Moving From First Contact Resolution to no Contact Resolution and First Look Resolution

There’s a big shift going on in the best businesses. They’re moving on from thinking like businesses who treat customers really really well.

And instead,  they’re thinking like customers who want really really good suppliers to meet their needs.

That’s what we call “Me2B” – the subject of our latest book “Your Customers Rule! Delivering The Me2B Experiences That Today’s Customers Demand”. This book was written by our US and Aussie colleagues Bill Price and David Jaffe as the follow-up to the highly successful “The Best Service Is No Service” (“Best Service” for short).

So what’s different with Me2B?

Take, for example, the way that companies look at a measure like first contact resolution. It’s been well established through research that resolution (or getting what we want) correlates with satisfaction. Along with confidence in knowledgeable staff and ease of access to service, resolution drives satisfaction & transactional NPS.  It’s useful for a business to drive first contact resolution.

How is resolution in a B2C world different to resolution in a Me2B world? First contact resolution versus no contact resolution and first look resolution.

Say I’m looking at how many things I have to do when looking for delivery options from a retailer. I may search on their site for “delivery”. Already that’s two steps. Delivery wasn’t on the front screen so I had to search.

What appears next on screen may or may not tell me what I wanted to know. See, for example, the comparison of such a search on eBay or on Amazon. One is not giving me useful information. The other has prompted me before I even finished typing the word. And its options are useful. The following screens show that they understand my needs and are proactively trying to meet them.

In one case I may be on the ‘5th look” and getting what I want. On the other I may go as far as a “10 looks” and still not find what I wanted. My objective is ‘first look’ resolution. And there’s not even been any contact yet.

Take, for example, delivery company DPD sending you a text alert for the delivery of your parcel. In the first look I can see what I need to know. IF I click through I see even more stuff I might want. Again it’s proactively thinking what I will want to know and proactively meeting my needs. And doing so without me having to contact them or enter data.

They demonstrate that they are meeting the customer’s physical needs from BSINS such as “Where’s my parcel?” or “How do I change the delivery?” And they demonstrate that they are meeting the customer emotional drivers from Me2B such as “Know me, remember me” , “you give me choices” and “you help me do more”.

As a customer, I’m not interested in making a call or sending an email. First contact resolution isn’t even on my horizon. But first look resolution and no contact resolution are.