5 Key Steps for Optimizing Customer Service

Multichannel service study affirms best-in-class practices

With the proliferation of the Internet and Web platforms, customers now have the ability to interact with service organizations through a wide variety of channels. And a recent survey conducted by the Aberdeen Group revealed that they are taking advantage of their choices. The use of other channels such as email, chat, and website self-service is on the rise (Table 1).

Channel	Percentage of Requests by Origin (Average for All Respondents)
	2008	Current	2010 Estimate
Contact Center	55%	52%	44%
Email	18%	17%	15%
Website Self-Service	12%	14%	18%
Website Query	11%	11%	12%
Chat/IM	2%	3%	5%
SMS	1%	1%	3%
Social Media	1%	2%	3%

Source: Aberdeen Group, September 2009

Aberdeen’s findings point to importance of having an increasing array of customer communication options. But they do not necessarily signal a reduction in the importance of the contact center, where more customer inquiries and requests originate than through any other channel.

 A Blessing and a Burden

For the servicing organization, channel expansion is both a blessing and a burden.

Expanding the reach of service information and updates helps to meet customer demands for faster service. It offers pathways to greater efficiency and cost reduction. By segmenting and directing customer requests to appropriate channels, organizations expedite access to information, while reducing the burden on more costly service-based resources. 

However, the existence of a multichannel support network also increases a servicing organization’s responsibilities. They must ensure the accuracy and validity of information that is disseminated through each and every one of these channels. Organizations surveyed by Aberdeen placed extreme importance on this, indicating that it is a crucial component of effective customer request handling and customer retention. At the same time, organizations must optimize efficiency and improve issue resolution within and across channels.  

 

Best-in-Class Practices

Aberdeen’s research report introduces common characteristics and strategies among best-in-class service organizations - the strongest performers.

First, executive level service leadership oversees and has visibility into all aspects of customer service.  This is the case at 79 percent of best-in-class organizations, versus at only 57 percent of all others.

Next, leadership takes necessary steps to ensure that the service organization is:

• Eliminating unnecessary processes and steps to customer issue resolution
• Escalating vital customer service issues to the right channel of service delivery
• Evaluating technology solutions to drive knowledge and efficiency
• Empowering front line support workers and customers with the right information and knowledge to ensure that issues are resolved quickly and effectively
• Educating both internal and external stakeholders on the use of available channels and support structures.

With a combined strategy that addresses these five E’s, it isn't surprising that best-in-class companies are the most efficient at routing and resolving customer requests (Table 2).

Maturity Class	Percentage of Service Requests that Could Have Been Resolved by a Less Expensive (and Available) Delivery Channel
Best-in-Class	24%
Industry Average	32%
Laggard	44%

 

 

 

 

In the end, the value of the “5E” approach is reflected in improved customer satisfaction, cost reduction and overall profitability numbers. 

Learn more about implementing the “5E” approach and key technology enablers in Aberdeen Group’s detailed report “Delivering Customer Service Via the Contact Center and the Web”. 

Download a complimentary copy by visiting www.astutesolutions.com/multichannelservice

 

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