The last time the UK endured a double-dip recession, Lord’s was hosting the first cricket world cup, and Margaret Thatcher was in all of the news headlines. Since 1975, the UK has been through its share of ups and downs, but now we’re in one of the most dire situations of all once again. Experts predict that another double-dip recession is on the way.
After a year of confusion and falling GDP numbers, it’s no wonder that companies are rethinking their financial strategies in 2021. The key to success for most organisations will be ensuring that they invest the right amount of continued cash into customer experiences, while keeping overall expenses as low as possible.
It’s a tight-rope walk for any organisation, but there are some steps you can take to improve your chances of lowering costs, without harming customer satisfaction.
Reduce Unnecessary Interactions
Back in 2016, customers were spending around 2.18 million minutes on phone calls with contact centres. However, experts said that around 30% of those interactions made no contribution to revenue. Redundant interactions consume crucial employee time and focus, making the workplace less efficient. They might include repeat calls to solve one common issue or calls for clarification about offers and documentation.
Fortunately, there are ways to reduce redundant interactions today. FAQ pages that offer answers to common questions are a great start, but companies can also experiment with bots and interactive assistants that answer queries on demand. These tools can filter consumer interactions to ensure that fewer people actually interact with agents.
Experiment with New Channels
Omnichannel interactions are an essential part of building an effective contact centre today. Connecting with customers in the channels that they prefer has a direct impact on satisfaction levels. However, exploring new environments isn’t just a good way to boost customer experience. You could also find that there are less expensive ways to interact with customers this way too.
SMS and messaging can be one of the cheaper ways to connect with your audience and respond to queries quickly. Agents can even work on multiple chat conversations at the same time, assisted with canned response and suggested answers to questions. New like messaging also open the door for chatbot functionality, where bots could gather information about a customer before passing them to the correct agent. Sending customers to the right agent first-time reduces the risk of call-backs, and time wasted passing customers between professionals.
Listen to Feedback
Experimenting with new strategies for better customer experience is an excellent way to optimize and enhance your business. However, there’s always a risk that some of your tests will be a waste of time. In turbulent times when every penny counts, it’s important to only focus your time and money on meaningful changes.
Listening to feedback provided by customers will make it much easier to determine where you should be spending your budget for CX changes. You could also find that it’s helpful to gather feedback from agents about how new tools and procedures could make them more efficient in their roles. It’s only be listening to the people on the front line that business leaders can make meaningful changes.
