6six things people expect from your contact center in the

6
SIX THINGS PEOPLE
EXPECT FROM YOUR
CONTACT CENTER
IN THE DIGITAL AGE.
Read on to learn more about
what today’s consumer
expects from your contact center
and how you can deliver.
Seismic shifts
are changing consumer
expectations
for engagement.
CONSUMERS TODAY ARE MOBILE,
self-reliant and demand fast, convenient
access to information. In an age where the
customer experience is the new battleground
for winning and keeping customers,
not adapting to meet the new rules of
engagement can be catastrophic for your
business.
© 2015 Aspect Inc.
ANSWERS IN THE PALM
OF YOUR HAND:
MORE THAN 66%
OF AMERICANS
USE SMARTPHONES.
COMSCORE
The new
reality of the
mobile world.
Customers are talking, texting, tweeting, browsing and
chatting more than ever. Their lifestyles demand fast,
convenient access to information. Customers are also
more self-reliant, often using self-service channels,
peer-based communities and social networks to get
help. Not surprisingly, people have little tolerance
for poor service. They’ll simply take their business
elsewhere. Failure to address these changing consumer
needs can put your business at risk.
77% of consumers wish companies
offered more ways for them to
interact with representatives.
(Aspect Omnibus Survey)
72% of consumers stopped doing
business with a company because
of a bad service experience.
(Aspect Omnibus Survey)
Only 5% of consumers say that
their customer service experiences
exceed their expectations
(The 2014 American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer )
#1 Know Me
68% OF CONSUMERS SAY
THEY’RE ANNOYED WHEN THEY
HAVE TO REPEAT THEMSELVES.
TO DELIVER GREAT SERVICE AND BUILD
STRONG RELATIONSHIPS, you need to
(Aspect Omnibus Survey, 2014)
As your company offers more contact points, it’s
imperative you maintain the context of every
conversation – even when customers move between
self-service and agent-assisted channels. Small traces
of information about the customer’s journey, like the
dropout point in an IVR or a failed web site transaction,
can make subsequent interactions much more
satisfying. With this information, you can dynamically
adapt a self-service menu or provide an agent with
background information to pick up the conversation
where the customer left off. This kind of data can also
help you deliver proactive service that gives customers
what they need before they have to ask.
understand consumer preferences and be able to
personalize your interactions.
© 2015 Aspect Inc.
#2 Make it Mobile
BY 2017, AN ESTIMATED
35 % OF CUSTOMER SUPPORT
INTERACTIONS WILL TAKE
PLACE ON A MOBILE DEVICE.
(Gartner)
CONSUMERS TODAY EXPECT TO
INTERACT WITH YOUR BUSINESS ACROSS
ALL MOBILE-AVAILABLE CHANNELS,
including voice, SMS, chat, social, web sites and of
course mobile apps. Unfortunately, most mobile
channels offer a fragmented customer experience
because they’re disconnected from the contact center.
It’s critical to think about customer service when
building mobile apps, so that you can create a seamless
transition when customers need to call into an IVR or
connect with an agent.
FOR EXAMPLE:
• Accompany a self-service voice call with a touch-screen
menu of options to improve first-call resolution and
reduce call times.
• Embed a qualification dialog into an existing mobile
customer care app. After answering the questions, the
customer receives a callback from an agent who already
has all relevant details.
• Embed a chat, audio/video or co-browse widget into an
existing Website or mobile app, giving customers a way to
connect with an agent without leaving the application.
© 2015 Aspect Inc.
#3 Let Me
Do It Myself
73% OF CONSUMERS WISH
COMPANIES OFFERED MORE
WAYS FOR THEM TO SOLVE
CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUES
ON THEIR OWN.
YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE MORE SELFRELIANT THAN EVER. In fact, most people
contact companies only after they’ve been unable to
solve an issue on their own. Before they reach out
for help, they’ve likely searched the internet, looked
at product forums and received feedback through
social media.
(Aspect Omnibus Survey, 2014)
To better serve your customers, offer an omni-channel
self-service solution. Investing in rich, personalized
and integrated self-service is a win-win. It brings you
in line with consumer preferences while lowering costs
and elevating your agents to experts who can focus on
more complex interactions.
How do I fix my new m
© 2015 Aspect Inc.
#4 Make It Social
MORE THAN ONE IN FIVE
CONSUMERS SAY THEY’VE
USED SOCIAL MEDIA FOR
CUSTOMER SERVICE.
(The 2014 American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer)
SOCIAL MEDIA IS A VITAL CHANNEL FOR
COMPANIES TO COMMUNICATE WITH
THEIR CUSTOMERS. However, it is often under
utilized. Maritz Research found that approximately
70% of customer service complaints made on Twitter
go unanswered. Companies that fail to respond to
customers risk negative posts, tarnished reputations
and lost revenue. They also miss out on opportunities
to create brand advocates and build loyalty.
Implementing a solution with powerful social workflow
capabilities tuned to the needs of the contact center
ensures that your customers will receive consistent,
informed responses through social networks.
© 2015 Aspect Inc.
#5 Save Me Time
66% OF CUSTOMERS SAY THAT
VALUING THEIR TIME IS THE
MOST IMPORTANT THING A
COMPANY CAN DO TO PROVIDE
GOOD SERVICE.
45% OF U.S. ADULTS WILL ABANDON THEIR ONLINE PURCHASE
IF THEY CAN’T FIND A QUICK
ANSWER TO THEIR QUESTION.
(Forrester)
CONSUMERS WANT FAST, EASY ACCESS
TO INFORMATION. Research shows a strong
correlation between effort and loyalty – the easier you
are to do business with, the more likely consumers will
stick around.
To stay competitive, companies must find ways to
provide intelligent, personalized service that saves
people time. Lowering customer effort can be as simple
as being where they are. For example, an instant chat
button embedded on a web site or in a mobile app
to help consumers get quick answers at the point of
purchase. Another way to save consumers time is by
streamlining self-service menus based on frequent
behaviors or a recent transaction.
When consumers need live assistance, they appreciate
knowledgeable agents who have the resources and
tools needed to quickly resolve their issues – without
asking them to repeat information.
© 2015 Aspect Inc.
#6 Make Me Smarter
92% OF CONSUMERS TRUST
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM
FRIENDS AND FAMILY OVER ALL
FORMS OF ADVERTISING.
(Nielsen)
79% OF CONSUMERS TRUST
ONLINE REVIEWS AS MUCH AS
PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS.
(BrightLocal Survey)
EDUCATING YOUR CUSTOMERS IS ONE
OF THE BEST WAYS TO INCREASE SALES,
create long-term loyalty and inspire recommendations
on social networks or peer communities.
According to the White House Office of Consumer
Affairs, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as
much as their first purchase.
That’s why, it’s worth the effort to help your customers
discover new and improved ways to use your
products or services. When you empower people with
information, they can become an extension of your
support team – providing answers for other customers
who ask questions through social media and peer
communities. Well-informed customers are also more
likely to become loyal brand advocates and recommend
you to friends and family.
© 2015 Aspect Inc.
7 Hallmarks
of a Modern
Contact Center
The customer experience is the new battleground for
winning and keeping customers. A modern contact
center and enterprise-wide consumer engagement
strategy will not only help you stay competitive and
drive revenue, but also create efficiencies that lower
costs. Here are the core capabilities and strategies you
need to achieve these goals.
#1 Experience Continuity
#2 Consumer-Driven Self-Service Channels
#3 Agent Empowerment
#4 Advanced Call and Task Routing
#5 Proactive Engagement
#6 Compliance
#7 Agile Deployment
#1 Experience Continuity
Address evolving customer interaction preferences
with an omni-channel solution that ensures seamless,
integrated support across various agent-assisted and
self-service touch points – including voice, email,
web chat, SMS, mobile apps and social. Today’s
consumers will often use multiple self-service
channels and, at times, require help from an agent.
Experience Continuity means providing context
when moving between channels and reducing the
need for customers to repeat information while
speeding issue resolution.
A COUPLE EXAMPLES:
Passing data entered in an IVR to an agent
Customizing the agent/customer dialog based
on an understanding of recent interactions,
failed transactions or customer behaviors.
#2 Consumer-Driven
Self-Service Channels
While an omni-channel approach is increasingly
important, it’s equally vital to ensure the self-service
experience is intuitive and quickly leads to answers.
You can streamline interactions by tapping into the
power of mobile devices, and taking advantage of
progressive technologies like natural language and
personalization.
#3 Agent Empowerment
A comprehensive Workforce Optimization solution
is the cornerstone of agent performance and
productivity – which in turn leads to better customer
experiences. This will ensure you have the tools to
maximize agent engagement, including workforce
planning and scheduling, surveying, coaching,
eLearning and analytics.
#4 Advanced Call
and Task Routing
Providing great customer service depends on
maximizing CRM systems, using experience
continuity data and customer-provided information
to intelligently route inquiries. But once the customer
interaction is finished, you need to quickly, consistently
and completely deliver on the commitments your
agents make. Strong back office software allows
managers and supervisors to rapidly adjust tasks and
resources to ensure business objectives are met. The
ability to capture work across any channel, including
manual processes, lets you see how well the back office
is delivering on what the front office promises.
#5 Proactive Engagement
Provide customers with the information they need,
when they need it – or even before they know they
need it. Proactive customer service and targeted
two-way outbound notifications, using IVR and SMS,
are an inexpensive way to build customer loyalty
and generate more revenue. For example, automated
order status updates can reduce the number of
inbound calls to agents, freeing them to focus on
more complex tasks. And if problems arise, proactive
automated notifications can cut down on inbound
calls and prevent customer frustration.
#6 Compliance
#7 Agile Deployment
Meeting today’s regulatory requirements for
outbound can be a challenge, especially when
developing proactive outreach strategies for mobile
contacts. The Telephone Consumer Protection
Act (TCPA) has strict regulations about contacting
consumers on mobile devices. Sending a reminder,
delivering a notification or collecting a debt without
explicit consent can lead to steep fines. To avoid
this, some companies have agents make manual calls.
This inefficient approach takes a backward move in
technology and opens the door for other compliance
violations, like those enforced by the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). That’s why
contact centers executing any outbound processes
need a solution that allows adherence to the mobile
device dialing requirements without impacting
agent productivity.
A modern contact center infrastructure must be
flexible enough to support both current and future
needs. The capability to quickly scale for unexpected
spikes in traffic is critical. To stay competitive in
today’s rapidly evolving market, you also need to be
able to rapidly adopt new features that will keep you on
the forefront of consumer expectations. Cloud, hosted
or hybrid deployments offer a way to be more flexible
and competitive without incurring the downtime or
costs associated with re-architecting an on-premise
system. Cloud and hosted solutions enable you to
deploy new apps without having to provision, install
and configure hardware. Hybrid deployments give you
the ability to host core functionality on-premise and
utilize cloud capacity for bursts of traffic, failover or for
specific applications like self-service.
Next Steps
Now more than ever, it’s critical for companies to
balance delivering a great customer experience with
controlling costs.
What if you could simultaneously enhance customer
interactions, improve satisfaction and decrease costs
– all while staying at the forefront of rapidly evolving
technology and ever-changing business requirements?
YOU CAN WITH ASPECT:
• Deliver remarkable customer experiences with intelligent
omni-channel self-service, proactive engagement and
agent empowerment
• Benefit from the market’s only fully integrated customer
interaction and workforce optimization solution
• Map your customer journey to address pain points,
identify opportunities and maximize the experience
• Significantly reduce compliance and security risks with
a modern, flexible solution
• Eliminate contact center hardware costs, expensive
maintenance fees and dramatically lower telco costs with
cloud, hosting and hybrid options
• Improve reliability with a proven, global cloud
infrastructure, built-in Disaster Recovery and our
100% Uptime Service Level Agreement
Compare Aspect to any solution on the market and
let us help you understand your true costs, identify
opportunities and create a path forward.
Contact us to learn more or to request a demo.
aspect.com
1 888 412 7728 (North America)