Today’s customers have more choice than ever and they expect a great customer experience. They are not happy with a bumpy ride –nor do they hesitate to change the vendor to get better service. So, it’s a good idea to look in the mirror and ask, “How empathetic is our customer service?”
What is empathy anyhow? According to Customer Service Reader empathy is about “sensing others’ feelings and perspective, and taking an active interest in their concerns.”
Customer service shines when empathetic people are in place:
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Empathic people listen well
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Compassionate people show sensitivity and understand others’ perspectives
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Empathy enables people to help out based on understanding other people’s needs and feelings.
Listen, understand and help out—the building blocks of empathetic customer service. It is not rocket science but rather basic skills for a good rep. Then why do we still have bad contact center experiences? Do companies hire non-empathetic employees? I doubt it. Most people working in customer service do give their best to help the customers –if they just have the chance.
Companies need to make sure the foundation for empathetic and good customer service is solid. The customer service solutions need to enable contact center agents to be empathetic.
What does customer service mean in terms of the empathy-building blocks:
- Listen: Do the agents have the time they need to really listen to the customers or are they overloaded with contacts pouring in from different channels? Is contact routing and handling optimized so that agents’ time is well-spent?
- Understand: Do your agents have the access to customer data to really be able understand the customer’s situation? Can your agents focus on topics they know enough about and they have skills for?
- Help out: Do your agents have access to tools they need to help the customer? Do they agents have visibility into business processes or do they need to work blind-folded?
The Aberdeen report, “Omni-channel, smarter way to engage customers,” discusses these topics further. It highlights the importance of giving agents visibility into customer data and it investigates how omni-channel skill-based routing can be further improved by technology routing and contextual routing. It also shows compelling figures on how omni-channel contact centers out-perform multichannel contact centers in terms of company revenue, customer retention and first contact resolution.
When companies build omni-channel customer service, agents are able to handle multiple contact channels and they also have the visibility into customer data, interaction history and business processes. It gives them the possibility to listen, understand and help the customers –and be empathetic. In short: omni-channel customer service solutions create the foundation for empathetic customer service.
