The latest survey results are in, and while customers have always valued great service, the factors they consider while evaluating a company has shifted considerably in recent years. Here’s a quick look at what your customers really want, plus how outsourcing can help you deliver it and improve customer service.
Having a Strong Resolution Channel Ensures Customer Satisfaction
For quite some time, companies felt the need to be everywhere at once. They needed dedicated phone lines, chat on the website, email, someone monitoring direct messages on social media, some monitoring for mentions across the net, and more. True, your customer will likely want to connect with you in more than one way—the average is three channels per customer—but it turns out they want their issue resolved the first time they contact a business more than anything else.
Overall, 62 percent of survey respondents say not having to repeat interactions is “important” or “very important” and an equal amount says the same of having their issue resolved quickly. Not far behind, at 60 percent, is working with an agent who takes time to understand. Just 30 percent say having their choice of channel is important.
In other words, it doesn’t necessarily matter how you deliver great service, only that you do. Yet, having the systems in place to make that happen is incredibly difficult. There’s sourcing talent, training people, creating processes to ensure a streamlined flow, finding ways to reduce errors, and more. A great outsourcing company is not only well-versed in best practices and establishing protocols but also identifies key metrics and follows up to confirm customers are receiving the level of service they expect and deserve.
Data Can Help You Deliver on Expectations
Now more than ever, customers expect your team to know them. In all, 86 percent say the representative they speak with should know about their previous interactions, while 76 percent say the representative should be able to see all interactions across multiple channels. Today, 75 percent of businesses aren’t ensuring these expectations are met and the disconnect is costly.
Although not every outsourcing company is dedicated to proper data management, most CCO leaders will go the extra mile to ensure all systems can communicate with one another, even if that means developing new solutions or creating innovative ways to breathe new life into legacy systems. This naturally allows the organization to provide better service but considering a mere 25 percent of businesses are doing this, it creates a major competitive edge as well.
Scalability Ensures You Can Meet Fluctuating Demands
Baby boomers are a bit of a DIY generation. Just six percent of them will contact a business more than ten times per year, while 14 percent will do so 6-10 times per year. The rates for Generation Z customers are roughly doubled for the same brackets. In all, 15 percent will contact a business more than ten times per year and 24 percent will do so 6-10 times.
This means if you’re catering to a diverse group of customers, the number of times customers contact you will steadily increase as more of Generation Z becomes active adults. You may also see surges as products targeting a younger demographic roll out or if your audience shifts for other reasons. Being able to pivot quickly and continue delivering great service, even when demands unexpectedly increase, is paramount to maintaining relationships. Outsourcing lets you scale with ease.
Efficiency Frees Resources for What Matters Most
Bottlenecks, redundant processes, and errors weigh companies down and devour resources, but they’re not always easy to uncover, let alone repair. An experienced outsourcing company that’s worked with a multitude of organizations, especially those within your industry, knows where the most common issues work and have an arsenal of potential solutions.
When things are running more efficiently, the business naturally spends less, which frees up resources for other vital areas that contribute to customer satisfaction.