Have you ever encountered customer service that didn’t meet your needs? Join the club! We’ve all experienced customer experiences filled with counterintuitive assistance. Krysta Gahagen recounts such an experience in her article, and she says that the reason for this issue is lack of customer intimacy. In general terms, customer intimacy is tailoring the entire customer to their specific needs and interests throughout the entire customer journey.
Gahagen’s article points out that creating customer intimacy within a contact center is achieved through digital interactions. The goal for customer intimacy in contact centers should be to focus on issue resolution over marketing and selling by providing accurate information at the right time. Throughout this process, contact centers should be tracking metrics and striving to exceed customer expectations in their interactions.
4 Ways Contact Centers Can Develop Close Relationships with Customers
Everybody wants to separate themselves from their competitors. Pricing and service offerings are often easily replicated, but customer service is one way companies can put themselves ahead of the pack. With that being said, how can contact centers go beyond answering questions and develop strong relationships with customers that will result in long-term customer loyalty? The following are four ways contact centers can develop close relationships with customers:
- Don’t be a robot. There are certain industries where rigid scripting is necessary to stay within strict regulations. That being said, contact center agents should be able to deliver personable responses to customers without seeming like actors or machines. If people feel like the agent is being friendly and conversational, they’ll be more willing to trust them.
- Don’t dawdle. While customers want to have a connection with the person they’re talking to, they also have a goal of getting an issue resolved. Agents should be concise and quick to assist customers and send them on their way.
- Be transparent. The reality is there are certain things agents can’t divulge to customers, but agents should be as open and honest with customers as they can. If an agent acts as though they’re hiding something or they’re not acknowledging criticism, it could spark outrage among customers. This happens often on social media channels after a company experiences some bad PR. The companies that try to hide from their mistakes will lose customers, while the companies that own up to their mistakes and works to improve themselves honestly will survive.
- Be consistent. If your social media or website tell customers one thing, but contact center agents provide different or contradictory information, you can be sure you’re on the fast track to creating an angry interaction. Proper training should ensure consistency of customer service across all communication channels.
This blog post is based on an article from CustomerThink. To read the original article, please click here: How to Drive Customer Intimacy in the Contact Center – Krysta Gahagen
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