May 7, 2015
We’ve all been there: You call a company with a question or a basic inquiry about a process. You hear the automated message, make your selection, yell “Agent!” and wait for a real person to pick up. They then transfer you to someone else (AFTER you’ve given them all your information), only to have you repeat the whole process all over again. It’s maddening.
And now, as it turns out, it's costly, too.
Brian Olesen, Director of Enterprise Operations at inContact, a leading cloud contact center provider, just posted a blog on the problem in general and how it is specifically affecting one particular industry: financial services.
“Over the past two decades, the financial services industry has witnessed a number of transformative events, including the rising popularity of online banking, increasing levels of technological advancement, and increasing levels of government regulation. Banking isn’t what it was when I was a branch teller over two decades ago,” Olesen writes. “It is the next big change, however, that will dwarf all of these. Naturally, some financial institutions will adapt and others will not. The Customer Experience—the combined set of processes and business interactions that define how a customer conducts business. Companies that get it will thrive, and those that don’t will die a painful death.”
Olesen cites a recent Ernst & Young report comprehensive survey which surveyed 32,000 retail banking customers across 43 countries.
“They found that customers expect superior customer experiences, with ‘the way I am treated’ ranking second only to ‘financial stability’ as the most important reason for trusting their bank,” Olesen notes. That’s a sobering statistic in and of itself, but the survey also indicated that a poor customer experience is the most common reason for closing accounts—even more so than fees, interest rates, branch locations, and convenience.
Now, think for just a moment: How are your People interacting with those who call you? That's a scary thought, isn't it?
Based on the survey’s findings, Olesen offers three suggestions on how to better interact with your customers so that they remain customers. They include:
Empower Your Employees: “Allow employees to solve customer problems by providing them with the right tools and resources,” he suggests.
Empower Your Customers: Provide customers with easy ways to report issues by removing obstacles.
Leverage Technology: “Continue to evolve your technology assets by leveraging best-in-class tools for self-service, the contact center, and the Web,” Olesen says. This way, you’ll always be one step ahead.
“By focusing on the customer experience, companies can improve customer retention and ensure repeat business for years to come,” he concludes. Wise advice, indeed.