Customer Service Buzz

On my daily browse of the New York Times, I ran across an article listing the biggest pet peeves for consumers.  I had a sneaking suspicion that customer service would make it on this list, and as the title of this post infers, we did.  The comment on the service experience went as follows:

ENOUGH AFTER-CALL SURVEYS!
“You call, say, an airline for a reservation, and after navigating the monkey bars that stand between you and a human being, a recording asks if you can stay on the line once the call is completed and take a brief survey about the experience.  The answer is no. If the point is for Company X to improve its customer rep system, it is probably recording and “monitoring” those conversations, as we are often reminded by the same automated voice. So the company should eavesdrop on its own time without asking to take up any more of ours.”

The experience described above represents an unfortunate, but common, sentiment that could be dismissed as simply a rant.  But, what I find interesting about the complaint above is it shows how customers don’t always appreciate the different purposes and value between the IVR for routing vs. the IVR for surveys. Read More »

CCC wrote a blog post for Harvard Business Review’s blog on customer preferences for self-service, research with which CCC members are most likely familiar (click here to read the research).  What members might not be as aware of is the visceral reaction this finding has sparked across the customer world.  Over the past 48 hours, since the post went live, it has been the #1 most viewed item on the HBR site and has garnered 60 comments on HBR and an additional 58 comments on YCombinator.  What’s more, it’s been Tweeted on more than 800 times around the world.

[5 Aug. update: the post has been live for a week now, with more than 80 comments on the HBR site and over 1,000 Tweets worldwide.  The blog remains one of the most frequently read pieces of content on the site, currently ranked #3.] 

As a service leader, you owe it to yourself to review not just this post, but the comments which it sparked.  You are sure to find some eye-opening customer stories and reactions that will dial up the urgency for you and your team as you consider how to improve the customer experience.

Here’s a sampling of the reader comments: Read More »

Prank calling is one of those things we know is wrong, but it is hard not to laugh at a good prank call.  It’s a similar feeling to slapstick comedy—you’re indulging in somebody else’s misery.  Once upon a time, to enjoy a good prank call, you actually had to make the calls yourself.  Today, though, YouTube offers a seemingly endless supply of prank calls at your fingertips.  All of the laughs, and none of the guilt.

If you browse the prank calls posted on YouTube, you might find your company is on the wrong end of the joke.  These interactions are generally benign (aside from wasting your money), and your company likely won’t come away with a tarnished reputation (assuming that your rep handled it as a normal call or at least exited the conversation gracefully).  For now let’s entertain ourselves with perhaps the most adorable prank call ever, conducted by Little Becky (she’s a pro).

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We recently received an interesting inquiry from a member curious to know if other companies use actual customers as mystery shoppers to provide feedback on service interactions.  Based on responses from the membership, companies tend to see the value of mystery shoppers to assess rep performance– but there is a lack of consensus on who should do the mystery shopping.  Some noted that using customers is an innovative twist on the standard practice of having internal or third parties conduct this type of assessment. 

CCC members: Catch the entire peer discussion on mystery shopping in the Customer Experience Forum.

But if the goal of mystery shopping is to measure the quality of the interaction – don’t all customers have the potential to provide the same insight as mystery shoppers? So what additional value does an official mystery shopper program bring? Read More »

As CCC’s resident benchmarking expert, I thoroughly enjoy looking at customer data.  I find it to be one of the most interesting parts of what we do in the service environment.  Of course, the challenge here is how to analyze the data and come up with conclusions that match with true customer needs.

I believe we have a tendency to look at individual data points in relative isolation (for example, tracking higher handle times or lower resolution rates) which can lead to a myopic point of view that doesn’t take into consideration the context of that data point, nor connect with what the customer is actually experiencing.

Instead, I’ve found that every data point has a rich story behind it – a story that better explains what customers actually need to have a positive customer experience (as opposed to what they may say at any singular time).

The key is to recognize the difference here – and to dig a little deeper to get a true understanding of the customer.
Read More »

Ask any organization how to achieve customer centricity, and cost figures immediately come to mind.  Dedicated teams, comprehensive surveys, high-end analytics systems—it’s an expensive proposition.

A company recently asked what it means to be more customer centric, and the thought exercise resulted the company vowing to take a “back to basics” approach.  In fact, organizations with large and small purse strings alike should take the basics to heart before extensive investment.

So what exactly do we mean by “back to basics”?  There are many considerations, but among the most powerful: Simply ask the customer.

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Service organizations are at the center of VOC, and unlike our counterparts in marketing and market research, we don’t have to ask for it! Yes – that was a bit of sugar-coating the type of VOC we’re most exposed to in service interactions, but the truth is that we have access to tremendous VOC.

As enterprise receptivity to customer voice increases, it’s noteworthy how often I’m asked about improving the customer experience beyond the basics. It’s almost as if VOC initiatives that don’t include the words “innovation,” “customer insight,” and “unstated needs” are insufficient. My advice? Careful putting the cart before the horse.

There is a greater degree to which service organizations can augment R&D or marketing efforts on innovation and unstated needs analysis, but let’s make sure we’re getting the basics right first. Based on several of our best practitioner’s insights, here are three questions you should consider: Read More »

About a month ago, I weighed the pros and cons of different automated channels for surveying customer – including e-mail, Web, and IVR.   To continue to help members select the right channel for their post-contact customer surveys, I wanted to use part two of this post to address manual channels – like outbound phone and mail surveys.       

By and large, compared to automated options, manual survey administration channels such as phone and mail are not as popular with members. This often due to time lag and resources required with manual survey channels.  Still, they offer a few advantages and pose some disadvantages worth considering. Read More »

They say that strong communication is the key to any healthy relationship.  The principle holds true, of course, for both home and work.

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And while the role of the service and support organization is primarily to be a communicator—and in fact many organizations we work with have upskilled staff on all sorts of tactics for improved interpersonal communication with customers—we’re apparently doing a poor job when it comes to communicating with cross-functional colleagues, particularly as it relates to cascading voice of the customer data.

Here are the facts from this CCC  research on sharing Voice of the Customer (VOC) with internal business partners: Read More »

A common question I hear members ask is, “Given all of the channel options available, how do I select the right channel for my post-contact customer survey?” In this two-part post, I weigh the pros and cons of using different channels for surveying customers.

Here, I cover automated survey channels, including e-mail, Web, and IVR.  Part two will address manual channels, like outbound phone and mail surveys. Taken together, this information can guide you toward the survey administration channel that is best suited for you and your customers.  Read More »