CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
In addition , generic ChatGPT is not training on your unique customer engagement data . Training on the right data sets is critical . This also requires ongoing testing , monitoring and tuning to prevent AI hallucination that misleads AI to answer questions it can ' t .
IN LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS THERE ARE OFTEN THE SEEDS OF EXCELLENT IMPROVEMENT AND NEW PRODUCT SUGGESTIONS ; LOYAL CUSTOMERS OFTEN WANT THE COMPANIES THEY DO BUSINESS WITH TO SUCCEED . HOW CAN CONTACT CENTERS BEST PICK THESE OUT AND REFER THEM TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS FOR ACTION , AND IN ACKNOWLEDGING CUSTOMERS ?
A : The common theme is that you need to listen to all interactions across all channels . In addition , you must intersect analyses of interaction data with demographic and customer data .
SURVEY FATIGUE
There has been much talk about " survey fatigue ", that customers are fed up with them and not responding , which risks distorting the real picture of customer attitudes / voice of customer .
So , we asked Dave Singer whether this is happening .
“ Survey fatigue is real : consumers are constantly bombarded by surveys , and they take too long to complete ,” says Dave .
“ Phone surveys are also notorious for providing biased responses because a limited pool of people will tolerate holding on the line to take a five-minute survey , which can drive skewed survey results .
“ Today , the best practice is to shorten and randomize feedback questions .
“ If you ask one customer a short set of questions like ‘ How was your experience ?’ or ‘ How was the resolution ?’ from one section of your survey and another customer another short questionnaire from a different section , you can average the results across all respondents . And get a more accurate picture of customer attitudes .
“ And it will reduce survey fatigue .
“ Another option is to ask your customers just one straightforward question at checkout on the pin pad and randomize it .
“ You will get a fuller picture across thousands of respondents . Your customers won ' t have to spend longer than five seconds to say , ‘ Yes , the cashier was friendly ,’ ‘ Yes , I found what I wanted ,’ or ‘ Yes , the price is reasonable .’
“ Reducing the amount of time and questions decreases consumer frustrations and increases survey participation so brands can collect meaningful voice of the customer insights for continuous customer experience improvement .”
Using AI and analytics to listen to and understand customers ' requests across every interaction is critical . It can signal common themes and marry them up against enterprise data to understand the demographic it is coming from so you can make accurate data-driven decisions .
For instance , if you see a trend of suggestions to move billing policies from A to B , but most of the responses are coming from customers delinquent on their payments , you might not take that recommendation .
Or you could try to understand the challenges that are causing these customers to become delinquent on payments . What if this request comes from your top customers and should be prioritized ? Either way , you need to understand where recommendations are coming from and why .
"... YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO ALL INTERACTIONS ACROSS ALL CHANNELS .... YOU MUST INTERSECT ANALYSES OF INTERACTION DATA WITH DEMOGRAPHIC AND CUSTOMER DATA ."
WHAT ARE YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CONTACT CENTERS SEEKING TO IMPROVE THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR CUSTOMERS AND BOLSTER THEIR AGENT PERFORMANCE FROM QUALITY MONITORING AND ASSURANCE ?
A : Listening to both the customer and the agent sides of every interaction is best . For example , what kinds of agent performance practices led to the best customer outcomes ? How does your agents ' performance match up against defined policies and procedures ? You can use this to refine policies and procedures to better serve your customers .
It ’ s about understanding behaviors on both sides by analyzing the impacts of agent behaviors against customer outcomes , and then drilling down to determine which behaviors are driven by your training and policies or driven by the customers ’ behavior . All of which can be used to evolve training and coaching , as well as policies and procedures that align to better customer outcomes .
When you coach and train your agents against policies , procedures , and protocols , it will be easier for agents to accept and adopt because they ' re being asked to do what the customers want them to do anyway . When the agents are tuned into customer needs in this way , then more positive customer experiences can result .
If you would like to contact Dave , you can reach him on LinkedIn .
Brendan Read is Editor of Contact Center Pipeline . He has been covering and working in customer service and sales and for contact center companies for most of his career . Brendan has edited and written for leading industry publications and has been an industry analyst . He also has authored and co-authored books on contact center design , customer support , and working from home . Brendan can be reached at brendan @ contactcenterpipeline . com .
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