CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
BY JASON FLIGMAN, CANON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE STOCK
THE POWER OF PROACTIVE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
WHY CENTERS SHOULD SHIFT FROM REACTIVE SERVICE.
For years, many organizations treated customer service as a break-fix function. A customer had a problem, the contact center solved it, and efficiency meant speed, volume, and cost control.
However, with the advancement and incorporation of AI, that definition is much too small. World-class organizations are instead empowering teams to act as customer success advocates, focusing their efforts on proactive contact to develop more robust relationships between customers and brands. This work extends past fixing immediate concerns and leans into strengthening relationships, protecting account
42 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE health, encouraging repeat business, and identifying opportunities for longterm growth.
Technology will accelerate this change, but the great differentiator is the human element, such as insight, empathy, and judgment.
THE FOUR STAGES OF SERVICE EVOLUTION
This shift begins with culture and a firm understanding of CRM management. Service, and the CRM systems that support it, evolves through four distinct stages that map to when and how customer engagement occurs, which are before, during, and after contact.
1. REACTIVE SERVICE: THE STARTING POINT
Reactive service fixes what breaks. Customers reach out when something goes wrong, and agents work through queues that are focused on responsiveness and throughput. The problem is that these environments often reward closing the interactions rather than closing the loops.
Reactive service, by definition, starts after the customer has already experienced friction. Even when the agent resolves the issue correctly, the customer has still paid a tax in time, uncertainty, and emotional energy.