• Proactive messages that pre-empt inbound calls
• Proactive messages that increase the utilization of products and services

Since we have already highlighted how companies in developed markets are using these two kinds of value-added alerts in our research, I thought it’d be interesting to see similar execution in emerging economies. Here are my favorite three uses of value-added messages from India.

1)      Cellular Operators’ International Roaming Notifications: Most Indian consumers travelling internationally tend to switch off their cellular data plans or don’t take calls on their local number since they’re wary of a hefty bill. To counter this trend, cellular operators in India are planning to offer real-time proactive alerts to customers providing updates on usage in terms of money, airtime, and bandwidth consumed while roaming internationally. Operators in other Asian markets such as China, Japan, and Korea have already started using this solution.

I like it because: Customers and business both win. The value-added usage alerts allow customers to use their local numbers but still remain in control of costs, while the businesses benefit through increased use of international roaming.

2)      HSBC India’s Proactive E-mail Messages:  HSBC India is increasingly focusing on driving Internet banking penetration and utilization. A component of the strategy includes using proactive notifications to turn dormant internet banking users into active users. HSBC sends targeted e-mails to those customers who have not used Internet banking in a defined time period. The e-mail—the subject of which is simply ‘We Miss You Online’—provides phone banking contact numbers to allow customers to retrieve forgotten usernames and passwords, as well as a convenient link to learn about Internet banking features and benefits.

I like it because: HSBC ensures that the value-added message is meaningful to customers using analytics. The bank sends the message only to identified customers whose Internet use is dormant, instead of sending the same message en masse. I also like the fact that the value-added message is not something ‘extra’ or ‘good-to-have’ but an important component of its strategy.

3)   Ferns N Petals’ Proactive Problem Solving Pre-empts Calls:  And finally, here’s a personal example that blew me away. A few days ago, I was placing an order for a bouquet of flowers to send to my mom on her birthday on the website Ferns N Petals, a popular flower retailer in India. I added my bouquet to the online shopping cart and filled in the details of when and where the flowers needed to be delivered. I was on the payments page, entering my credit card details, when my phone rang. The call was from Ferns N Petals: the lady on the other end of the line knew I was trying to place an order, but there was a problem with the payment gateway. Since the order wouldn’t go through online, could she take the order on the phone?

I like it because: Ferns N Petals stepped in to solve my problem — even before I knew I had an issue! Given my past purchasing experience, I know I’ll be logging on to the site for my future purchases too. The benefit to the company? Ferns N Petals created tangible value for itself by pre-empting inbound calls, and—at the very least—prevented lost business from abandoned shopping carts.

So, how are you leveraging value-added contact to create value for your customers?

Related CCC Resources

• Proactive Value-Added Contact
• Mechanics of Implementing Proactive Contact
• Proactive Contact to Pre-Empt Initial Calls and Callback

• How can we reduce our costs, without damaging the customer experience?
• Is there a way to create a consistent customer experience across multiple channels?
• What’s the best way to create customer loyalty?

There are a few different ways to word these questions — i.e, loyalty, satisfaction, positive word-of-mouth. However, there’s one group of questions that inevitably start with the same exact words:

How can we get our employees…

(to create a better service experience?) (become more engaged?) (be more efficient?) (go the extra mile for customers?)

Of all those words, the one that jumps out is “get.” How can we GET our employees…?

Here’s the thing. I’ve been doing a lot of work this past year in the areas of human behavioral reinforcement and employee psychology, and what I’ve been learning is that…

…you…can’t. You (as a leader) can’t GET anyone to do anything that they don’t want to do.

Sure, you can pay people more to do what you want them to do. That kinda works, for a little while

You can punish people do don’t do the things you want them to do. That also kinda works, until people start quitting (not just the bad ones, but at least a few of the good ones, too!).

But over the long term, you can’t get (or worse, make) anyone do anything.

But what you can do (in fact, there’s clear evidence that what you must do) is to enable your employees to do what they like doing, but in a way that ALSO results in significantly improved service. You have the power to create an environment in which it’s easier, more fun and more satisfying for employees to create great service, than to just “mail it in” and do the minimum acceptable.

Not just because creating great service is in the best interest of the customer, or the best interest of the company. But because I (the employee) have more fun, and my day goes faster, and I get to go home sooner when I do.

I’ve always been struck by the notion that Southwest Airlines’ award-winning customer service culture starts with the premise that the customer isn’t always right. It’s a decidedly employee-centric view of the workplace. Putting your people first.

Great customer service isn’t really about the customer. Does that sound just a little crazy? Does it sound like I’ve been hitting the egg nog a little too hard during this pre-holiday season? I mean, here we are in Customer Service, and it seems so obvious that what we should put the customer first. But many of the best and smartest companies have learned otherwise.

Great service is about the people delivering that service — and how the behaviors of your people rub off on each other to create the culture of your company. We’ve discovered some extraordinary truths about the power of peer support in employee-centric companies, and its massive impact on increasing rep performance.

If you really want to create the best possible customer experience — really, really — you’ve got to put your employees first and put the customer second.

HOW ABOUT YOU?  Have you seen evidence that by focusing on employees first, and customers second — customer service improveS?

I can’t believe 2011 is almost over.  Seems like just yesterday Lauren was blogging her predictions for 2011 customer service trends…and here we are again.

So, I polled the research team and chatted with a few members to get their perspective on what 2012 has in store for us.  I noticed a few topics that came up several times – some of which are ongoing over the past few years – and others that are newer, including:

• Investment in Technology (especially knowledge management, CRM, and workforce management (WFM))
• Organizational structure changes (primarily from B2B companies as they move from a service organization to center of excellence model)
• Expanding into new service channels (including mobile apps, Facebook, web chat, Twitter, and discussion boards)
• Sales (focused either on increasing cross/up-sell in the service organization or having a closer partnership with the sales team)

As I thought more about these things that service organizations are doing, I wondered to myself what could be driving all of these initiatives.  And I began to see some trends emerge that I think will be crucial in 2012.

So, in 2012 – I think that:

1. You’ll Have More ‘Competitors’ Than Ever Before: Your competitors (in the customer service realm) aren’t just your direct competitors anymore.  Now, your service is being compared to every other customer service interaction the customer has had.  And, many suspect that the customer is developing a ‘gold standard’ for customer service from their best interactions at some of the most progressive companies – and now expect all others to meet this new standard.
2. Your Customers Will Find Even More Advanced Ways to Game the System: Over the past year we have increasingly heard that customers do things like ask for pre-emptive escalations, using Twitter to simply get attention, expect near-instant response times, want to side-step regulations – the list goes on and on.  As customers get increasingly savvy, they’ll continue to find new ways to put you on the defensive when handling their requests.
3. You’ll Need to Proactively Get Ahead of Your Customers: Given these customer expectations, staying one step ahead of the customer will be crucial.  In calls, this means taking the lead to actively guide the customer to resolution – instead of simply reacting to customers.  It can also mean proactive alerts that can educate the customer or eliminate their need to call us.
4. You’ll See A Need for Transparency: As information is more readily available in general, customers will have access to all of the data and information – and they seem to like it.  So, they also want more of it.  Customer can now interact with companies in social media platforms and through other mediums, bringing the customer closer to the company.  And that often means that customers will be looking for transparency and information into your internal processes and workings too.
5. And…Your Reps Will Have the Key to Success: Besides your website, your reps (whether via the phone, web chat, e-mail, or social media) are your customer’s main touchpoint.  They not only need to have a different skill set for this more complex and demanding world, but they also have customer voice that is invaluable to success in the future.  Tap into what they have to say.

So, what does 2012 hold for you?  Share your thoughts!

CCC Related Resources:

1. The Next Frontier of Rep Performance
2. Voice of the Customer
3. Anatomy of a World-Class Contact Center
4. Keeping Pace with Today’s Demanding Customers

membership.  After a bit more data analysis and conversations with a host of members, we’ve uncovered a core area of focus for service organizations in 2012: understanding—and then keeping up with—customer expectations  (especially in today’s multi-channel environment).

The Current State
It turns out that today’s customers seem to be more demanding about service – savvier than ever and wanting a personalized, tailored interaction.  We hear everything from “the customer wants us to do everything for them – including calling a third party on their behalf – to resolve their problem” to “customers ask for escalation even before they interact with a frontline rep.”

That feels like a very difficult place to be – customers are selectively using outlier service experiences with other companies to define their expectations of service with your company.

And, there is a huge stake in meeting customer expectations.  If service organizations consistently don’t meet, they will see increased churn and lower customer loyalty as customers defect to companies who do meet their expectations.

Give Customers What They Want (?)
In response, many do what seems to be most reasonable – give the customers what they want to meet their expectations. Many are doing this by enabling the customer to resolve any issue in any channel at any time.  To accomplish this goal, there tends to be a three-fold solution:

1. Build out new channels: Increasingly, customers are interacting with companies through more channels – including web chat, video, text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter…just to name a few.
   
   Our question is – which channels to prioritize and how do you build a strong business case for each channel?  Do customers really expect us to have a presence in all these channels, or are we actually teaching customers to expect more and more from us by merely operating in some of these channels?
2. Expand capabilities of current channels: Seems like every channel could be more robust – whether it is adding more functionality to the website or redesigning the IVR.  This makes it easier for a customer to resolve any issue in their channel of choice.
   
   Our question is – what functionalities do customers actually use and how do they use them?  How should companies design things like their service websites to make it easy for customer to resolve their issues without forcing the customer to take the path preferred by the company (not the customer)?
3. Integrate channels: Of course, with so many ways a customer can interact with us – it is crucial to make sure those channels ‘talk’ to each other so the customer doesn’t have to repeat themselves every time they switch channels.  Many say that customers want a seamless experience through those channels.Our question is – how should you invest in the technology or other solutions to accomplish this seemingly humongous task?  Are there any low- tech ways to bridge these gaps?

With these areas of focus – and questions – in mind, CCC is setting off to better understand customer expectations today, and how service organizations can consistently meeting expectations.  We have to wonder things like: are customer expectations set – or can we influence them?  Do customers prefer more choice or efficient issue resolution?  What experience best reduces customer effort?

Track our progress on this blog – plus our research updates that includes our latest hypotheses.  We’d love to hear from you – so let us know if you have any comments or want to get involved in the research.

Also, we’ll be releasing a Customer Expectations survey to test customer preferences for emerging channels and their expectations within each channel.  The survey is open to all members, so please let us know if you are interested in participating to get a custom cut of the data.

CCC Related Resources:

1. Shifting the Loyalty Curve
2. Boosting Web Self-Service Stickiness
3. Voice of the Customer

CCC has partnered with Iconoculture to bring you the latest in global consumer trends.  Below is our bi-weekly update featuring the latest Iconoculture insights available now on the CCC site.

The rise of location-based daily deal sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial reflect an increasing customer focus on local products and services. According to Google, 20% of all PC-based internet searches are local in nature. On mobile phones, the number is as high as 33%.

And that’s not all. From local deals to local food, customers are increasingly using the web to interact with businesses right outside their doorsteps.

This is good news for retailers – many have started to capitalize on the shift to local consciousness. Walmart, for example, recently launched a “My Local Walmart” app that allows Facebook users to connect with local stores. Accessed through the store’s Facebook page, shoppers can input their zip code and “Like” their local store to get promotion details, event information, and region-specific product offers. Walmart is also working on a feature that will let shoppers use the app to interact with area sales associates.

By using social media tools to personalize (and “localize”) customers’ experiences, Walmart is making its large brand feel smaller and more manageable.  The app is also helping the company surface opportunities for value-added contact that can build customer loyalty – specifically by providing customers with local product offers and event information in the hopes of driving them to area stores.

Customer service organizations can learn from this approach. Many use proactive contact to avoid customer calls, but often overlook opportunities to increase revenue through value-added messaging. When used correctly, proactive value-added contact can improve the customer experience and lower customer effort.

Walgreens, for example, recognized that customers who interact with the company in more than one channel were three times more valuable than customers who interacted in just one channel. So, as part of a new multi-channel customer loyalty strategy, Walgreens launched a suite of mobile pharmacy services – including a “Refill by Scan” mobile app, a personalized customer prescription history report, and opt-in prescription text alerts. The company is also planning to launch a pilot to give customers the option to refill a prescription just by responding to a text alert.

Through this strategy, Walgreens successfully incorporates its services in a customer’s life by making local pharmacy services both easy and convenient.

Do you use value-added proactive contact to surface opportunities to increase customer usage of your products?  Tell us below!

Relevant CCC Research

• Proactive Contact for Critical Issues
• Proactive Value-Added Contact
• Social Media Topic Center

Other Recently Posted Insights from Iconoculture:

• Online Banking? Meh. Let’s Talk About Mobile Payments!
• Consumers Can Review Clarimed Ratings Before Making Health Decisions
• Criminals on the Prowl on Social Networking Sites
• Rail Passengers Can Show Cellphone Screenshot of Ticket Instead of Printouts
• Walmart App Helps Facebookers Connect With Their Local Stores

And for good reason, too. According to research firm McKinsey, there has been a recorded 40% decline in loyalty among financial customers within the last four years. With so many banks touting such wide varieties of services—mobile banking, rewards points, free giveaways, and (most recently) top-notch security guarantees backed by ATMs with built-in lie detectors —there is more reason than ever to shop for the best bank.

However, while customers are becoming less loyal and more savvy in their decision-making process, they are not being swayed easily by advertisements. For example, research shows that urban adults in India are more like to follow the recommendations of friends and peers, evaluate banks for their specific service offerings, and consider the availability of the bank’s financial analysts.

What this means for the banks, and specifically for service organizations, is that it’s more important than ever to deliver a positive, low-effort experience. In an industry where automated services have become the norm, customers look now to customized, personalized interactions. In fact, a few of the top drivers of loyalty for financial services include flexible customer service, proactive alerts on products and services, and supportive frontline representatives.

What are your thoughts? What do you think your customers are looking for in a bank? Do you agree that there is a greater need for personalization and service?

Other Recent Insights from Iconoculture:

• Netherlands: Sat-nav system offers real-time travel reviews

• HHS brings simplicity to health insurance

• Urban adults shop for banks, favor personalized service

• Bank “truth machine” is tested in Russia

• You don’t know beans: Chipotle comes clean about bacon-laced legumes

However, our latest research indicates that, implemented correctly, value-added proactive contact can unlock substantial efficiency and effectiveness gains for the business, and also improve customer experience and lower customer effort.  That said, implementing value-added contact is complex, since customer preferences of the right contact reason, frequency, and channel can differ widely.  

Here’s how you can make value-added contact relevant to the customer and profitable for the business:

Identify the right reason to contact the customer
Companies find it hard to identify the right proactive contact opportunities. For instance, one member company that we spoke to identified 60 possible instances in the customer purchase-to-use cycle of a bundled product offering at which they could potentially send proactive information. So…which of these were meaningful opportunities, and which were irrelevant?

Our research found that two kinds of proactive messages are effective: messages that pre-empt calls and messages that increase utilization of products and services.

Less is more…avoid over-contacting the customer
Over-contacting customers can annoy customers or cause them to ignore messages from you altogether. To avoid overwhelming customers, we suggest that you gather customer preferences for recurring alerts, and surface customer receptivity of point-in-time messages by examining recent contact history. Use this decision tree to ensure the right frequency of proactive messages.

The ‘right’ channel depends on the situation
The best channel for sending the value-added message is not necessarily the customer’s preferred channel. We recommend considering audience characteristics, frequency of the message and complexity of information, to determine the right channel for not only the customer, but the issue itself.

Use CCC’s decision tool to identify the right channel for different value-added service offerings.

So, are you using value-added proactive contact to create a win-win situation for your customers and your business?  Let us know how in the comments below.

Related CCC Resources:

• Proactive Value-Added Contact
• Mechanics of Implementing Proactive Contact
• Proactive Contact to Pre-Empt Initial Calls and Callback

“People seem to want everything these days, and if we can’t/won’t/shouldn’t give it to them, they go ballistic.”

“Some customers call us still angry from their last issue and what they’re seeking feels less like resolution, and more like revenge!”

“We’ve got customers who think they’re smarter than our reps. And I think some of them actually ARE!”

At CCC, we’ve detected a distinct shift in the landscape  – a page-turn to a new chapter in our relationship with customers.  They’re becoming more demanding, or worse, even unrealistic about what to expect from us.

It’s the dawning of a new era, and it’s one we’ve all seen coming for some time:

• The distant past (the 1990’s) was most notable for the move toward greater economic efficiency in customer service.  That was The Productivity Era. Whatever we could do to resolve issues more quickly (reducing AHT, increasing FCR) was the focus of a successful CS operation.
• Then, in the recent past (the 2000’s) we saw a move toward an increasing emphasis on greater quality in our interactions with customers – The Quality 1.0 Era.  As more and more simple issues were now able to be handled WITHOUT the need for a live rep (IVR, web self-service) then the remaining live calls we did take were, therefore, more complex and required a higher-quality personal interaction.
• Now, here we are in the 2010’s and AGAIN, something is different. But this shift isn’t so much about technology or the complexity of customer issues (although these are contributing factors). The biggest difference is the nature of our customers themselves. We’re in a new phase:  The Quality 2.0 Era.  Here are some examples we’ve heard lately that point to this shift:

Some customers have more experience in issue resolution than your reps.
Picture a well-educated customer (lawyer, doctor, professor) who has been an active consumer of your company’s products for 10+ years. What happens when that customer is having a (heated) dispute with a part-time hourly rep who has 6 months experience? It degenerates into a verbal mismatch that ultimately results in a victory for neither side.

Customers are much better at “playing the game.”
We’ve been hearing that some companies are reporting an alarming increase in “pre-escalations” — customers demanding to speak to a supervisor before they even begin to describe their issue to the frontline rep who answered their call. Clever…but annoying!

Customers are issuing threats and ultimatums (correct word is probably ultimata, but c’mon!).
I have a good friend who is — let’s just be kind and say — a VERY ACTIVE customer/consumer. She is definitely smart (-er than most reps) and she told me about a recent experience with a telecom company:  At the height of frustration over her latest unresolved issue, she boldly declared to the rep, “Stop telling me what you can’t do.  And please understand that the very next thing you say will determine whether I will ever be a customer of your company for the rest of my life.”

What do you think that rep said? Exactly what he was trained to say, “I’m sorry ma’am, that’s not something we handle — again, you’re gonna have to call our technical support number and see if they can help you.” Bottom line:  My friend is now counting the days to the end of her contract, and has a new provider all lined up to handle her entire family’s business from then on.

But there IS hope. We’d love to share some of the solutions we’ve seen to relieve these growing frustrations.  Join us for one of our live full-day seminars, or upcoming “virtual” events on the topic of “The Next Frontier of Rep Performance.” We’ll reveal clear evidence that the way you manage your reps — and the work environment you create — can have a significant impact on improving rep performance in this Quality 2.0 Era of customer service.

HOW ABOUT YOU:  What evidence are YOU seeing that customers are acting differently, and in some cases, unreasonbly?

Given the unique issues that customer service professionals in the Financial Services industry face – including customer privacy and financial risk regulations – it can be difficult to know what CCC resources would be most helpful.

Wondering what others in your industry are reading? Here is a list of the CCC resources that your industry peers are downloading most often.

Top 3 CCC Resources for Financial Services Customer Service Professionals

1. Engineering a Low-Effort Customer Experience

What it is: A popular CCC download, this research outlines the most effective, up-to-date strategies for customer effort reduction.  In today’s competitive banking landscape, differentiating the customer experience may be a great way to win and retain customers.

Why your peers use it:

• To understand the sources of customer effort.
• To identify ways to reduce both the objective and subjective sides of effort.
• To coach frontline reps to employ techniques to reduce “in-the-moment” customer effort.

You might also be interested in: The Customer Effort Score – a customer experience metric that accounts for ease of customer interaction during a service request. CCC research has found that this is the most accurate measure of loyalty in a service organization. 

2. Coaching Starter Guide

What it is: A tool that helps supervisors and coaches identify rep development needs and address them through a behaviors-based coaching model.

Why your peers use it:

• To determine the objectives for coaching interactions. Given regulatory constraints in the industry, it is very important for service professionals to monitor rep behaviors.
• To decide the appropriate behaviors to coach on.
• To leverage example “starter” questions for coaching interactions.

You might also be interested in: Redefining the High-Performing Supervisor. This research provides guidance on the profile of most (and least) effective supervisors and identifies methods to replicate those behaviors.  This is a must-read if you are seeking guidance on how to engage your supervisors to improve service center performance.

3. Average Handle Time Root Cause Analysis and Recommended Opportunities

What it is: In an industry where there are so many metrics, it is crucial that Financial Services companies focus on the right ones. This tool can help companies identify the key drivers of Average Handle Time (AHT) and provide a blueprint for ways to reduce it.

Why your peers use it:

• To manage call volume by understanding the factors that drive AHT.
• To identify both short-term and long-term action steps to overcome AHT-related challenges.

You might also be interested in: Benchmarking Portal. A comprehensive look at CCC’s latest annual survey, this portal will allow you to compare your service center operations with those of your peers.  Financial services companies can use the portal to: prioritize opportunities for performance improvements, compare metrics, and identify areas in which to manage costs.

What other CCC tools or industry-related web sites do you have on your “must-read” list?