Earlier, voice was the only way for customers to engage with brands when they required support or service. Today, even though customers have embraced a wide range of digital channels, including self-service and bot-led experiences, voice is still a crucial component to the customer experience. However, what customers expect from voice has evolved.
Customers have become accustomed to the speed and round-the-clock accessibility of digital engagements and expect to receive the same level of efficiency when speaking to an agent. Today customers will not tolerate lengthy hold times, being transferred to a different agent, or having to repeat themselves. In order to meet these customer expectations, enterprises need to modernize their approach to voice.
Understand customer expectations
No two customers are alike. Some customers would prefer to contact a company via phone to make a purchase, solve a problem or get the necessary information they want within one seamless session, with a single customer service agent. Other customers might not want to speak with an agent, preferring to use self-service options or interact with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot. Still, other customers might have complicated questions or need specific information that only a highly skilled agent can handle. In fact, according to the latest Genesys benchmark data insights, voice bot results in a 60–70% reduction in volume interactions.
One similarity between these customers is that they all expect a smooth conversation that meets their needs quickly and efficiently. The longer the wait time, the higher the customer frustration climbs.
Level up voice strategy
While digital or bot interactions are quick and efficient ways to help more satisfied customers resolve issues, they aren’t always equipped to detect emotions like frustration or excitement. It is, therefore, critical that contact center agents are properly trained to detect and handle emotional ups and downs in a conversation. These are often opportunities to convert a dissatisfied caller into a satisfied customer, and perhaps even, a brand ambassador. Empathy is a skill that agents can develop with training in active listening, emotional intelligence, and communication techniques. However, those soft skills only go so far if the agent cannot effectively solve a customer’s problem.
As customers increasingly use voice for complex questions and to escalate issues that weren’t resolved in other channels, agents need thorough product knowledge and advanced problem-solving skills. They must understand the customer and that requires background, conversation history and context.
With systems integrations, a robust IVR, and conversational AI, this information can be gathered before the call reaches the contact center, and then surfaced to guide the customer service agent throughout the conversation. Instead of having to ask unnecessary questions and search for information, agents can focus more effectively on the customer.
Don’t forget the data
To further optimize the use of voice in each customer experience, it is crucial for businesses to understand the types of issues and questions that lead to calls with a contact center agent. These answers can most commonly be found in the stored data as it can reveal which automated features best solve customer problems, and which don’t. Companies should invest in the use cases that are working well and re-evaluate the others.
With a deeper understanding of the customer journey and the most common reasons they reach for the phone, agents are better prepared to deliver exceptional service. Organizations can use this data to nurture knowledge management, so agents have the information and guidance necessary to address customers’ questions. This has been shown to cut agent-handled volume by 15–20%, according to Genesys benchmark data.
The human voice
It’s critical to acknowledge that contact center agents often are the face and voice of a company and have the ability to deliver exceptional customer experience. Therefore, due to the fact that voice remains a critical channel for optimizing those customer experiences and driving business outcomes, a modern approach to voice is essential.
Amr AlMasri is Regional Director at Genesys, Middle EastThe opinions expressed are those of the author and may not reflect the editorial policy or an official position held by TRENDS.