Why ‘good’ CX is not ok anymore

When was the final time you skilled customer support that basically impressed you? If one thing involves thoughts, what was it about that exact expertise that made it stand out?

We’ve been enthusiastic about the distinction between “good” and “nice” loads not too long ago. Not too long ago, we had Shep Hyken on our podcast to debate his 2024 Attaining Buyer Amazement report. He shared some numbers that put into perspective how make-or-break offering a standout expertise is:

85% of shoppers would exit of their manner to make use of an organization that gives nice customer support, even when there’s a extra handy possibility.
79% could be influenced to modify suppliers for higher customer support.
Almost 1 / 4 would by no means use a services or products once more in the event that they obtained solely “passable” assist.

 This put up initially featured in our CS e-newsletter, The Ticket.

 

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To grasp what a exceptional expertise actually seems like for our clients, we carried out some analysis of our personal. We realized that quick response occasions and streamlined resolutions are usually not sufficient anymore (they’re desk stakes). What actually resonates with clients as being “exceptional” is when customer support groups join with them on a deeper degree and display actual downside possession.

“Offering a ‘exceptional’ expertise is a really excessive bar, however what units aside a exceptional expertise from a great one is downside possession”

Taking possession of issues includes extra than simply answering a query and resolving the ticket. It’s about putting as little burden on the client as doable to unravel the difficulty, proactively participating the proper individuals and assets to discover a significant resolution, and taking the time to assist remedy the broader enterprise problem.

So, how do you do that?

Go AI-first to liberate time for strategic work

Till not too long ago, offering a excessive degree of consideration and care to each buyer hasn’t been humanly doable for any customer support staff. The introduction of AI has modified this.

An AI-first customer support resolution can deal with handbook duties and assist your staff work extra effectively. With extra capability, your staff can grow to be extra strategic and commit extra time and a spotlight to going above and past in your clients.

Outline what exceptional seems like in your clients

Getting to a degree the place you could have extra time to make issues higher in your clients is thrilling, nevertheless it additionally has the potential to grow to be overwhelming. Quite than making an attempt to enhance every little thing , hold your focus sharp to yield the perfect outcomes.

Get clear on what areas matter most to your particular clients and deliberately work to maintain enhancing these. Don’t know what these are? Discuss to your clients, survey them, and ask them:

What are your largest ache factors with our customer support?
What would you contemplate as going above and past?

Break down silos between groups

Some of the attention-grabbing findings from our analysis was this: a exceptional buyer expertise transcends silos. As an alternative of passing your buyer’s question from individual to individual and staff to staff, make the traces between groups really feel invisible to your clients.

For instance, the place doable, work billing queries out together with your gross sales staff or go product bugs to your product staff so clients don’t must. If you do must go queries to different groups, be certain there’s full context and somebody is definitely proudly owning the dialog. AI makes all of this extra seamless.

Be intentional with measuring the client expertise

“Outstanding” is a shifting goal. When you’ve outlined what “exceptional” means in your particular clients, it’s vital to measure their expertise and monitor how you’re (or aren’t) elevating the bar to fulfill altering expectations.

AI can provide you extra significant alerts than conventional measures like CSAT, NPS, or CES as a result of it will probably monitor each interplay you could have with clients and supply detailed insights on the actions you’ll be able to take to drive steady enchancment.