The Customer Service Challenge: Creating the Perfect Customer Call
For many companies, seizing growth opportunities hinges on becoming more customer-centric while continuing to hold down operational costs. Unfortunately, achieving both goals simultaneously often proves difficult. Actions intended to lower service costs can severely compromise service quality, while high-quality, high-touch service may please customers but wreak havoc with the bottom line.
In our experience, most companies ultimately take the low-cost route, as unprofitable service operations are unsustainable in today’s highly competitive business environment. Doing so often annoys more than a few customers – an observation reinforced by a recent Accenture survey of consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Companies must solve the service dilemma to avoid frustrating customers who are easy prey for competitors. Moreover, as the service bar is being raised across all industries, customers are holding product and service providers to the same high standards they’ve grown to expect from service leaders. Parallel trends, such as the growing complexity of product and service bundles, further heighten consumer demands for immediate attention, accurate information and a satisfying experience.
Fortunately, we have seen firsthand, in our research and client work, that companies can build a customer contact operation that delivers an optimum service experience for each customer segment, while ensuring the cost of service does not become a liability.
The Human Touch Is Preferred
Accenture’s most recent customer satisfaction survey – of more than 2,000 U.S. and U.K. consumers – underscores several pressing customer service challenges. For example, participants expressed a distinct preference for a more personal – and personable – service experience, and disdain for many service technologies, particularly those that reduce human interaction. Participants also told us what frustrates them the most when contacting a company for service, and they indicated they are not at all shy about switching providers because of a poor service experience.
The two modes of service with which the largest percentage of customers reported being satisfied were in-person customer service at the place of business, and customer service over the phone via a live representative (see Figure 1). Sixty percent of respondents cited being satisfied or very satisfied with the former, and 50 percent reported the same with the latter. Furthermore, the telephone is by far the preferred method of getting service, as 82 percent said that when they have a problem, they pick up the phone (see Figure 2).
Conversely, methods relying primarily on technology are not viewed as delivering a satisfying experience by a particularly large percentage of respondents – especially service delivered via live chat online (29 percent) and automated telephone customer service (13 percent). Given their greater satisfaction with service methods that provide direct human contact, it’s not surprising that extracting information from the company’s website and engaging in online chat were the two least-preferred methods of seeking assistance, cited by 35 percent and 15 percent of respondents, respectively.
Agent Competence Is Key
However, simply being able to talk with a live agent – whether in person or over the phone – won’t satisfy customers. Representatives must also have the information, knowledge and skills to solve their customers’ problems and answer any questions customers might have about the company’s products or services.
In fact, a plurality (36 percent) of respondents said that the most important aspect of a satisfying customer experience is a representative who is able to meet all of a customer’s needs without forwarding the customer to different representatives (see Figure 3). Furthermore, 13 percent said the most important aspect is being able to discuss a problem with the service representative.
When combining respondents’ most important and second-most important aspects of a satisfying service experience, we found that more than half (52 percent) of all consumers participating in the survey cited having their needs met without being forwarded to different representatives as critical. But we also found several other aspects gained importance when we combined respondents’ first and second choices.
Four aspects were cited by approximately the same percentage of respondents as most or secondmost important in creating a satisfying service experience: a customer service representative’s manner and approach (28 percent); the quality of the representative’s response (27 percent); amount of time to resolve the problem (27 percent); and ability to discuss the problem with the representative (26 percent). These rankings suggest that, although agent knowledge is still the most critical aspect, his or her ability to deal with people and handle customer issues quickly and effectively also play an important role in the service experience.
Frustrations With Service Abound
As many companies – and their customers – have discovered, doing customer service right can be extremely difficult. In fact, customers cited a litany of frustrations they encounter when seeking assistance from companies – some of which are easier to address than others (see Figure 4).
The aspect of customer service cited as frustrating by the largest percentage of respondents (77 percent) is being kept on hold too long. Other aspects that were seen as frustrating by a majority of all respondents were being forced to repeat the same information to multiple representatives (72 percent); encountering representatives who didn’t have the answers needed (68 percent); and having representatives trying to sell them other products or services (58 percent).
When respondents were asked to select one of these factors as the most frustrating aspect of the customer experience, no single factor emerged as the top choice for a large majority. Twenty percent were most frustrated by being forced to repeat information and being kept on hold too long. Eighteen percent chose representatives who lack answers. Ten percent of respondents identified encountering representatives who cross-sell or upsell as the most frustrating aspect.
Bad Service Has Business Impact
Poor service is not just an annoyance, it can have a significant impact on a company’s business. In fact, we’ve found that poor customer experience often is the tipping point that causes a customer to switch providers. More than half (52 percent) of all respondents said they have left a provider during the past year (see Figure 5).
Even if they don’t take the ultimate step of switching providers, most customers will not sit idly by and accept bad service (see Figure 6). A plurality (48 percent) said they will ask to speak to a supervisor, and 16 percent will hang up and call back in the hope of getting a different representative more to their liking. Ten percent will tell others about their experience, 8 percent will simply hang up and 7 percent will send a formal complaint. In this networked age, companies are well-advised to keep in mind the growing trend among consumers to use the Internet to broadcast their negative service experiences.
On the Horizon: Even-More-Demanding Customers
Clearly, our survey has shown that companies could do a much better job of meeting customers’ service needs. Yet the challenge of cost-effectively providing superior customer service, while steep today, will only get more difficult in coming years – and companies need to be prepared.
Accenture has found that customer expectations are crossing industry boundaries at an increasing rate – to a point at which the notion of different service standards for different industries is a thing of the past. In fact, service expectations now are high even for government services. Unfortunately, however, the odds often are stacked against satisfaction. Today many organizations face dual threats from rapid commoditization and increased competition, which are eroding their traditional advantages and undermining customer relationships. And it will only become more difficult in the future, given the emergence of two major trends, trends that will be a driving force behind the need for companies to stop making incremental improvements to how they serve customers and, instead, completely reinvent customer contact.
The first trend is the growing complexity of products and service bundles. In an attempt to create an ever-moredifferentiated product experience, companies are infusing goods with increasingly sophisticated technology, whether it’s the new iPod, Xbox, refrigerator or even children’s stuffed animals. Ironically, this also results in an increased complexity of use that, in turn, will require customer contact to become simpler and more efficient – or else generate even more customer frustration and defection than we see today.
Likewise, service bundles are becoming more complex as companies knit together more services and offer more customized contracts – again, to differentiate themselves. This action inevitably will drive customer expectations higher. Take, for example, the increasingly common communications bundle of wireless service, cable, Internet and related media services. Customers used to high-touch service in one of these areas will expect the same level of service for the bundle – even though the bundle is far more difficult for companies to manage.
The second trend is a massive divergence in needs and expectations as customers become more fragmented. The general population, which searches for customer support through multiple channels, is segmenting into two distinct groups: those who want premium service and are willing to pay a premium for it (think Lexus owners); and the do-it-yourselfers at the other end of the spectrum, who cost very little to serve because they need very little support (think Home Depot shoppers). Both groups are growing – along with their expectations for support and a customer experience appropriate to their needs. For both groups, companies must determine how best to address their different characteristics because customers will no longer accept a one-size-fits-all service model.
Overriding these two trends is an ongoing discontinuity with which companies struggle (whether they know it or not) – products and services are brought to market faster than customer contact centers can handle the response. We’ve seen this happen time and again, especially in industries whose hallmark is continual product innovation and where being first to market is the competitive differentiator.
Taking Action: Transforming Customer Contact
As customers set the bar ever higher, companies must bridge the gap between customers’ expectations and companies’ ability to implement a satisfying and sustainable customer experience. Working with Accenture, a number of leading organizations have been able to do just that. These companies have succeeded in addressing many of the customer service challenges that our survey respondents identified and are positioning themselves for high performance in an era of intensifying customer service demands.
Solving Customer Problems
As we saw in our survey, 36 percent of respondents felt the most important aspect of a satisfying customer experience requires that one agent should be able to meet their needs instead of forwarding them to other representatives. A major U.S. bank experienced firsthand the benefits of helping agents resolve customer issues on the first call. As part of a pilot project to address its high call volume and associated costs, the bank re-engineered its existing call flow to focus on first-call resolution effectiveness, not simply efficiency. The bank then implemented customized agent desktops to support the new call flow, and tied agent performance incentives to first-call resolution goals. The bank also designed more proactive customer servicing practices, which enabled associates to promote self-service solutions for customers during the call – thus reducing the need for customers to call in the first place. The bank expects the pilot to generate a 10 percent decrease in measurable call volume, which in turn
will lead to substantial cost savings as well as increased customer satisfaction with the service experience.
Using Technology More Effectively
Another challenge identified by survey respondents is the effective use of technology to deliver service – in particular, interactive voice recognition (IVR). A majority of participants (58 percent) said they are not at all satisfied with automated telephone customer service, which many companies have implemented in an attempt to control escalating call center costs. But there’s a difference between simply replacing humans with an IVR system to cut costs and optimizing the use of IVR as part of a larger effort to make an organization more customer-centric, as two leading companies have demonstrated.
One such company, a U.S. retailer, developed self-service capabilities on a new IVR platform that improved the customer experience by making it easier to access rewards and rebate status. As a result, 18 percent of customers now opt for automated self-service features, as opposed to just 5 percent prior to the program’s implementation.
Having More Capable and Personable Agents
As our survey revealed, two of the most frustrating aspects of customer service are agents not having the answers customers need and representatives who are not personable. At the heart of both of these issues are two key shortcomings: a lack of agent access to the information they need to do their jobs; and a fundamental lack of appropriate agent training and development. A number of forward-looking organizations, including a government entity, have taken giant strides toward addressing these issues to dramatically improve the interaction between agents and customers.
One such organization was a large nonprofit association that has built its reputation largely on the quality of service provided to customers. Recently, the association embarked on an improvement program to spark additional growth and to ensure it was meeting its customers’ needs as effectively and cost efficiently as possible. For the organization, the greatest opportunity for improvement involved revamping its contact center operations to be more efficient and deliver a more consistent customer experience.
Among these changes were re-engineered processes and enhanced agent desktops; transformed workforce capabilities through organizational redesign, training and performance management solutions; a new “performance center” focused on forecasting, scheduling, quality assurance and reporting; and enhanced call routing capabilities and upgraded IVR capabilities.
In tandem with these efforts, the association re-engineered its Internet channel, an initiative that involved redesigning the association’s website on a new technology platform, accelerating the establishment of an application integration center of excellence, preparing the association to take advantage of Web transactions and analysis and defining governance structures for managing the Internet channel.
Providing More Targeted Cross-Selling and Upselling
Survey respondents voiced frustration with customer service agents who try to sell other products or services during customer inquiries. There are certainly some consumers who prefer to have no cross-selling or upselling during their interactions; however, in our experience, the real objection for consumers generally is not that agents are trying to sell them something, but that the offers are not especially relevant or meaningful to them. Several organizations have addressed this challenge by adopting robust customer insight capabilities that enable them to more deeply understand consumers’ preferences and intentions and, subsequently, more closely tailor their offers to specific customers during interactions. The result is a more positive experience for consumers as well as stronger sales for the company.
For example, a provider of gas, electricity and other home-related services recognized that it needed to make significant changes in its organization if it were to effectively compete and grow in the coming years. One of the company’s biggest challenges was its product orientation which, coupled with a number of process and technology shortcomings, made it extremely difficult for the company’s employees to understand customers and effectively market to and service them.
Ultimately, the company decided it needed a complete transformation in the way it dealt with customers – including marketing, sales, service and billing – to meet its strategic goals. To achieve that transformation, the company designed, built and implemented a new call center application, which it integrated with the company’s legacy customer systems. The new call center application gives the company a unique ability to generate deeper customer insights that lead to better decisions and more effective marketing programs. As just one example, sales conversion rates rose by up to 30 percent and 7 percent for energy customers and home services customers, respectively, after completion of the project.
Achieving Market Leadership and High Performance
As these and other companies have demonstrated, breaking out of the customer service morass requires an entirely new approach to designing, building and sustaining customer contact operations. This approach is characterized by several basic steps.
For starters, companies should conduct a factbased diagnosis of the customer experience they deliver: how well they’re delivering on their brand promise, how well different customer channels are working together, how well their workforce is operating, and so forth. One could think of this diagnosis as akin to a checkup with a general practitioner, in which a person’s vital organs are evaluated for signs of trouble.
With the results of this diagnosis in hand, companies must evaluate and fine-tune every aspect of customer contact – from the time a call is received until the time the call is completed – until they have literally designed the perfect customer call.
The next step is to create a game plan. Key here is developing the appropriate customer insight capabilities and creating a customer experience blueprint. By using insight into what customers need and want to create a single view of the customer, companies can design and implement the optimal customer experience along the entire spectrum of customer segments and value.
Finally, companies need to adopt the enabling technologies, tools and training that can improve the ability of their representatives to quickly and completely answer customers’ questions, customize solutions to specific customers and recognize and maximize cross-selling and upselling opportunities.
If building all of these capabilities in-house prove impractical, companies should take advantage of the expertise offered by a third party. By outsourcing contact center operations to a qualified vendor, organizations can quickly transform and continually fine-tune customer contact over time so that they can anticipate and sustain a satisfying customer experience despite changing customer expectations.
As we have seen time and again, service often spells the difference between mediocre companies, poor performers and market leaders. Given the results of our survey, one could argue that many, if not most companies today, are failing the service test. This is unfortunate, as the tools, approaches and resources exist for companies to create world-class customer contact operations that meet customers’ expectations while remaining fiscally sensible. While such operations may be considered by many companies to be an option, they will be a competitive necessity tomorrow.
