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Many organizations have not realized the “customer of tomorrow” is here. Learn more about how they think by reading the 2020 Customer. It will provide insights to help you consider your next steps to creating friction-free customer experiences within your organization.
Agile Methodology: Start Small to Win Big
Customers are receiving a seamless experience today, sometimes without realizing it. Microsoft, Apple, and Google all provide behind-the-scenes updates to technology, partially to improve security but also to improve customer experience. Typically, these releases are small, and allow the organization to gather data quickly for future improvements. According to Asher, applying this style of thinking to business is key.
“The old-world thinking is you have these major initiatives that take months to implement. Truthfully, to gain momentum requires sprints, which are smaller projects or pilots that leverage partners to create those quick wins,” said Asher. “Smaller corporations and start-ups have to think this way to compete and consequently are effective at creating frictionless customer experiences.”
Asher noted that he sees organizations focused on more risk-averse processes, such as cost cutting or increasing sales.
“To take steps toward better customer experiences requires a recognition that your customer is expecting an experience from you that is ahead of where you are today, then adjust your methodology and rewards systems. Consider ways to measure the overall health of the business while rewarding forcustomer retention, rather than top-line or bottom-line metrics.”
To achieve friction-free customer experiences requires organizations to first accept rapid innovation as part of the new normal in operating their customer service management, while also understanding that customers must be the focus of these agile-styled pilots and programs to gain understanding. But what’s next?
Know What Your Customers Experience
Customer journey is not a new term. In fact, it’s been discussed for years among multiple industry experts, and yet there still seems to be a disconnect between the organization’s overall goals and the ability to provide a positive customer experience. Why?
“You must put yourself in the customer’s shoes: literally. Go into the field and experience first-hand what they do, in order to glean any real understanding,” said Asher. “Without identifying the issues, there is no starting point.”
There are many stories of customer challenges that would seem to be easy to fix. The problem arises when there is no focus from the organization on the issue, and the employees are simply performing a work-around, or have no way to deal with the problem at all.
“There is a major clothing manufacturer and retailer that opted not to give a particular customer complain merit, believing it to be an exception. The issue was that a customer purchased an item online and wanted to return it in a retail location, but could not do so for the same price she purchased it online. One of the customer engagement team replicated the problem and discovered that not only was the problem real but the employees had no work-around. It was a complete fail,” said Asher. “Without taking that one little step, this retail clothing company would have continued with this broken process. Instead, they made some quick adjustments and empowered the employees to do what was needed to make the customer experience better. They removed the friction.”
It’s easy to assume that certain complaints are exceptions. So spending time to investigate issues first-hand is crucial to have any hope of truly mapping the customer experience, much less achieve the goal of removing friction from the processes.
“There is a reason that Amazon is achieving results others are not. They focus heavily on friction-free customer experiences,” said Asher. “Now they have incredible loyalty, and they continue to utilize agility in their model to make adjustments so customers are happier and they are more efficient. I am confident they are not having long meetings while overanalyzing tactics. They are making rapid adjustments regularly, learning from mistakes, and willing to take risks. It’s paid off.”
Stop Overthinking It
There are always challenges with any business, whether the complexities of a large enterprise or the resource-constraints of a start-up. However, using those as a reason to forgo customer experience as a focus will ensure an organization will stagnate.
“Realistically there are many things any company can do quickly and easily to make an impact,” said Asher. “For example, when was the last time you updated the FAQs on your website to align with your customer? Have you considered retraining your contact center agents to achieve a satisfaction score that positively impacts the customer journey?
“Experimentation is important. Perhaps you start with ten agents in a pilot to learn if the metrics have merit. It’s not always about self-service, and it’s not always about technology. It’s about understanding the entire customer journey and how they experience each step. Then make small, rapid adjustments, and learn while you go.”
The long-term benefits of developing friction-free customer experiences are proven, and customers expect them now. Asher recommends working with a customer service outsourcing partner who can support you in making the shifts needed to positively impact your current environment.
“We work with our clients to provide pilots and programs that improve customer experience and reduce friction on a regular basis. By aligning with a partner, organizations can quickly and easily get a more agile method to improving any part of a customer journey, and get those quick wins to move forward.”
