In customer collaboration world, we often (OK, always 😉 ) think that customers are unreasonable, demanding, short-tempered and agitated when we are trying to collaborate with them. We spend a lot of time and money to analyze their behavior, try to be ready for them when they need, but still get no love in the end. Here is why;
Customers don’t like waiting: The time is the most precious thing in today’s world and we are still slow in offering alternatives to minimize their time spent in queue or menu options. They want alternative, practical collaboration options and they want them now.
Customers don’t even like calling: Recent study in the UK shows that one in four smartphone users don’t even make phone calls weekly. It is a behavioral change on the consumer which is great news for smart collaboration. They are more inclined to using smart apps than making a call. Calling in fact is the last resort for many consumers. It is something companies need to take advantage of while collaborating with their customers.
They feel really disappointed when we are not ahead of time: Their taxi can find their exact location over a smartphone, but our agents still sit somewhere on a remote site and there is no way to help customers in person. They want to meet the nearest salesperson, access nearest pickup truck, get stocks from the nearest supply van even when all the parties are mobilized.
It is extra frustrating when we are not prepared for busy times: Waiting in the queue over an hour in Black Friday? There are easier ways to get things done. They want us to take advantage of the “smartness” of their smart phone and other technologies that are widely available.
They don’t get why enterprises can’t adopt the technologies used by the consumers every day: They use WhatsApp for chatting, Facebook for sharing, Twitter for moaning and Skype for talking. They want a single, universal app that has all these features when they try to reach out any customer service. They don’t want to pay airtime to wireless operator while waiting in the queue on their mobile phone. They don’t want to call mobile-unfriendly toll-free numbers. They want to talk over Wi-Fi or mobile Internet, video calls with the agent where available. If they can’t talk to an agent immediately, they should be able to chat over mobile. If they can’t chat, they would like to tweet or email to the exact team they are trying to reach out to get live agent response in minutes or at least submit a callback request. They don’t want to spend too much time on your website, they would rather co-browse with an agent on the mobile device and get things done online.
So, what is the solution I hear you ask…
All I can say at this stage is… Watch this space !
Hint: It is not a new Segway 😉