How customer service shines through a crisis

Brands that excelled at customer service and support made strategic investments in empowering their customer service teams with the right training, technology, and insights to deliver better CX amidst the crisis, according to a new report.

Why it matters

A report from Forrester finds that the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the influence of customer service in improving organizational CX. Future-fit brands must differentiate themselves by making customer service a key focus area for customer experience management.

Takeaways

• Train customer service employees on cultural nuances, customer pain points, and dealing with vulnerable customers to help them connect better with customers and motivate them to be more resolution-oriented.
• Realign digital transformation projects to focus more on improving customer service technologies. Build a strong digital channel roadmap that focuses not only on enabling digital channels but also on the right use cases for those channels.
• Create in-house expertise to analyse structured and unstructured cross-channel interaction data to tap into the voice of the customer.

Key quote

“Be careful of playing in the averages and aggregated data because you won’t find customers who are at the edge or in extreme circumstances. You must look at the individual customer and find ways to really help them.” – Lisa Pogonoski, general manager of customer solutions, Westpac.