In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays dreary weatherman Phil Connors, doomed to repeat the same conversations over and over again until spurred by the revelation that he can change everything simply by improving his interactions with people.
Having to repeat yourself again and again is no holiday, especially when it comes to customer service. In the 2014 Parature State of Multichannel Customer Service Survey, customers listed their top three frustrations as having to contact a brand or organization multiple times for the same reason (47%), being passed from agent to agent during a single interaction (43%) and impolite customer service representatives (37%).
So how does a brand or organization ensure that their customers never have to repeat themselves in a customer service version of Groundhog Day?
1. Listen intently. When interacting with customers, create a personalized experience by using the information you have about them. Call the customer by name, and listen intently to the information they’re providing and what’s being requested so that they don’t have to repeat themselves.
2. Note what’s important to them. Look at their past feedback, how long they’ve been a customer, sentiment insights, as well as what products and services they own or use to know what’s important to them.
3. Strive to provide a seamless experience. Maintain a record of the customer’s service interactions across channels and use it. If you don’t, you’ll frustrate your customers by making them repeat their information every time they reengage with your organization via a different channel or agent, and your staff will waste time by gathering the same data over and over. If you have to pass the customer on to another agent or another channel, make sure the transition is as seamless as possible.
4. Don’t let your customer service be shadowed by daily repetition. Publish answers to common and repetitive customer service questions in an online knowledgebase or a self-service support portal so that your customers don’t have to ask (and your staff doesn’t have to answer) the same questions again and again.
5. Adjust your future actions based on what you’ve learned. Use the information and feedback you gather from each customer to improve products and services, self-service answers and information and overall service across all channels.
Will it be six more weeks of bad customer service or an early spring for your organization’s customer experience? Take steps now to change the outlook and the future of your brand’s service and support.
