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Lemonade from Lemons: How to Use Customer Feedback

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How to collect and make use of customer feedback in a way that matters.

A poor customer experience means reduced sales. According to a 2014 Parature State of Multichannel Customer Service Survey, 65 percent of surveyed customers said they’ve cut ties with a brand because of a single poor customer service experience. And while you and your staff may feel that your contact centre is doing its part to deliver to optimal customer service, what about what your customers think?

Feedback is essential to understanding the customer experience. Without feedback, you may have little knowledge about what your customers like and don’t like about the service you provide. Actively pursuing customer feedback also reflects positively on your company by letting customers know that you care about their experience.

But using and implementing customer feedback is easier said than done. Obtaining feedback that’s helpful to your agents can be a challenge, while understanding what to do with feedback once you’ve gathered it isn’t always intuitive. Read on for a breakdown of gathering useful customer feedback and using it to actively improve your contact centre.

Gathering Feedback

The first step is gathering the necessary feedback to make positive changes. Use these four tips to help you get started.

1. Use Post-Call Surveys

Customer surveys are one of the most popular methods for obtaining feedback. Surveys should be easy to complete and presented as an integral part of the customer experience. A simple rating on their overall experience on a scale of 1 to 5 can be the perfect end to any customer-agent interaction.

2. Customize Questions

Not every customer should complete the same survey. A call with a negative outcome might ask an alternate survey question to a call with a positive outcome. In some instances, you also might consider using different surveys for different channels of communication.

3. Focus on Staff Behavior

Some aspects of a customer’s experience are out of your staff’s control. Keep survey questions pertaining to staff behavior to maintain a focus on aspects you can change.

4. Call Back Customers Who Had a Poor Experience

Attempting to solve the problem immediately just might keep customers by your side. Automatically call back customers who reported a negative customer experience to try for a prompt solution.

Implementing Feedback

Now that you’ve got some solid customer feedback, it’s time to think about how you can implement it in a way that reflects your dedication to customer service.

1. Keep the Contact Centre Properly Staffed

By keeping your centre staffed, you’ll cut down on the number of customer complains that pop up simply due to long wait times. If you’re unable to handle volume spikes or call overflow, consider outsourcing to a third party provider.

2. Use Complaints in Agent Training

Use recurring complaints as examples when you train new agents. This not only prepares them for responding to similar issues, but also integrates the culture of customer-centric care into your team.

3. Use Voice Recordings in Agent Performance Reviews

One of the most effective methods of reaching agents is through customer voice recordings. Use recordings of customer feedback in agent performance reviews to help your agents celebrate their successes, as well as understand the impacts of poor customer service.

4. Automatically Forward Feedback to the Relevant Department

If you obtain customer feedback that doesn’t pertain to the customer service department, automatically forward the feedback to the relevant department. Keeping other departments of your company on their toes can help stop complaints before they start.

5. Make Survey Data Easily Accessible

Agents and managers alike need to be able to digest customer survey results quickly and easily. Use data visualization software to make data visually appealing, instantly refreshable and centrally located so that the entire team can benefit.

6. Keep an Implementation Fund

By keeping a fund for implementing changes based on customer feedback, you can ensure that changes are made swiftly and without breaking your budget. This helps you avoid the need to plead your case for more funding or delay implementations until the next budget cycle.

7. Communicate Changes to Customers

Finally, when you do implement customer-driven changes based on feedback, don’t be shy about letting them know. When customers realize that their feedback had an effect on your practices, they’ll trust your brand more with the knowledge that their experience truly matters.

By gathering helpful customer feedback, you can gain valuable insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your contact centre. Using customer complaints in agent training and performance reviews keeps your team in tune to the culture of customer-centric care, while implementing changes based on feedback lets customers know that their experience is a priority.

Interested in learning more about how customer feedback can improve the performance of your contact centre? Download our free white paper.

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