Customer Service and the phone in a Web 2.0 world
Posted by: eolvera, in Speech Industry, Customer Experience
Do you love me?
I was just reading an article on Fortune asking the question of whether your customers love you or not.
Similar to the recent post I had regarding companies that are using customer service as a differentiator, this time around they analyze some Entrepreneurs which are not only using it that way but that are building entire businesses around the concept of good service.
The funny thing is that none of the things being done by these companies is radically different from what some companies would even consider ‘common sense’, yet the advent of the new Web 2.0 world has chance the customer-company relationship in radical ways…
We’ve all seen (or heard) those recordings of dissatisfied customers interacting with companies that are then posted to various websites and blogs. In the article, one customer took even an extra step and decided to visit a company’s headquarters armed with a video camera à la 60-minutes, interviewing employees about the delay in her product.
Therefore, now that customers are taking a much more active role in expressing their feelings and frustrations with poor customer service (including the 15% of ticked-off customers entertaining fantasies of revenge), what should be the role of the phone? Should it simply shield and route customer’s complains in an efficient matter, or should it be taken to the next step and play a critical role in providing a service and satisfying a caller need? In particular, what role should phone automation and self-service play in a small business concept where competing with larger rivals solely on price and selection is a losing game yet most haven’t started to explore its use and benefits outside of voice mail or maybe an auto attendant?
I find it very encouraging that the article doesn’t simply dismiss automation as an anti-human attitude nor assumes that self-service is a synonym of poor customer experience. Instead, they suggest involving customers early on in the design of the product or service (which they refer to as user-innovation).
Furthermore, they even offer a quiz to assess your level of customer service where 30% of the questions have a direct relationship with services offered over the phone:
1) Does your website include a customer-service phone number? - (which can also be applied to whether you make it easy for a caller to get a hold of an operator) Here they point out that not including one gives the impression that you’re deliberately trying to make it difficult for them to reach you with problems, and that by adding it your customer-retention rate is likely to improve.
2) Is the technology you’re using to help with customer service (phone systems, software) modified to your specific needs? - (which can also be applied to whether you’re localizing them to other languages instead of simply translating them) Here they point out that you gain an advantage over one-size-fits all rivals and which I would consider to be the first step towards personalization and data-driven design.
3) Have you outsourced any customer service functions? - (which I would argue includes ‘outsourcing’ your most common functions to a self-service system, as well as ‘outsourcing’ your system user interface design to professionals 
Here they point out that for growing firms, hiring experts frees your team to do other important tasks such as selling or improving your product.
I leave you with a final quote:
“Sounds so simple. It almost makes you forget that becoming a company known for great service takes planning, persistence, and at the end of the day, the hard-earned goodwill of your customer.”