5 simple ways to improve customer experience

Alicia Arnold will be appearing at The MarTech Conference.

Over the past few months, I have been plagued by a disappointing customer experience with an administrative agency. Some of my friction points included:

• The overall experience (some positive and not-so-positive moments) was dependent upon the customer service representative I was paired with at the time.
• I had to submit the same paperwork multiple times. 
• I drove 60 minutes to a physical office to speak with an agency representative only to be told my type of issue could only be handled through the phone.
• I called 2-3 times weekly for 10 weeks to get through to a live person. 
• When calling in, I was placed on hold for two hours.
• I was promised follow-up emails and phone calls that never materialized.
• I had to restate the facts of my situation from scratch with each interaction.

The above might sound familiar to you as, unfortunately, these complaints are common across many industries. As I began thinking about what the agency could do to improve the experience, I identified five foundational best practices for B2B and B2C brands. Take a look and see if there are any your brand can implement to drive higher customer satisfaction.

1. Understand your customers’ key goals and help them prepare

Customers will always need help. By planning ahead, you can make the customer experience frictionless and more enjoyable. For example, while I was in the waiting room for the agency, I heard three reasons why the majority of people were seeking help. 

To improve the customer experience, the agency could have clearly outlined the three key customer goals and helped individuals understand what they needed on hand to rectify their situations. Knowing customers’ key goals and anticipating what they will need would have avoided queues at the physical location and decreased repeat visits due to unpreparedness.

2. Document interactions in downstream systems

One of the basic needs humans have is the need to be understood. Feeling heard and knowing someone acknowledges what you said helps to create a positive experience. In contrast, having to repeat your story to a service representative multiple times causes an erosion of trust. 

My experience with the agency failed in record-keeping. There did not appear to be a system of record that kept track of:

• The various calls to the call center.
• The conversations between representatives at the physical locations.
• My interaction with the representative in the real-time video call.
• An omnichannel account of the phone, online and offline interactions. 

Getting the different technologies to talk to one another can be challenging, but technology can become a competitive advantage when done right.

Dig deeper: The new blueprint for customer experience: Always on, always listening

3. Dispel ambiguity

I started my journey with the agency not understanding how long resolution would take or the path to solve the problem. When I asked about a timeline, the reply was either “I’m not sure” or “I can’t say.” 

When I clarified by giving approximate durations (i.e., could this take 1-3 weeks, 1-3 months, 1-3 years), the answer was, “Your information is in the system and someone will get back to you.” 

As for the steps to resolve the issue, I only found out about them as the representatives saw something missing. While I understand there is a degree of variability in customer service, a golden rule is to provide approximate timeframes and the process for resolution.

If these do not exist, a good practice would be to analyze the key issues to understand how long they took to resolve and the resolution path to provide a baseline. If all else fails, the next best step would be to routinely communicate with customers to let them know the status of their issue and that you are still working on it, as weeks of silence will cause customers stress.

4. Train customer service representatives in empathy

There are thousands of training resources available for customer service representatives. Among all the training, empathy is one of the basic requirements. One of the ways to show empathy is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes to understand his or her viewpoint. During my in-person visit, I was asked to use the office’s computer to speak with a representative through Zoom. 

After providing my information, the representative hit the submit button and told me we would need to wait until she received confirmation from a supervisor to be sure the step was complete. During this process, the office manager tapped me on the shoulder, saying it was time for lunch and that I needed to end the Zoom call. 

When I asked how I could be sure the supervisor confirmed the information, I was told the representative would take care of it after lunch. After not hearing anything for a week, I called the agency only to find my information was never submitted and I had to redo the process again. 

If the customer service representative practiced empathy, she could have taken a later lunch to be sure the confirmation was entered. Or, she could have followed up when she was back from lunch to let me know the confirmation came through.

5. Designate a responsible party or parties

Last, but not least, designating a responsible party helps with accountability. Round-robin customer service is the norm these days, but knowing there is one person who has the final accountability and final say is valuable. 

If identifying a single contact is impossible, some brands prefer specially trained customer service teams for complex issues. Designating such a team could go a long way toward customer-centricity.

It has been 10 weeks and counting, and my issue is still pending resolution. I remain positive and continue to follow up daily. In the meantime, I hope the agency can implement some of these recommendations to help others in a similar situation.

Dig deeper: 3 reasons why customer journeys are the key to better experiences and profits