'Voice-mail jail' and other blunders of automation
They don't call it "voice-mail jail" for nothing.
Like you, I've served some hard time in the prisons of Press 1 for this, Press 2 for that and, inevitably, Press 7 to return to the Main Menu. Just try stabbing "0" for Operator to reach a human. The Interactive Voice Response System pretends to be puzzled:
"I'm sorry, but I don't recognize that command. Please try again."
Why don't they just tell it like it is? "Sorry, but our staff can't be bothered to answer questions. Deal with phone menu."
Increasingly, customer care is being managed and massaged by automation. Worldwide, these services (including CRM consulting and customer care outsourcing) are predicted to jump from $35 billion in 2001 to $90 billion by 2006, according to marketer researcher IDC. Customer care outsourcing includes services for customer interaction, fulfillment, logistics services, and CRM technology hosting services.
Even so, customers have not been thrilled by the results. Nearly half of the more than 2,000 U.S. and U.K. consumers recently surveyed by Accenture said that poor service led them to change service providers in at least one industry in the past year.
Efficiency versus lack of human touch
Of course, automating your services and support information can be blessedly efficient. That Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu is great when I need a shop's location and hours of operation. "Automation works when you know what you want," says Robert LoCascio, chief executive of LivePerson, a New York vendor of real-time customer service applications.
Then there are the other times . . .
Be advised. Technology cannot replace human help for customers. "The greatest problem with automating a company's customer interactions is that we've fooled ourselves into thinking that 'self-help' is 'customer service.' It's not," says David Kinard, a marketing consultant in Seattle.
Automation should be adopted only to liberate service staff employees from mundane requests and tasks. Then those employees can concentrate on delivering consistently excellent service to valued customers.
Here's some advice about how to streamline customer services successfully. Here, too, are five mistakes companies frequently make when they automate.
The benefits of automation
There's no question that computerized services offer dramatic savings. Typically, it costs an exorbitant $50 or more for a human agent to field a customer's call. By contrast, self-service interactions on the Web run mere pennies. In between, combinations of human agents and technologies, like CTI or computer-telephone integration systems, cost a few bucks per call.
Already, there's an impressive array of options on the market. These include:
Live-text chat such as LoCascio's LivePerson applications.
Filters that capture customer online navigation habits.
Sophisticated IVR systems that recognize voice commands.
Animated characters or virtual service representatives (VSRs) that can personally interact with you on the phone or online.
E-mail with all its automated cousins, including interactive alerts, purchase and shipment confirmations.
Full-scale automation is often labeled "CRM," for "customer relationship management" systems that allow marketers to capture every detail of a customer's history — for instance, that you like your room-service eggs poached and delivered at 7 a.m. whenever you stay at a favorite hotel.
Focus on customers, not costs
But automating customer touch points must be approached carefully. A few missteps can result in customers squawking, balking or outright walking.
Recent research conducted by Kelly Services and Purdue University shows that more than six out of 10 customers (63%) will "stop using a company's products or services based on a negative call center experience." Among customers who call to complain, almost nine out of 10 (86%) "were more likely to stop using the company if their experience with the customer representative was negative."
The first mistake is treating customers like liabilities instead of assets. "In theory, technology lowers costs to serve customers," says Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer of Intelliseek, a business and consumer intelligence marketer in Cincinnati. "But the real question should be: Are you maintaining the loyalty of customers? Are you keeping them in the franchise so they remain ambassadors to spread good words about you?"
The next mistake is to become seduced by bells and whistles. "Automate only to increase customer satisfaction," says Yori Nelken, chairman and chief technology officer at iPhrase Technologies, a Cambridge, Mass., provider of self-service search and navigation software.
Once you automate, avoid these five frequent mistakes:
1. Providing outdated or inaccurate information. When considering automation applications, most owners figure on the costs of initial deployment. But they don't think through the considerable investments of time, money and staff help required to maintain the system. As a result, the system is always a step behind, offering inaccurate prices or product information.Systems can degrade as much as 20% or more every three months or so. That rate will depend on the kind of business you're in. If you sell tombstones, then information won't much change over time. But other markets, say, disk drives, can be enormously dynamic.
2. The "it's-not-my-department" syndrome. Let's say your Web site offers a special price on red sweaters, and a customer buys one. When it arrives, she discovers it's a turtleneck, which she hates. She calls the contact center to return the sweater. But the call center doesn't have access to online channels and hasn't a clue about Web promotions or transactions.That's because the system was created to capture information silo by silo. What does the customer hear? "It's not my department. You must e-mail Web support for returns." Plus, no one logs the fact that this customer loves red and hates turtlenecks.Make sure every byte of every program is accessible to everyone. "You need cross-channel efficiencies," iPhrase's Nelken says.
3. Going to total automation. Many back-office operations can be automated while still preserving a human face for one-to-one customer interactions. There's no need to automate every bit of your services. "A good 60% of customer questions can be readily answered," says Intelliseek's Blackshaw. "Exploit the heck out of that."
4. Faking human communication. Nothing infuriates customers more than dealing with a machine that does not acknowledge its limitations. "Don't hide the fact that you're sending automated responses. Don't imitate humans," Nelken says. If you rely on e-mail or phone alerts, include information about how customers can contact a human agent in case that's needed.
5. No exiting allowed. Never force customers into an automated interaction if they don't want it. You can, for example, rely on Instant Messaging or online live-chat applications to track customer navigation via various filters. When a customer seems to need help — say when a shopping cart has been left unattended for some minutes — agents can open a real-time window to ask via text messaging if the customer has any questions.
The appropriate way to automate customer care is to combine human and personalized services with technologies suited for your business. Don't be conned into more than you need. And don't, for a minute, take your customer's patience or loyalty for granted.