Customer service has a much greater impact on buying decisions than ever before, but many companies are failing to make the grade with consumers. New research−commissioned by Nuance Communications and conducted by Wakefield Research−delves into that relevant topic for loyalty marketers.
Greg Pal, Vice President, Marketing, Strategy & Business Development, Enterprise Division at Nuance Communications told Loyalty360 that marketers should focus on a few key things that will enhance customer experience and improve customer retention.
“Make technology smart and adaptable so it can really adapt to needs of consumers,” Pal said. “Instead of consumers having to adapt to needs of certain technologies.”
Authentication is another key focus area, Pal said.
“There is a lot of consumer frustration with passwords and pins,” Pal said. “Using something like voice biometrics to streamline this process can be a big win.”
Being flexible “as to how people provide input to the system through spoken language or text input, is important,” he added. “Collectively, having more human interaction is a key.”
Creating connected conversations is a crucial element in customer service and customer satisfaction, Pal said, as well as closing the loop.
“Once that interaction has taken place, customers want companies to close the loop from a confirmation standpoint,” he explained. “It often boils down to a few things: These channels or points of interaction have emerged over time. The initial focus was handling interactions by the phone. Then the web came a long and web teams were created. Then mobile came along and mobile teams were created. Then social and chat. It’s not surprising these companies have taken an incremental view to some of the technology investments.”
Pal believes that many company departments remain siloed because they all don’t have the same organizational incentives.
“They’re measured on the performance of their own individual channel,” he said. “We feel we bring a lot to the table from a technology and professional services standpoint. How do you piece it all together from a technological standpoint? We end up being the glue that helps facilitate this.”
Customer expectations for service and how they want to interact with companies is definitely changing and evolving, Pal said.
“Now there is a big push from a consumer expectation standpoint and companies are realizing the potential of having all of those touch points working in concert,” he said. “It’s about creating connected conversations and a more continuous arc with that customer.”
According to the new Nuance research, one out of every four (26%) customer service interactions is a negative experience. What’s more, more than half (56%) of American consumers have canceled a service or ended a relationship with a company they do business with because of a bad customer service experience.
From a Millennial standpoint, Pal said as a group, it is much more sensitive to not having their time wasted.
“There is a heavy emphasis that self-service should be quick and easy for Millennials,” he said. “People often talk about service as the Moment of Truth. A lot gets put to the test when people reach out to you. Getting problems resolved reflects very well on brands. The more you can align that experience with the brand attributes in the market has been very important.”