4 reasons why companies are still struggling with CX

Despite the increased focus on customer experience and satisfaction, many companies still fail to provide excellent service. A recent survey questioned 200 large companies, and the results show that only 2% states that they provide exceptional customer experience and 70% that it was “Okay” or “Good”. With the shift in semiotics, we now know that in the satisfaction continuum, “good” only means 3-4 stars or one indifferent face, and “okay” is, in fact, not so okay anymore. 

But companies invest a lot (numbers). These numbers do not reflect today’s trends. They are fully purposeful because companies with profits of $1 billion a year expect an average gain of $700 million within three years of investing in CX. This factor becomes the primary focus for various businesses with two thirds competent over it. Two-thirds of companies compete on customer experience, up from just 36% in 2010.

While businesses direct focus on better communication with customers, fast jump to new technologies can sometimes bring negative consequences. Clients can get more frustrated than satisfied if badly implemented chatbot won’t be able to understand him and won’t direct to live agents. In this article, we will look for possible causes and obstacles that can stop the way to better customer experience, if not taken into account.

It should be a global process

When a company decides to focus more on customer experience it should understand that this includes not only the contact center. Excellent support can ease and or even fix many situations. But this, sadly, does not account for customers’ experience. They will still remember the problem that aroused because of low-quality products or mailing issues. Therefore all touchpoints of customer-company interaction have to be addressed if the company decides to compete for the customer’s heart.

Another important aspect is that service should be consistent in all channels. Customers value fast and simple interaction with a brand or company, but it has to be smooth in all communication forms: call, website interactions or apps, and messaging platforms. 

When all steps in the customer journey are made as comfortable as possible, through multiple channels, it’s certain that the customer will reach the final stage and will become a loyal advocate of the brand.

The human factor is still crucial

More massive companies prefer automation and low cost that technology can provide. But it should not be forgotten that customers have a more complicated perception of it. Companies know the most common customer problems and their solutions. But customers don’t. They contact the center with an issue that looks important and unfamiliar to them. So they expect that the query will be addressed with necessary attention and competence. And in their opinion, technology is not that capable. The majority of people are not very keen on bots when they are asked about them. There are several reasons for that. 67% of customers used chatbots in the past year, this means that one third still hasn’t. When they are asked about their preferences, the answer is obvious. There are differences between generations too: 40% of millennials, the age group that evaluates this technology most, say they use chatbots daily. 47% of internet users in America think that chatbots give many unhelpful answers. 

On the other hand, live conversations are welcomed by customers. According to one research, customer experiences that were delivered on the phone or in the store by an agent were rated the highest. This by no means advice to forget digital interactions and put all your chatbots in a virtual garbage ban. Conversations robots can be very effective. The statistics only show that nowadays contact centers cannot use only live force or automation. They have to match and balance both to get the most effective result. That’s why keeping all your contact center agents is important. Maybe they will have to get extra qualifications and spend time engaging in new tasks. But it is necessary to create a possibility to transfer the client to the agent as soon as the bot or IVR system is not capable of helping. IT tools can only empower agents, but should not completely take their place. After all, meaningful, lasting connections can be made only in the presence of another human being.

Customer experience is a primary concern, but not the primary action

1% of companies said they expect to be competing completely or at least mostly in the field of customer experience in 2020. While this seems like a rational decision, in reality, some companies struggle to focus essentially on that. The main causes are other fields of competition, recourses, and lack of strategy. In the end, some companies seem to be in the preparation stage. They understand that tomorrow is all about personalized service for loyal customers, and it’s really important to make clients feel valued, but they are not prepared to earnestly think about the process, allocate resources and time. Only then customer experience will become an attitude of the whole company, the organization can start to implement effective strategies towards the goal. The field where the concern solely touches the leaders of the contact center and other departments minds their business is not the place where customer experience can grow.

Fail to make conclusions from the feedback

The easiest way to fulfill customer needs is by asking what they want. Gartner’s research confirms this by showing that companies which successfully implement customer experience projects begin by focusing on how they collect and analyze customer feedback. So companies that fail, don’t. Many collect the feedback to verify that service or products are of high value. And generally, nobody likes negative feedback. A positive evaluation is good for marketing, while the bad one is important for the company itself. It often provides useful insights on what is lacking or not working properly. Negative feedback is like road signs indicating a way to the best customer experience. 

Customer experience is why companies are making changes and implementing new technologies in their business. But to do it right, companies need to address the process as a whole new system that affects all the company’s infrastructure, members and communication channels. The human factor should not be forgotten as well as the feedback. After all, customers want to make friends with business and expect the business to initiate this friendship.