74% Prevent Front-Line Success

74% of contact centres admit to preventing their front line from providing the best possible customer experience.

The 2015 report “Own the Moments! Understanding the Customer Journey”, released by ICMI in partnership with LiveOps, also revealed that only 53% of organisations have a formal customer satisfaction programme.

Report findings were derived from the responses of more than 400 surveyed professionals from almost every role and level in contact centres and customer service organisations.

Additional key findings from the report include:

• 42% of contact centres do not investigate the root cause of repeat customer contacts
• Less than 25% of organisations have a C-level “customer experience” leader
• The metric of greatest commonality among survey respondents is Abandonment from Queue (68%), yet this metric also topped the list of “least effective” metrics
• Identifying a customer having an issue in real time and conducting proactive outreach would greatly improve both the one-time customer experience and the full customer journey

The report also organises the challenges, strengths and opportunities that exist for contact centres into five key moments:

1. Moments to Empower

The customer service agent owns “the moment,” and has the greatest impact on the customer experience as they drive the initial interaction.

Yet despite the recognised importance of the agent, nearly 75% of those surveyed knowingly hinder their team from providing the best customer experience. 62% of respondents cited the agent as the most critical touchpoint of the customer journey, while only 14% empower their agents to provide top-notch customer experiences.

2. Moments to Inspire

Improving employee/agent training ranked as one of the top issues that contact centres wanted to overcome. A majority of contact centres do not empower their agents to their fullest potential, resulting in low employee engagement and customer satisfaction.

3. Moments to Excel

98% of respondents agree that real-time information is vital; however, more than one-fifth of organisations have zero visibility into basic information such as contact history.

Failing to equip agents with the correct tools and latest technologies results in loss of insight into the basic information needed to provide proper customer service.

4. Moments to Enlighten

For the first time, customers are fully in control. As a result, companies are rushing to utilise performance data to successfully fulfil the needs of their customers. Many organisations claim customer satisfaction as a top priority, while only half have an actual Customer Satisfaction Program in place.

5. Moments to Delight

Nearly 80% of respondents felt that their customers are not extremely engaged with their company. As a result, customers view their relationship with such organisations as disposable.

Putting customer satisfaction at the forefront of organisational goals is imperative to improving engagement and securing customer loyalty.

“We know that customer service isn’t just one of a brand’s primary differentiators, it’s the only differentiator that matters with increasingly vocal and influential consumers,” said Ann Ruckstuhl, Chief Marketing Officer at LiveOps. “When it comes to customer service, people matter. Creating a great customer experience requires brands to have full insight into the customer journey across all channels and the ability to address each customer’s needs in real time.”

For more information, visit the LiveOps website.