October 3, 2014
Every time a contact center interacts with a customer, the primary goal (of course) is to answer the customer’s question or resolve a problem. While this should be the top priority, there is another, more subtle goal: to build customer loyalty and ensure that the customer keeps coming back. While some companies are good at the first task, the second goal is much more challenging. “Keeping customers happy” doesn’t have a simple formula or checklist to follow.
“Customers want an exceptional experience and will quickly switch to another company to get that experience,” wrote customer service consultant and author Lisa Ford. “Average and mediocre will be your ticket to losing customers. In a recent survey conducted by Forrester Research ( 
– ), 76 percent of executives said they want to set themselves apart through the customer experience. However, the majority of those same executives stated that no clear strategy or budget has been established to support this goal.”
While there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for building customer loyalty—it depends on your customer base and your business—there are some common themes.
Autonomy ( – ) for agents. No one likes to have a script read to them. Customers who believe that agents are unable to use their own initiative to handle their problems won’t have much confidence in the outcome. Front-line agents likely understand customers at least as well as the marketing department or the company’s executive leadership. Allow them to use their own judgment to solve customer problems, and it’s likely that customer interactions will become more personalized—this is the hallmark of a good customer interaction. It will also help boost employee engagement. No one wants to do the job of a mindless robot.
True multichannel integration. It’s been said a million and one times, but companies that lack true integration across multimedia channels won’t be able to deliver a quality customer experience.
“The best companies are working diligently to ‘integrate’ the information from the various channels that customers use,” wrote Ford. “Don’t let a single touchpoint be the reason they leave you. Customers have high expectations for a consistent experience across their chosen channels.”
Be proactive. With a little thought (and some analytics and centralized databases), it’s possible to anticipate customer needs even before the customer knows what he or she needs. Reach out to customers via outbound phone calls or text messages when you know you can help them. Customers will feel that your organization “gets” them, and this is a powerful way to foster customer loyalty.
It’s not enough to simply solve customers’ problems. A successful customer-facing organization values its customers and demonstrates this appreciation at every turn. A better understanding of the challenges customers face today—and taking action based on that understanding—will go a long way toward building that critical customer loyalty.
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