SPECIAL REPORT
• Link input channels to your user history so you do know the customer. For all my criticism, United Airlines at least says,“ Welcome back John,” every time I call, based on my cell phone number. United Healthcare uses voice prints for authentication.
• For intent, have the AI( and IVR) suggest words based on your initial input to help you communicate your intent. AARP does this very effectively. Don’ t be afraid to have a two-tier FAQ list, as long as each cluster has no more than seven subjects in a level. Have three or even four columns on a web page rather than making the customer scroll down.
• To find a human, assure the customer you will help them get to a human if the AI / self-service is not successful. When I had an internet access problem, Xfinity assured me that if rebooting the system did not solve the problem, they would quickly transfer me to a human tech rep. Given that offer, I was willing to try the reboot, which solved the problem.
APOLOGIES ARE MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN THE REP IS USING THEIR OWN LANGUAGE RATHER THAN ARTIFICIAL SCRIPTED LANGUAGE.
Response
Customers want three things:
• An apology
• A fair remedy to their problem.
• Assurance that the problem will be reported so that it will not be encountered again.
Let’ s look at these in turn:
On apologies, most are canned and many use language that does not admit blame and sound artificial, e. g.,“ I do apologize for your inconvenience.”
The word“ inconvenience” belittles most disasters customers are calling about. If the event being called about is a flight cancelation, an unfulfilled hotel or car rental reservation, or a missed connection, it is much more than an inconvenience.
Moreover, and all too often, the response is a legalistic“ Gotcha,” e. g.,“ Sorry, paragraph 6 excludes your situation from the guarantee.” But it makes the company look sleazy and the customer feel mistreated.
As to remedies, too often they don’ t cover all the needed bases, leaving customers dissatisfied and less likely to buy from you again.
The customer’ s confidence in your brand should be restored as much as possible without extra cost. If it was a company error, there should be some compensation, e. g., an extra 5,000 miles, and there should be assurance that the issue will be conveyed to the quality improvement process. Get Finance to do the math: if the customer is worth $ 1,000, does it make sense to skimp on a $ 50 compensatory remedy?
If the customer was at error, they should still be made whole, possibly with a note to the effect that“ this one time we’ ve got you covered, but please be aware that you had a responsibility to do X which wasn’ t done.” It is ok to educate the customer nicely, noting that next time they should act accordingly.
The remedy should solve the basic problem, even if the customer may have misunderstood some of the rules of product use.
The solutions to response rage are doable and they won’ t break the bank, or worse yet, annoy shareholders.
• Apologies are most effective when the rep is using their own language rather than artificial scripted language. Think how you would apologize to your significant other or your child when you truly screwed up. Use common words like mess and hassle rather than problem and issue which sound legalistic.
• Remedies are a fair resolution and compensation for the hassle. After having said that, you will not be able to compensate for the lost time and effort( especially if the customer is a lawyer who normally bills at $ 600 an hour). Explain what you can do and offer to advocate for the customer up the line if that is needed.
For assurance of being heard, this can be accomplished in 10 seconds by the rep saying,“ Your issue will be reported to our Quality( or Continuous Improvement) Department.” That gives the customer hope and a feeling of impact.
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