Are you still aligned with the customer?

The pandemic has hit hard most of companies that had to cope with sudden, extraordinary customer support demands. Two years later the waves have not become calmer though, due to the international political and economical uncertainty. In such a complex scenario we all – as consumers – have dramatically raised our expectations: that’s why getting aligned with the customer is vital for the present and future of your business.

3 pillars to focus on

With do doubt, omni-channel platforms are great tools because they enable support agents optimize their time and efforts and managers getting valuable data & insights. Nevertheless, if you want to build an effective Digital Customer Service road map you also need to work hard to improve conversations. In fact each single interaction shape their perception and experience, thus their willingness to stay or leave you. So let me guide you through them, focussing on how customer’s expectations have skyrocketed in the last two years:

Quality of (Digital) Customer Service – the better the customer rates it, the more they are willing to repeat the purchase or buy something extra. That’s the proof that customer service is the best driver for up & cross-selling revenues. Q. How do you hire your team?
Customer Experience vs. price – customers still consider price as very important, but it’s not the only factor that determines their choice to come, stay or leave your business. In fact they consider also CX as key element. Q. Have you linked your metrics (KPIs) to the customer journey yet?
Higher customer’s expectations – they have sharply increased in just two years. Customers demand faster responses and smooth conversations, especially over Digital Customer Service channels (social media, messaging, live chat, video chat). Q. Is your support team digitally up-skilled?

From Service to Relationship Centre [Deloitte Digital]

Source: ‘From Service to Relationship Centre’ [Deloitte Digital]

Over to you

You’d better get aligned with the customer if you want to stay competitive. That means doing the ‘continuous improvement‘ homework of your Digital Customer Service operation model, both in terms of processes and conversational up-skilling as per each channel. Does it take more effort and investments that it used be in the past? Yes, but it does pay off with long-lasting customer relationships!