This is true whether you engage directly with another human such as a contact center representative, or with technology that was ultimately designed for humans by other humans.
You engage in a step-by-step process, listening to or watching directions, painting a mental picture in your mind as you go along, and hoping that it takes you where you ultimately want to go. Whether that’ s a physical location or the solution to your problem.
But too often, it does not. Or it takes you there, but it takes you the long way around. Either way can lead to a frustrating experience.
VOICE CHANNEL CHALLENGES
With contact center voice channels like IVR, and voicebots in particular, the similarities with listening to someone giving you directions are quite strong:
• Both are serial, step-by-step processes.
• Both require an awareness of where you are( either geographically or contextually).
• Both require a certain amount of“ memory buffer” as you work your way cognitively from one point to the next in your mind and execute the steps to get you where you want to be.
THE VISUAL REALM HAS ITS OWN ISSUES
With visual channels, you get to present a lot of information at once to the user. The challenge here is knowing what information to present, how and when to present it, and understanding what obstacles your customers may face while trying to navigate their way through it. Simple web pages and mobile screens with clear, unambiguous labeling are
40 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE generally best.
Make rudimentary data entry for dates, times, Zip codes, etc. simple, consistent, and easy to get right the first time. Avoid cramming too much information into images and keep them lightweight and quick loading. Use very short movies and sliders where appropriate. And absolutely, make sure your pages are fully responsive for desktop, mobile, and tablet displays.
KNOWING WHAT WE’ RE BEING TOLD ACTUALLY APPLIES TO US IS THE TRUE VALUE OF VOICE THROUGH THAT ONE-TO-ONE CONTACT.
Things to keep in mind:
• Phone screens can only hold so much data.
• Web pages can be slow to load.
• Maintaining visual clarity and information prioritization can be difficult.
More important than this though, to many of your customers, engaging with a web page or mobile screen designed for the masses doesn’ t carry the same weight as hearing it straight over the phone does.
All that being said, for many of us, until we call and hear important information, we tend to wonder if it really applies in our own particular and present case. Especially if it’ s a delayed flight, an unusual charge on our credit card, or a bank deposit that hasn’ t been made when expected. Knowing what we’ re being told actually applies to us is the true value of voice through that one-toone contact.
HOW ABOUT SMS / TEXT?
Text channels like iMessage, WhatsApp, and Messenger are great for short, informational interactions with live agents.
Consider also using customized agents based on services like ChatGPT for single prompt inquiries like“ How much extra does business class cost for flights from New York to Los Angeles during the work week?”, or“ What’ s the difference in interest rates between your 6-month and 12-month CDs?”
This will come at a cost for truly customized services, but it will also move a lot of repetitive inquiries away from your expensive agents. They can then handle what they do best and that is complex, high-touch inquiries.
AIDING THE VOICE CHANNEL
As I alluded to earlier, voice channels also have their challenges that are akin to asking others for directions. To come to our aid, we have a bevy of new technologies like Conversational AI, machine learning, natural language understanding, agent assist, and many more. Of course, we also have the tried-and-true directed dialog IVR, email, chat, and expert( but expensive) customer service agents.
The trick is to know what to use and when to use it. That’ s a lot easier said than done but in my experience, there are a few points well worth considering before you lay out a big chunk of next year’ s budget and resources to the task:
What does your audience expect?
Younger generations are usually hoping to zip through a few phone screens or text messages( SEE BOX) and hit on an exact solution in less than a minute. If so, what are the chances you’ ll be able to deliver that reliably every time? What are the chances you’ ll only frustrate them before they seek alternate channels like voice, or sellers like your competition?