Battling with Customer Service: How to Win the War, Part 1 of 2
In this article, we explore the science of customer service and how to win the battle. We identify what makes customers tick and how communication impacts our chances of resolving a minor issue or winning a war with a company. Finally, we demonstrate how to use empathy as an effective method for managing customer service interactions effectively.
We'll be exploring customer service in two parts since this is a broad topic. The first will address the science of customer service, specifically why customers experience poor experiences and what we can do to fix it. The second part will cover common methods known as "soft skills" such as empathy, communication, and conflict management.
Science of customer service:
For some reason, many people think that customer service is just about resolving problems or issues when the reality is far more complex. Here are several reasons to change those perceptions:
By the time a problem has been identified, reported, and resolved, it's too late—the damage may be done and there may not be enough time to do anything else about it.
Many problems aren't resolved because the expectation has already been made and the customer is simply walking away.
People trust customer service representatives, but if those representatives are inexperienced in the customer's language, it can lead to a lot of misunderstandings.
As Robert G. Cooper says in " The Science of Customer Service ," customer service is not just about individual interactions; it's about everything happening as a sequence of events that ultimately leads to a result. And each interaction affects what happens next time you interact with that company or individual: "In fact, every interaction is dynamic and changing." Some interactions that occur during service may be minor or routine, but other times they may be important.
The Customer Experience
To understand the importance of each interaction, we need to understand more about what happens during a customer's need cycle. As shown in Figure 1, the customer experience becomes an ongoing dialogue as you're interacting with customers when they buy, use your product or service, learn about your product and request support. This dialogue occurs over time in several different ways. It may be online or offline. The customer may be able to help themselves or if the problem is beyond their ability—or if they get tired of doing it—they will reach out and want help from someone else.
Figure 1
When the customer reaches out, your job is to have a customer service representative (CSR) guide them through the process. See Appendix A for an easy process flow chart. Let's say a user is having problems with their hot water heater in their dwelling unit. The user calls you and reports that the water doesn't stay hot any more. You ask them to confirm the make and model of the unit, which requires that they know what it is and where it's located. They tell you it's an Aquastar model, which is make and model number DGE-60P-AQR0-C1B00-AXF00 on page 2 of your warranty card. (See Figure 2.)
Figure 2
This is a very basic example, but it illustrates the start to a problem: Identify the customer and their problem. Once they know what it is, you ask them to confirm the make and model of their unit. You also may ask them to tell you the serial number of their unit so that you can locate it in your records. Next you will ask them what happened and whether they have any other problems with their hot water heater or do they have any other questions about your product. Finally, you will take this feedback and figure out what should be done next, which will affect which CSR should handle the call.
This is just a basic example, but it shows what happens during a customer call and the importance of each step in the process. For example, there are several ways customers can become frustrated with companies:
They get frustrated by not understanding something they tried to do that didn't work.
They get frustrated by how long someone takes to answer their question or solve their problem.
They get frustrated when they have to repeat themselves.
They get frustrated when someone doesn't ask about their background information or try to figure out what would be the best way for them to solve their problem. They feel like this is a waste of time and that someone should be able to solve these problems instead.
Some customers are simply rude and don't understand why they're getting a hard time.
Given this, it's obvious why people feel so frustrated with companies. And it's even more obvious how badly they can hurt your company's reputation if they don't get the correct help or care that they need.
To make matters worse, the customer experience is difficult to measure and audit because no one can see the interaction in its entirety. So you end up with variables that are not being measured or where there is no measurement at all. This makes it nearly impossible to know how well you're doing on your key metrics, such as how much money customers spend or how good your products are.
The reality is that the customer experience has been defined as: "How it feels when you interact with a company or person." You can experience several different kinds of interactions.
For example, there are the traditional, in-person encounters with companies and their representatives, many of which are done by phone. Then there are online interactions with websites and web-enabled services that you can use to interact with customers. You also have discovered services on your smartphone like Apple's App Store for things like games or restaurants that you happen to drive by when you're running errands, but these are not "traditional" interactions. These are all interactions that you can use to service your customers better. And they all have different needs and expectations.
If you agree with this definition of the customer experience, then you'll also agree that the process of customer service is a never-ending one, as shown in Figure 3. Understanding this lets you focus your internal teams on what matters most to each segment of your customers' needs. It also lets your team know where and when to focus on delivering communications and how important it is that the right information gets distributed in the right way at the right time.
Figure 3
It also lets you be sure you understand how your customers are engaging with each step of the process. For example, if your product is in a box and a customer doesn't realize that paper is included, you could provide them with a service representative (SR) in the store or on the phone for guidance. Or if people are used to interacting with their banks (like most do), you can have an SR handle it over email to make sure they get important information. If customers experience similar problems over time as they move through their life cycle of interactions, they'll keep calling and reaching out until they get the right kind of help. Otherwise, they may move on to another company that gives better service.
Conclusion
You know now why people are frustrated with companies. You also know that there's a process of customer service and that you can use it to your advantage when you either attack or defend against these frustrations. Knowing how to deal with frustrations before they become too big is something that will keep both your customers and your company happy. It's also the first step towards making sure you solve your customer problems early on before they become bigger issues that lose customers and make it harder for you to regain them.
The problems people have with companies are not just limited to technology products, either. People also want better experiences with their healthcare providers, insurance providers, banks, retail stores, etc.