The world of business and marketing is in a flux, which has not been made easy by the fact that we live in a world that is increasingly technology driven.
Customers now have options on how to communicate with companies, brands and organizations. In addition to the traditional call center, they now can employ the use of the e-mail, websites, live chat and social media platforms, and they expect customer service agents to be ready to attend to their enquirers across all of these channels.
Businesses are coming under a lot of strain on how they interface with their customers which in the long run boils down to the need for careful consideration and investment.
How brands respond to customer service is important especially across multiple channels. If for instance you lose your ATM card very late at night, does the bank have dedicated 24 hour customer care lines that is swift to handle these complaints? Or on the other hand the customer decides to tweet at them or drop the complaint on the bank’s Facebook page, what will be the response time to the customer.
The term “call center” is becoming unfashionable. A lot is happening online and technological innovations are supporting that, providing avenues for customers to obtain information and lay complaints also.
For many brands their response to online technology is poor. A lot of customers are online and this arena has given consumers a new air of confidence.
Customers are able to make a fuss about anything these days. History shows us that delivering great customer service could be quite tough, but doing so across multiple channels looks like an up-hill task.
What is the way out, and how do brands deal with this avalanche? A way to deal with this is to be proactive in developing a multichannel customer service. Been proactive not only personalizes the customer experience and therefore improves satisfaction, but it also translates into revenue generating opportunities.
Having inconsistent messaging across multiple channels will terribly expose the gaps within companies and could be very damaging. Some companies have a unit dedicated to customer service call centers, a unit dedicated to social media, a unit dedicated to e-mail support and another to the phone banks and so on.
The key is to get them to collaborate, work together and adopt multiple channel strategies, rather than allowing them to bump on their own, each should be integrated into a holistic vision which enables them to know what one unit is doing and feed information to themselves which is crucial for feedback and product innovation. What this does is to balance the process of the sales pitch when it’s appropriate and when the customer would benefit from the improved package, plan or deal.
Successful customer experience is all about engagement – how to engage the customer through the right medium at the right time.
The maxim “the customer is king” still holds true. It has taken on a much more significant value in this digital age. Putting the customers’ needs first is the key to a successful experience, and customers today are contacting organizations any way they can.
Brands need to be accessible, both online and offline, in order to remain relevant to their customers. The oldest brand value is helpfulness- this simply means good, informative customer service.
As a brand, whether you are online, offline, or both, the most important thing should be your customer, and the experience you deliver to them.
