Do you block or filter customers from participating in your surveys?
“Do you block or filter customers from participating?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys eBook and self-assessment. The eBook and self-assessment includes diagnostic questions so you can evaluate your current program with many of the problems I have come across since inventing post-call IVR surveying in contact centers 20 years ago.
Why is this a problem?
A Voice of the Customer post-call survey is designed to collect actionable information about the customers’ experience and perception of service delivery in real-time. By restricting or limiting your customer base (or potential customers) from which you collect data, you are doing your company a grave disservice that can be extremely costly. Even if, as we’ve heard, “there’s a good reason for affecting the sample by exclusion”.
Take for example a company that sells computers and accessories. This company sells everything from laptops, desktops, printers, monitors and every accessory known to man to complement these products. What if a manager or executive gets the idea to only survey the customers that purchase laptops, desktops and printers, excluding all of the customers that purchased any of the countless accessories or did not purchase? While on the surface this may seem logical considering that an advanced skill set is used to advise on the purchase of computers and printers and accessories (while profitable) are viewed to be more like order taking. What happens when the marketing department or management wants to know why accessory sales have dropped by 20% in the last six months? Since you have no VoC data, how can you adequately answer that question? How will you test the validity of any assumptions? Continue reading “Do you block or filter customers from participating in your surveys?” »
Jim Rembach is selected for the CXPA Expert Panel
Customer Relationship Metrics’ very own Jim Rembach has been selected to join a prestigious panel of nine other customer experience experts to respond to Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) members questions. “Ask the CX Experts” operates via the CXPA website and continues the mission of the CXPA, an international non-profit organization created to enhance the growing professional field of customer experience management. Jim was nominated by the CXPA community and selected to be part of this esteemed panel by the CXPA leadership team and the head of the Education committee.
Members who are facing customer experience challenges enter their questions to “Ask the CX Experts”, which are sent to the expert panel who responded immediately. After the question and answer sessions are over, the CXPA posts the threads of messages in the “Expert Response” area in the CXPA discussion forum so that all members benefit from the insights. Continue reading “Jim Rembach is selected for the CXPA Expert Panel” »
Have you failed to implement the Survey Calibration process?
“Have you failed to implement the Survey Calibration process?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys eBook and self-assessment. The eBook and self-assessment includes diagnostic questions for you to examine your post-call IVR survey program against the many problems I have come across since inventing it for contact centers almost 20 years ago. Honestly, this item is one of the very most important items on the list.
Why is this a problem?
Simply said, Survey Calibration is a process within any survey program where the data is sanitized to ensure accuracy. Don’t think data scrubbing, think data integrity. By conducting Survey Calibration you are ensuring that the survey is linked to the correct agent and that the comments validate the scores that the customer gave. This allows contact center agents and all internal stakeholders to feel confident in ownership and actions taken based on the information. With Survey Calibration you can legally and confidently coach, promote, or terminate (let’s hope not) contact center agents based on the scores received because they are the ones who earned/deserves them. Continue reading “Have you failed to implement the Survey Calibration process?” »
Customers are Monitoring Calls for Quality Purposes Too
“This call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes.” Every time you hear this don’t you want to tell that automated message: “and I will be monitoring this call for quality purposes too”? Don’t lie, you know you do it. Let it be known, your customers are doing this too.
I think contact center leaders are both the most critical and yet the most understanding customers when it comes to receiving service from other contact centers. I find myself giving contact center agents that are trying hard more benefit-of-the-doubt and I want them to be successful. Your customers are not as forgiving or as understanding.
Customers Evaluate your Service on Social Media
Unfortunately the “quality assurance purposes…” message is played all of the time and many customers know the purposes for the monitoring and recording isn’t for their benefit. They know this because they are not given the same invitation to participate in using the call for quality assurance purposes. They are not included in the process.
Until the wide spread use of social media customers had to put up with being cut out of the quality assurance process. Again don’t lie, you know they are cut out. The only thing they were able to do was ask for a supervisor and get the “policy” response or tell their small circle of friends about the low quality assurance score you earned. Continue reading “Customers are Monitoring Calls for Quality Purposes Too” »
Will automating the transfer to post-call IVR surveys prevent agents from cheating?
“Do you agree automating the process for callers to participate in post-call IVR surveys will prevent agents from cheating?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys eBook and self-assessment. The eBook and self-assessment includes diagnostic questions for you to uncover problems in your program that I have come across since inventing post-call IVR surveying in contact centers 20 years ago. Many of the misunderstandings have become false truths, and this question is part of a topic that is widely misunderstood.
Why is this a problem?
Automated is not the same as fool-proof. Dictionary.com defines automated: to apply the principles of automation to a mechanical process, industry, office, etc. Nowhere in that definition does it state that doing so will create a perfect, fool-proof process. In this case, automated means customers answering ‘yes’ they would like to participate in a survey when prompted by the IVR at the start of the call will then be transferred to complete the survey once the agent disconnects. Sounds fool-proof and simple enough, right? Not so much. Continue reading “Will automating the transfer to post-call IVR surveys prevent agents from cheating?” »
Why isn’t your customer experience program a top priority?
You probably made your customer experience program a top priority five short months ago when you sat down to make your New Year’s resolutions for your contact centers. Let’s do a gut check…did the priority to better your customer experience program fall by the way side just like your resolution of a smaller waistline? I’m sure that your intentions were noble but the hectic day-to-day of running your contact centers can easily get in the way of your long-range goals. There’s still time to redirect your focus back to your goals.
According to a recent CustomerManagementIQ survey, nearly 76% of the customer management executives and leaders rated customer experience a ‘5’ on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being of the highest importance). Could those executives and leaders be your competitors? It’s very likely. All the more reason customer experience and a revision of your Voice of the Customer (VoC) program should be a ‘5’ on your list too. Once customer experience is your highest priority and you are ready to get to work, where should you start? Who owns the customer experience?
While in my opinion everyone should own the customer experience in some way, for the purpose of this piece let’s focus on how the contact center contributes to the customer experience. Think about how the contact center is responsible for many of the touch points and has influence over many other touch points. So the contact center can own the voice of the customer. The easiest place to start in building a customer experience program from the ground up, or revamping your current one is with post-call IVR surveys. Continue reading “Why isn’t your customer experience program a top priority?” »
Are you afraid contact center agents will try to cheat your survey process?
“Are you terrified that agents will try to cheat the process?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys e-book and self-assessment. The e-book and self-assessment includes one bonus question so you actually get 26. After 20 years experience designing and operating post-call IVR survey programs in contact centers, I have compiled this book to help others. Many of the questions are ones that I have been answering for years. Read and then share the ebook to help others in your company or in the contact center industry so the common mistakes can be eliminated.
Why is this a problem?
It’s because all contact center agents are out to get you! Is this one of the nightmares that wakes you up late at night? I hope not. However, I can’t believe how many contact center leaders worry that agents will cheat the post-call IVR survey process. The feeling is too common among managers, and it does not need to be. Continue reading “Are you afraid contact center agents will try to cheat your survey process?” »
Why you can’t afford the contact center of tomorrow.
The reasons why you can’t afford the contact center of tomorrow may not be for the reasons you think. It used to be that anyone who could type and was nice, was perfect to sit in a call center seat. Well, it’s not 1980 anymore and we have contact centers now. The archaic mindset of thinking that these are very simple jobs and therefore do not warrant higher education or provide a greater wage than the minimum is just not the case anymore. If you say it aloud it doesn’t even make sense, “I want to hire a multi-tasking problem solver, who is also empathetic, talented, and committed but I only want to pay them $10/hour.” See? Crazy. The contact centers jobs have become more and more complex with each passing year but the mindset hasn’t changed. Continue reading “Why you can’t afford the contact center of tomorrow.” »
Does your data collection system prevent conditional branching?
“Does your data collection system prevent conditional branching?” is one of the questions in the eBook and self-assessment 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys, the compilation of the mistakes I have seen in the twenty years since inventing the post-call IVR survey methodology for contact centers. Take the self-assessment to determine where your program has weaknesses. The data collection system conditional branching as one of the self-assessment items is what I talk about in this article.
Why is this a problem?
The question that seems to hit the heart of this topic is to think about the collective group of your contact center’s calls and ask “does one size fit all?” If the majority of your calls are ostensibly the same, you do have a one size fits all scenario. I have not seen many customer service centers where that is true, despite what people think internally. This fact typically comes out when I lead the measurement design portion of our managed service programs. As soon as you think about the different kind of calls, the attributes that need to be measured begin to deviate from the one-size-fits-all list. I generally have to invest a lot of effort trying to reign in a client’s purported differences to identify a core set of service criteria across call types. Eventually we do come to a solution that will allow me to collect the data needed to drive their desired outcomes. Continue reading “Does your data collection system prevent conditional branching?” »
This is a Voice of the Customer Cluster You-Know-What
A 15-person conference call to discuss your Voice of the Customer (VoC) program is a great example of a cluster you-know-what. Have you been on a conference call that is supposed to let all the departments weigh in on collective issues about the VoC customer program that turns into 90 minutes of your life you’ll never get back? Do you ever get anything accomplished with the management by consensus plan? When did our professional lives change from an army of forward-thinking leaders into a stagnant committee of followers? Are people getting too politically correct? Is there even such a thing? Continue reading “This is a Voice of the Customer Cluster You-Know-What” »
Do you think it’s a good idea to transfer upset customers from the survey to supervisors?
“Do you think it’s a good idea to transfer upset customers from the survey to supervisors?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys eBook and self-assessment. The eBook and self-assessment includes diagnostic questions for you to uncover weaknesses in your post-call IVR survey program or implement a new program that is not loaded with mistakes that others have made. Now is the time to take advantage of the compilation of problems I have come across in the 20 years since inventing post-call IVR surveying in contact centers.
Why is this a problem?
I know what you’re thinking; who wouldn’t prefer to have their issue dealt with right away compared to when somebody ‘gets around to’ returning their call, right? In this world of instant information, that would tend to be the common choice, however, let’s think about the big picture and ramifications of executing that from a human and business perspective. Continue reading “Do you think it’s a good idea to transfer upset customers from the survey to supervisors?” »
Why contact center leaders feel like punching bags and how to fight back
Contact centers are staffed with nice people who easily become punching bags. These people are ready and willing to answer questions and serve internal (in addition to external) customer needs. If you say jump, these kind contact center agents simply ask, how high? It is becoming more widely accepted that the contact center is the customer hub of any business. The people in contact centers selflessly serve the needs of the customer and report the customer experience data across all business units. But we know that the contact center does not always get the respect it so rightly deserves. Far too often the benefits the contact center delivers to the business as a whole is overlooked. But contact center professionals do not have to take punches. You can hold our heads up high and (in a nice way) battle back. Here is your chance to “get off the ropes”!
If you need to get off the ropes, here is a great opportunity for you to leverage your trusty post-call IVR survey. By collecting a statistically representative sample of customer interactions you have a stronger backbone because of customer experience data. And the more data you have (good, clean data that is), and the more you mine that data for customer insights, the stronger your backbone becomes. In the contact center you have powerful information and the rest of the company’s success relies on the collecting, mining and the distributing of this customer data. You don’t have to actually punch your way out, let the data do it for you. Ding! Round one of this boxing match just went to you in the contact center. Continue reading “Why contact center leaders feel like punching bags and how to fight back” »
Do you think any survey is better than no survey?
“Do you think any survey is better than no survey?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys e-book and self-assessment. The e-book and self-assessment includes a bonus so you actually get 26 questions. The questions are an accumulation of more than 20 years of experience designing and operating post-call IVR survey programs in contact centers. Many of these questions are ones that I have been providing answers to for years. So do everyone a big favor and share the ebook with others in the contact center industry, we need your help to eliminate some of the ignorance about post-call IVR surveying.
Why is this a problem?
While this mindset is not uncommon in companies around the globe, it is not a very productive one and could end up costing you millions over time. And, more than money, it costs people a lot of mental stress. How many times have you tried to explain survey results with the pain of anxiety in your stomach? Continue reading “Do you think any survey is better than no survey?” »
Why selling in service contact centers fails and how to fix it.
When you think of a typical salesperson what comes to mind? Do you immediately conjure up visions of multi-colored flags, ‘zero-money down’ signs, and some sleaze-bag car salesman telling you to buy the over-priced lemon of your dreams? The term, salesperson, quickly makes us imagine this derogatory image, something that we do not want to be associated with as our career label.
Let me challenge your normal reaction to the word ‘salesperson’ with one of my favorite quotes from Robert Louis Stevenson, “Everyone lives by selling something.” Think about that for a moment. When you’re at the hair salon and he or she is discussing the option for highlights or the hair care products, this hairdresser is selling, right? If you are a marketer you’re hoping to ‘sell’ your audience with your subject line and convince them to open your email and look at your message. And even as a parent, you are ‘selling’ your six-year old on those healthy green beans (or at least trying to). But I bet if you asked that hairdresser, marketer or parent if they worked in sales their answers would be a resounding “No”. In fact, only one in nine people in the US are designated as being in sales, but most everyone is. Continue reading “Why selling in service contact centers fails and how to fix it.” »
Does your current post-call IVR survey prevent collecting multiple customer comments?
“Does your current post-call IVR survey prevent you from collecting multiple customer comments?” is one of the 26 items outlined in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys e-book and self-assessment. There’s a bonus item to make the total 26. Answer the diagnostic assessment questions to uncover issues with your own post-call survey program. You can even use it to build a program that exceeds all expectations. Customer Relationship Metrics has documented the common mistakes we have seen since inventing and providing post-call IVR surveying programs in contact centers 20 years ago. To fulfill one of our missions to better the contact center industry, we freely provide the insights we have learned to everyone.
Why is this a problem?
The act of “collecting” customer feedback with a post-call IVR survey is not extremely difficult. This is part of the problem. It is not uncommon for contact center managers to fulfill the requirement to have a customer feedback tool by activating some software module to collect the data. Turn it on and the data starts to pour in, right? Like every other area in your contact center, you have too much useless data accumulating. Well, that is true and there are 25 other points in this self-assessment to stop garbage data coming from your post-call IVR survey program. Continue reading “Does your current post-call IVR survey prevent collecting multiple customer comments?” »
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