Today started as many days do. A cup of coffee, quick breakfast in the kitchen while checking emails and planning my day, with NPR on our Amazon Echo in the background. Very exciting kickoff to a Wednesday. I realized that I still have a few Christmas presents in transit so I hit the websites of the various retailers to check the progress of my deliveries. Ten minutes on the web later, I’m writing this blog. It shouldn’t shock me anymore, but I’m always taken aback by how accurate companies like Google and Amazon can be when marketing to me. I had no idea that I needed Nespresso pods, but Google did a damn good job reminding me. I bought the pods, and some really slick whiskey glasses too. Didn’t need those…but like I said, they’re really cool. This simple interaction made me think. Are we, as business leaders, properly using the behavioral data we have at our fingertips to better service, market to, and sell to our customers? Our business helps our clients tackle this issue everyday with managed speech analytics solutions. Understanding something simple like why our customers pick up the phone and call us can be powerful across all of your business lines, and your customers tell you the reason in the first 1-2 minutes of the interaction! Below are seven questions you should ask on how to improve your business using only this simple customer behavior.
- What are our customer’s pain points? Customers don’t want to talk to us if they don’t have to. Are there issues with our product or process that can be improved?
- Are we giving customers the ability to self service? Can our customers easily access resources (FAQs, product documentation, account summaries) at their fingertips? Are those resources targeted to their needs?
- Are we communicating with our customers in an effective manner? Could we have sent a simple proactive email with an account status to inform our customer, and save that call? Are our email/text/social programs effectively driving traffic to our business?
- Are we training our agents appropriately? Most contact centers focus on compliance, product and CRM knowledge during onboarding, but dramatically overlook training our agents to problem solve based on customer needs.
- Are we staffing the right people at the right times? Understanding why people call us, and when can impact WFM strategies. Do we really need Level 2 employees on a Saturday when a Level 1 will do, and vice versa?
- Is our compliance program focused in the right areas? We look at the news and industry best practices for guidance, but our customers tell us every day what our risks are.
- What is our overall customer experience like? Do our customers call us to solve problems that could be dealt with proactively? How do customers feel about our products/process?
This is just the tip of the use-case iceberg for this behavior, and we haven’t even delved into the “meat” of the interaction with our customer. Call drivers or intents are an early-stage value of the managed speech analytics service we provide our clients. Most clients understand these drivers in their business anecdotally, but the deeper analysis and trending that speech analytics provides can support positive efficient change. Wrapped this blog up after lunch, and Google seems to think I need to buy Chateau Margaux wines and engagement rings now. I’m going to have a talk with my girlfriend about using my laptop when I’m not around.
