A Shift in the Contact Centre: Customer Service to Customer Care

Why customer care matters in the contact centre and how to deliver a memorable caring experience.

Ask an average layperson what they think of when they think about care. Health services, perhaps? How about child education? The concept of care is intricately tied to our most comforting moments, when we’ve been made to feel as if we as individuals are truly important.

Imagine if contact centres were able to shift their focus away from customer service — bear with us for a moment — and toward customer care? How could that change the impact of your contact centre? And moreover, how could it alter the fundamental qualities of your business?

Every contact centre today should be concerned with creating an experience of memorable customer care. For one, true customer care makes for good press. But the more basic reason to focus on care is simple: Because it’s the right thing to do.

Read on for the four basic tenants of customer care in the contact centre and how to implement them.

Technology

Without the right technology to make the customer experience as effortless as possible, your contact centre will be left struggling to compensate for the inevitable bumps in the road. To make customer care the name of the game, make sure that your contact centre makes use of the following:

• A centralized database: According to a recent Aberdeen report, 14 percent of agent time is spent navigating multiple screens to track down customer information. Whether your contact centre uses CRM software or a basic central database, you need to have some way of logging and organizing customer data.
• Omnichannel integration: To avoid making customers repeat their needs every time they switch channels, implement the technology for seamless integration of all channels. Not only can this improve customer satisfaction significantly, but it can also cut down on agent handling time since agents will no longer need to ‘start from scratch’ on each channel.

Culture

No matter how much cutting edge technology you implement, however, your contact centre will get nowhere fast without the right company culture. To develop a culture of customer care, practice these key techniques:

• Celebrate customer success stories: Instead of only celebrating contact centre metrics, encourage agents to share success stories when customers expressed utmost satisfaction with their experience. Celebrate these moments. It’s the little things that truly matter.
• Practice deep listening: Listening isn’t as intuitive as you may believe. Especially in environments like the contact centre where tensions can be high, all too often, agents substitute true listening with planning their next move. Believe it or not, customers can often sense distraction when they hear it, and sensitive, careful listening can make the customer experience all the more satisfying.

Metrics that Matter

It seems every day there is a new all-important metric to focus on. But concentrating on the wrong metrics while ignoring the ones that really matter is a recipe for disaster. Here are two key metrics for ensuring customer care:

• First Contact Resolution: High FCR rates equal high rates of customer satisfaction. Exceeding your customer’s expectations is key.
• Average Waiting Time: An HM Revenue & Customs Contact Centres report found that a third of callers waited 10 minutes or more before being connected with an agent. Keep waiting times to a minimum by outsourcing your overflow to a third party provider or offering a callback option.

Memorable Moments

Last, but certainly not least, strive to create memorable moments for your customers. Remember that your customers are the foundation of your company, and it’s important that they know you care. There are several ways to create memorable moments in your customers’ lives. Here are just two practices to remember:

• Do the right thing: While you are representing a business, it’s also important to remember that first and foremost, you are a human being. Do the right thing when it comes to helping out your customer, even if it doesn’t result in revenues.
• Express appreciation: Let your customers know how much you appreciate their business. You can simply thank them for their business at the end of a phone call, but going above and beyond will be much more memorable to your clients. 

Keep these four principles of customer care in your mind at all times. Your contact centre should represent your business in the most honorable way possible. Remember that technology is key when it comes to a great customer experience, but it will get you nowhere without the right company culture. Focus on the metrics that matter, not the ones that draw your focus away from quality care, and finally, strive to create moments your business and customers can be proud of.

Interested in learning more about how customer care relates to the contact centre as you know it? Check out our free whitepaper.