Workforce Management Featured Article
Company (and Agent) Effort Are Critical to Customer's Perception of a Positive Experience
We talk a lot about customer satisfaction today: how to achieve it, how to measure it, how to improve it and even how to report on it. What’s less discussed are the factors that customers use to measure a great experience. What, precisely, is it that makes an interaction great? Is it the speed of the transaction? Is it the ease of the transaction? Is it the end result? Is it the agent’s attitude?
While all of these factors may be critical, it’s important to remember that all customers are different. A retired customer may not mind remaining on the phone for 20 minutes, whereas that timeframe may be completely unacceptable for a younger, mobile customer. For a high-ticket item, the resolution may be more critical than anything else, whereas for a small item, ease of the transaction may be the pivotal point.
According to a recent post by Fonolo (News - Alert) blogger Jason, it may be more about the customer’s perception of the agent’s efforts. “When I phone a call center, did the company – and, specifically, the agent – do their absolute best, from accepting my call to saying good-bye, to help me?”
“Like you, I instinctively know when they do,” wrote Jason. “I don’t expect every aspect of an interaction to be perfectly smooth. If I’m calling, the IVR may be confusing, I may have to wait on hold, the company may not have a call-back solution (which would go a LONG way towards improving my experience), I may not even get my issue resolved (which would encourage me to turn to social media). But, if the agent I interact with (online or by phone) goes that extra mile to help me, if they really show me that they care by trying hard to solve my problem, I will end the conversation feeling that I had a remarkable experience.”
The blog notes that companies can get many things wrong and yet still exceed customer expectations by showing that they truly care. This isn’t, however, an easy skill to master. You can’t fake it or force it, and it’s the type of virtue that hinges on the quality of agents a company hires. A company’s reputation is only as good as its weakest agent. Recruiting, hiring, training and managing agents, therefore, becomes one of the most critical aspects of call center operations. Companies that dedicate their resources to hiring the right people, training them properly and continuously and using workforce optimization solutions skillfully to ensure that the right people are available to take the right calls at the right time can go a long way toward showing customers they care.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
