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Category: Tips & Guides

How to Start Your Customer Experience Digital Transformation

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Byline: This article is based on an interview with Gemma DePalma, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Foria Wellness, with a background in R&D, product development, supply chain, logistics, and customer experience.

Introduction

In today’s competitive business landscape, customer satisfaction is paramount to success. One crucial aspect of ensuring customer happiness is reducing agent turnover. Whether a company is small or large, the impact of agent turnover on overall growth cannot be underestimated. This article delves into the importance of managing agent turnover. It highlights key insights from a conversation with Gemma DePalma, CHief Custome officer at Foria, a company known for its unique and sensitive product model. By examining the challenges and opportunities associated with agent turnover, businesses can gain valuable insights into enhancing customer satisfaction and driving growth.

Key Takeaways:

  • Containing agent turnover is crucial to the overall growth of a busines.
  • Finding customer happiness agents with the right skill set, empathy, and problem-solving abilities is essential for excellent customer service.
  • Training agents on product knowledge and company values is necessary to ensure customer satisfaction.
  • Having long-term team members can increase customer engagement and allow for the exploration of new ways to surprise and delight customers.
  • Improving customer happiness can involve sending merchandise as a surprise and delight strategy.

The Impact of Agent Turnover on Customer Happiness

Agent turnover is a significant factor in a business’s success, and Gemma DePalma emphasizes its importance by rating it a perfect ten. For companies like Foria, whose products require a specific skill set and empathetic nature, finding and training the right individuals is crucial. Gemma highlights the need for agents who are active listeners, solution-oriented and possess a deep understanding of the product and the company’s ecosystem. Businesses can ensure customers receive the best possible experience by investing time and effort in training agents.

Gemma’s experience at Foria showcases the benefits of long-term employee retention. With their customer happiness lead and part-time employees staying with the company for three and seven years, respectively, Foria has witnessed the growth and development of its team members. This longevity allows agents to explore new opportunities and engage with customers beyond simply answering their questions. Gemma mentions the concept of “surprise and delight,” where Foria aims to go above and beyond by sending merchandise as a pleasant surprise to customers. This approach not only enhances customer satisfaction but also strengthens brand loyalty.

The Challenges of Training and Retaining Agents

Training agents in a sensitive and unique product model can be a time-consuming process. Gemma highlights the importance of finding individuals with the right skill set and personality traits, such as empathy and solution-oriented thinking. However, even with the right candidates, training them on product knowledge and the company’s approach to customer satisfaction takes time and effort. This investment is necessary to ensure that agents can effectively address customer concerns and provide personalized solutions.

Moreover, the nature of Foria’s products requires agents to handle sensitive topics with care and professionalism, adding an additional layer of complexity to the training process. Gemma emphasizes that being faster is not necessarily better in their model. Instead, agents must focus on creating a welcoming and satisfying customer experience, ensuring they feel heard and understood. By investing in comprehensive training programs and ongoing support, businesses can equip their agents with the necessary skills to handle customer interactions effectively.

The Broader Implications of Agent Turnover

Agent turnover affects customer happiness and has broader implications for a business. High turnover rates can lead to increased recruitment and training costs and a loss of institutional knowledge. When agents leave, they take valuable insights and customer relationships that need to be rebuilt. This can result in a decline in customer satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately impacting the bottom line.

On the other hand, low turnover rates contribute to a more stable and experienced customer happiness team. Agents who have been with the company for an extended period develop a deep understanding of the product and the company’s values. This expertise allows them to provide customers with more personalized and effective solutions, enhancing their overall experience. Additionally, long-term employees can contribute to the growth and development of the team, exploring new ways to engage and surprise customers.

Enhancing Customer Satisfaction and Driving Growth

Reducing agent turnover is not only about retaining employees but also about creating a positive work environment. Gemma’s experience at Foria demonstrates the importance of nurturing and supporting agents, allowing them to grow within the company. By providing opportunities for career development and recognizing their contributions, businesses can foster a sense of loyalty and commitment among their customer happiness team.

Furthermore, exploring ways to surprise and delight customers can significantly impact customer satisfaction and loyalty. Gemma mentions sending merchandise as a pleasant surprise, surpassing the standard customer service experience. This approach creates a memorable interaction and strengthens the emotional connection between the customer and the brand. By continuously seeking ways to exceed customer expectations, businesses can differentiate themselves in the market and drive growth.

Conclusion

Reducing agent turnover is crucial for a business’s overall growth. Training agents in a sensitive and unique product model takes time and effort but is essential for customer satisfaction. Long-term employee retention allows for growth and development within the customer happiness team, leading to enhanced customer experiences. Businesses can create memorable interactions and foster brand loyalty by exploring opportunities to surprise and delight customers. Ultimately, investing in reducing agent turnover is an investment in the success and growth of the business.

The Frictionless Customer Experience

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Byline: This article is based on an interview with Patrick Martin, the EVP of Global Customer Experience at Coveo, who has over 25 years of experience in services and support.

The Importance of a Frictionless Customer Experience

In today’s highly competitive business landscape, delivering a frictionless customer experience is no longer just a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity. According to a study by PwC, 32% of customers will leave a brand after just one bad experience, and 59% will abandon it after two bad experiences. Customers now expect easy, personalized, and frictionless experiences, thanks to the influence of companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify. 

As Patrick Martin, EVP of Customer Experience at Coveo, explains, “If you’re not creating a frisctionless customer experience, you will struggle.” 

In a world where competitors can quickly catch up with features and functionalities, the customer experience becomes the key differentiator.

The Role of AI and Live Agents in Customer Support

Regarding customer support, there is often a debate about the role of AI versus live agents. Some believe that AI will replace live agents entirely, while others argue that live agents are here to stay. According to Martin, both AI and live agents have a role in delivering a frictionless customer experience. AI can handle repetitive tasks and provide self-service options, while live agents can handle more complex issues and provide personalized assistance.

However, Martin emphasizes that AI is only as good as the information it is fed. Companies must ensure that their documentation and knowledge bases are accurate, up-to-date, and easily accessible. AI-generated responses may be incorrect or unhelpful without the right information, leading to a poor customer experience. On the other hand, live agents can leverage their expertise and problem-solving skills to handle unique or complex customer issues. They can also play a crucial role in identifying gaps in documentation and improving the overall customer experience.

Creating a Unified and Frictionless Customer Experience

One of the biggest challenges in creating a frictionless customer experience is the disjointed nature of digital properties and repositories owned by different departments. Customers often must navigate multiple channels and sources of information to find what they need, leading to frustration and wasted time. To address this, companies must bring all these channels and repositories together and create a unified and intuitive experience.

Martin suggests starting by identifying who owns these repositories and bringing all the stakeholders together to discuss how to remove friction. This requires a collaborative effort and the involvement of a chief customer officer or a similar executive sponsor who can oversee the overall customer experience. By integrating systems, sharing data, and aligning goals, companies can create a seamless experience that guides customers to the most efficient channel for issue resolution, whether it’s self-service or assisted support.

The Challenge of Outsourcing Customer Experience

Many companies outsource their customer experience to external service providers, presenting its own challenges. While outsourcing can be cost-effective and efficient, it can also lead to a disjointed customer experience if not managed properly. Martin suggests two key strategies for maintaining a frictionless customer experience in outsourcing.

First, companies must ensure that their outsourced agents are well-trained and aligned with the brand’s values and customer experience goals. They should be seen as an extension of the company, representing the brand consistently and customer-centric. 

Second, system integration ensures that information flows seamlessly between the company and the outsourced service provider. This includes integrating ticketing systems, live chat platforms, and other tools to enable a smooth handover of customer interactions. By addressing these challenges, companies can maintain a seamless and frictionless customer experience, regardless of whether the support is provided in-house or outsourced.

Conclusion

Creating a frictionless customer experience is essential for business success in today’s competitive landscape. Customers have high expectations and will abandon a brand after just one or two bad experiences. To deliver a consistent and intuitive experience, companies must bring together their digital properties, integrate systems, and prioritize efficient channel guidance. AI and live agents have a role to play in customer support, with AI handling repetitive tasks and live agents handling more complex issues. When outsourcing customer experience, companies must ensure robust onboarding, system integration, and a seamless customer experience. By prioritizing the customer experience and involving customers in the discussion, companies can differentiate themselves and build long-term customer loyalty.

 

WOW24-7´s CEO Talks about Agent Retention, Culture, and AI in a Podcast

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In a recent episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, our CEO, Denys Dubner, took the spotlight to share his insights into customer service, operations & middle-management leadership excellence. Denys delved into the nitty-gritty details of the hottest topics, such as agent retention, AI, and the future of contact centers. 

What’s Inside:

Current Challenges In The CX Industry

Denys sheds light on the pressing challenges facing the customer experience landscape, from dwindling satisfaction rates to the ever-present struggle for agent retention and the reasons behind the high attrition rate in the call center industry. Get ready to uncover the hurdles and learn how to overcome them.

The WOW24-7 Approach

 Discover the secret sauce behind WOW24-7’s success as Denys explains our unique approach to leadership on all management levels. From our steadfast commitment to company culture, agent hiring, training, and onboarding to our relentless pursuit of innovation, our company has arguably the highest agent retention rate in the industry. 

AI In Contact Centers

Learn about the highlighted concerns about AI integration alongside the agents’ buy-in challenges. Despite efforts to adopt AI, challenges persist, particularly with fragmented systems hindering its effectiveness. This underscores the ongoing need for human intervention, especially in SMEs lacking seamless data flow between tools.

Human Agents’ Job Market Prediction

Denys forecasts a promising outlook for Level 2+ support agents’ jobs over the next five to ten years. Nevertheless, he anticipates that the frontline / L1 support role may gradually disappear in the future.

Why Should You Tune In?

Denys shares real-world insights to help you level up your contact center leadership & customer service game. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, there’s something here for everyone.

Check it out, and we’d love to know your thoughts

Turning User Manuals from “Zzz” to “LOL” in Customer Support Outsourcing

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We’ve all been there, haven’t we? You pick up a user manual, and before you know it, you’re yawning louder than a lion’s roar. It’s like the manual is trying to challenge your sleep record! But what if we told you there’s a way to turn this snooze-fest into a captivating journey that not only empowers your customers but also strengthens your customer support outsourcing services? Grab your wizard hats; we’re diving into the magical world of user manuals! ????????

The Mundane Manuals

User manuals have long been seen as the necessary evil of product onboarding. Customers begrudgingly flip through pages of jargon, charts, and diagrams, praying they won’t fall into a deep slumber before they finish setting up that new gadget. And if you’re a company that relies on customer support outsourcing services, this can translate into a flurry of late-night calls and support tickets.

The Magical Transformation

Picture this: A customer, armed with a manual thicker than a Harry Potter novel, sets out to conquer the setup of their new gadget. Instead of falling into a sleep-induced coma, they find themselves captivated by the engaging narrative, charmed by relatable characters (meet ‘Sir Clumsy-But-Lovable Troubleshoot’), and thrilled by suspenseful plot twists (Will ‘The Mysterious Blue Button’ save the day?). Before they know it, they’ve learned everything they need and are eagerly anticipating their next tech adventure! ????✨

The Road To ‘LOL’

So, how do you embark on this transformation from ‘Zzz’ to ‘LOL’ in user manuals while strengthening your customer support outsourcing services?

Here’s Your Spellbook:

Infuse Personality

Give your content a voice that embodies your commitment to customer support excellence. Transform your manuals into companions that guide customers with humor and empathy.

Visual Storytelling

Use visuals and diagrams to enhance the user experience and guide customers with a smile. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and in customer support, they’re invaluable!

Interactive Engagement

 Elevate your customer support by adding interactive elements such as quizzes or puzzles to manuals. Learning should be fun, even when it’s about product setup!

Feedback-Driven Evolution

Listen to your customers and adjust your ‘story’ accordingly. Use their feedback to continually improve your manuals and support services. It’s a dialogue, not a monologue.

Strengthening Customer Support Outsourcing Through Engaging Manuals

Now, let’s explore how transforming user manuals from “Zzz” to “LOL” not only delights customers but also amplifies the effectiveness of your customer support outsourcing services:

1. Empowering Outsourced Teams

Your outsourced customer support team benefits immensely when user manuals are engaging and effective. They have well-crafted resources to refer customers to, making problem-solving more efficient and customer interactions smoother.

2. Streamlining Training

Outsourcing your customer support often involves training outsourced agents. Engaging manuals simplify this process, serving as comprehensive references that help agents quickly grasp your products and provide exceptional support.

3. Enhancing Partner Relationships

For businesses working with customer support outsourcing partners, the quality of your user manuals reflects your commitment to collaboration. Detailed and engaging manuals foster stronger partnerships by ensuring everyone is on the same page – quite literally!

In Conclusion: A Win-Win Scenario

When your customers genuinely enjoy your manuals, they understand your product better and appreciate your commitment to their experience. This results in a win-win situation for your customers and customer support outsourcing services.

So, fellow Customer Support Wizards, let’s turn those sleep-inducing manuals into a source of empowerment that leaves users saying, “Just one more page!” ????????

Have you witnessed any remarkable ‘bedtime story’ success stories in your customer support outsourcing journey?

Share them in the comments below!

Let’s inspire each other with tales of making the mundane truly magical. ????✨

Unveiling Unique Buying Personas: Key Insights for Revolutionizing Customer Support from the ‘Rethinking Customer Journeys for 2024’ Conference

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In today’s fast-paced business landscape, understanding customer behavior is pivotal for success. At the recent “Rethinking Customer Journeys for 2024” conference, we had the privilege of gaining valuable insights from Karen Naves, Senior VP of Global Demand Generation & Marketing Operations at Tealium. Karen’s thought-provoking analysis included a captivating comparison between two iconic figures: King Charles and Ozzy Osbourne. What made this comparison particularly intriguing was the revelation that, despite their remarkably similar backgrounds, they exhibited striking differences in their buying preferences and personas.

Here, we delve into Karen’s remarkable insights and explore other key takeaways from the conference that can reshape the way we think about customer support and engagement.

Dynamic Customer Data: Beyond Static Profiles

The first profound revelation from Karen’s presentation was the dynamic nature of customer data. Many businesses tend to view customer data as static profiles, but the comparison between King Charles and Ozzy Osbourne shattered this notion. These two iconic figures, born in the same year (1948), raised in the UK, married twice, and living in castles, seemed like they would have similar buying preferences. However, it turns out that their buying preferences were poles apart.

Distinct Buying Preferences And Personas

King Charles, the refined connoisseur, prefers the finer things in life: elegant furnishings, exquisite art, and antique treasures. In contrast, Ozzy Osbourne, the edgy rebel, craves the electrifying rush of guitars, leather jackets, and rock memorabilia. This stark contrast highlighted that customer data is a dynamic landscape that shapes unique buying preferences.

The implications for businesses are profound. It’s not enough to simply segment customers based on demographics; we must also consider their evolving tastes and preferences. Understanding and adapting to these dynamic personas can be a game-changer in personalization strategies.

Beyond Shopping: Content Consumption Matters

Karen’s comparison didn’t end with shopping habits; it extended to the content customers consume. King Charles opts for historical documentaries and political debates, while Ozzy Osbourne cranks up the volume with reality shows and rock concerts. This insight reinforced the idea that understanding customers’ content consumption is as vital as recognizing their purchasing patterns.

Agile, Data-Driven Marketing Strategies

The key takeaway from Karen’s brilliant comparison was that even individuals with strikingly similar backgrounds can possess divergent buying personas and behaviors. This insight reinforces the need for agile, data-driven marketing strategies that adapt to these nuances. Businesses must continuously collect and analyze data to keep pace with their customers’ evolving preferences and behaviors.

Other Key Insights From The Conference

Beyond Karen’s enlightening comparison, the “Rethinking Customer Journeys for 2024” conference offered several other valuable insights that can transform customer support and engagement:

  • Real-Time Personalization: Customers expect real-time personalization. The conference emphasized the importance of leveraging data to provide personalized experiences throughout the customer journey.
  • AI and Automation: AI and automation are becoming essential tools for delivering exceptional customer support. The conference showcased case studies of companies successfully implementing AI-driven support systems to improve response times and efficiency.
  • Data Security and Privacy: With increasing concerns about data security and privacy, it’s vital for businesses to build trust with their customers. The conference discussed strategies for transparent data handling and protection.
  • Omnichannel Support: Providing support across various channels is no longer an option but a necessity. The conference explored the challenges and opportunities of omnichannel support strategies.

Conclusion:

The “Rethinking Customer Journeys for 2024” conference, highlighted by Karen Naves’ compelling comparison between King Charles and Ozzy Osbourne, was a treasure trove of insights. It taught us that customer data is far from static, and understanding dynamic buying personas is crucial. Businesses that embrace agile, data-driven marketing strategies can create personalized experiences that resonate with every unique buying persona.

As we navigate the dynamic seas of customer behavior at Wow24-7, we are inspired by these insights to craft personalized experiences that connect with our clients’ customers on a deeper level. Our commitment to staying at the forefront of customer support outsourcing is unwavering, and we look forward to applying these conference takeaways to better serve our clients. Stay tuned for more updates on how Wow24-7 is redefining customer support for the future.

Good vs. Great Customer Service: Unveiling the Keys to Exceptional Support

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In today’s fiercely competitive business landscape, the quality of your customer service can make or break your brand. Customers have come to expect more than just satisfactory assistance; they want an exceptional experience that sets their business apart from the rest. But what exactly distinguishes good customer service from great? In this blog post, we’ll delve into the key elements that define the difference between the two and explore how you can elevate your customer support to an exceptional level.

The Foundation: Good Customer Service

  • Efficiency is Paramount: Good customer service ensures that customer inquiries are addressed promptly and issues are resolved in a timely manner. It’s about providing solutions without unnecessary delays.
  • Politeness and Professionalism: Customers expect politeness and professionalism in their interactions with your support team. Respectful and courteous behavior is a hallmark of good service.
  • Satisfactory Issue Resolution: Good customer service aims to resolve customer issues to their satisfaction, meeting the basic requirements of the problem at hand.
  • Multi-Channel Accessibility: Offering various channels of communication, such as phone, email, and chat, is a sign of good customer service. It accommodates customers’ preferred methods of interaction.

The Ascent: Great Customer Service

  • Personalization Elevates Experiences: Great customer service goes beyond scripted responses. It involves understanding each customer’s unique needs and providing tailored solutions.
  • Empathy is Key: Exceptional support agents display genuine empathy, recognizing and addressing customers emotions and concerns. They connect with customers on a deeper level.
  • Proactive Problem-Solving: Rather than waiting for customers to raise issues, great customer service is proactive. It anticipates potential problems and addresses them before they escalate.
  • Feedback-Driven Improvement: Exceptional support actively seeks customer feedback and uses it to enhance services. This continuous improvement process is a vital aspect of great customer service.
  • Round-the-Clock Availability: Exceptional support is available 24/7. It acknowledges that customer issues don’t adhere to a schedule and offers assistance whenever it’s needed.

Going From Good To Great: Keys To Exceptional Customer Service

  • Training and Development: Invest in training your support team to hone their communication, problem-solving, and empathy skills.
  • Use of Technology: Leverage technology like AI chatbots to provide instant responses and data analytics to better understand customer behavior.
  • Customer-Centric Culture: Foster a company-wide culture that prioritizes the customer, ensuring that every employee understands the importance of exceptional service.
  • Data Security and Privacy: Assure customers that their data is safe and secure during interactions with your support team.

In conclusion, while good customer service is a solid foundation for any business, the journey to greatness lies in embracing the principles of exceptional support. By personalizing interactions, showing empathy, being proactive, actively seeking feedback, and providing round-the-clock availability, your business can transform ordinary service into an unforgettable customer experience. Elevating your customer service from good to great is not just a strategic move; it’s a commitment to meeting and exceeding customer expectations in every interaction. Contact us to learn more. 

How to Transform Customer Support & Back Office Efficiency through Strategic Outsourcing

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In today’s competitive marketplace, businesses are constantly seeking ways to gain an edge. One effective strategy is outsourcing customer support and back-office services, enabling companies to enhance efficiency, cut costs, and ultimately improve customer satisfaction. By strategically outsourcing these functions, companies can focus on core tasks, access top-tier talent, leverage advanced technologies, and achieve greater operational effectiveness. In this blog post, we will explore how outsourcing not only elevates customer support but also revolutionizes back-office operations to propel your organization towards unparalleled success. 

Here’s How To Improve Customer Service:

Be strategic – outsource for efficiency and productivity.

When you outsource, you can often get the work done faster and more efficiently than if you were to do it in-house. This applies not only to customer support but also to back-office tasks. Outsourcing back-office operations, such as data entry, bookkeeping, and administrative tasks, allows your organization to streamline processes and free up internal resources. By leveraging specialized expertise, advanced tools, and optimized workflows provided by outsourcing partners, you can enhance back-office efficiency and productivity, allowing your team to focus on strategic initiatives.

Improve brand competitiveness with exceptional back-office support.

Outsourcing your back-office operations can significantly improve your company’s competitiveness in several ways. 

  • Second, by tapping into a global talent pool, you can access highly skilled professionals who specialize in various back-office disciplines, such as finance, human resources, and procurement. 
  • Outsourcing allows you to adopt the latest technologies and industry best practices, which may otherwise be financially challenging to implement independently.
  • Finally, delivering exceptional back-office support enhances your brand’s image, reputation, and overall customer experience.

Remain Cost Efficient: get more done for less.

Outsourcing presents various avenues for gaining a competitive edge, including significant cost reductions. By outsourcing customer support and back-office functions, you can often achieve the same quality of work for a lower cost compared to in-house operations. You can choose to establish your customer support or back-office teams in regions with lower labor costs, enabling substantial savings on your operational budget. Moreover, outsourcing providers often offer competitive pricing and flexible contracts, allowing you to negotiate favorable rates and scale services based on your evolving needs. This cost efficiency empowers your organization to allocate resources strategically and invest in revenue-generating activities.

  1.  

Access expert back-office talent at a fraction of the cost.

One of the most significant advantages of outsourcing back-office operations is gaining access to a pool of expert talent. Whether you need finance professionals, HR specialists, or skilled administrators, outsourcing provides a cost-effective solution. These professionals bring extensive experience and knowledge to the table, ensuring efficient execution of back-office tasks and facilitating smoother operations. By partnering with an outsourcing provider, you bypass the costs associated with recruiting, training, and retaining in-house staff. Additionally, outsourcing allows you to scale resources based on demand, optimizing costs further.

Achieve customer support and back office excellence.

To improve customer service and streamline back-office operations, strategic outsourcing is a compelling option. By aligning outsourcing with your strategic goals, selecting reliable partners, leveraging advanced technologies, establishing effective communication channels, and monitoring performance, customer support executives can unlock the true potential of outsourcing. Being one of the key customer service improvement ideas, it not only enhances customer satisfaction but also revolutionizes back-office efficiency, enabling your organization to thrive in a fiercely competitive landscape. So, if you need any customer back office support, contact WOW.

Here is How To Improve Customer Service:

Be strategic to outsource for efficiency and productivity.

When you outsource, you can often get the work done faster and more efficiently than if you were to do it in-house. This applies not only to customer support but also to back-office tasks. Outsourcing back-office operations, such as data entry, bookkeeping, and administrative tasks, allows your organization to streamline processes and free up internal resources. By leveraging specialized expertise, advanced tools, and optimized workflows provided by outsourcing partners, you can enhance back-office efficiency and productivity, allowing your team to focus on strategic initiatives.

Improve brand competitiveness with exceptional back-office support.

Outsourcing your back-office operations can significantly improve your company’s competitiveness in several ways. 

  • Second, by tapping into a global talent pool, you can access highly skilled professionals who specialize in various back-office disciplines, such as finance, human resources, and procurement. 
  • Outsourcing allows you to adopt the latest technologies and industry best practices, which may otherwise be financially challenging to implement independently.
  • Finally, delivering exceptional back-office support enhances your brand’s image, reputation, and overall customer experience.

Remain Cost Efficient: get more done for less.

Outsourcing presents various avenues for gaining a competitive edge, including significant cost reductions. By outsourcing customer support and back-office functions, you can often achieve the same quality of work for a lower cost compared to in-house operations. You can choose to establish your customer support or back-office teams in regions with lower labor costs, enabling substantial savings on your operational budget. Moreover, outsourcing providers often offer competitive pricing and flexible contracts, allowing you to negotiate favorable rates and scale services based on your evolving needs. This cost efficiency empowers your organization to allocate resources strategically and invest in revenue-generating activities.

Access expert back-office talent at a fraction of the cost.

One of the most significant advantages of outsourcing back-office operations is gaining access to a pool of expert talent. Whether you need finance professionals, HR specialists, or skilled administrators, outsourcing provides a cost-effective solution. These professionals bring extensive experience and knowledge to the table, ensuring efficient execution of back-office tasks and facilitating smoother operations. By partnering with an outsourcing provider, you bypass the costs associated with recruiting, training, and retaining in-house staff. Additionally, outsourcing allows you to scale resources based on demand, optimizing costs further.

Achieve customer support and back office excellence.

To improve customer service and streamline back-office operations, strategic outsourcing is a compelling option. By aligning outsourcing with your strategic goals, selecting reliable partners, leveraging advanced technologies, establishing effective communication channels, and monitoring performance, customer support executives can unlock the true potential of outsourcing. Being one of the key customer service improvement ideas, it not only enhances customer satisfaction but also revolutionizes back-office efficiency, enabling your organization to thrive in a fiercely competitive landscape. So, if you need any customer back office support, contact WOW.

Everything You Need to Know Before Hiring Support Teams and Agents From an Outsourced Company

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If you decide to cooperate with outsourcing customer service, ensuring efficient onboarding for your new agents is the most important thing. This way, newcomers will help you scale up your business faster.

The statistics show that 70% of customers abandon a company because of low-quality service and support.

Customer support representatives are the face of the company. Hiring the best agents equipped to work directly with clients is crucial for your business growth. No matter how many agents you outsource, it always matters to instruct them attentively to run efficient customer support onboarding. Otherwise, you risk getting stuck in endless troubleshooting instead of focusing on priorities.

  • The quality of the customer support system depends on the people it’s run by. 
  • While new hires can become great customer representatives during training, there are skills they should demonstrate during an interview. 
  • Introducing new employees to the team and the company’s policies is a great way to start the training.
  • It’s essential to make sure new agents know the company’s product or service in and out before they go off to take customer inquiries.
  • Possessing soft skills is fundamental to running an effective customer support service.
  • Train new agents to use empathy, a positive attitude, and self-control while interacting with clients.

You must build an effective customer support system to fulfill your business goals. How do you do that? A high-quality onboarding process and customer service training are the answer. This article will guide you through the crucial steps of customer support training and show you how to open your support agents’ full potential.

Finding The Right People

To begin with, let’s talk about what to look for in a candidate for a customer support position. Choosing your team is just as important as managing your business. The right people can lead your company through turbulent times toward success. That is why it’s important to choose your candidates carefully. 

Here are the skills and experiences you should look for in a candidate to build an outstanding customer support team.

1. Communication

It is the number one trait the candidate has to possess since the whole essence of a representative support agent position is to assist customers through communication. If a person cannot communicate clearly and effectively, they won’t be able to help your customers. 

When interviewing potential candidates, consider these things:

  • The way an individual formulates answers: If a person is a good communicator, they should be able to convey their thoughts clearly and give coherent and explicit answers.
  • The tone of their voice: When customers reach out for help, they expect to hear a friendly and ready-to-help voice. Some customers may find it rude if a candidate’s voice sounds tight or unfriendly.
  • Articulation: Pay attention to a person’s articulation and how easily you can understand them. It’s important because communication through a phone is usually not as clear as in person, so it requires more articulation.
  • Ability to explain complex things: A good customer representative should be able to explain a complicated topic or break it down to customers. When interviewing, ask them to explain something related to your field. Besides, it shows how quickly a person can think on the spot and find an answer.

2. Patience & Emotional Stability

A customer support job entails dealing with havoc and stressful situations, e.g., having an angry customer or trying to resolve complicated problems. That’s why a person applying for a customer representative position should be able to withstand hectic situations due to patience and emotional stability. Additionally, your potential candidate should be able to listen to customers’ complaints and demands calmly and patiently. When interviewing candidates, you may propose an intense situation and ask them how they would handle it. Thus, you see an individual’s self-control and emotional intelligence.

3. Cleverness & Self-Efficacy

To answer any customer questions, a perfect customer support agent must be detail-oriented about the company’s product/service. However, it’s impossible to predict every issue a customer may have and to prepare. Thus, customer support service is an ever-changing system that requires resourcefulness and self-efficiency. 

4. Professional Background

Your potential employee should have experience in customer service, answering calls, or servicing customers in the shopping space.

5. Skills

Look for customer service competence, i.e., diligence, politeness, understanding the specific industry, interpersonal skills, etc. Moreover, customer support representatives must be able to provide support through various channels (calls, live chats, emails, social media platforms, etc.). 

6. Personal Traits

Consider people who can care for your clients as best as possible, being polite, empathetic, and hard-working. A potential agent must be interested in your brand and fit in with your team. 

7. Positive Attitude

Your brand representative has no right to complain to clients about their problems or bad days. Agents must convince customers that their company can fix any problem, no matter what.

8. Enthusiasm

Are the candidates just searching for a new job, or do they want to work for your company? It’s better to choose someone less qualified who would be excited to join your team than an apathetic agent with more experience.

Introducing Team And Company Policies

A proper way to start familiarizing new hires with your organization is to introduce them to your team and company policies. Here are things you should arrange for the new hires on the first day of training to make them feel welcome and comfortable:

  • Give them an office tour and introduce them to the entire team. Some companies deem this step unnecessary and skip it while it is an essential part of the adaptation process. 
  • Schedule an onboarding meeting with an HR manager to familiarize newcomers with company policies and contract terms.
  • Take them to lunch or arrange a lunch meeting for the entire team in the office. It will allow new employees to get to know their new coworkers better. 

Following those steps, a company welcomes new team members and leaves an impression of a professional and caring employer. 

4 Tips On How To Conduct Customer Support Onboarding Successfully

1. Infect Them With Your Brand

If you want your reps to deliver great customer service, they must understand the product in-depth. To engage your agents, you should tell them about your company’s mission and voice, emphasizing that each one is a brand ambassador now.

2. Organize Effective Training

Training new hires can stretch over a couple of weeks or months. It all depends on the company’s standards and its size. Training is vital for building a strong customer support base as it sets out recruits for serving your company and gives them an insight into your business. Thus, take control of the negotiation process and cover the following issues:

  • Your company’s mission, values, and voice.
  • Customer persona.
  • Product features and metrics.
  • Ticketing system.

Ensure to make an impression of a good organization that cares for its employees and sets high standards for quality work. 

3. Set Up Measurable Goals

Setting up KPIs is necessary to turn customer support outsourcing into a win-win situation. Usually, there are two common groups of KPIs:

  1. The first group measures a team’s productivity, e.g., call abandonment rate, follow-up time, etc.
  2. The second one serves to estimate customer satisfaction. It includes:
  • Query age.
  • Call frequency.
  • First call resolution.
  • Several escalations.

4. Ask Outsourced Customer Support for Reports

We’ve worked on multiple projects and learned that reporting is a potent tool. It helps you monitor progress, make more evident-based decisions, increase productivity, and simplify collaboration. Moreover, it enables you to provide on-time changes and prevent critical mistakes.

Product & Service Training

Introducing your service/product to new hires must involve theoretical and practical aspects. Thus, provide trainees with all information that needs to be studied and then quiz them on what they learned. Giving them enough time to go through a knowledge base is essential. For better insight, let them check out the product or service so they see what your customers experience for themselves. 

Often, managers rush through the training process to get a new employee to start working as soon as possible. However, such an attitude can cost them the quality of the employee’s work. If an agent doesn’t have a solid knowledge base of a product/service, they will struggle to provide quality customer support.

Support Process Training 

Usually, each company develops its support system that includes a specific interaction style, channel management, the way issues are resolved, and more. Hand out your company’s guidelines recruits should follow when dealing with customers but don’t stop there. Sticking to the guidelines won’t help agents in unfamiliar issues. Try to explain that while following established rules is important, there are circumstances that require critical thinking. Making your trainees go off script and use critical thinking would allow them to gain self-efficiency and confidence in their communication skills. 

Soft Skills Training

The main component of customer support service is attitude. If an agent possesses the knowledge necessary to help the customer but doesn’t have soft skills, they might mess up the whole support process. To prevent such cases, give your new hires solid soft skills training. Here are the skills they must possess:

  • Empathy: Trying to see a problem from a customer’s perspective allows an agent to resolve the issue quickly and effectively. 
  • Self-discipline: Since a customer support job involves dealing with difficult customers and intense situations, anger, and irritation are inevitable. Teach your trainees to calm themselves and stay patient during such cases.
  • Navigation: Customer support communication is all about navigation and positively presenting the information. Stating facts bluntly doesn’t work here. Train your employees to convey any kind of information simply and respectfully.
  • Decision-making: Empathize the importance of decision-making. Teach trainees to take the initiative and make judgment calls independently.

Introducing Tools

Don’t expect new agents to learn how to use tools while working. They won’t have time to figure out the system when they start delivering customer support. Ensure they learn how to use your software well before taking customer inquiries. Dedicate time explaining how things work and allow employees to get familiar with the system until they feel comfortable using it without anybody’s help.

Additionally, set up new hires with all apps, subscriptions, and other tools they must use to complete their job. Those can include platforms for research, team communication, workforce management, etc. 

Conclusion

Choosing the right person for your customer support team is just a small part of the hiring process. A much bigger and more important part is training a selected candidate as it lays the groundwork for successful performance. That’s why giving new employees thorough and comprehensive training is important. Preparing recruits to deliver high-level customer support is a diligent and complex process that will pay off in the future. 

Feel free to tell us your needs and requirements if you’re looking for reliable outsourced customer support. We’ll gladly share our experience and best practices to accelerate your business development. 

Top CC Trends for 2023 You Should Know About to Catch Up With Future

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For the past few years, the contact center has been the only way to keep in touch with the client. Call center future trends predict the contact center will effectively combine many strategies like call volume, AI, omnichannel marketing, agent engagement, self-service options, comprehensive training, IVR, etc., to provide the best interaction. High call center KPIs result in increased sales, streamlined experience, and optimized resources.

No wonder companies are trying to modernize the approach to organizing customer support and implementing influential latest call center trends. This article aims to show the most popular ways to upgrade the contact center and describe what every business can do to improve the customer experience.

Following Call Center Outsourcing Trends: Boost Your Services

1. Experiment with ways to engage agents

The future of call centers depends on the number and quality of agents. Staff turnover is unfavorable for any business: a lot of time is spent on onboarding, or the work is quite complex and routine. That is why many companies try to work independently on the employees’ involvement in the process, using various techniques like linking a monthly bonus to the quality of processed interactions or gamification (e.g., the “best employee of the month” contest).

2. Update software to catch up with modern call center market trends

The quality of communication and the speed of solving any client problem lies in the software version. The more modern the software, the higher the productivity of agents. Therefore, many companies prefer to upgrade their monolithic systems, creating a convenient microservice environment for employees.

3. Connect your contact center with your business systems

High-quality BI, ERP, and CRM systems will keep all customer data in one place so that your agents research it quickly. It is an effective all-in-one solution to get accurate customer behavior patterns and data to learn and satisfy them better.

4. Optimize self-service channels & automate workflow

Contact centers have obviously experienced increases in inbound traffic, and addressing technologies within call center automation trends can help overcome this challenge. Some consumers want to use digital tools in their customer experience but still require human interaction.

Embracing digital tools is correct for the right tasks and activities, e.g., quick, simple ones like checking account balances. But if the customers want to know how to refinance their mortgage, it might require additional expert consultation. Therefore, the mission is to use technology and create more self-service channels for simple tasks to automate workflow by increasing spare time for more complex requests.

5. Implement new communication channels based on AI

There are various communication channels and methods: voice agents, chatbots, and live chats. Businesses use AI-powered call center innovations to serve customers in the most human-like way. Many clients dislike this approach since it doesn’t represent the full extent of the company’s attention to each customer. However, AI-powered channels like Chat GPT remain an interesting area for investment.

6. Interactive voice response (IVR)

IVR systems will impress your customers through interaction with virtual voice messages that provide requested information or solve their urgent issues. An automated menu must include the most popular requests the customer can select from. The call center will benefit from IVR by serving more clients per minute, thus retaining them within your business. Moreover, you can integrate AI capabilities with IVR to advance voice authentication and scan the caller’s tone and intentions.

7. Move towards omnichannel to deliver contextual support

Multi-channel service is a purposeful and promotional concept. Meanwhile, an omnichannel approach can provide customers with a quicker solution to their problems within one interaction. Many eCommerce businesses use omnichannel marketing to improve customer experience, reach new audiences, and boost client satisfaction, leading to greater reputation and sales.

8. Flexible working hours as a permanent component

Remote work conditions and flexible working schedules are no longer a service peculiarity but a standard among trends in call center industry. Make sure to catch up with this norm by hiring outsourced agents from different locations and time zones to serve 24/7 support.

9. Engage a contact center service provider

Call center outsourcing services are becoming popular in the world of delegating. Managers see a significant profit in sending tasks to professionals. It helps save resources and time for solving higher-priority tasks they cannot entrust to others. Besides, a reliable provider will take care of agent training, data security, and quality of services.

10. Rising customer expectations to catch up with Gen Z target audience

The call center industry trends conclude in personalizations, and customers expect companies to understand their behaviors and preferences. Many contact centers still struggle to see a complete view of the customer and how they can better support their agents to enable a more personalized client experience. 

Complexity is the enemy of flexibility. The contact center agility helps respond more naturally despite the plethora of technologies applied. In layman’s terms, customers expect to talk to a respectful friend who knows everything about the subject they are interested in.

Afterwords

Call center trends exist to follow them and benefit from them. If you ignore them, you do not go with the times and lose many opportunities to improve your contact center. The main point is implementing them correctly with your efforts or hiring the necessary services. People update their websites, upgrade chatbots, and use AI for data, so why fall behind?

There is no relevant and rational reason to resist innovations because clients and money do not disappear ⎼ they just move from one service to another. If you want to keep people engaged constantly, apply technologies, automate processes, and provide an enhanced customer experience. 

If you want to delegate this responsible task to an experienced team, go ahead and book a call to get a free detailed consultation.

How to Use Presale and Upselling Approaches in Customer Support?

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  • Presale and upselling techniques help businesses increase revenues, retain existing customers, and boost customer satisfaction.
  • More than 500 sales professionals, 72% of salespeople who upsell and 74% who cross-sell, say it drives up to 30% of their revenue.
  • They allow for addressing customers’ needs, reducing risks of negative user experience, increasing conversion rates, and building trust and loyalty to the brand.
  • Customer support should use presale and upselling approaches to meet the client’s needs but not overwhelm them with offerings.
  • It’s essential to highlight the value of suggestions and be transparent about the offers.

Expanding your services with existing customers and turning them loyal to your brand is one of the most effective ways of growing a business. Moreover, the costs of preselling or upselling to the existing customer are much lower than those spent on acquiring and nurturing new leads. Companies can build long-term customer relationships and ensure excellent user satisfaction by adopting presale and upselling approaches. Win-win!

Why And How Address Presale And Upselling?

Many small startups to global corporations utilize such techniques to boost their revenues, meet the customers’ needs, and ensure a great customer experience. For instance, Amazon confirms 35% of its revenue is due to upselling techniques.

The team with great potential to utilize presale and upselling approaches is customer support. Of course, support agents typically concentrate on solving a particular problem or answering the question asked. However, they can help the business drive more sales by engaging customers in considering more beneficial purchasing options.

If you need help with how to go about it correctly, what different selling terms mean, and what advantages presale and upselling offer to all parties, keep reading this article to find clear explanations and practical recommendations.

What To Presell And When To Upsell: Understanding The Terms

Before we dive into tips and tricks for utilizing presale and upselling approaches, let’s identify the meaning of each term you may encounter:

  1. Presale: A visitor finds your business’s offer/products/services beneficial. They get interested and check the details of the favored product.
  2. Upselling: A user checks a smartphone model, and you recommend another one with many advanced features but at a slightly higher price. The offer still looks beneficial to the customer.
  3. Cross-sale: A client wants to buy your goods/services, and you suggest accessories/complementary products/warranty services at an additional cost.
  4. Post-sale: A client bought some goods/services from you recently. Based on the online customer journey on the website, you may offer them some viewed products at a discount in a follow-up email a week after the purchase.

Today, we will concentrate on the first two methods, as these make a huge difference for the business once implemented. Presale and upselling approaches are the first steps to ensure top-level customer experience and business growth.

How Do Presale And Upselling Approaches Help Your Business?

By implementing presale and upselling approaches, businesses can:

  • Address unspoken customers’ needs;
  • Show the product or service value;
  • Guide on the offers;
  • Remove purchase barriers;
  • Increase conversion rates;
  • Achieve great customer experience;
  • Increase brand recognition;
  • Build loyalty and trust in the business;
  • Engage with customers more;
  • Make them brand advocates.

How To Increase Upsellings & Cross-Sales Through Communication Channels?

1. Hire an Experienced Customer Support Team

Proper business communication is the key to having satisfied customers. However, the retailer is usually responsible for both hiring and solving business issues. Therefore, they are switching to outsourced customer support providers, such as WOW 24-7. The agents can handle multiple chats and email interactions at the same time. It allows them to resolve problems quickly and maintain high customer service even during peak periods. Outsourced live chat support has diverse experience in communicating with clients. The team uses psychological approaches and knowledge about specific business offers to help the company increase its sales level.

2. Create an Accurate Client Profile and Update It Regularly

It’s essential to approach the clients’ needs individually and know every customer’s preferences. If a person has always been buying Apple products, there is no point in offering an Android-based smartphone. Collecting data about the client’s behavior, the customer support team obtains analytics to show potential client’s needs and desires.

3. Transform a Product Catalog and Contact Center Software

Switching between dozens of open tabs during one interaction is confusing for agents. Therefore, the company should upgrade contact center software regularly to make the agents’ work more convenient. The agent needs an accessible and well-structured product catalog, smart CRM tips about each client’s preferences, and information about promotions/discounts to navigate and meet the customer’s expectations quickly. 

5 Tips For Presale And Upselling With Customer Support

1. The Offer Must Meet the Customer’s Needs and Goals

If highlighting the most critical point, the upselling offer should meet the needs and wants of the particular customer. Obviously, users contact customer support to get professional assistance, not for sales pitches. However, when the upgrade offer meets the customer’s needs and goals, they will likely consider it. 

Thus, customer support should dedicate time and effort to checking user information, purchase history, internal notes, and so on to understand the customer’s preferences and potential interests.

2. Show the Value

Upselling won’t work if the customer doesn’t see the offer’s value. Therefore, it’s crucial to highlight the upgrade value and how it can benefit their personal/business needs. If the customer support agent delivers the value message correctly, the customer will move forward with the upgrade and be sincerely grateful for the recommendation.

3. Seek Insights to Make Relevant Suggestions

Every business has its target auditory with interests, preferences, values, etc. Moreover, returning customers, especially loyal ones, usually have many conversations with customer support. Based on previous conversations, support agents can learn more about the customers and put relevant upselling suggestions.

4. Be Clear About the Offer Terms

The support agent should never mislead customers on how to get the upselling. product/feature. For instance, if the user mentions they have a stringent budget and want the selected product at $3,000, there’s no point in talking about an ultra-modern model at $30,000. Besides, if the more advanced product version is out of stock, and there are no exact terms of its arrival, do not offer inaccessible “upgrades.”

5. Act when Appropriate

Lastly, customer support agents should understand the timing and the customer’s mood to using pitches. If the customer is here for the exact product, there’s no need to push them as it may result in a negative user experience. Customer support should be empathetic enough to see when upselling is relevant and coincides with customer goals. Upselling is about both money and the offered value.

Final Remarks

Follow the tips above and arrange your support services the way the agents will solve problems and make valuable suggestions to the customers that, in the long run, will make winning differences for the company’s results and user satisfaction.

Working with a reliable service provider is essential if you decide to outsource your customer support. We at Wow24-7 believe that high-end customer support is always proactive, helpful, and empathetic. It allows us to deliver top-notch support services to customers worldwide.

Need a skilled support team that knows how to presale and upsell? Schedule a call with our representative or calculate the cost of delegating support services to our experts. Let’s make your clients say WOW!

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