Customer Experience Management

Probably as a result of the disappointment with the initial wave of CRM systems some vendors are renaming their systems as Customer Experience Management system. This may be a bit faddish, but it is worth making the point that that quite often customers or citizens do not want a relationship with their supplier, they will however want a good experience when they interact with them.

Typically Business to Business (B2B) relationships are deeper and it is critical to nurture and maintain a good relationship (think Rolls Royce aero engines and airline operators). Often, however, when it's Business to Consumer (B2C) the relationship is not so important to the customer, but they do want a good experience when they interact. In which case, consistently receiving a good experience is vital to protect the brand.

Example 1: Citizen Experience Management

Angry Citizen contacts the council about a local issue

Most citizens are not interested in having a relationship with their local councillors. If, however, they are angry about a local issue (such as the rubbish not being collected) and contact their council for information on this issue, they expect this process to be quite straightforward.

Good Experience They call the council and immediately get through to somebody who is already aware of the issue and assures them that remedial action has already been planned and the issue will be resolved the day after tomorrow.

Poor Experience They call the council, get put on hold for 10 minutes, get passed to somebody else, on hold for another 5 minutes, when a human finally speaks to the caller, they have no knowledge of the issue, they then promise to find out about it and get back to the caller within 30 minutes - but they do not call back.

CRM strategy To ensure a good experience in this example the council can adopt a few straightforward strategies. A well publicised easy-to-navigate, up-to-date web portal containing answers to most common questions, such as rubbish collection schedules, recycling collection points, school locations, doctor contacts, etc will relieve a significant burden from the call centre staff, making their job more interesting and satisfying. Instead of answering mundane questions all day long they will have time to be prepared for and get involved in dealing with more complex issues concerning their citizens.
Also a fairly basic CRM system can empower the call centre operative, keeping them updated about recent issues, enabling them to collaborate and delegate or escalate easily. Simple CTI functionality, such as screen-popping the citizen's name and address, based on the phone number, will significantly improve productivity for the operatives and provide a much better experience for the caller. Some basic workflow, such as prompting an operative to perform a task promised earlier or escalating a task if it is not performed within a certain timeframe, will again improve efficiency and citizen perception very significantly.

Example 2: Customer Experience Management

Customer Contacts Credit Card Company re non-receipt

Most people are not particularly bothered about having a relationship with their credit card providers, although the credit card companies do not seem to realise this. Considering that they regularly ring their customers at 7.00 pm asking them how their day was before trying to sell them some insurance they don't need, after a hard days work, the credit card company is probably the last person they want to chat to, just as they are beginning to unwind. Typically, all most people want from a credit card is for it to work when they need it, to be charged a reasonable rate of interest and to be protected from fraud.

Scenario Customer spots on their statement that they have been charged £500 for something they don't recognise. They recall giving their credit card details for some information service on the internet which was never received so they call their credit card company to try and resolve this.

Typical Poor Experience - Customer calls the credit card company and goes through a few options on the very slow, poorly thought-through options, of the auto-attendant, inputs 14 digit credit card number on telephone pad, inputs 6 digit date of birth, answers security question to robot, put on hold for 10 minutes, speaks to a human, Repeats credit card number verbally, repeats date of birth, repeats security question, tells the operative about their issue, passed to another department, on hold for another 5 minutes, repeats the story (and possibly security questions) the operative sounds very sceptical and has a not very helpful attitude, asking questions like are you sure you didn't spend £500, maybe you forgot!, finally agrees that they will investigate but they need to send out a letter. Hence, the customer has to wait for letter to arrive, has to then answer lots of questions in writing, then repeat the story in writing, then send back letter hoping that something will be done, finally after 3 months and a few calls to chase, the credit card company admits it was a fraudulent transaction (if the customer is lucky) and credits their account.

• Use intelligent well thought-through auto-attendant telephone systems and secure web portals to handle the 90% of calls which are mundane, such as balance enquiries, also provide self-service facilities for address changes, etc.
• Use techniques such as screen-popping based on the dialled number, so that the system recognises the caller, encourage customers to use a recognisable number, such as their mobile - they will only be too happy to do this.
• Do not repeat questions if a customer has already taken the trouble to tap in their ID, it is ridiculous and irritating to ask them again - a sign of a very poor system.
• The above will free up customer service operatives to be able to spend more time on genuine issues and exceptions and to therefore be less stressed, more friendly and more helpful to their customers.
• Empower the users with a CRM system, giving them access to information, rapidly at their fingertips, such as all account details already present based on phone number of caller, plus unusual transactions already highlighted.
• Trust the customers and operatives to do the right thing. A good CRM system because it easily tracks all activity by customer and has powerful reporting can deal with the rare exceptions of someone abusing this trust after the event, much better then being sceptical prior to the event.
• Use unified communications to record calls and store with the customer; so in the above scenario, instead of having to send out a letter to record the incident on inefficient paper, the call is recorded electronically and the issue is dealt with immediately. The customer can be credited immediately subject to investigation. All details can be routed electronically to an investigator who has all details to hand and can quickly complete their investigation much faster and far more efficiently.

Naturally the customer would be much happier in the above scenario if the credit company followed the suggested CRM strategy. Their issue would be dealt with much more quickly and efficiently by a friendly and helpful operative and they would get a credit immediately. Also the credit card company's costs would be much lower and their sales would be higher because, more satisfied customers are loyal and quickly spread the word. Word of mouth is the best way to get new and profitable loyal customers.