Humanising customer engagement

Michael Ouissi at IFS describes how customer interactions can deliver greater value at the moment of service if they are given a human touch

 

While many businesses have embraced digitalisation in recent years to drive efficiencies across their customer service offerings, some have forgotten just how important it still is to provide customer service that delivers the human touch. According to recent consumer research from HubSpot, 58% of consumer respondents who have interacted with a person during the buying process are more likely to shop with the same brand again. 

 

Technology does still have an important role to play here of course. To engage effectively with customers, stay relevant and provide them with what they need, businesses must orchestrate their capability across assets customers, employees and systems. And they need to do so at that critical ‘moment of service’ when the business is challenged to deliver and knows it is under scrutiny.

 

Yet, technology cannot – nor should not – do this alone. People are innately social beings, and, despite the ongoing advance of digitalisation, generally still prefer to interact with a person rather than receiving an automated response. In line with this, a recent consumer survey by Genesys, completed in April 2021, found that nearly three-quarters of respondents (70%) believe it is very important that there is compassion/empathy during customer service interactions.

 

In any complex interaction, this kind of empathy can be critically important in showing customers that they are important to the organisation. It provides them with the genuine peace of mind that comes from knowing that somebody within the business is fully focused on resolving their problem and on achieving the best possible result for them personally.

 

And despite the ongoing advance of technology, it is crucial that customer-facing businesses always understand that people and their expertise remain critical to the delivery of high-quality customer service today.

 

That means businesses should always be focused on humanising customer services – even if technology has been vital in developing them – to deliver a value-based outcome for the customer at that critical moment of service.

 

A listening ear

Doing all this will require organisations to closely engage with customers, listen to their feedback and capture the insights gained. This will enable them to better understand what drives customers and how to deliver more humanised service offerings to them. The critical point through all this, however, is that the service will need to be differentiated depending on the customer being targeted.

 

Some customers like purely human interaction while some crave a purely automated approach to service. Given the choice, many others would opt for a combination of the two: sophisticated cognitive computing science combined with personal service. 

 

To understand which customer falls into which category, businesses above all need an engaging way of interacting with their customers while understanding and collecting their ‘voice’. But how do they best achieve that?

 

The key is making it as easy as possible for the customer to provide that feedback. The use of design-driven customer feedback listening tools that are intuitive for users is the holy grail in this context, enabling the business to capture that customer voice and drive-up engagement at the same time.

 

Delivering a value-led approach

Often, it is those critical moments of service, when companies get challenged to deliver great service and either rise to the challenge or don’t, that are most effective in prompting customer feedback. That can be supported by a range of modern engagement methodologies, including the IFS Six Box Model™, which helps deliver a value-led engagement process. The model considers customer engagement across business initiatives, the ‘as-is’ and ‘to-be’ landscape; enablers; obstacles; and the business case.

 

Added to this, there are multiple use cases that businesses can leverage to deliver a more humanised customer service and drive further engagement. In terms of business initiative, this could include using installers as brand ambassadors to open new revenue streams. With respect to the evolving ‘to-be’ customer landscape, it might incorporate everything from providing customer self-service portals and services to improving customer connection response times.

 

Key ‘enablers’ could include enhanced customer engagement with AI-enabled chat bots; providing innovative remote assistance with augmented reality and delivering customer prioritisation for different tiers.

 

Getting closer to the customer

The approach outlined above typically builds momentum over time. If the business is connected to what is making its customers successful through the moment of service, it can build a trust-based relationship with them and be better placed to attain the feedback it requires.

 

All this makes it much easier for the business to ensure that its offering remains highly relevant to what the customer needs and it can evolve that offering as its customer’s business evolves. That leads to a virtuous circle, where every positive engagement strengthens trust; raises customer response rates and generates additional business value.

 

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Michael Ouissi is Chief Customer Officer at IFS

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com