many of these to provide critical insights into the call center’s overall performance. The customer-facing support side of call center operations alone benefits greatly from the use of CLV to help determine whether customers are satisfied with the level of service or quality of the product they have received. For example, high retention costs caused by a multitude of support requests could suggest a change in service or product design is in order.

Customer lifetime value makes keeping track of the total value derived from your current customer base much more straightforward. By using this metric correctly, you can keep your organization on the right track towards sustainable growth, rooted in the interests of your most valuable customers.

Guest blog post written by Callminer. To learn more about this topic and others, visit our events page to check out upcoming events.

The post What Is Customer Lifetime Value? appeared first on Execs In The Know.

CRS Clearwater was attended by an impassioned and enthusiastic group of some of the customer experience (CX) industry’s best and brightest, and the event featured more than a dozen sessions including keynote presentations, discussion panels, and informative breakout sessions and workshops, as well as ample opportunity for professional networking and socializing.

If you were able to join us for this special event, you know exactly how valuable these sessions were. But if you were not able to attend, now’s your chance to catch up on the conversation with the following keynote session synopses, along with a dozen or so key takeaways.

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How Beachbody Became a Digital-First Company

Presented By: Todd Montgomery, Executive Vice President, The Beachbody Company

Synopsis:

Beginning in 2014, Todd Montgomery and team began a journey of robust transformation. This change has since yielded a more responsive, more consistent customer care experience, along with improved performance across several key metrics like average speed of answer, customer satisfaction (CSAT), and Net Promoter Score (NPS). All while lowering costs, improving the agent experience, and creating greater internal accountability.  Not to mention this was all accomplished amid a global pandemic.

Todd’s keynote kickoff told a compelling story about the value of investing in technologies like self-service solutions and better agent tools, while always maintaining a focus on the customer experience. Through thoughtful scaling, careful and ongoing assessment, and a data-driven, results-minded approach, Todd and team are already checking the box on many objectives, while constantly assessing and looking toward what’s next.

Key Takeaways:

• Prioritize identifying and tackling pain points, focusing on those things that drive the most volume
• Invest in areas that allow you to leverage your program data (including Voice of the Customer) to create more efficient experiences for customers
• Implement and experiment with tools and solutions that can simultaneously automate and improve the customer experience

How Fanatics Activated Its CX Data Superpowers

Presented By: Carolyne Truelove, Head of Global Fan Experience, Fanatics

Synopsis:

As the ultimate one-stop sports fan destination with a database of more than 80 million global customers, the Fanatics brand is working with a wealth of data, and actively using it to field a team of data superheroes. Together, this team is united with a shared goal of improving the customer experience right across the enterprise. Faithfully following where the data leads has already unleashed many performance and cost improvement victories, including steadily decreasing Contacts Per Order, fewer escalations, and lower costs.

By focusing on the right metrics, harnessing data to better understand the customer, and tirelessly championing the cause in a way that informs and unites, a data-driven strategy can produce profound results. By approaching CX with a fan’s passion, Carolyne and team are turning data insights into heroic moments — all in the spirit of a mission to serve.

Key Takeaways:

• Data is a powerful mover of meaningful change when leveraged correctly and consistently, and the data always tells a story when seeking investment and support
• Feedback is a gift that should be both treasured and acted upon
• Strong internal partnerships and centralized metrics are the keys to unlocking support for not only a single powerful superhero, but a powerful super team

Embracing a Commitment to Employee Success

Presented By: Teresa Ignacio, Vice President, Client Care Managed Services, Visa

Presented By: Mike Jones, Senior Director – Customer Care, The Home Depot

Synopsis:

Teresa Ignacio and Mike Jones lit up the stage, evangelizing the critical importance of creating better employee experiences. Although each told a slightly different story, the themes remained the same. The employee experience was nothing short of a rallying point, one for effective deployment of improvement efforts — the type that can have a multiplicative effect. By supporting a drive for greater employee success, each leader demonstrated how their efforts were empowering an ingredient essential in the recipe for customer success.

The world has undergone significant change, and contact center agents have been asked to handle challenges unimaginable only a couple of years ago. While the foundations of the past may have been a good starting point, they weren’t designed to address all the employee needs that have arisen in our new normal. Contact centers have been impacted in ways large and small, and forward-thinking companies have responded with greater flexibility, awareness, and dedication to their most important asset — their people.

Key Takeaways:

• The employee experience is multifaceted … many critical areas need to be addressed like career development, engagement, and work environment
• Investing in employees (and the tools and technologies that support employees) is one of the single best investments that can be made in the CX space
• Leadership approach, processes, and policies must all be flexible enough to change with the times and evolving consumer expectations

CX Transformation Secret Revealed: The Hero Is Your Customer!

Presented By: Jen Johnson, Senior Vice President of Business Transformation, Frontier

Synopsis:

Transformation isn’t easy, but it’s almost always essential. And if done correctly, the rewards go far beyond the bottom line. Frontier has undergone many transformations in its nearly 90-year history. But its most recent transformation has led Frontier toward a path of truly putting the customer first, taking center stage in everything the organization does.

Jen shares her thoughts on the compelling narrative of “the customer as the hero,” and how such an approach inevitably leads to positive experiences for Frontier customers. Naturally, it’s a long-term investment, and not necessarily an easy sell. But with the help of true CX champions, alignment up and down the organization, perseverance, and a common language of “speaking customer,” a cultural shift isn’t only possible, it’s inevitable.

Key Takeaways:

• Every customer is a mighty advocate, just needing the right experience to become activated
• Organizational alignment is a massive enabler in achieving transformational success
• The process is not always easy, and it takes some honest self-reflection to get there

Our Next Event Is Closer Than You Might Think

Catching up on an event by reading these sorts of post-event blog posts might be the next best thing to attending, but it’s a far cry from the experience of attending an Execs In the Know CRS event. That’s why we invite you to consider joining us during our next CRS event, taking place in Coronado, California, October 24–26, 2022.

To learn more about CRS Coronado, or register for this highly anticipated event, take a moment to visit us at the CRS Coronado web page.

The post It’s A Wrap: Insights from Four CRS Clearwater Keynote Presentations appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Yet, surprisingly few product and CX teams have this ability today.

The most successful product and CX organizations enable their teams to deeply study each customer journey in order to understand the most granular drivers of engagement. These companies remove barriers between teams and their ability to ask complex questions from all their customer event data quickly and iteratively. To enable this fluidity of analysis, they remove the drag created by data dependencies between product, service, marketing, and data science teams in order to put the right data at the fingertips of CX teams.

Equipped with the right data and the right tools, product and CX teams have the opportunity to fully understand the customer experience. This doesn’t just mean graphs of aggregates and averages. The right data includes every single individual interaction from a single user click through the entire customer journey. Product and CX teams need to very closely explore and observe which customer interactions are correlated with success and which ones lost interest. With this understanding, product and CX teams can understand more about why customers do what they do, discover opportunities to serve them better, and quickly tailor their products and services to do so.

Read on to find out how product and CX teams can easily accomplish this with a robust, unified customer experience analytics platform.

Productizing success with flows and segmentation

We’ve seen firsthand how some of the most innovative product and CX teams leverage CX analytics—including segmentation, user flows, and cohort analysis to drive product enhancements. For example, a product or CX team can use segmentation capabilities to pinpoint their most successful users. They can then utilize flow engines to deeply examine differences in the patterns of behavior between power users and those who engage less.

After tailoring their definition of engagement–not a canned, inflexible one–these teams can discover that a successful and specific action most associated with an engaged customer was that they followed a specific news feed on their mobile app. With this insight, a product and service team can double down to find out more about how power users remained engaged if they followed one, two, or three specific feeds on their first day.

Using A/B testing analysis, teams can also deduce whether a user following three feeds and sharing content with at least one friend would almost certainly be a long-term, engaged power user. Product and CX teams can leverage this information to optimize their sharing capabilities and redesign the onboarding experience to make these features more prominent. In doing so, a brand can design its product to encourage users to engage in content, select feeds that interest them, and share the news with at least one friend.

You don’t know what you don’t know

The magic in self-service behavioral analysis is that all teams have the ability to freely think of new questions and answer them without being encumbered by different teams or limited systems.

Data science team and developers can’t continually instrument your platform with new frameworks and tools to collect data for the questions you haven’t yet formed. And yet domain experts–product managers, designers, developers–are the ones who need to ask questions.

To get to the most interesting answers–the most valuable insights–you need to let specific customer actions guide your questions. You want to continue getting more details and get closer to the root cause until you have actionable answers and information. You don’t want to trust your gut or opinion. You don’t want developers to have to change data pipelines to find answers. You don’t want engineering to have to re-instrument the entire application. You want to remove all the obstacles and be able to answer your own questions and get answers fast.

It’s simple, in theory

Viewing CX as a product means understanding fundamental concepts of corporate strategies–products should be customer-driven, built specifically to address needs that have yet to be met, and continuing to enhance the features that provide value.

This is where the theoretical becomes more complex–creating a data-driven, high-value customer experience means championing a dramatic culture shift. First, as with any new directive, a passionate executive is needed to position the core elements of adopting a new product or service: infrastructure, resources, and the charter to deliver. These requirements apply directly to the product as well, though the immediate differentiator becomes the size of the company using the product. If the product is, say, the ocean, then the size of the company determines the type of sailing vessels populating that ocean–it’s far more difficult and time-consuming to steer a cruise ship (like a Fortune 100 company), than it is to steer a jet ski (like a new startup). In fact, digitally native startups often consider designing CX before the company is even launched! Both boats are en route to their destination, but at different speeds, using different methods to get there safely and in style.

Asking the right questions and building a seamless CX

Small and large companies alike are both vying for customer attention and loyalty, but have to go about earning it in vastly different ways. Some of the world’s top companies are riding the crest of the CX wave–integrating and utilizing detailed analytics to change how enterprises collaborate. The effectiveness is apparent, as businesses are combining daily, easy-to-use analytics while simultaneously keeping a watchful eye on customer interactions. All in a quest to discover, simply, what works, and why.

To determine this, businesses must be able to ask the right questions in order to quickly locate and deal with inefficiencies. There’s simply no faster way to get things done. Once a company or business jumps down the CX rabbit hole, results are shared among employees, and momentum, as well as adoption rates, spread like wildfire through each and every department.

In today’s digital economy, seamlessness is a keyword that drives businesses forward. Think about it. How often have you added items to your digital cart, only to abandon the purchase? How many times have you abandoned an app because of glitches or imperfections, in search of a new one? The customer experience must be seamless–the smallest misstep or source of confusion on the customer end is enough to end the experience altogether.

To illustrate the importance of this concept, think about your favorite mobile application. There’s got to be a myriad of factors that make you return and engage with it repeatedly–familiarity, ease of use, intuitive interface, trust in secure payments–the list goes on and on. What’s great about software in this new digital age is that all applications are iterative–developers are working on improving the product as you continue to use it.

This is why, in 2022, CX is everyone’s job. From design to development, from marketing to sales, from support to finance–it’s vital that everyone understands what their customers do, how they act, what they buy, engage in, and share. This has never been more critical.

Leveraging CXA platforms, like Scuba

When businesses can simply focus on knowing more, they can then transition that focus to solving problems, fixing inefficiencies, improving experiences, and making the CX intent crystal clear to customers. Scuba Analytics helps brands and their team accomplish exactly that.

Scuba Analytics is a self-service CXA continuous intelligence platform that gives every team the agency to run no-code queries, drill into customer journeys, and track a brand’s most important KPIs.

Industry leaders are transforming their businesses for better and for always–it just takes the right mindset, a commitment to cultural change, a team of focused individuals, and, arguably most importantly, the right platform.

 Check out Scuba CEO Tony Ayaz’s presentation — Transform Data Insights into Powerful Customer Experiences—where he’ll dive into some of these topics in more detail.

Guest post written by: Scuba Analytics. To learn more about this and other critical CX topics, register for Execs In The Know’s Customer Response Summit Clearwater .

The post The Customer Experience Is Your Most Important Product appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Enter customer journey analytics: a solution that eliminates data silos and combines otherwise segmented data to empower marketers to improve the customer experience throughout the entire customer journey, from end to end. Here’s what you need to know about customer journey analytics, its benefits, and how it works.

Definition of Customer Journey Analytics

Customer journey analytics typically refers to software that enables companies to manage the customer experience across all channels and touchpoints. According to G2 Crowd, customer journey analytics software “tracks, weaves together, and analyzes customer interactions across all channels so that businesses can react in real time and execute behavior-driven strategies.”

Today’s consumers engage with businesses through a growing number of channels, creating a complex web of customer touchpoints. Customer interactions at each of these touchpoints can have a significant impact on the overall customer experience. What’s more, experiences at various touchpoints can be influenced by previous interactions customers have had with your business. Having insight into not only the touchpoints through which customers engaged with your brand but also customer sentiment, behavior, and emotions is crucial for businesses to provide seamless, omnichannel customer experiences throughout the customer journey.

By aggregating structured and unstructured data from every customer touchpoint, customer journey analytics provides a comprehensive, end-to-end view of the journey your customers take from the first introduction to post-purchase experiences. Armed with these insights, organizations can make data-driven decisions about the next best action to achieve the desired outcome, whether that means making a sale, resolving a customer concern, or preventing customer churn.

Customer Journey Mapping vs. Customer Journey Analytics

Customer journey analytics is not the same as customer journey mapping. While customer journey mapping is the process of creating a visual map or representation of the touchpoints throughout the buyer’s journey, customer data analytics connects data from those touchpoints across all channels over time. That said, customer journey mapping is a valuable precursor to customer journey analytics.

Having end-to-end visibility into the touchpoints through which customers can engage with your organization and the likely path they’ll take throughout the customer journey provides valuable context to customer data. Analyzing data from every customer touchpoint over time gives organizations insight into how certain customer behaviors influence business outcomes. This visibility can help businesses identify the best actions to take based on where the customer currently is along the customer journey, where they’re likely to go next, and your business objectives.

How Customer Journey Analytics Works

Customer journey analytics solutions are used to track and monitor customer behavior across multiple channels, from the first introduction to a brand or company throughout the entire relationship. Because the customer journey doesn’t end with the purchase, customer analytics solutions go past the point of purchase to monitor and analyze behavior through customer service interactions and beyond.

Traditionally, businesses relied on customer feedback tools such as customer satisfaction surveys to gauge how well the organization is meeting customers’ needs. When considered along with metrics such as customer churn, organizations can infer that declining customer satisfaction contributed to an increase in customer churn, but the insights end there. The business doesn’t have any information to indicate the specific customer behaviors leading up to customer churn or the interactions customers had with the business that resulted in declining customer satisfaction. In other words, businesses would know that their customers are less satisfied than they were before and some are leaving as a result, but they don’t know why—or what they can do to change those outcomes.

One hallmark of customer journey analytics is that it combines both quantitative and qualitative data. It allows companies to identify the customer journeys that have the biggest impact on specific business goals – such as increasing revenue or reducing customer churn – and making data-driven decisions designed to influence those outcomes. For instance, a company might identify a key set of touchpoints the majority of leads visit immediately prior to making a purchase, and then leverage this insight to better optimize interactions at those touchpoints to increase the percentage of leads that convert to customers. Alternatively, marketers could optimize the path to purchase by driving more leads to those key touchpoints.

How is Customer Journey Analytics Different from Other Analytics Tools?

Most businesses today understand the value of analytics solutions to provide insight into practically every business function, from marketing to customer support. The widespread adoption of business analytics has led to myriad analytics tools and solutions, which can be overwhelming for organizations trying to determine what type of analytics solution they need for their particular use case.

Customer journey analytics differs from other types of analytics solutions in that it aggregates data from a variety of touchpoints over time. Other analytics solutions, such as marketing analytics solutions, focus more on business outcomes like campaign performance without providing insight into the customer experience. Some inferences can be made from this data, such as increased conversion rates indicating that customers are largely satisfied. However, customer journey analytics goes beyond the surface to provide insight into what the customer experienced, their emotions and sentiment at each touchpoint throughout the journey and what interactions had the largest impact on customer behavior.

That’s not to say that marketing analytics and other types of analytics solutions aren’t useful and don’t have their place. But for organizations that want to eliminate data silos and delve deep into customer behavior, customer sentiment, and customer satisfaction at each and every interaction throughout the customer journey, customer journey analytics provides the end-to-end visibility businesses need to drive business performance.

Benefits of Customer Journey Analytics

By combining data about customer behavior with marketing metrics, companies gain a better understanding of customer needs and wants, as well as actionable insights that can inform decision-making.

What’s more, customer journey analytics enables companies to better forecast and predict customer behavior based on data gained through historical interactions and similar messaging at various touchpoints.

Customer journey analytics helps companies answer questions such as:

• What’s the best time to engage a particular customer?
• What channels are best for engaging with a certain customer segment – or even individual customer?
• Which types of customers (personas) are most likely to take a given path to purchase?
• Which channels or touchpoints are customers most likely to result in a purchase?
• Which channels or touchpoints do customers visit most often before churning?

Armed with answers to these and other important questions, companies can make data-driven decisions to directly influence outcomes, such as intervening with targeted customer service efforts when a customer is following a likely path to churn.

Best Practices for Customer Journey Analytics

To get the most from customer journey analytics, follow these best practices.

• Start with a customer journey map. If you don’t know what touchpoints your customers interact with, how can you be sure you’re getting data from the crucial stages throughout the buyer’s journey? Every touchpoint and interaction customers have with your business influence decisions.
• Listen to your customers. Don’t ignore qualitative data, and don’t choose a customer journey analytics solution that deals only with quantitative data. Otherwise, you’ll be missing an important piece of the puzzle.
• Use customer journey analytics to create personalized experiences at scale. While customer journey analytics can provide insight into the types of customers more likely to take a particular path to purchase – or which types of customers are most likely to churn after a negative customer service interaction – the real power of customer journey analytics lies in the ability to create one-of-a-kind experiences catered to every individual and maximize.
• Choose a customer journey analytics solution that learns over time. A customer journey analytics solution that leverages AI and machine learning becomes more valuable over time, as historical data informs forecasts to better predict which customers are most likely to take specific actions next.

Today’s customer journeys cross multiple channels and involve more touchpoints than ever before. Ordinary analytics solutions provide valuable insights, but this data exists in silos. By combining your data across channels over time with customer journey analytics, you’ll get a more complete picture of your customers to better predict and influence outcomes.

Are you using customer journey analytics to break down data silos? What benefits will your company gain from customer journey analytics?

About CallMiner

CallMiner is the global leader in conversation analytics to drive business performance improvement. Powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, CallMiner delivers the industry’s most comprehensive platform to analyze omnichannel customer interactions at scale, allowing organizations to interpret sentiment and identify patterns to reveal deep understanding from every conversation. By connecting the dots between insights and action, CallMiner enables companies to identify areas of opportunity to drive business improvement, growth and transformational change more effectively than ever before. CallMiner is trusted by the world’s leading organizations across retail, financial services, healthcare and insurance, travel and hospitality, and more. 

Guest post written by: CallMiner. To learn more about this and other critical CX topics, register for Execs In The Know’s Customer Response Summit Clearwater .

The post What is Customer Journey Analytics? appeared first on Execs In The Know.

If you have yet to tune in to the Fall 2021 CRS virtual event, you can watch many sessions on-demand. Registration is simple, free, and it takes only a minute to get immediate online access to this insightful content.

Earlier this month, we shared some powerful insights from the event’s five keynote presentations as a part of a five-part blog series. Now we add to those valuable insights with the following highlights from the event’s six inspiring panel discussions and one intriguing case study.

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The Rise of the CCO

Moderator:
Mike McCarron, Gladly

Panelists:
Radha Penekelapati, YouTube
Dan Allen, Union Bank
Deana Perrin, Blue Shield of California

It’s great for a CX program to have the support of the C-suite, but it’s even better when CX has its very own seat at the table. The Chief Customer Officer (CCO) role isn’t exactly new, but it has never been more essential in cultivating CX excellence. CCOs can help champion plans and initiatives that are designed to do one thing — improve the customer experience.

During this panel discussion, Radha, Dann, Deana, and Mike share their thoughts about how the CCO role has evolved, and why is has never been more critical than today, especially as consumers have more options than ever, and brand loyalty is on the wane.

Here are five key highlights from the conversation:

1) As a company’s CX journey matures, the structure of its C-suite must also evolve.

2) A Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is responsible for raising the voice of the customer, but also establishing internal partnerships to make sure the organization is unified behind the mission of improving CX.

3) An ongoing challenge with the CCO role is they often have the insights and knowledge to know what needs fixing, but they often don’t have the budget authority to execute. To make a real difference, a CCO must be empowered.

4) Shared goals, especially tangible goals, are critical in unifying an organization behind customer-centric efforts; put the customer at the center, but don’t neglect the overarching goals of stakeholders.

5) Doing many small- or medium-sized projects sometimes creates a bigger impact than doing one or a very few large projects. It is important to understand the outcome and impact of every effort, big or small.

View this session now (quick and free registration required).

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Getting Ready for What Comes Next: Key Trends Driving Your Data Strategy

Moderator:
Sav Khetan, Tealium

Panelists:
Melody Blumenschein, General Motors
Rick Clark, Balsam Brands
Matt Beckwith, Clark Pest Control

A lot has changed in the last 18 months. From how consumers behave to the way businesses conduct their service and delivery operations, the COVID-19 pandemic has sent out many ripples. How companies have and will continue to respond to the ongoing crisis (both proactively and reactively) will chart their future course, and effective use of data is a key part of the equation for many organizations.

During this panel, Melody, Rick, Matt, and Sav engage in a wide-ranging discussion about the overall state of the industry, highlighting current challenges, while also sharing how they are addressing some of these challenges with innovative CX data solutions and strategies.

Here are five key highlights from the conversation:

1) In the last 18 months, over 80% of consumers have tried out a new brand or mode of delivery, and many prefer these new experiences; loyalty is on the wane.

2) The high cost of acquiring new customers has only increased during the pandemic.

3) Consumers are far more tolerant of service lapses and wait time than they were before the pandemic, but they are also checking out the competition more than ever before.

4) Frontline staff have valuable knowledge about the business and the customer, so be sure to tap their expertise by opening lines of communication and taking the time to ask.

5) There is power in understanding this one simple but age-old essential insight — happy agents make for happy customers. It is a good reminder to tap into the data that lets you know if your organization is succeeding in this area.

View this session now (quick and free registration required).

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Data Protection: Creating Secure and Successful At-Home Workspaces

Moderator:
Leslie Loofbourow, 24-7 Intouch

Panelists:
Jim Gallagher, Nordstrom
Jeff Lilleskare, Microsoft
Thom McDaniel, Marriott

Work-from-home is here to stay. That means maintaining employee engagement and protecting customer data is going to remain top-of-mind for CX leaders. Luckily, there is no shortage of new and innovative tools and technology design to accomplish exactly this.

During this insightful and timely panel, Jim, Jeff, Thom, and Leslie share how they have helped devise secure remote work environments, leading to more protection for both customers and agents, while also making sure their teams stay connected and engaged.

Here are five key highlights from the conversation:

1) Data protection and secure workspaces start with empowering employees. That said, trust but always verify.

2) Hiring and recruiting best practices are critical for adoption and compliance starting with a workforce well aligned to the values of the organization; shared values equate to high levels of compliance.

3) Have a solid plan for work-from-home departures. Close the loop on getting back equipment, shutting down system access, etc.

4) It’s important to find the balance between getting the information agents need to service customers, while also maintaining tight control of the data available to agents.

5) Many companies have gone through many hiring cycles to the point where a lot of employees are unfamiliar with the in-office workspace … but agents need to be connected and included. Consider creating a virtual watercooler space for agents to drive engagement and connectedness.

View this session now (quick and free registration required).

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If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out Part 1 of this two-part series.

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Do you enjoy this type of CX-related content? If so, consider joining us for our return to a live and in-person event during Customer Response Summit in sunny Clearwater, Florida — March 28-30, 2022. Registration is open now! Learn More

The post CRS Virtual October 2021: Key Case Study and Panel Highlights — Part 2 appeared first on Execs In The Know.

While the labor shortage has affected every industry, one role that has fared relatively well during the labor shortage is that of the work-from-home (WFH) customer service agent. WFH contact center roles are nothing new, but the pandemic contributed to many organizations shifting more of their workers to this construct by necessity. Many Execs In The Know community members were early leaders in identifying barriers to successfully hiring for these roles. Within that framework, the most successful organizations were those that started thinking differently about the ways they recruit and retain top talent.

Perfecting the work-at-home contact center model

According to Gartner research, 70% of customer service and support agents prefer to work at home. That same research shows that these employees wish to continue working from home in some capacity once the pandemic is long over. This is in line with surveyed service leaders who believe that WFH is decidedly here to stay. In fact, 81% of service leaders believe that 30-50% of their workforce will primarily be WFH in 2023.

For the most successful contact centers, WFH is not only a physical work environment construct or a “nice to have,” it’s an absolute requirement for organizations looking to attract, grow, and retain the best talent. In fact, this type of work gives organizations real power to make an impact on employee satisfaction, attrition levels, and career advancement for associates, while also achieving the contact center’s other ultimate goal of providing superior customer service.

As we think about the future of WFH and how organizations can be most effective, there is no better place to insert the decades-old wisdom of focusing on people, process, and technology — all of which will be pivotal for any organization that wants to survive in this experience-dependent world.

What that means in practice is not only taking care of your people with proper onboarding, training, and ongoing support, but also enabling them with the most effective processes and technology to succeed. Let’s briefly break down each of the three core elements: 

1. Engaging employees

A blended model of telework and in-office work expands an organization’s labor pool globally. But to engage the best talent, organizations also must reimagine their workforce and workplace models. This requires digitization of core functions and processes, as well as a focus on employee care throughout the talent lifecycle, including:

• Sourcing and recruiting: Savvy organizations are using technology to target both passive and active candidates — such as implementing RPA and AI-enabled administrative processes to increase the hiring speed of quality candidates and create more personalized interactions. They’re embracing social media and a variety of recruitment channels to uncover and engage with a diverse pool of candidates and promote their employer’s value propositions.
• Onboarding: Particularly during an employee’s first 90 days, focused training is crucial to ensuring a smooth and productive experience. In a WFH model, tools such as workflow checklists, interactive online experiences, and video content are particularly important to increasing employee engagement.
• Ongoing training: It’s important for contact center agents to have access to training and helpful information embedded in the work they do. Leveraging tools such as Walk Me, and augmented and virtual reality helps bring these interactive experiences to life. At Conduent, our Learning Services team is an exclusive partner of Apply Synergies, the founder of the 5 moments of need It’s an approach that ensures the right tools are available at every stage of the employee journey and that the various stages of learning and performance most effectively support employees’ needs.
• Supporting health and wellness: Organizations can support the wellbeing of their WFH associates through live and AI-enabled health navigation and advocacy. This includes things like Employee Assistance Plans, 1-to-1 health advocates, online wellness tools, educational webinars, and AI-based symptom tracking and triage tools. 

2. Building the right processes

For today’s call centers, another key to success for both WFH and brick-and-mortar roles is making the connection between employee experience and customer experience, and then employing the tools, methodologies, and cultural elements that will ultimately drive success. In our experience, that equates to taking a “human-centered” approach to contact center design and operation.

Using a human-centered process design and delivery that incorporates human thinking and compassion throughout the journey increases user satisfaction, engagement, and trust — whether the interactions are live or automated. Human-centered design enables organizations to clarify or reframe the real issues at hand, and it puts the human — who traditionally has been at the endpoint of a transaction — first. Organizations that pay attention to design and the way consumers interact with their products and services earn loyalty and see their respect for human needs reflected in the bottom line.

All this may sound academic, but practically speaking — there are lots of ways to measure the impact of human-centricity, both internally and externally. At Conduent, we use analytics and data insights as part of the equation, including leveraging sensitivity analysis to boost learning among our own customer service agents.  

3. Adopting the right technologies
   

Having the right technology infrastructure in place is fundamental to the successful contact center. But in a WFH model, in particular, technology requirements are often different and require a more strategic approach to implementation. Organizations with a mindset of continuous innovation and improvement are in the best possible position to build the most effective WAH infrastructure for both customer service delivery and employee satisfaction and success.

During the pandemic, Conduent increased its use of analytics (including sentiment analysis) to evaluate customer satisfaction (CSAT) drivers and opportunities to reduce customer complaints. Through that process, we were able to identify 35% more agents in need of additional on-the-job training. Ninety-four percent of those identified were recommended to receive soft skills coaching, which allowed us to upskill our staff and ensure they were applying the right levels of empathy and compassion to live interactions during this critical time. This strategic use of analytics has helped to elevate our contact center operations in two important ways:

1. Optimized agent performance: AI-based call analytics paired with natural language processing provides valuable insights on agent and call-level metrics, helping to evaluate markers such as over talk, silence, call length, and caller sentiment.
2. Increased ability to anticipate and resolve customer issues: Using analytics to categorize critical situations, we’re now better able to proactively plan automated workflows that route inquiries to the appropriate person or specialized team.

For WAH operations to be successful, organizations must also keep a keen eye on mitigating risks such as fraud risk, security risk, and risks to employee safety. Employing a balance of cloud vs. enterprise infrastructure is one of the best steps you can take to minimize security risks. At Conduent, we’re also using sophisticated speech and language detection tools that diagnose sentiment analysis and help reduce the risk of fraud.

Successful organizations have also built or implemented various custom smartphone applications to help ensure that employees stay healthy — whether they’re WFH, in the office, or in a hybrid model. At Conduent, we used our proprietary virtual assistant technology to develop a custom return to workplace app that associates used each day to assess and self-report their own fitness to work. Data from our custom application helped us keep track of thousands of employees daily from our various locations, with data readily accessible to managers via our integrated HR system. The data could also be used for contact tracing.

Keeping the momentum going
Work at home is a powerful concept that experts predict will continue in much greater frequency than before the pandemic. More of our own clients have embraced this model and the opportunities it provides for enhanced employee satisfaction, flexible and efficient service constructs, and reduced costs.

Though WFH is not a new concept in the contact center space, the sudden shift to WFH during the pandemic gave many in the industry the opportunity to evaluate the people, processes, and technologies they have in place, and make strategic changes that will carry them forward. To keep the momentum going, organizations must retain that same agile mindset that was invigorated during the pandemic, and build partnerships that allow them to grow and flex as the WFH landscape continues to evolve.

Statistics used in charts are from:
Global Workplace Analytics. Global Work-from-Home Experience Survey. April 2020.
Airtasker. Survey on Benefits of Working from Home. March 2020.

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Furthermore, if you are a CX practitioner at a corporate brand, consider joining the conversation on Know It All (KIA) online community. Crowdsource and connect with your CX peers in a collaborative, non-competitive environment — a totally free service from Execs In The Know.

The post How Contact Centers Can Thrive by Doing Work From Home Right appeared first on Execs In The Know.