Seasoned Consultant, Team Leader and Senior Manager. Specialised in Design, Alignment, Enablement, Implementation, Integration and deployment of technology for Customer Service / Experience and Employee Support. Portuguese | Electrical Engineer | CXPA member | CCXP, ACXS, AgilePM Certified
This week I had two interactions with the same company (NOS SGPS), one in a shop and the other over the phone.
Both employees flagged that I would be receiving a Customer Satisfaction survey, and that it was “not about the company” but rather about their performance.
They asked me (one of them kind of pleaded): “Can you please score it 9 or 10”.
It seems clear that their performances, and most likely commissions or bonuses, are linked to the scores in those surveys. So, I wonder…
1️⃣ NPS is supposed to be a “relational” metric, but why is it used so many times by companies, to evaluate “transactional” interactions?
2️⃣ How do customers feel when they are pushed (by a feeling of guilt) to give a positive score to an employee, who they want to avoid taking a hit in their income?
3️⃣ Could the experience delivered by that employee be subpar due to process and policy (not their responsibility) rather than their competency or professionalism?
4️⃣ Do companies think that using a score as a whip is really going to drive and foster good behaviours and enhance customer experience?
5️⃣ Is this (linking performance and pay to a survey score) a best practice from an Employee Experience point of view, or is it putting unnecessary and unhealthy stress on people?
I think that companies – its so-called CX and EX / HR specialists – should ponder these (and other questions) and assess the real impact of such practices on both employees and customers.
Every single software company is talking about AI, because they have to! The reality is more often than not, we don’t understand what it means. What exactly is that software using AI for? How exactly does it work? And how much can it actually benefit me or my business?
In this blog I want to talk about how AI can, and must, work to positively impact customer and exployee experiences, while boosting companies results and achievinb business objectives.
In the fast-paced world of customer service and employee support, staying ahead of the curve means leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance both customer and employee experiences. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing customer service across 3 critical areas: customer-facing interactions, agent support, and system admin support.
This blog post explores how AI, purpose-built for customer service and employee support, should be seamlessly integrated, easy to start, straightforward to scale, trustworthy and secure.
Customer-Facing AI: Engaging and Interactive
Modern consumers expect swift, personalised, and effective communication. This is no longer news, but it’s still something that most companies struggle to deliver. Customer-facing AI should be designed to meet these expectations by engaging in natural conversational interactions. This clever AI should understand and respond to customer inquiries in real-time, providing immediate assistance and resolving issues without the need for human intervention.
Imagine a scenario where a consumer inquires about the status of their order. Instead of waiting for a human Customer Service Representative (aka CS agent), AI should be able to instantly access the order management system, retrieve the order information and provide an update. This not only enhances consumer satisfaction but also frees up human CS agents to handle more complex and higher-valued queries. AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants must become the frontline of customer service, offering 24/7 support and reducing wait times.
Agent-Support AI: Boosting Productivity and Insight
AI must act as a “co-pilot” for CS agents, helping them become more productive and efficient. As well as allowing them to provide consumers with consistent support. By assisting with routine tasks, suggesting next steps, and providing valuable insights, AI should empower CS agents to deliver better service.
For example, when a CS agent is dealing with a consumer issue, AI should analyse the conversation in real-time and suggest potential and known solutions based on past interactions and outcomes, or internal knowledge bases. It should also be able to automate administrative tasks such as data entry, allowing CS agents to focus more on the human and empathetic interaction with the consumer. This would not only improve the quality of service but also reduce the workload and stress on CS agents.
System-Admin-Support AI: Actionable Insights for Improvement
For process and business owners, AI must offer actionable insights that can drive significant improvements. By analysing vast amounts of data collected from the historic interactions with consumers, AI should be able to identify trends, pinpoint inefficiencies, and recommend adjustments to enhance overall performance.
Consider a Customer Service department receiving a high volume of complaints about a specific product. AI should enable a quick analysis of those complaints, identify common issues or trends, and suggest modifications to the product or service process. This proactive approach would enable businesses to address problems before they escalate, improving consumer satisfaction and loyalty.
Built on Purpose for CX and / or EX
When it comes to enhancing Customer or Employee Experience, the AI capability provided by the software company cannot be generic. It must have been purposely-built for these specific use cases. This “specialisation” (if we can call it that) ensures that the AI understands the nuances and complexities of customer interactions, leading to more accurate and effective outcomes.
Seamless Integration
One other crucial thing is that AI capability must be part of the software provided to interact with consumers or employees. Promises to integrate an AI add-on into your CRM or phone or Chat system, or even your website / portal often fail or fall short. These integrations usually complicate and delay deployments, become more expensive (to stand-up and then maintain), balancing out all the benefits I mentioned above.
Easy to Start and Scale
A key aspect to take into account is that AI capability should be designed to be user-friendly and scalable. It should allow business users (not IT or developers) to work with it. Businesses should be able to start small, with a few key functionalities, and gradually expand as needed. This flexibility would allow companies of all sizes to adopt AI at their own pace, minimizing risks and costs.
Trustworthy and Secure
In the age of data breaches and privacy concerns, trust and security are paramount. AI for customer service and employee support should prioritise data protection, ensuring that customer information is handled securely. Robust encryption, compliance with data protection regulations, and transparent data usage policies should all be standard features of trustworthy AI systems.
Conclusion
Embrace the future of customer service and employee support by using AI, watching your business thrive in the digital age… but be aware of what you buy, subscribe and agree to deploy. There are is lot of stuff (read: software) out there that is only paying “lip service” to AI… they “talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk”.
Recently, I lost an Individual Contributor. A member of my team, who decided to leave the company after just over 3 years on the job, and embrace a new professional challenge elsewhere.
He published a note on LinkedIn, as you do, thanking his colleagues for the ride and letting his network know that he was moving on. And he was flooded with heartfelt farewell comments and messages.
The amount of strong and sincere reactions, as well as praise to his work and personality, seems to have surprised him. And he felt overwhelmed by the amount of people that were sad to see him go and appreciated his work.
I was sad to see him go too. And, as usual, I took sometime to reflect on EX. As leaders are we doing enough to ensure our best people stay? Could companies do more to avoid losing great assets?
Everyone likes a good EX joke 😊
A few of questions came to mind, that turned into thoughts…
Why do businesses tag people (the members of our teams) as Individual Contributors?
That tag hints the person is only responsible for managing themselves and complete their own tasks. It basically relieves the person from any duty of caring for the business or the people around them. It instills the “I do what they tell me to do” mentality and culture. Which means the person doesn’t even feel accountable or responsible for what they do. On top of that, they don’t feel valued, only used (to perform a task or function).
Truth is that member of my team was much more than just a great executor. He was a great human being, fantastic colleague, outstanding professional, that led by example. Dependable, competent and passionate. Who nurtured good relationships, cared for and supported others, as well as provided thoughtful and constructive feedback (from which, by the way, I learned a lot). He also always did right by the customer, with the company’s best interest in mind.
Calling someone an Individual Contributor, even if they don’t manage other people, can feel diminishing, and certainly have a negative impact on the employee and the employer.
Why do colleagues only take the time to praise peers when they are on their way out?
In business, as in life, we are quick to point out the mistakes of others and seldom take the time to give praise when it is due. Every single day we hear colleagues complain about their peers or shoot down their work. And most of us still react with awe when someone publicly praises the work of someone else – particularly if that someone is not part of our “tribe” (silo, function, unit, department).
We all feel the need, and like to be recognised for a job well done – it’s human. And in our jobs, most of us will frequently do something that adds value, progresses a deal, contributes to a goal, saves the project, helps develop a product, gives a different perspective, or simply helps or supports someone – and all of these are worth praising.
The truth is we seem to be too busy to take a moment and recognise our colleagues. Even if our companies encourage us to do it, and provide tools for it. We assume our colleagues just know we appreciate their work, so we don’t need to say it directly or publicly (some of us even feel that may be seen as being “soft”). I wonder if my great team member would have left, if he knew how many people appreciated him, and how much.
Why do companies invest on Customer Experience and neglect Employee Experience?
It’s been a couple of decades since Customer Experience (CX) is being studied and implemented as a business discipline, crucial on a company’s strategy. Specialists have written and insisted, that happy employees impact positively the CX delivered. Actually, research shows that companies with great Employee Experience (EX) outperform their peers, as there is a direct link between EX and employer’s superior financial performance.
If we ask business leaders, the majority of them acknowledge this and say they have plans to create an EX that is comparable to their CX. The truth is this can’t wait anymore, and those plans need to leave the paper and be implemented. Particularly today, when employees are experiencing a very different work experience and hybrid workplace. Companies need to take care of their employees to have them engaged.
Taking care of them means much more than just offer benefits and perks. It’s not enough to talk about well-being and work-life balance, and tell people how important it is that they take care of themselves. It’s important that companies ensure they develop new processes adapted to new realities, improve ways of working to avoid stress and pressure, reward good behaviours rather than immediate results, and foster a good positive culture – ideally, by focusing on what Simon Sinek calls the “Infinite Game“.
Finally, employees expect to be treated well by their companies, and expect the same level of service in the workplace, as from the companies they buy from. Asking the HR department about the leave policy is as important (if not more) as asking the Retailer about the returns policy.
One of the most significant drivers of disloyalty is effort in Customer Service interactions. The key to mitigating that disloyalty is reducing Customer Effort. Most businesses are going at it the wrong way. I will give you an example…
Many businesses started offering multiple channels because they thought it would be convenient for us. And convenience is synonym of things made easier and more suitable. If we wanted to contact, we could do it whenever we wanted, however we wanted.
But the problem is that businesses forgot that, when it comes to Customer Service, we don’t want a lot of choices – having too many choices on how to get help actually creates a high-effort decision for us. Which one is best to resolve our issue?
When it comes to Customer Service, what we want is resolution. We simply want our issue resolved as quickly as possible. And we are happy and willing to use whatever channel or mean to achieve that outcome.
It doesn’t matter if you are a Bommer, a Gen X, a Millenial or a Gen Z. It doesn’t matter how old-fashioned is the way to do things. If you know that a specific problem can be better resolved by post, you would sharpen your pencil and write a letter.
A fast and easy resolution of our problem takes precedence to any channel preference.
On top of this miscalculation, businesses are also not looking in the mirror. They put a lot of effort and money in offering more Customer Service channels, but they keep operating the same exact way – with the same internal silos, policies, sludge.
What good is it for us to have more choice and (what businesses think is) more convenience, if at the end of the day we still cannot have our issues resolved in a quick, easy, seamless and effortless way?
I have been a broadband customer for almost 10 years. But now I decided to leave. My contract is coming to an end on 8 March 2022, so I called about a week ago to let them know of my intention to cancel the service.
As expected, the typical small print in the terms & conditions immediately kicked-in.
1st unpleasant surprise – I could cancel the broadband, but am going to be charged £50 to cancel the landline ahead of time (when you change address the landline contract renews automatically for another 12 months, and I moved home 6 months ago).
2nd unpleasant surprise – Despite I have been a customer for almost 10 years, I cannot keep the equipment (router, etc.) because it needs to be re-used, and I would be charged £100 if I didn’t return it.
I was told a pre-paid returns envelope, sent by BT to my address, was the only way to return the equipment. But that could take up to 7 working days, and I was only in the country for 6 days.
Is there another way to do it? No.
Could you give me the address and I will post it myself? No.
Could I drop if off in one of your stores? No.
After 4 days, without any sight of the returns envelope I call again, and I’m told that I can actually drop it off at a store. And that is the only other alternative. I travel to the store that same day (2 hour return trip, metro + bus).
3rd unpleasant surprise – Staff says, I cannot drop off the equipment at the store. That it was an “old policy“.
I go back home, and call again. I’m told I can drop it off at the store and they would leave a note in my account so the store staff could see it. I travel to the store the next day (2 hour return trip, metro + bus).
4th unpleasant surprise – Staff says, I cannot drop off the equipment at the store. And that the “Call Centre agents don’t know what they’re doing“.
I go back home, and call again. I’m told that there’s actually another way to return it – they would give me the returns address so I could post it myself. I travel to a nearby post office and pay £10 to mail the equipment.
Two days later I receive a text message from BT: “Hello, BT here. We’ve got your return. We’ll now make sure your kit is disposed in a safe and environmentally friendly way. Thank you for helping us reduce waste and protect the planet“.
Well, if it was to be disposed in a safe and environmentally friendly way, I could have done it myself, disposing it in the nearest recycling centre, and without going through a gigantic hassle and horrendous experience.
And, when it comes to reducing waste and protect the planet, I’m sure that all my trips, as well as the paper and plastic used to post the equipment, didn’t help the planet much.
But…
that’s the BT policy – you must send it back to be re-used (unless it’s to be disposed)
that’s the BT rule – there’s only one way to return it (unless there’s another way, and another)
that’s the BT way – there’s a process to follow (unless there’s another process, or another)
It’s funny… actually no, it’s sad… to think that BT’s brand purpose is ‘We Connect For Good’
Today, the President is taking decisive action to promote fiscal stewardship by improving the Government’s service delivery to its customers, the American people.
The President will sign an Executive Order, Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government, directing that Government leaders account for the experiences of the public in seeking Government services.
The President is making sure we’re building accountability and transparency into everything we do and that we’re good stewards of taxpayer dollars. As the President has said: “We have to prove democracy still works, that our government still works and can deliver for our people.”
The Executive Order directs Federal agencies to put people at the center of everything the Government does. Specifically, the Executive Order includes 36 customer experience (CX) improvement commitments across 17 Federal agencies, all of which aim to improve people’s lives and the delivery of Government services.
The Executive Order also creates a sustained, cross-government service delivery process that aligns to the moments that matter most in people’s lives – like turning 65, having a child, or applying for a small business loan.
As part of this framework, the Administration will work to identify and define critical services that meet customers’ needs and expectations, assess performance delivery and report it publicly, incorporate customer feedback during each interaction, and ultimately ensure services deliver a better experience to the public.
Every interaction between the Government and the public, whether it involves filing taxes or renewing a passport, is an opportunity to deliver the value, service, and efficiency that the public expects and deserves.
Twenty one years into the 21st Century, many companies still hold on to the same dogma. Marketing attracts prospects; Sales acquires customers; Service is a necessary evil.
When the going gets tough, the first thing those companies think of, is cutting costs in customer service, because that department is not perceived as direct contributor to revenue and profit.
That is a mistake. It is well researched, studied, demonstrated and documented, that…
Good customer service is crucial for Retention, Renewal, Repeat business;
Poor customer service impacts customer Experience, Satisfaction, Loyalty.
According to Forbes, poor customer service is costing businesses more than $75 billion a year. So, it sounds like weakening customer services might not be the right strategy.
It’s well researched, studied, demonstrated and documented that acquiring new customers is more expensive than keeping existing customers.
With that in mind, it feels like companies going through hard times should rather…
support and reinforce customer service;
prioritise retention, without neglecting acquisition.
Investing in Customer Experience (as a business discipline) and Technology (as an enabler) is, in my opinion, the best strategy.
It’s well researched, studied, demonstrated and documented that the return on investment of having a good CX program is not just massive, but also lasting.
It’s also well researched, studied, demonstrated and documented that technology is not just one of the quickest, but also most cost-effective ways to enable good customer service.
A technology platform, built from the ground up with a focus on customer experience and aligned with a good CX strategy, allows companies to…
Be where customers are – making conversations easy and convenient;
Give customers what they want – making interactions effortless and consistent;
Collect customers feedback – keeping the finger on the pulse of the experience;
Understand customers behaviour – informing the improvement of experiences;
Orchestrate customers journey – increasing personalisation and efficiency;
Analyse and gather actionable insight – prioritising fixes and development areas.
Remember… it is very well researched, studied, demonstrated and documented that word-of-mouth is the cheapest way of Marketing and the most effective way of Selling.
Jeanne Bliss (the mother of CX) says you need to “earn the right to have customers tell your story” – customers that tell their friends, families and followers about your brand and products.
That is the making of a Customer-Driven Growth strategy, and Customer Service is at the core.
Doctor CX 