The following is a guest blog from Ted Hunting, Vice President, North America Marketing at Genesys. For more information about Genesys, visit their website. 

During the Customer Response Summit (CRS) last week in Austin, I shared my perspective on customer expectations of seamless, personalized omnichannel journeys with customer service executives from some of the world’s greatest brands. It was a rare opportunity to exchange ideas on digital innovation in customer experience (CX) with such a group.

To set the stage for brainstorming sessions on digital innovation, I talked about the prediction that by 2020, more than 90% of customer engagements will begin online, and what that means to CX innovation.

Currently in many customer service environments, organizational silos remain across channels, including web, voice, callback, mobile app, text, email, social, and video. In spite of initial interactions occurring on the web, customers nonetheless expect the effortless, personalized omnichannel journey that results from integrated communication channels. We explored some examples of businesses successfully integrating voice and digital channels to improve CX.

We looked at CX from the business perspective, examining aspects of the Genesys Customer Experience Platform, including:

– An omnichannel desktop that displays every step in the customer journey, across every channel

– Enterprise-wide reporting and analytics dashboard for overall view of CX and NPS

What did this group identify as key future trends? The internet of things (IoT), personalization through big data, and emerging self-service models such as chat and voice bots, led to brainstorming on digital innovation in the CX world.

Here’s what this group of CX leaders expects to see emerging in digital innovation:

Personalized customer journeys

Customer journeys will be increasingly personalized, leveraging big data and business rules to predict customer needs and deliver better CX.

– Visibility into the customer journey will continue to evolve so companies can provide proactive recommendations and communications for front- and back-office functions across the company, not just for the contact center.

– We’ll improve on how we identify and measure journey success so that we can replicate the successful CX across the business.

– We’ll use customer journey analytics for predictive routing of customers.

– We’ll personalize routing based on business rules and customer data.

Customer preferences driving experience

Customers prefer to authenticate once, and effortlessly, in a journey. Adoption of verification methods like biometrics (voice biometrics or eye or fingerprint sensors on mobile phones) will grow, with verification becoming increasingly passive from the customer point of view, without reliance on interrogatory techniques.

– Customers will be better informed—proactively—using notifications tied to their channel preferences.

– Customers will choose channel preference based type of interaction. For example, they’ll be able to select a text message for doctor appointment reminder, but a personal call from their doctor for test results.

– With increased personalization, customers will need to supply personal information. To address privacy concerns, they’ll need to “opt-in” to such personalization efforts. Business will find ways to encourage participation, even if it’s only making sure the customer understands through clear communication that they’ll benefit from a better CX.

CX enhanced through collaborative business culture

– When CX leaders foster a culture of collaborative discussions across departments and the organization, they can uncover CX issues that persist in a siloed culture

Incorporating social channels into the customer journey

– Expect chat to be transformed with chat bots and other forms of artificial intelligence.

– Integrate social media into journey management to put agents with the right skills in place to respond through social channels.

– Peer networks in some industries can provide service. These can be enhanced by use of social media and “ambassadors” to assist customers.

– Agents can use information from social channels to assist customers. For example, they can use YouTube or other external content on how customers are using a product or solving a problem.

Taking steps to deliver omnichannel CX

– Serve customers better by arming agents with a unified omnichannel desktop.

– Use recording and speech and text analytics to discover gaps in agent knowledge, whether they’re participating in voice, chat, email. Use it to better train agents.

– Move to modern self-service options instead of old school, high-effort, impersonal IVR. Instead, offer the option to get wait times for channels from voice, text, email, web chat, to video chat and let customers choose self-service channels based on their preference. For example, give them the choice of chatting now or waiting 20 minutes for a call back.

CR Summit Austin was an opportunity to share information, and gratifying because I heard clearly that so much of what Genesys is working with partners and customers to achieve is of great interest to global leaders in CX.

Interested in where your company stand in CX innovation? Check out The Omnichannel Customer Engagement Playbook.

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This is a guest blog written by Greg Sherry, Vice President Marketing at Verint Systems.

One of the primary objectives of Customer Response Summit Austin was to “identify best practices and discuss innovative ideas on how to serve customer through emerging channels.” Verint’s contribution to this theme was an interactive general session called “Customer Engagement LIVE!” where we grouped executives into discussion groups of seven or eight participants. The groups engaged in conversations around the strategies and execution steps that can help define how customer-centric organizations can enrich interactions, improve business processes, and optimize the workforce.

One of the questions included on the breakout group handout, for example,  was “If you could provide your peers with one piece of advice as they create and execute their customer experience strategy and program, what would it be?”  There were also discussion questions around Customer Engagement and Enterprise Workforce Optimization.

Below are some of the highlights attendees shared during the breakout group read back presentations. Do you want access to group facilitator notes from all of the major discussion and engagement areas? If so, click here for the detailed Customer Engagement LIVE! notes.

Breakout Group Discussion Highlights

Employee Engagement- TED Talks! We want to hire and retain the best contact center agents that we can. So, we want to make sure we have a variety of internal programs around employee engagement as well as all our focus on customer engagement.  One thing we started was Ted Talks Tuesday’s where we find creative and inspirational Ted Talks videos that have themes around creativity, innovation, customers. We then have a discussion group after the video. Our executives, managers and agents love all the interactions we all have – and we are learning new ideas and ways of thinking at the same time!

Integrate more digital themes and engagement into our traditional customer service environment. We have started to use gamification in our customer services group. As part of the program, we are identifying customer “brand ambassadors” who will serve as fans of our organization and our customer services mission. We are tying these fans into our CRM system and gamification solution foundation. We think these ambassadors will help us differentiate our brand – as well as the customer experience we provide to our customers.

Mobile-  How can you gain more customer loyalty? When adopting a tech strategy  for mobile, customer experience overall (including customer service) – you have to “win over the customer” when they first become a customer. The customer’s initial experience with your organization must be meaningful and personalized. When customers are new-reach out to them when they’re excited about new service.  Make it very easy for them to set up services and profiles. This is your best window to drive loyalty- the customer’s initial experience with your organization.

Create a broad, multi-channel “listening” program. One organization created a multi-pronged campaign branded “We Listen.” It was launched across a variety of media channels internally within the organization, as well as via a 42-foot company branded recreational vehicle (RV). This “RV Relay” was a literal and figurative “vehicle” that included a rotating crew of senior level executives who drove a total of 8,500 miles across North America and visited dozens of customer sites. They engaged customers in a variety of channels including Skype, Twitter, Google hangouts, a company blog, etc. They launched a new online customer community during the relay that drew 5,500 customers per week and ultimately 150,000+ registered community members.

Think of this: Can you find ways to be “proactive” with communications, when you know that a customer’s expectations won’t be met? There are many ways to do this with data from delivery systems, mailing systems, survey data- and many ways to proactively reach out to customers- email,  phone call, SMS etc. Also think about using IVR/routing/skills based info to get customers to the person/place that can solve their issue (rather than the one-stop shop (call center) where all issues end up (and various issues can’t be solved due to department silos, information gaps etc.)

Do you have additional creative idea you’d like to share – or questions about the content in this blog post? If so, email me at greg.sherry@verint.com. I look forward to seeing you at a future Customer Response Summit.

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This is a guest blog written by Dan Gordon, SVP Strategy & Development, West Interactive Services.

The answer is: Probably not just yet.

At CRS Phoenix back in February, I spoke about how crucial it is to leverage data to optimize your customer experience. Now, as certain emerging technologies begin to pique our interest, I’m expanding on that point to hopefully help some enterprises avoid putting the cart before the horse.

The smartphone is one of the greatest technological advances in human history – and its impact on what brands have had to consider in their customer experience (CX) strategies over the past five to 10 years is just the beginning.

Data continues to transform how humans interact as the lines blur between virtual and physical… device and appendage… human and machine.

The mix of physical devices, buildings and various technologies at the public’s disposal is poised to evolve and extend rapidly through 2021[i], and Gartner believes that data generated from the networking of these devices will create $14.4 trillion in value for organizations between now and 2022.[ii]

Many believe that advanced smart machine technology will become a staple in this shift. Brands trying to keep up with the demands of today’s mobile customer are at full attention.

A smart machine is a device that is equipped to make decisions and solve problems in a human-like manner (think self-driving cars). Relying on data and metadata, or “the information of everything,” smart machines are expected to drive a higher level of quality and consistency in everyday customer interactions by relying on neural networks that dissect things like text, images and voice — all without human intervention.

Unsurprisingly, their potential impact is creating major buzz among technology providers and enterprises in every industry. Companies are left wondering what the rise of smart machines will mean for their long-term CX strategies, and how to stay ahead of their customers and competition as developments unfold.

I’d recommend that most brands don’t overhaul their existing priorities just yet. Instead, stay focused on their current objectives and keep riding the wave.

In a CX industry where scalable ecosystems for communication are quickly becoming table stakes, differentiation now teeters upon instilling this ecosystem with business analytics to truly understand, and ultimately prescribe and execute the best course of action in any given customer interaction.

As an organization and its customer experience matures, specific hardware and software become far less important than the data that supports and is generated by said technology and the people using it.

This starts with establishing a connected ecosystem and everything that enables it, including organizational structure and streamlined processes, robust data, and consistent metrics. Incorporating the next hot machines should come further down the road.

Once operating with a fully connected ecosystem, what’s in it is relatively irrelevant compared to the customer experience it generates with the help of an ever-growing network of data within and surrounding it. Furthermore, while today’s smart machines have perceptive capabilities, they rely solely on rule-based approaches — absent of decision-making patterns of their own.[iii] Although smart machines’ potential is seemingly limitless, it’s impossible to anticipate the impact they will have on things like users’ attention spans, situational behavior, conventional expectations, workforce engagement, regulatory and security risks, and so on.

Keeping a watchful eye on the evolution of smart machines is a must. But it’s more important for companies to first focus on the factors they can control now, and show judicious patience.

By learning from the data currently at their disposal, and leveraging it to thoughtfully, and gradually, develop a more mature customer experience, brands will be poised to act if and when the time is right. Data, after all, will be the beating heart for any and all smart machine to come.

Want to learn more about the potential impact of smart machines or how to mature in terms of Customer Experience Lifecycle Management? Visit http://west.com/interactive and check out this whitepaper.

We look forward to connecting with many of you at CRS Austin later this month. We’re privileged to sponsor cocktail hour yet again, and invite you to join us for a drink at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. See you there!

[i] Clearly, David W., Brian Blau, Brian Burke and Mike J. Walker. Gartner. “Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2016: The Device Mesh. 26 February 2016. 3.

[ii] Walker, Mike J., David W. Clearly and Brian Burke. Gartner. “Top 10 Technology Trends for 2016: Information of Everything.” 26 February 2016. 2

[iii] Austin, Tom. Gartner. “Smart Machines See Major Breakthroughs After Decades of Failure.” 8 September 2015. Overview

The post Wondering if you Need to Start Accounting for Smart Machines in Your CX? appeared first on Execs In The Know.

The following is a guest blog written by Kathy Juve, SVP, Global Marketing and Product Development at Convergys. Learn more about Convergys by visiting their website.

Among CX professionals, interest in personalizing customer experiences is always a hot topic, but companies often invest too much time and too many resources in things that don’t matter much to customers.

Why? Because most companies lack the necessary research data and analytic insights to know with certainty when personalization works, when it doesn’t, and how to make it have the biggest payoff.

To help contribute to the industry’s understanding of personalization in customer care, Convergys has surveyed over 3,000 customers across a variety of industries. The results have given us an accurate picture of the current state of personalization today, and clear answers to the questions of how customers want their service experiences to be tailored to them.

We share some of the key discoveries here.

Most Personalization Attempts Miss the Mark

In customer care, personalization should be about making attempts to establish an authentic, timely, and mutually beneficial connection with a customer based on what is known about their individual needs and preferences.

Our research shows that most companies are struggling to do this.

When we surveyed customers about their most recent phone interaction, for example, the most commonly identified personalization attempt (47%) was that the agent mentioned the customer’s name. Unfortunately, we found that mentioning a customer’s name ranks near the very bottom in terms of importance to the customer.

So, how do you deliver personalization in ways that matter the most to customers? Our research points out that it’s not simply a matter of training the right agent behaviors or supporting agents with the right technology, but rather a strategic blending of the two.

Here are the top four components of both agent-owned and technology-enabled personalization factors, according to customers:

Agent-Owned Components of Successful Personalization

1) The agent clearly explained the answer to the customer’s question.

2) The agent acknowledges the situation and is sincere in helping to resolve the issue.

3) The agent demonstrates urgency in resolving the customer issue.

4) The agent suggests next steps and provides a timeline for resolution.

Technology-Enabled Components of Successful Personalization

1) The agent had access to account information during the call.

2) Information that the customer entered into the IVR was made available to the agent.

3) The agent personally followed up with the customer after the transaction to make sure the issue was resolved.

4) The agent offered their contact information so that the customer could contact them directly.

 7 Best Practices In Personalization from Top Performing Companies

Although many companies have a lot of work to do when it comes to delivering personalization that matter to customers, some companies are doing a great job in this area—and it’s making an impact on their customers in the form of higher performance metrics and loyalty scores.

The following are seven best practices that we’ve observed are common to top performers. Keep them in mind as you begin to consider where your company should be aiming as you plan to take personalization to the next level:

1) Recognize customers by their phone number, not hard to find serial numbers, account numbers, VIN numbers, etc.

2) Send a post-call, closed-loop text that includes agent names and a phone number.

3) Develop training around call handling and agent behaviors that relate to the personalization drivers.

4) Train agents to listen to the tempo of the customer and match that tempo.

5) Build a formalized, systematized, and standardized agent notes system that creates a virtual, personalized repository of information on a customer.

6) Integrate one-stop-shop desktop tools and automatic agent alerts for easy access to prior channel contacts, payment history, customer information, sales data, etc.

7) Leverage call listening for more than just quality monitoring. Use it to deliver a better solution fit via new product features, product packaging and pricing models.

There’s a lot more to the story! At CRS Austin, Gina Massa, Senior Director, Operational Performance Analytics at Convergys, will be sharing more data from our survey and going into much more detail on the topic of personalization in customer care. You’ll discover more insights and strategies that will help you design and execute a plan that establishes better customer loyalty through personalization.

About the Author

Kathy Juve is Senior Vice President, Global Marketing & Product Development at Convergys where she also drives the company’s Customer Interaction Technologies (CIT) and Analytics business units. With more than 10 years experience in developing on-trend tech solutions to help global clients improve the customer experience for business results, Kathy advises clients on the emerging role of using analytics to drive and support customer care strategies across digital and assisted-channel.

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There are only two ways to build a business: retain existing customers and acquire new ones. Great customer service and satisfaction are the key to both because most customers are acquired through positive word of mouth. So you would expect most companies to be fully focused on providing exceptional customer service and experiences, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Every two years, Dialog Direct partners with CCMC (customer care measurement & consulting), the W.P Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and the Center for Services Leadership to conduct the Customer Rage Study to gauge how customers view companies and how retailers and etailers can address areas of weakness that cause them to lose customers. The study identifies customer problems and addresses the nagging question:

Why are customer service and satisfaction still declining, despite their paramount importance and bottom line impact?

The study revealed that, in 2015, $202 billion were at risk due to customer problems with products/services. Key takeaways:

– 66% of customers with problems experienced rage

– 60% identified wasted time as the biggest damage

– Only 35% were satisfied with their first contact

– Only 14% got problem resolved upon first contact

– It takes an average of 4.2 contacts to satisfy the complainant

– Nearly one in four wants revenge

Fortunately…

– If they become satisfied, 48% of customers would still recommend the brand

– When providing both monetary and non-monetary remedies, satisfaction almost doubled from 37% to 73%

What are the implications?

There is nothing more damaging to a company or brand than negative word of mouth. And customers are far more likely to complain when unhappy than to express joy when happy. In fact, the 2015 study revealed that customers are twice as likely to express dissatisfaction than satisfaction. So it’s far easier to diminish a brand than it is to build one.

The study revealed that more than half of American households experienced a product/service problem during 2015. And 63% said they received nothing for their trouble. As a result, it is likely that companies are losing more customers than they are gaining, a prescription for declining sales and profits. Ironically, companies’ customer care programs appear to be actually doing the opposite of what they’re supposed to do.

Many companies aren’t meeting complaining customers’ expectations

 The following findings from the study help to explain why:

It isn’t that companies don’t have customer complaint solutions. The problem is that they’re not always effective. For example, the message that annoys consumers the most is all too common: “Your call is important to us; please continue to hold.” Other weak links:

– Complicated automated response menus

– Lack of customer care agent empowerment

– Understaffing so it takes longer to respond to customer

Want to know more about the study and how you can solve your customer care conundrum? To hear more about this topic and others like it, and for more information about Dialog Direct, join us at Customer Response Summit Austin (Sept. 18-20, 2016).

The post The Customer Rage Study: What It Means To You and Your Bottom Line appeared first on Execs In The Know.

The following is a guest blog written by Amit Shankardass, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Teleperformance. Learn more about Teleperformance by visiting their website.

Sometimes the world moves so quickly that it is difficult to see which changes and developments are really important. Progress just happens and we often forget how things used to happen, even in the recent past. How customers relate to brands is just one example of an area of business that is moving faster now more than ever, especially in terms of how the customer experience shapes how customers feel about brands and companies.

In order to predict the future, it’s impossible to just extrapolate from the past, but it’s possible to step back from the rapid change, to take stock and evaluate just what has changed. With a deeper understanding of what has changed the customer experience and why, it is easier to understand how customer interactions may change in the coming years.

The industry analyst Gartner recently published a research paper suggesting that 89% of the companies surveyed are now competing with the customer experience as a key differentiator. Managing the customer experience has become the single most important task for executive managers, now with a higher priority than other traditional areas of focus, such as reducing costs or increasing revenue.

Why has this happened?

The simple answer to this is that the way customers communicate has changed in a short period of time. Two specific innovations arguably made the largest impact on mobile Internet access:  (1) launch of the Apple iPhone in 2007 and (2) rise in popularity of online social networks. Customers are now comfortable publishing their views on products and services for the consumption of friends, family members, and followers, and they have immediate access to prices, reviews, and the ability to make purchases 24/7.

How did this happen?

Customer service used to be the interface between companies and customers via specific channels. The company would define how and when a customer could get in touch with a company by publishing a 1-800 phone number or an email address. Companies would also have clear opening hours when service is available.

This service paradigm has been reversed because of the innovations already mentioned. Now customer comments and requests for help proliferate across many channels, with the channel chosen by the customer, not the company. Companies now seek forums in which customers discuss their products because customer expectations have changed dramatically.  A company that does not respond to its online community is considered to be ignoring its customers.

What are the implications for the enterprise?

The implications to-date have largely revolved around the need to expand the service function to encompass many different communication channels, embracing blogs, review sites, and social networks in addition to voice, chat, and email. However, a great change to corporate strategy is emerging, driven by changing customer communication habits. It’s increasingly clear that companies need to place the customer at the heart of their strategy because of the evolution in the customer journey, and they need to know what that journey looks like today as well as in the future.

Regarding what companies should do now to prepare for the customer journey of tomorrow, Stephen Loynd, Global Program Director of Customer Contact for Frost & Sullivan said, “In today’s rapidly changing world, companies need to adapt to the rise of new channels. We’ve done research that looks at the rise and decline of channels taking place today and over the last couple of years. What we see is that while e-mail and IVR are on the decline, channels such as chat, mobile apps, social media, video, and web self-service portals are all on the rise. Clearly, companies need to be thinking about how they’re going to adapt to this new world and what partners can help them with the journey.”

Customers expect that they can communicate and interact with their favorite companies and brands before, during, or after a purchase, or their interactions may have nothing to do with a purchase. Customers are building relationships with companies, no longer simply making service calls. This new type of customer relationship calls for organizations to rethink their interaction strategies. Any department that interacts with customers should ideally be a part of a single “customer relationship management team” to coordinate previously distinct functions such as marketing, sales, public relations, advertising, and customer service.

What started as a change in channel preferences, has led to a situation in which most companies will need to reorganize how they conduct business if they want to deliver a customer experience that meets expectations. Are you already planning how to make your business more customer-centric, and if not, can you continue to deliver services in a way that your customers expect in 2016?

This article is based on content from the Teleperformance ebook “Outsourcing Up!” published earlier this year. To read more about the book and to download your free copy, please click here: http://tinyurl.com/outsourcing-up.

To hear more about this topic and others like it, and for more information about Teleperformance, join us at Customer Response Summit Austin (Sept. 18-20, 2016).

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The following is a guest blog written by Abhay Prasad, Senior Director, Product Management, Self-Service, at Aspect. Learn more about Aspect by visiting their website.

Did you know your customers probably don’t want to talk to you?

This is one of the surprising discoveries we made while conducting primary consumer research on customer service preferences across generational groups, including Millennials. Instead of talking to an agent, 70% of Americans would rather solve product and service issues themselves and 91% would use self-service if it were available. And the demand for self-service is growing. This year, 42% of survey respondents told us they would rather do just about anything else (like clean a toilet) than talk to customer service – a 27% increase over last year’s survey results.

By tapping into consumer’s preferences for self-service options, businesses stand to save millions of dollars in operational costs, but only when self-service is convenient, appealing and customer-focused. IVRs, which have been considered a mainstay of customer self-service for years, are designed more to keep customers from reaching an agent than to help them resolve their issue in an efficient manner. As a result, most customers who find themselves in an IVR will do their best to find their way out again.

There IS a better way to meet customers’ self-service needs. In fact, we can think of at least eight better ways. Here are two of our favorites:

Caller Intent Prediction

Caller intent prediction can identify the customer profile and see transactional information associated with the account.  With this information, the IVR can predict the caller’s question; making them feel recognized and known while also speeding up their interaction.  For example, a customer calling into a retailer could hear: “I see you have three orders in transit. Are you calling to track the shipping status on a package?” And only when the customer says no are they presented with the full IVR menu.

Experience Continuity

Our research also uncovered that 89% of customers are annoyed when they have to repeat themselves. This happens when a caller is knee-deep in an IVR menu and gets disconnected. Or when they reach a point in the IVR that absolutely needs live assistance and have to repeat all the information they put into the IVR to the agent.

With context continuity, your IVR would guide a consumer who calls back soon after getting disconnected into the spot where they left off: “Did you want to finish changing your telephone pin?” Or, it would ensure that relevant data entered in the IVR would be passed to an agent who can start the conversation — with “Let me help you finish this reservation.” Instead of “How can I help you?”

In addition to caller intent prediction and experience continuity, there are no less than six more tactics that will transform IVR interactions into a rich self-service experience that helps reduce frustration, create a positive experience for your customers and save you money by driving up IVR retention rates. These and other modern IVR capabilities can help build customer loyalty.

To learn more about the other six tactics, join me on September 20^th at 11:30 A.M. for my session at Customer Response Summit Austin, Where’s the Love?  Get Your Customers to Adore Your IVR.

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PHOENIX, AZ. August 17, 2016 – Advocates for Customer Experience Professionals, Execs In The Know, have announced the speaker roster for their next executive gathering – Customer Response Summit (CRS) Austin. CRS Austin will take place September 18-20, 2016, at the JW Marriot Austin, in Austin, TX. Topics such as humanizing digital commerce, multichannel, holiday lessons, digital strategies, analytics, employee engagement, technology, and more will be discussed. The Summit will include keynote speakers from eBay, Hyatt, Verizon, and Electronic Arts.

CRS Austin is a gathering of customer experience leaders, across a broad spectrum, focused on working together to improve the customer care industry, and create innovative experiences for their respective brands. Highlights of the Summit include a behind-the-scenes tour of the Electronic Arts Austin location and the release of the Customer Experience Management Benchmark Series 2016 Consumer Report, a joint effort between Execs In The Know and COPC Inc.

“Customer Response Summit truly serves as a “think tank” for the corporate community of customer executives,” said Chad McDaniel, President and CEO of Execs In The Know. “Our “Leaders Learning From Leaders” approach emphasizes brand-to-brand mentorship and sharing around the best customer engagement strategies. We have one of our best speaker line-ups and collection of brands joining us and I can’t wait to see the real insights and discoveries made in Austin.”

Other brands that will be speaking include RCI, Target, Whataburger, Walmart, Express Scripts, Lands’ End, Dell, Shutterstock, SiriusXM, USAA, Costco Wholesale, and more. To see the full list of speakers, download the official agenda http://ow.ly/i9wt303jL5I.

To learn more about CRS Austin, or to register, visit the event website https://execsintheknow.com/events/crs-austin/.

About Execs In The Know

For over 15 years, Execs In The Know has built a reputation of excellence in the Customer Management Industry and a worldwide community of over 50,000 Customer Experience Professionals, dedicated to enhancing the customer service industry. Execs In The Know connects people to engaging industry content, thought leadership, current trends, peer-to-peer collaboration, networking, and industry employment opportunities. Their largest event, Customer Response Summit, takes place twice a year, uniting executives from many of today’s leading brands, to create impactful connections and share actionable insights.

Learn more at www.execsintheknow.com.

Media Contact:
Alyssa Pitura
info@execsintheknow.com

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The following is a guest blog written by Lauren Kindzierski, VP of Solutions & Capabilities | Global Growth Strategy & Marketing Team, at Hinduja Global Solutions. Learn more about HGS by visiting their website.

Your customers are texting. Do you know how many are already texting to your company toll free line? At our March 23 webinar, How to Launch Text Message Customer Service, we provided some key insights into how to provide this customer service channel to meet, and exceed, the raised bar on today’s CX expectations.

– For our poll regarding “What is the status of your brand launching text as a customer service channel,” we noted that 64% are thinking about launching text as a service channel.

– The second poll, “How are you currently using text for your customer service?” revealed that 79% of respondents are considering options. A total of 15% of attendees are using one-way notification and alerts, while 3% are using two-way text to interact with customers and resolve issues, and 3% are using both.

According to our webinar attendees, a good sampling of companies across verticals, today’s businesses are increasingly turning to text as a channel to reduce customer effort and meet the demand for optimized CX. Here are some of the questions brand leaders from across North America had regarding launching a text solution:

Q1: What should the average response time for text be?

A: When a customer is texting a business, they are definitely going to want a response within seconds, if not faster. When texting friends and family, the average response time for a text message is 90 seconds. Therefore 90 seconds is a really good starting point, because that’s what consumers have come to expect.

Q2: If a customer is in the CRM and is marked as “opted-out,” can a rep still text the customer? Is there anything that stops the rep from texting an opted-out customer?

A: In our system, if a customer has opted-out, the rep cannot text the customer. The customer would have to re opt-in through the legal disclosure process.

Q3: How do you recommend hours of service if customer care is generally offered Monday through Thursday 8 to 8, for example? What happens during off hours?

A: We have the ability to set after hours automated responses. For example, with one of our clients, if someone texts outside of regular business hours, they receive a response that says, “Thank you for contacting brand XYZ. Our business hours are x to x. We will get back to you first thing in the morning. In the meantime, please visit our self-help portal page or Frequently Asked Questions here.” You can then provide a link to the website.

Q4: How many texts can one CSR handle simultaneously?

A: Text is very similar to the chat channel. Typically, two to three texts is average, especially if it’s a new channel and a new agent learning things. As time passes, agents become more efficient. It’s important to recruit agents who are good multi-taskers and are text savvy. This is a good rule of thumb. And when beginning a pilot, take your existing call center volume and anticipate 20% of that being converted to text. The 20% rule is a good industry best practice. This will help you gauge how many people you need for the pilot, and with 20% it would be two to three conversations by concurrency.

Q5: If 20% of contacts are received via text, is that percentage a replacement for other contact channels or is it incremental volume?

A: Typically, 10% is a replacement for calling the 1-800 number and pivoting from IVR into text, while the other 10% is incremental.

Q6: You mentioned a 77% response rate with post transaction surveys. Did the scores increase or decrease based upon additional surveys being returned versus the traditional email replies with a 9% response rate?

A: Usually, you find a positive response rate with text surveys. With text, because everybody does it on a daily basis, and you have told customers that it’s only going to be two questions, they are more willing to respond. You will find that text surveys are more positive and have a higher response rate.

Q7: Does the affirmative consent requirement responding “Yes” lead to any attrition among text users?

A: You might get a couple of instances of attrition, but it’s typically not a problem.

Q8: What are standard response rates after hours, nights, and weekends? Do they vary?

A: If your contact center is open Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, it means that when agents come in on Monday morning, they may have to tackle a few that have come in over the weekend. This may be more volume than they can get to. Therefore, you might want to consider staffing heavier on Mondays, if you have those business hours in place.

If you have further questions about text message customer service and to hear more about this topic and others like it, join us at Customer Response Summit Austin, September 18th-20th, 2016.

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