Interview with Karen Wenborn, Interim GB & I Customer Service Director at Dyson
When I got the opportunity to speak with a customer experience evangelist, I couldn’t say no! A thought leader and head of Dyson customer experience, there were many questions I just needed to know the answer to.
Customer service and the experience business offer is so dynamic. You need to be on the ball, and offer all methods of communication for your customers to get the help they need in the speediest time that is most efficient to you.
What methods do you use for best customer service practices?
1. The best people. Recruited for attitude and aptitude. Well trained (including soft skills) and provided with the tools and information they need to provide FCR for each and every customer. Engaged and empowered, our people are the key to delivering world class service.
2. Best technology. Single Customer View system that gives all of our people a complete view of the customers history. Technology as an enabler allows personalisation, removes the repetition of data capture, allows call and data transfer, is complete with every transaction and touch-point for that customer, from email correspondence to Twitter comments and website visits.
3. Customer feedback. From VOC and CSAT to Customer Effort Score and NPS, we aim to provide our customers with a voice. From praise to complaints, customer feedback should be collated and used to drive business change. We also use customer forum to examine specific issues and drivers and to garner feedback on new products and services.
4. Continuous improvement. Use both customer and colleague feedback to drive improvement and change. Listen.
Mystery shop your CS – yourself – , walk in the shoes of your customers.
What do you think is the role of social media in customer service these days?
Customers now expect service via whichever channel or device they find appropriate at that moment in time. The omni-channel approach should be built into the overall strategy. The argument for/against separate CS accounts or pages on Facebook and Twitter continues but an active presence is essential. The key to successful CS via SM is twofold.
1. Speed of response. Electronic communication is instant, so response times need to be fast.
2. No ‘Twitter washing’. Try to answer a public query or comment with a reply via the same channel. Not always easy, or possible (DPA)
As with any channel FCR should be measured and monitored.
How does Dyson handle social customer care? Do you have a plan for it?
Dyson are at the forefront of social CS. @askdyson has been in place on Twitter for many years now. Our response times are fast and our social media team highly skilled. We also use Pinterest and Facebook and constantly monitor new sites and streams to ensure that we utilise relevant social media.
We also monitor any mentions of Dyson and proactively respond to individuals where issues have been raised. We lead a Social media forum to share best practice and ideas.
What is the biggest challenge for your customer service department?
As with most operations volume forecasting (especially given the move toward Live Chat, email and Social Media) and resourcing.
Multi-skilling is a great help with this and also provides job enrichment for our colleagues.
We have recently introduced WFO to ensure we have the right people in place at the right time.
Does self-service take a front seat in your customer service strategy? And do you think there is a pathway for it in the future?
Our online support for our owners is second to none. We offer Live Chat on the support pages too, plus a YouTube channel.
Whichever channel our owners use to contact us, we always make them aware of relevant support links for future reference.
Has there been a memorable issue you had with a customer? how did you solve the problem?
The majority of our calls are product related and vary from help with purchase decisions or technical support. So no specifics spring to mind in terms of memorable issues.
Our transactional NPS is always in the high 80?s which is an excellent benchmark of the level of service we provide. The Reputation Index position (2nd for many years now, usually to Rolls Royce) also demonstrates the high levels of satisfaction both with service and product offerins.
Bio:
Karen is a customer experience professional with a passion for embedding the voice of the customer at the heart of an organisation. She is expert in provisioning and re-engineering multimedia and multi-channel operations including developing social media strategies that optimise both sales and service opportunities. Managing change through people, demonstrating high levels of employee engagement and customer advocacy while driving revenue, csi and core KPI metrics are core to success. Karen has worked with Blue Chip companies such as Dyson, Screwfix, Virgin Media, Barclaycard, T-Mobile, Tiscali, AXA and Aviva. She is based in the West Country and outside of work loves reading, gardening and video games.
