The Results Are In – European Consumers Surely Have Strong Feelings About Their Contact Center Experiences
Author: Jim Mitchell
Consumers across Europe are definitely not ambivalent when it comes to contact center experiences. When their interactions are good, they’re really good, but when they’re bad, well … you can see for yourself.
This year’s Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index(tm) results for typical contact center experiences in Europe aren’t much different than last year’s, except for the scores relating to Empathy and Advocacy – the people-related attributes. Consumers who have typical experiences feel that agents are less knowledgeable and informed than they were one year ago. They also say that agents speak less clearly, are more difficult to understand and are less patient.
But, it’s not all dire news. In 2007, for the first time, the Aspect Index compares “typical” experiences against those that consumers deem to be “exceptional.” While, as a general rule, contact centers are not making the grade, some are clearly delivering exceptional customer experiences. And, they are doing it in pretty obvious and basic ways – offering friendly and courteous service, providing information to consumers when they need it, giving consumers the power to make the choices that best suit their individual requirements, and of course making consumers feel as though they are appreciated.
Why should you care? Because research shows that high satisfaction ratings directly correlate to future business with more than half of European consumers who report exceptional experiences confirming that they will do more or even much more business with a company in the future.
Here’s how you can enrich your customers’ experiences. Start with your agents; invest in them and focus on making them successful and happy. Spend money on regularly scheduled coaching, eLearning, quality monitoring and ongoing quality management. It is also very important that your agents have the tools they need. If you interoperate your front- and back-office databases with other essential technologies, your agents will have a more comprehensive view of your customers’ interactions, regardless of channel. They will be able to take a phone call today and quickly and easily access all pertinent background information from last week’s email correspondence or yesterday’s chat session with the same customer. And, agents will be able to use existing data to resolve outstanding issues and eliminate the need for customers to recount their situations. They will also anticipate needs that customers may not even know they have, enabling them to up-sell and cross-sell new products or services. Or, you could even provide real-time hints directly to your agents’ desktops to help them provide more consistent and successful interactions.
It’s time to ask yourself whether your center is providing “typical” or “exceptional” experiences. If the former, what changes are you planning to make?
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