Great contact center managers know that there’s an important difference between customer service and customer engagement.
Customer engagement - and, going one step further, customer experience - is talked about much more these days, but customer service on its own still has its place in the contact center-customer interaction. Here’s a quick rundown of the difference between service and engagement, and how you can incorporate both into your contact center strategy.
What is customer service?
Customer service concerns the actual advice or help that your call center employees provide to the customers who have bought and are using the products or services of a company that your center represents.
Customer service can be classified as part of the larger customer experience - in essence, the emotional relationship that your customers build with your company.
But while customer service has gotten something of a bad rap these days, with some people thinking it’s too simplistic for today’s consumer, it’s still hugely important to your success.
In fact, 58% of customers are willing to spend more with companies that provide excellent customer service, according to American Express.
What is customer engagement?
Customer engagement, on the other hand, refers to the connection between a customer and a company through multiple channels.
It the comprehensive list of ways by which the company creates a lasting relationship with its consumer base. As traditional communication channels - specifically phone and email - become less desirable to consumers, omnichannel communication through messaging apps, social media, and other methods are ever more important.
Through an active process of building, maintaining and nurturing a relationship with customers, companies can help create brand loyalty, one of the most important factors in a world more crowded than ever with different options.
How to incorporate great customer service and great customer engagement into your customer experience
Just because the two concepts are separate, it doesn’t mean that your call center should only focus on one. You’ve got to consider both when you’re devising strategies to improve how your agents relate to customers.
The key to good customer service in the modern age is to expand beyond the classic, old-school “reactive” model, in which the customer issues are presented and a call center employee works on a solution. Agents in 2018 should be trained to assist customers throughout their journey, whether that means more post-experience surveys or even contacting the customer again to check on the issue.
Contact centers can have even more complex customer experiences to manage, as their customers may not only be the consumers who call in; they’re also the companies that contract with the contact center.
So how do you best create engagement with both? What do your metrics look like in terms of call times, issue resolution, employee retention and complaints? If all these figures are where they need to be, it’s probably safe to say that you have engaged both of the customer groups you’re trying to reach.
If you’re ready to take your customer engagement to the next level, contact us at Kova today.
At the end of last year, Blake Morgan, a Customer Service expert, author, and veteran of companies like Verizon and Intel, wrote an article for Forbes magazine, Customer Service Is A $350 Billion Industry, And It's A Mess.
In it, she looked over the emerging trends that are dictating the current customer service landscape, and made some surprising predictions, particularly about the involvement of upper management in customer service-related companies.
She also mentioned that some companies might be unwilling to make efforts to improve their customer service, simply because of the cost and time that it takes to do so. But she disagreed with this strategy, noting that if companies don’t focus on the customer’s experience, they have no way of improving it.
Morgan focused on five key trends in customer service, ones that she thought would make the most difference in 2018 and beyond.
CEOs Will Become Involved In Customer Service Strategy
Morgan says that since the CEO sets the tone for his or her entire company, the philosophy about treatment of customers must start from the top.
The CEO creates the culture at their company, and that culture should be motivated towards improving the customer service experience, and, not insignificantly, at improving the employee experience. But regardless, it all flows from the boss. If there isn’t a company-wide focus on customer service, that sends a message to the entire staff.
A Customer’s Time is The Most Important Commodity
Morgan also discusses how the modern customer is fed up with impersonal, time-wasting treatment. She says the more a company knows about their customer, the less time that’s wasted on unnecessary questions. Therefore, a structured approach that’s based on as much knowledge as possible about a customer before the conversation even begins is key.
This does not mean that automated systems aren’t still a great help; in fact, AI and chatbots are more important than ever. It simply means that their parameters need to be more precise than ever before.
Embracing Data
In order for AI and chatbots and other automated services to do that, they must take greater advantage than ever of gathering data, combing through it, and determining a course of action for the customer.
Morgan uses Sprint as an example of a company using their data to their advantage. After relying for a long period of time of customer service agents with little time to look through a customer’s data while on a call, Sprint turned to a data solutions company called Pegasystems and used their analytics system to proactively find solutions and special offers to increase customer retention. The result was not only a 40% increase in customer satisfaction, but a 40% increase in customers adding Sprint products, as well.
The Customer Service Cloud
Companies are increasingly relying on cloud-based technology not just for marketing, but for customer service, as well. They can combine information about a customer through data, their digital experience, and personalization to create a new, more efficient way to manager their customer interactions.
Augmented Reality Programs
Morgan says that augmented reality programs, or technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, can give a customer a good idea of what they can expect from an experience before they even contact a company. That allows them to make a better decision on how to make that contact, whether it’s by phone or email or chatbot.
What is your contact center doing to improve your customer service in 2018? If updating your software is on the schedule, contact Kova Corp. to discuss our enterprise workforce optimization solutions, like the Verint Media Recorder Customer Feedback package.
The modern marketplace is a fast-changing place.
In a world where information is available at the touch of a screen - not even a button anymore - companies have to work hard to manage their workforces and keep pace at the same time.
Efficiency is the key to being successful in this modern world, and that goes double for contact centers, where time is of the essence on every call. And for many of those contact centers, the best way to manage these heightened expectations is with the latest in workforce management software.
Workforce management software (or WMS) can increase productivity, allow for better time and attendance tracking, and save time and money, but WMS is a moving target; the technology is changing all the time. So we’ve broken down some of the recent developments in WMS below to help clear away some of the confusion and help your contact center focus on the right things.
What does workforce management do?
In contact centers, WMS tools are typically used by managers for forecasting purposes, monitoring and forecasting inbound and outbound call volumes, and then scheduling the right number of agents to make sure that the center can respond to whatever level of calls are going to be coming in.
Over time, this software became one of the most important tools used in a contact center. By the end of 2017, many experts on the industry were recommending that any contact center with more than 25 employees use some sort of workplace management software application.
Workforce management in the cloud
One of the most recent, and important, trends in WMS is cloud compatibility. This makes the systems easier to use and easier to update.
Now that many WFS programs are can be use in the cloud, contact center managers can try out a new application, and if it doesn’t work with their particular center, they can cancel their contract and give something else a try.
Cloud-compatible WMS systems have dramatically changed the landscape because they’re more accessible, affordable and flexible than on-site systems.
Changes in workforce demographics
Changes in the makeup of our workforce are also increasing the need for WFS solutions. As younger, Millennial workers enter the contact center workforce, they are altering the well-established workplace structure.
There’s also a workforce change that the scheduling aspects of WMS have helped with: Millennials are a bigger part of the workforce than ever before, and this generation of around 75 million people is quite different from the Baby Boomers or Generation X.
Millennials have much different opinions regarding their work/life balance, and they’re no longer as willing to work flexible, perhaps unpredictable schedules. Because of this, workforce management software has become an important tool that allows contact centers to help this new wave of employees find a balance between workplace performance and their personal lives.
The flipside of this equation is that if your software doesn’t include updated scheduling programs, it’s time for an upgrade or your contact center could get left out in the cold by a massive potential workforce when they’re considering where to find a job. For more on purchasing a workforce management tool, read our post “Must-Haves When Buying a Workforce Management Solution.”
It seems like every time you turn around, something new is happening in the world of technology. Things evolve and change at a quick pace and it’s no different when it comes to public safety. The latest developments in public safety technology include things like video analytics, drones, wearables, and data capture apps. Here’s what’s trending on the physical security front.
Video Surveillance
Video surveillance isn’t new but it has come a long way. Many video surveillance systems now incorporate facial recognition and higher quality cameras that are able to provide a much better picture than before. Advances in bandwidth have made it much easier to incorporate high quality video into a physical security management system.
Mobile Devices
Mobile phone apps have revolutionized public safety - however, with the ability to link your security system to your phone comes the added risk that thieves only need to steal your phone to have access to your home or office. Technology updates in this area include improving the function and use of phone locks to prevent something like this from occurring. In the event that your phone is stolen, it won’t be any use to the thief if you’ve locked it down.
Fingerprint Scanning
Biometrics are being incorporated into physical security, making it possible to access security points via fingerprint scanning. This also allows companies to know who is coming and who is going. Fingerprint scanning has even been improved upon with the addition of heat sensors so that now, not only does the fingerprint need to match, but so does the vein structure.
Facial Recognition
As mentioned above, facial recognition coding is one of the advances that has occurred in video surveillance.
But facial recognition in itself isn’t just about matching facial features anymore. The technology has advanced so far that it can even be used to determine whether or not a person is about to do something they shouldn’t. This is done by considering heart rate and eye and retinal changes that are present when someone is being deceitful.
Technological updates to physical security systems such as improved facial recognition, advanced fingerprint scanning, improved safety for mobile devices, and better quality video surveillance all serve to keep our communities safer. Given that technology improves at such a quick pace, you may want to consider advocating for new public safety technology in your organization.
If you’re thinking about upgrading your physical security system, consider KOVA Corp’s Nextiva Physical Security Information Management System. As a company with a longstanding history of excellent customer service and expert applications of systems and software, KOVA Corp is a leader in public safety solutions.
The Physical Security Information Management System allows users to easily capture and view license plate numbers, run investigations, and provide real-time alarms. By installing the Physical Security Information System, you are addressing emerging security needs, enhancing security operations, enabling regulations and compliance, and optimizing your investment in physical security. Contact us today to learn more about the Physical Security Information Management System.
Often your call center agents are literally the voice of your company. For this reason, it’s important to make sure they are trained properly and in accordance with the standards that are acceptable in your company. Following best practices for contact center training can help ensure you provide the ultimate training experience for your employees, which means you’ll benefit from productive, efficient, and attentive employees.
Plan your contact center agent training by asking yourself what you hope your employees will get out of it. This will help make sure your employees have the relevant information they need. Here are some best practices in virtual contact center agent training to make sure you’re investing in the right kind of customer service training.
Consider different learning styles
Everyone learns differently, so it’s important to provide a variety of ways for your employees to learn what they need to know. In a virtual environment, you have options like live video, audio only, question and answer forums, and chat, just to name a few.
Provide opportunities for practice
Many people learn best by doing, so providing opportunities for your employees to practice what they are learning - even before they start working in your contact center - will only help them do their jobs better. Create problems the employees need to solve using actual work systems and techniques. Be sure to provide feedback so employees know how they can improve, as well as what they are doing right.
Get social
Getting social is all about collaboration. When possible, encourage your employees to work together to solve problems. This includes using things like online chat, social media, conference calls, and face-to-face conversations if possible. It’s important for employees to help each other by answering questions and sharing insights.
Workplace scenario role play
In order for agents to get used to the tasks required to perform their jobs, it’s best to simulate on-the-job experiences. Agents can do this by working in virtual teams to solve a problem collectively, each taking on a different role in the scenario.
Reinforce learning
In order to encourage agents to take an active role in their learning, it’s important to evaluate employee performance regularly and provide opportunities and encouragement for agents to learn. Each agent should be considered based on their individual learner progress, as well as class participation.
Considering employee learning styles, providing lots of opportunities for practice, encouraging collaboration, role playing, and reinforcing learning will help make your contact center training more efficient and effective.
If you’re working on streamlining the rest of your contact center operations, the Verint Media Recorder Workforce Optimization Suite might be right for your organization. This video will explain how Workforce Optimization works and how it could benefit your contact center.
As effective as AI and automation can be for your contact center, in terms of managing simpler customer issues, speeding up wait times, and facilitating quick solutions, the idea of automating more of your customer service is bound to make at least some of your employees nervous.
After all, they’ve no doubt heard the talk about about how automation is replacing workers in the auto industry, or how as technology evolves, it can be used to make human staffers obsolete in all manner of industries.
In fact, we recently talked about a new development in the city of Dubai, where the first-ever all-automated police station has just opened. With so many roles being filled by machines, the idea of bringing more comprehensive technology into a contact center can be nerve-racking for your employees.
And the fact is that yes - you might eventually eliminate some positions because of automation. But in truth, AI and automation are better when they complement your human workers, rather than replace them.
Let’s look at an airport as an example of how technology can be useful, but not necessarily helpful. Any bot or computer would be able to tell someone that their flight has been cancelled, but the customer’s reaction to this is an unpredictable factor that’s going to need on-the-spot reaction, and sympathy, from a human being.
This is a high-stress situation that a calm, robotic voice is probably not right for. So while the technology can provide the bare facts, the human employee provides the empathy, the listening skills, and most importantly, the ability to adapt and find a solution based on the person standing in front of them.
Now transfer that scenario to a contact center customer service perspective. Even if an automated line with pre-prepared questions, or a chatbot working with a customer on PC, has been able to isolate the smaller issues and solve them, there will still inevitably be situations that have to be escalated, and those situations with almost always require a skilled, well-trained employee to resolve the situation to the customer’s satisfaction.
The task here for a good contact center supervisor and management team is to figure out how to implement the technological element and the human factor together, so that the customer has a seamless experience.
That decision relies on several different factors, but the basic idea is that the AI function should be used in yes/no question situations that come down to a simple algorithm within the technology.
But for a high-stress event that involves unique problem solving, there is simply no substitute for direct human-to-human conversation.
To use the airport example again, let’s consider a passenger who has lost her luggage. Given the choice between a kiosk and an employee, the passenger will likely choose the employee - especially if the luggage contained anything valuable. And though that employee will almost certainly use some form of technology to help the customer find their luggage, they will be the ones dealing with the changing situation and coming up with solutions.
In short, AI is for quick, easy-to-answer situations that can be solved quickly, thus freeing up your employees to work on the more complex problems your customers might reach out to call center to find solutions for. The ideal situation is for technology to work hand-in-hand with your center employees, not to replace them. That’s the important thing to remember, and the best message you can relay to those who work for you.
For more on contact center technology, read our post “What is Voice Biometrics and How Can It Help Your Business?”
Identity theft is a serious concern for everyone these days, and companies must do what they can to protect their customers’ personal information. Security and fraud have become major concerns for businesses in all industries. Voice biometrics can help provide secure and authentic customer service through your call center by improving authentication processes.
Speech recognition and voice biometrics are sometimes confused. The two are not the same. Speech recognition technology can tell what you are saying but not who is saying it. Voice biometrics are the personal characteristics each person has in their voice. No two voices are the same. There are three main ways your voice identifies you:
Voice biometrics are only concerned with the sound waves your voice makes. Sound waves are very hard to change and are independent of what you say and how you say it, even if you are speaking another language. Using voice biometrics in your business can benefit you by providing increased caller validation, improving your costs, and creating more positive customer interactions.
Increased Caller Validation
It's important for call centers to be proactive when it comes to cyber security. With the use of voice biometrics call centers no longer need to ask a gamut of questions in order to verify a caller’s identity. With voice biometrics, there is no mistaking who is calling - yet it's estimated that 10 to 25% of callers incorrectly answer verification questions. By using voice biometrics in your call center, there is no longer the chance of mistaken identity when verifying a caller is who they say they are. Using voice biometrics in your call center increases security by improving your caller validation process.
Improved Costs
By reducing the steps required for caller verification, call centers are effectively reducing the time it takes to handle customer calls. Reducing the time spent per call significantly reduces the costs associated with each call. Improving call efficiency has the added benefit of also improving call center costs.
Better Customer Interactions
Improving caller verification processes through the use of voice biometrics has benefits for your customers as well. Without having to answer several challenge questions, your customers will have a much more pleasant experience with your call center. Optimizing your call center customer experience means that customers will be more likely to say good things about their experience with your company. Voice biometrics make the authentication process easier and more efficient for your customers as well as your call center agents.
If you're looking for more ways to improve your business processes check out our solutions to optimize your workforce. KOVA's Enterprise Workforce Optimization Solutions help organizations boost employee performance and customer service in their organization. KOVA Corp has a long-standing history of excellent customer service. To learn more about how we can help you optimize your business processes, contact us today.
A customer experience map can help provide a number of insights into the experiences your contact center is providing for your customers. Business is gained by controlling your customer’s experiences with your organization. In order to control your customer’s experience, you must first have a thorough understanding of what that experience is. Here’s a four-step plan for mapping successful customer experiences in your contact center.
Step 1: Actions and Tasks
The first step in creating a customer experience map is to take note of all the things your customers do when interacting with your company. At the very minimum, you must map the beginning, middle, and end of their experience with you. What are the actions and tasks they are completing during the beginning, middle, and end of their experience with your company?
One way to find out is by investing in enterprise feedback management software. Enterprise feedback management software will tell you which tasks a customer completes when engaging with your company and provide you valuable insights into those experiences. You’ll need those insights for Step 2 of the customer experience mapping process.
Step 2: Thoughts and Feelings
One of the keys to improving customer experience feedback is to make sure you’re asking the right questions. Asking the right questions can help you attach customers’ thoughts and feelings to the actions noted in Step 1. Here’s where you note what your customers thought about their experience with your call center and how it made them feel.
Step 3: Touchpoints
A touchpoint is any interaction with your customer. This can be face-to-face, online, in the store, etc. You want to make sure all the interactions your customer had with your company are included on your customer experience map so you can get a complete picture of what your customer is experiencing. Be sure to note things like who in your call center the customer interacted with and what the result of their interaction was. If the customer purchased something at any point in their experience, how did they pay? You want to record all these details in your customer experience map.
Step 4: Stages
Now that you have mapped your customers’ actions, tasks, thoughts, feelings, and touchpoints, you will likely see some definite stages emerge in relation to your customers’ interactions with your call center. Here’s an example: Stage 1 - Initial Contact with Call Center, Stage 2 - Explanation of Reason for the Call, Stage 3 - Resolution or Escalation of Call. Creating stages allows you to identify if there are any opportunities for improvement at any stage.
Mapping your customers’ complete experience with your call center can provide a number of insights, especially as you are analyzing the stages they go through. This will give you an idea of where you need to improve your call center processes to make your customer experience even better.
KOVA provides enterprise workforce optimization solutions, including Customer Experience Survey software, that can help you when mapping successful customer experiences in your contact center. To learn more about how KOVA’s software solutions can help you with customer experience mapping, contact us today.
Live chat used to be the fastest growing method of communication with customers, but that position is now being held by chatbots. It seems like more and more tasks are becoming automated these days. This includes contact center activity - but are customers willing to accept this? Here’s everything you need to know about live chat and chatbots in your contact center, so you can make the best decision for your operation.
Live Chat
A 2014 British customer satisfaction survey by eDigital showed that the majority of customers preferred live chat over email, social media, apps, SMS, and telephone when communicating with call centers. When done properly, live chat can improve customer interactions. There are a number of benefits live chat interactions provide for the company as well.
Experienced agents are able to handle three or four live chats at the same time, which increases their efficiency when compared to telephone conversations. Live chat also allows agents to be able to paste their answers from a variety of pre-typed answers in order to respond to the most frequent customer concerns as quickly as possible. Live chat also costs less compared to telephone conversations.
Chatbots
Chatbots take cost savings even further than live chat. They also have the ability to fully automate the contact center experience by using artificial intelligence (AI) to carry on conversations with your customers. A common example of a chatbot is a dialogue box that pops up when you arrive at a website and asks what it can help you with today. Bots create cost savings in your call center by answering hundreds of thousands of service requests at a time.
In order to make the best use of chatbots, there are four crucial tips for integrating chatbots into your call center.
Whether deciding on live chat, chatbots, or a combination of the two, you’ll want to make sure your customers approve. Many customers would rather chat with a real person than a bot. If you’re not sure what your customers think, you can survey them using KOVA’s Verint Media Recorder Customer Feedback. Verint Media Recorder Customer Feedback can help you gather valuable information from your customers through IVR or email surveys. KOVA has a long history of providing outstanding customer service and expert software solutions. To learn more about how we can help you improve your contact center experience, contact us today.
Public safety is an industry where keeping up with the latest trends and information is very important. Thankfully, there is no shortage of conferences you can attend to glean the latest and greatest information. Whether you are on the frontlines as an EMS provider or working the phone lines as a 9-1-1 operator, here are some of the best public safety conferences coming up in 2018.
The International Public Safety Association is presenting training for all public safety officials and first responders in Tempe, Arizona, February 21 to 23. The event is open to US and international EMS, law enforcement, fire, telecommunications, emergency management, and allied emergency responders. The agenda includes topics such as working through violence, mass casualty incident workshops, no cost tools and services, and how to effectively respond to calls when tensions escalate.
National Security and Public Safety Summit
Learn to be prepared for the unknown through geographic information systems (GIS) technology at the National Security and Public Safety Summit at the Esri User Conference at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, July 7 - 10. Learn how GIS is being used by public safety and national security professionals around the world to protect communities against unpredictable threats.
APCO’s Conference and Expo is the number one event for public safety communications professionals. The event includes networking and education on a variety of topics including frontline communications, leadership development, and communication center management. Takes place August 5 - 8, Las Vegas, NV.
National Sheriffs’ Association Conference and Exposition
The NSA Conference and Expo is one of the largest of its kind. Exhibitors play a large role in the conference’s success, displaying equipment for every facet of police work including jails, prisoner transport, and courtroom security. The NSA conference and expo includes over 60 workshops and seminars including topics such as law enforcement, jail operations, service of process, and court and judicial security. June 15 - 19, New Orleans, LA.
The EMS Pro Expo connects the EMS community by providing the latest information on EMS technology, best practices, and the best tools of the trade. Networking activities include a golf tournament, comedy show, and performances from the rock band Mullett. Takes place May 30 - June 2, Mohegan Sun’s Convention Center, Uncasville, CT.
Vision Zero Advocate Conference
Taking place at the Delta Toronto Hotel, February 28 to March 2, 2018, the Vision Zero Advocate Conference is the place to be if you work in traffic safety and have the goal of zero traffic-related fatalities and injuries. The conference will focus on diverse perspectives for implementing the Vision Zero initiative.
KOVA hopes to see you at an event this year, but if that’s not possible, check out our public safety solutions online. We offer solutions to help with everything from physical security information management to recording and quality assurance systems to situation management support. To learn more about our public safety software solutions, contact us today.
