The secret? It’s not just about perks and paychecks. It involves a deeper, more strategic approach. Organizations are employing various strategies designed to elevate employee engagement to new heights. From how agents are enabled to employees’ opportunities to grow and feel recognized, each aspect plays a vital role in shaping a workplace where everyone can thrive.

Check out the infographic below for five key ways to improve employee engagement.

Curious about how you can transform your company’s culture and boost employee engagement?

Join us on June 20, 2024 (11:30 AM to 1:30 PM ET) to unlock the secrets to this transformative environment at our CX Leaders Executive Briefing on The Power of People: Enhancing CX Through Employee Engagement. Discover how the heart of your organization—your team—can do more than show up. Learn how to ignite a passion in your employees that not only enhances their approach to work but also drives your key performance indicators, from productivity and retention to innovation.

The post 5 Ways to Improve Employee Engagement in the Workplace appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Does that mean the quest for improved CX isn’t worthwhile? Of course not. But it does mean that as you transform, it’s crucial to anticipate the unintended consequences, and like Odysseus, be prepared to traverse uncharted waters with the help of external partners.

Most CX teams today have limited manpower to spare, which is why keeping focused on what matters the most — the needs, preferences, and emotions of your customers and employees can help you avoid potential pitfalls along the way.

Navigating Uncertainty with Human-Centered Design

In a world where change is relentless and technology investments often outpace organizational readiness, uncertainty in our space looms large. Many CX leaders are left wondering how to innovate — in the right ways — when capabilities and expectations are changing so often and so fast.

Chances are, your organization is feeling the pressure to keep pace, while taking part in an intricate balancing act between efficiency (how can I reduce the cost of my operations) and experience (how can I improve customer satisfaction and loyalty).

That’s where human-centered design comes in. It serves as a bridge between what people truly need, the vast potential of technology, and the requirements for success. Put simply, it’s an approach that prioritizes users’ needs, behaviors, and preferences, ensuring solutions (and service capabilities) resonate and deliver value.

But what’s presented above is not simply a design concept; it’s a control mechanism to ensure your transformational roadmap is steering your lean teams in the right direction while mitigating risks. And without it, your business may face one or more of the following unintended consequences.

Unintended Consequence #1: Technology Waste

Nearly a third of SaaS spending is going to waste within the average company, according to one study by Vertice. This occurs when companies invest in new technologies but fail to fully utilize their capabilities due to operational silos, skill gaps, broken processes, or inadequate training to integrate new capabilities into existing workflows.

Example: A multinational corporation invested heavily in a social media management platform for its marketing team without considering the use cases and needs of its frontline customer care staff. As a result, the system was underutilized, and redundant capabilities were procured, leading to wasted resources and missed opportunities for improved customer engagement.

Solution: Before even signing up for a software trial, map your processes and conduct user research to identify pain points and preferences. Best-in-suite technologies can break down the silos between customer service and marketing and highlight areas for cross-functional collaboration while unifying the customer experience.

When you involve your frontline staff and end-users in the decision-making process, you can ensure that the technologies you invest in will align with actual user needs, thereby reducing waste and maximizing ROI.

Unintended Consequence #2: Increased Complexity (for Agents & Customers)

Introducing new technologies without taking a “test-and-learn” approach can lead to increased complexity, frustration, and reduced satisfaction. Consider the employee experience. Contact center agents are tasked with learning seven tools, on average, to do their job well. This demand often leads to heightened burnout and attrition, resulting in higher operating costs for customer service departments — already under pressure to do more with less.

Example: A technology company implemented asynchronous messaging to improve productivity and cut costs but failed to capture Voice of the Employee (VoE) feedback before scaling it across its service delivery network. Performance and morale declined as agents struggled to navigate between chat windows and messaging threads. Tickets were closed prematurely, and technical issues and limitations became fires for agents to put out, instead of issues that could have been proactively addressed in the initial design and prototype.

Solution: Human-centric design lives and dies by user feedback. By getting input from agents throughout your CX transformation, you can continuously identify pain points, usability issues, and areas for process reengineering and automation.

Unintended Consequence #3: Negligent Misinformation

Many AI-powered systems, such as chatbots, may inadvertently provide inaccurate or misleading information, leading to diminished customer trust and satisfaction.

Example: Last year, Air Canada announced its new AI-enabled customer support chatbots. When one customer interacted with the bot to seek information on a bereavement rate for a flight, the chatbot conjured a response inconsistent with the airline’s policy. The airline, however, refused to honor the information given by the chatbot. The customer sued Air Canada, and won, citing negligent misrepresentation.

Solution: AI’s success hinges on human-centered design. Don’t forget to regularly test and validate your AI algorithms, maintaining accountability with feedback loops and human oversight to safeguard customer trust and satisfaction.

Unintended Consequence #4: Decreased Human Interaction

While CX transformation aims to streamline processes and optimize costs, over-automation can backfire on an organization — creating more problems than solutions.

Example: Frontier Airlines sought to modernize its delivery model and cut costs by replacing voice support with chatbots and self-help automation. However, their abrupt implementation led to a wave of negative reactions from frustrated passengers unable to get the assistance they needed. Rather than enhancing the customer experience, the move backfired, resulting in increased complaints and dissatisfaction. Moreover, its chatbot was rudimentary and failed to leverage advanced conversational AI, providing generic responses instead of addressing individual queries effectively.

Solution: Human-centered design ensures that automation complements, rather than replaces, human interaction. By preserving empathy and emotional connection in customer interactions, it maintains the integrity of the customer experience through a “test-and-learn” approach vs. Frontier’s abrupt switch.

Unintended Consequence #5: Impacts to Marginalized Communities

CX transformation efforts may inadvertently overlook certain customer or employee groups, including those with disabilities, limited access to technology, or those in occupations with high automation potential.

Example: A McKinsey report found that 24% of all Black workers work in occupations with greater than 75% automation potential. And while generative AI can optimize costs and increase profitability, it can also widen the racial wealth gap without careful thought and consideration.

Solution: Integrate human-centric design principles to prioritize inclusivity and accessibility. When you actively involve diverse user groups and suppliers in your processes and test them for wide-ranging accessibility, you can ensure your CX initiatives cater to all customers. The best part? AI can help with this. Leveraging AI in training and upskilling programs can boost graduation rates and create opportunities for upward mobility, fostering greater equity within organizations.

Unintended Consequence #6: Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Risks

CX transformation often involves collecting vast amounts of customer data for personalization purposes. But this can also raise privacy concerns if not handled carefully.

Example: In 2017, Equifax — one of the three major credit reporting agencies — was attacked and had the personal data of 147 million Americans exposed. One of the biggest contributing factors to the breach was a missed patch, which was overlooked through the company’s automated scanning process.

Solution: Adopting a human-centered design approach prioritizes transparency and user control over data collection and usage. This not only fosters trust with customers and employees but also ensures compliance with regulatory requirements, safeguarding against potential breaches.

The Arrival Home

Like Odysseus navigating the treacherous waters of his own odyssey, embarking on a journey toward CX transformation requires foresight, resilience, and strategic navigation. So, as your teams chart your own course home, remember that beyond the allure of technological advancements lies the heartbeat of any organization — its people. By placing human needs and experiences at the forefront, we can bridge the gap between innovation and user satisfaction, ensuring that our odyssey toward greater CX maturity isn’t just a voyage, but a triumph of empathy and understanding.

Join me on March 14 at the Customer Response Summit in Tucson, AZ, as we delve deeper into this topic, covering strategies for “Modernizing Your Service Delivery Model Without Losing the Human Connection.” As VXI’s VP of CX Acceleration Services, I’ll be leading the way, as we explore how human-centered design can illuminate your path forward.

Need help navigating your CX transformation journey? Contact us to speak with our CX Accelerate team today.

The post How to Anticipate and Address the Unintended Consequences of CX Transformation appeared first on Execs In The Know.

COPC Inc. regularly conducts research on various topics as part of our consulting work. In November 2023, we surveyed credit card customers in the United States (U.S.) to gauge their satisfaction when they required support.

While this research focused on credit card customers, some of the findings are similar to what we find in other industries, providing valuable insights into what often matters most to customers regardless of industry. At the same time, we encourage all of our clients to conduct specific research for their customer base to understand the specific nuances of their customers’ needs.

This research included responses from an online survey of 836 credit card customers in the U.S. Of these 836 customers, 344 (41%) had contacted customer service by phone about their credit card in the previous three months.

The respondents spread across all age groups, with the largest categories being 30 to 44 (31%) and 45 to 59 (37%).

Fifty-four percent of respondents were Visa customers, 26% were Mastercard customers, 11% were American Express customers, and 8% were Discover customers.

Overall Satisfaction

The Credit Card Satisfaction Model we developed helps us to scrutinize a broad array of attributes that influence an individual’s satisfaction with their credit card. The model considers factors such as interest rates, credit limits, customer service, ease of use, fees and charges, rewards programs and fraud protection.

Our findings revealed that although competitive interest rates and high credit limits have a limited impact on satisfaction, the quality of customer service, the call center employee’s knowledge, and the ability to resolve issues hold the most substantial relationship with satisfaction. Additionally, the customer’s perception of the call center employee’s location also had a modifying impact on their satisfaction.

Attribute Level Satisfaction

Satisfaction with the card’s travel benefits was the lowest scoring attribute, while satisfaction with fees and interest rates was also low. One attribute that scored much lower than anticipated was satisfaction with the rewards programs offered.

Satisfaction with the Service Interaction

The graphic below measures the impact of various attributes on the overall satisfaction of those who had a service interaction and the performance of those attributes.

Agent knowledge has the strongest relationship with satisfaction. To improve overall satisfaction, credit card contact centers should develop strategies that will enable frontline agents to quickly access answers to product or service-related questions, enabling them to resolve more customer issues.

The lowest performing areas were speed of answer and experience with the IVR.

Speed of answer has little relationship with overall satisfaction, so working to improve it would have little impact. However, it’s important to note that very poor levels of speed of answer could drive dissatisfaction.

The interactive voice response (IVR) system influences satisfaction to a certain degree. Therefore, it is advisable to examine the IVR for potential improvements.

The highest-performing attribute is agent friendliness, though it has the weakest relationship with overall satisfaction.

First Contact Resolution Impact

First contact resolution (FCR) drives the highest satisfaction levels (91%).

Customer satisfaction drops to 83% when resolution requires two calls, and it further decreases to 75% if it takes three or more calls to resolve the issue. For customers who say they have not had their issue resolved, satisfaction is 41%.

If customers need to exert more effort in their interactions with customer service, such as making multiple calls, their satisfaction levels decrease, even if they reach a resolution.

This finding emphasizes the importance of resolving customer issues at the first point of contact.

Customer issues that take multiple contacts to resolve cost more and result in lower satisfaction levels.

Resting Heartbeat of Satisfaction

An often overlooked aspect of the customer experience is the “resting heartbeat of satisfaction,” a concept introduced by COPC Inc. It refers to an individual’s baseline satisfaction level with an organization without substantial interaction. Like a resting heartbeat, a “moment of truth” can significantly alter this passive state.

A “moment of truth” is a pivotal, defining interaction that significantly sways a customer’s opinion and satisfaction level. Such moments can occur at any point in the service journey, from the initial purchase to after-sales service. How well the company handles these moments can significantly influence the customer’s overall perception and future relationship with that organization.

An example of a moment of truth is the direct contact between a customer and the company during a customer service call or web chat. A favorable response (i.e., resolving the customer’s issue) during this type of interaction can elevate the satisfaction level dramatically, acting as a catalyst to forge a stronger bond with the customer. However, the more contacts it takes to resolve the issue, the worse the customer feels about the organization.

Impact of Customer Perception of Agent Location

If the customer believes that the person they are speaking to is in another country, that has a relationship with the Net Promoter Score (NPS).

The NPS of respondents who believed they spoke to someone in the U.S. about their issue was +44.   For the group of respondents who thought they spoke to someone outside the U.S., the NPS was +20.

Summary

COPC’s Credit Card Key Driver Analysis findings highlight that agent knowledge and issue resolution are the strongest drivers of customer satisfaction. The customer experience during each interaction improves when frontline staff master relevant knowledge and can resolve customer issues more effectively.

This improvement comes through better training, enhanced knowledge bases, and agent-assist technology. Additionally, empowering agents with more authority and streamlining the customer service process play key roles in resolving issues and positively shaping the customer experience.

The analysis also illustrates the link between customer service interactions and customers’ overall emotional connection with credit card companies. Regardless of industry, the resting heartbeat of satisfaction is strongly impacted by customer service “moments of truth,” with a positive experience resulting in an improved view of the organization. At the same time, a negative interaction reduces the customer’s opinion of the organization.

As such, focusing on improving contact center “moments of truth” and increasing first-contact resolution will prove to be a promising strategy for enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

Guest post written by Scott Flewelling, Vice President, COPC Inc.

COPC Inc. will be joining us at Customer Response Summit (CRS) in Tucson, March 12-15, 2024. Learn more about CRS Tucson here.

The post What Really Matters to a Credit Card Customer? appeared first on Execs In The Know.

There’s always a gap between the development and adoption of new technologies, and AI is no different. How big that gap is depends on numerous factors and perhaps, most importantly, the readiness of teams. According to our research, 84 percent of CX leaders feel they must do more to prepare for the impacts of AI, with 82 percent rethinking their entire approach.

Transitioning to a hybrid model will be key. This means embracing the efficiency gains of automation without losing the human touch. But how quickly teams expect they can make these changes is an important question. We surveyed 600 CX leaders and agents to better understand their views on the evolution of their roles, their industry, and what that timeline might look like.

Here’s what they predict CX teams will look like one, three, and five years out:

Year 1: Agent as troubleshooter, AI as traffic cop

Looking one year out, teams will be focused on upskilling their agents while primarily using AI for ticket routing and deflection. During this period, training will be essential. In fact, 69 percent of respondents say that training on AI has increased or will do so in the next year, with a similar number citing increased training specifically on AI-driven sentiment analysis.

Agents will need to understand where AI fits into their evolving workflows and how tools like generative AI can make them more efficient. They will also begin to provide a critical layer of AI oversight—ensuring that AI outputs are carefully monitored before going out to customers. 70 percent say this is happening or will happen in the next 12 months.

In addition to the technical aspects, respondents expect a greater emphasis on soft skills. The human element—empathy, communication, and understanding—will become even more critical to recruiters and teams.

Year 3: Agent as expert, AI as co-pilot

Three years from now, expect to see a closer partnership between human agents and bots—with each carving out their own unique set of roles and responsibilities. Agents will transition into deeper product and data expertise, all while relying on AI to drive a greater amount of routine customer engagement.

AI is also expected to play a critical role in providing real-time data on key performance metrics like customer sentiment and agent productivity. This will ensure that teams can optimize their operations and deliver the highest quality customer service.

61% of respondents say agents will transition into deep product and data experts within the next three years.

As agent skill sets broaden to include harder skills like data interpretation and analysis, recruitment strategies are expected to evolve. 62 percent of CX leaders and agents say that in three years, organizations will prioritize candidates with an aptitude for AI and tech.

Year 5: Agent as conductor, AI as driver

Within five years, agents will no longer just be experts. Instead, they will be conducting a harmonious symphony of AI-driven customer service. In this time frame, AI will become more than a tool—it will be driving the majority of customer interactions, preemptively addressing customer needs, and streamlining processes automatically as issues arise.

Even as AI takes on the lion’s share of engagement, agents will remain the human touchpoint by ensuring that every interaction feels genuine, approachable, and personal. Where necessary, they will have the authority and know-how to override AI’s recommendations and create the best possible outcomes for customers.

Teams are expected to seamlessly leverage various innovative tools to improve customer experiences. This may include mixed reality for immersive customer solutions, digital twins to help scale their reach, or something entirely new.

70% of respondents say that agents will utilize mixed reality to help solve complex customer issues in the next five years.

Keeping the heart in customer service

As AI grows in influence and agent roles change, we expect massive changes to the world of customer service. Though the future isn’t certain, one thing is abundantly clear: the need to connect with customers on a genuine, human level should remain the central commitment of any great CX team. And for that, agents will remain indispensable.

Guest post written by Zendesk.

Zendesk will be joining us at the Execs In The Know Customer Response Response Summit (CRS) on March 12-15, 2024. Learn more about CRS Tucson here.

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The following is a guest post from Susan Hash, Editor of Contact Center Pipeline.

Every contact center leader understands the link between employee engagement and customer satisfaction. In centers that pride themselves on maintaining high levels of engagement, common themes include clear, frequent communication from leaders about goals and expectations, active involvement in process changes and being empowered to do the job.

How do you cultivate a customer-centric mindset among frontline employees? The following are proven practices that have appeared in the pages of Contact Center Pipeline over the years.

Give Agents a Closer View of the Customer

Frontline contact center staff may be in contact with customers every day, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they know what the customer is experiencing. Some companies help to provide agents with that perspective by allowing them to accompany sales staff on customer site visits. Agents get a chance to see what happens on the customer’s end—how customers are using the company’s products and what issues they might be experiencing—to gain a better understanding of their perspective.

This is a practice that can work for centers in a variety of sectors. As Jay Minnucci, founder of contact center consulting firm Service Agility, points out: “If you have retail stores, agents should have a chance to work in them. If you have focus groups with customers, agents should have the opportunity to be involved (even if only observing). If you have a product or service that a consumer can use, every agent should get it for free (or at least at reduced cost). For the relatively minor expense of some time off the phone, the payback is more compassion, greater understanding and a higher level of engagement.”

At Memorial Health System, employees attend empathy training that explains the different types of patients that staff will come into contact with, their specific health issues and what they may be experiencing. Managers reinforce the training by posting “empathy boards” in all of the backstage areas, like break rooms and storage areas. The empathy boards include photos of a patient type discussed in training (but not an actual patient), along with key points about their situations. It serves as an ongoing reminder of the patient’s voice.

Transparent Communication Builds Trust

Having open discussions about the organization’s goals and the ROI associated with the customer experience is an effective way to help frontline staff understand the impact their work has on the company’s success. Jon Koelling, director of customer care at Intuit, says that clear and meaningful communication is an essential activity in his center. The organization’s goals and progress toward those goals is discussed in quarterly touchpoint meetings, as well as in traditional team meetings, via email updates and during biweekly pre-shift meetings.

Ask for Their Feedback

Engagement tends to be high in centers where frontline staff’s opinion and feedback is valued. Take Nicor National, for example, where management places a priority on frequently soliciting employee feedback.

To keep a pulse on the workplace mood and the impact of management decisions on the culture, Nicor National implemented a Voice of Employee (VOE) program, which uses online VOE tools to collect unsolicited questions, suggestions and concerns from staff. Employees can log into the tool whenever they want to ask a question, make a suggestion, offer a comment or bring up a concern. They can also take an online survey that asks for their feedback to statements like: “Nicor National values my relationship”; “The company really cares about me”; and “The company invests in my success.”

On a monthly basis, the company also conducts a benchmarking survey using the VOE tool. In addition, culture surveys, or “pulse checks,” are sent out to random groups of employees on a regular basis. Their responses make up an employee engagement index, which is tracked on a weekly and monthly basis to help management to identify trends.

Face-to-face time with employees is also important. Management firmly believes that personal contact and involvement provides a complete culture, and employee feedback is collected through monthly roundtables and daily management walkarounds.

At SciQuest, an initiative called “the buddy system,” pairs product development professionals with customer support reps for new product releases. As the product development team goes through the process of designing and developing new features, they get feedback from the CSR on how customers might view the functionality, or to identify any gaps that might cause issues with particular customer configurations or the way that they use the application.

Involve them in the Processes

There is nothing more frustrating and demotivating than working in an environment where you have no input into how your work is done. Agent councils are an effective way to get frontline staff involved in process improvement. Typically, agent councils meet as a group to discuss the items that they want to present to the contact center leader. They then form subcommittees to oversee those issues and report on progress to the council and to the leadership team.

Agent councils at Comerica have tackled issues like attendance policies, agent motivation, call center production goals and incentives. A bonus: When agents take on a self-governing role, they become more aware of how the business operates and the reasons behind certain decisions and policies.

Show Appreciation

Taking the time to show frontline agents how much they’re valued is a critical role for the center management team—or should be. Jill Houghland, Senior Operations Manager at InterCall, points out that management can’t always impact significant daily change on agents’ pay or time off, so they need to find different ways to show appreciation. Besides collecting their feedback through various methods and making them feel like they’re a part of the process, “We also bring them in for brown-bag lunches and have conversations to understand what they go through on a daily basis, and what ideas they have that we might be able to implement to make their jobs easier,” she says.

Practical pointer: Make sure that your team huddles don’t focus solely on updates and changes. End on a positive note by asking agents what went well on the previous shift and why, what they were proudest of that day or week—emphasize the things that are going well.

For more information on Contact Center Pipeline, visit their website.

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