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Guided CX: Optimizing Customer Experiences in the Brave New World

Most organizations aspire to deliver exceptional customer experiences.  They understand the value of repeat business and do everything within reason to ensure every customer leaves each interaction with a sense that their business is appreciated, that they are respected and valued, that their questions are promptly answered, and that issues are resolved consistently and courteously.

But, maintaining an outstanding standard of customer engagement is not easy.  Customers have their own preferences in how they choose to engage with companies—through voice, text, email, or social channels.  Some prefer to speak with a live person, while others are just as happy working with automated self-help tools to resolve their concerns.  Many customers would prefer to interact on the fly from their mobile devices, while there are still those that prefer communication from landlines and desktops.  Regardless of the device, interface, location, and channel an individual uses, there is one common theme that exists in every interaction: Customers expect to be treated promptly, appropriately, and respectfully in every interaction. These expectations are complicated by ‘always on, always accessible’ technology, which leave businesses desperately seeking new strategies and innovations to satisfy a demanding, knowledgeable, and time-constrained customer base.  

If businesses have learned anything over the past year, it is that they cannot take a single customer for granted.  Sales and brand value depend upon it.  If customers feel they are not treated with the respect and care they feel they deserve, they will undoubtedly find a competitor who does.

The Stakes are High

The stakes for providing extraordinary customer experiences have never been higher, and that is why a growing number of companies are now implementing ‘Guided CX’ strategies to effectively address this challenge.  Guided CX blends the best of self-service capabilities with the empathy and expertise garnered from human assistance to provide a comprehensive, well-rounded customer experience that can be leveraged by any business.  

Bridging Two Worlds

For many years, delivering customer care was a fairly straightforward process.  Businesses employed scores of trained professionals located in a central call center.  These service representatives were charged with fielding incoming calls from customers, resolving any issues as expeditiously as possible, and then moving on to the next caller.  It was, in essence, an assembly line, where agents were measured by how many calls were answered, and their average handle times.

The introduction of new technology, changing customer preferences, and life-altering events, such as COVID-19, have conspired to force new customer service delivery practices onto businesses.  Where voice calls were the only communications medium for consumers and organizations to engage, new omnichannel solutions have gained prominence to facilitate these interactions.  Email, chat, social media, and video are just some of the many ways customers now engage with their banks, healthcare providers, airlines, mobile providers and other favorite brands.  Businesses have hurriedly deployed technology to handle these communication methods, and have subsequently trained their staff to become proficient in interacting in all these other mediums.

Many businesses have gone several steps further by deploying self-service tools to facilitate customer engagement.  Using chatbots and AI capabilities, these automated tools have been useful in delivering assistance with more rudimentary requests.  Baseline queries, like resetting passwords, finding resources through online searches, and other functions, can be handled quickly and economically.  But, as many businesses are finding out, automated self-help tools can only do so much.

When consumers find they have important questions while in the middle of a complicated transaction—say, securing a loan—relying on an automated self-help tool to provide useful assistance during a stressful and complex transaction is not necessarily a formula for good customer service.  In these types of engagements, live human support is not just preferred, but necessary, to give customers the ability to interact in real time with an expert who can help resolve an issue.

A Path Forward

Crossing the divide between digital and live human support is complicated, and this is where the Guided CX ecosystem comes in.  Customers have their own way of doing things, so they must be given the latitude to use the channels and tools that work best for them.  Guided CX encompasses all realms of digital customer service by facilitating advisory moments, empathy, and trust that cannot be accomplished through digital self-service capabilities.  Guided CX elevates the customer experience, in a manner that is efficient for the business, and effective for the consumer.  The customer can leverage the most comfortable channel for their specific circumstances and, if it is discovered that automated tools are not addressing the current situation, the agent can seamlessly invite the consumer into a secure video or cobrowse session to solve the problem.

A true Guided CX solution should possess some important characteristics in terms of ubiquity, reliability, brand management, and security.

• Ubiquity – Compelling Guided CX tools should be accessible from all types of browsers, devices, and interfaces, regardless of whether they are automated or human-to-human.  Forcing customers to use a tool or medium with which they are not comfortable defeats the purpose.  There should be a consistent look and feel regardless of the channel that is utilized.   
• Reliability – This is most important for business management.  Since customers can reach out to vendors from any location and on any device, it should be assumed that bandwidth availability and performance will be inconsistent.  It is essential that the Guided CX vendor take the vagaries of network performance into account when creating their solutions.  Nothing can anger a customer more than dropping from a critical problem-solving session.
• Brand management – Most organizations have invested heavily in their brands.  Projecting a proper look-and-feel, and maintaining high standards in every customer engagement is just as important in the digital world as it is in brick-and-mortar locations.  So why would any business that cares about its brand force its customers into a disruptive third-party conferencing or collaboration solution to engage with its knowledge workers and support personnel?  Keeping every interaction within the digital property an inherent part of Guided CX.  Customers value the brand, gain comfort from the brand.  All customer communication should occur within that digital asset, plain and simple.   
• Security – When working in regulated industries, like financial services or healthcare, protecting personal data is paramount.  Masking account numbers, securing data in transit, and adhering to government and industry mandates is a necessity.  Guided CX technology should support the most stringent security requirements to protect both the consumer and institution.   

Conclusion

There are a variety of ways to serve customers using a combination of digital and human resources.  Most consumers are already entrenched in their particular comfort zones and have a clear preference for using those tools that work best for them.  Guided CX capabilities build upon automated self-service by marrying it with live human engagement to create a holistic customer service environment, where customers are treated respectfully, empathetically, and appropriately.  Through a Guided CX approach, companies are in the best position to satisfy customers, protect their brands, and create a solid foundation for increasing revenue. 

Edited by Erik Linask