What factors drive Customer Experience in the Service Sectors? Part II

Customer Experience is infinitely personal and continuously evolves from each service encounter to colour how customers view both the service event and the provider as a whole.

In part II of ‘What Drives Customer Experience in the Service Sectors’ we will take a look at how Customer Expectations, Technology & Personalisation influence Customer Experience as well as how mobile workforce management software, such as JobWatch from BigChange can revolutionise the Customer Experience.

Customer’s Expectations:

“The key reason why the customer experience is and will never be ‘in control’ is because customers are individuals and the core element in the customer experience equation is highly emotional, personal, contextual and diverse.”

The customer often sets the tone for the entire service relationship however, with mobile access to detailed transaction history and an integrated CRM system, such as JobWatch from BigChange, expectations can be reasonably met while providing a comprehensive service picture to your entire staff.

Part and parcel to understanding and exceeding customer expectations is forming a strong personal rapport with the customer. In addition to facilitating a better service experience, effective communication with clients can act as a second marketing department creating brand ambassadors while providing vital feedback on ways to improve the service interaction from the people who matter most.

To build a holistic, customer-centric approach each personalised interaction must be valued, recorded and used to improve future practices.

Technology & Skill Set of Technician:

In a time of dramatic technological advancements “Human interaction [still] matters now — and 82% of U.S. and 74% of non-U.S. consumers want more of it in the future. Regardless, the technology supporting human interaction must be seamless and unobtrusive across platforms.”

Customers expect real-time messaging and self-service tools to advance their service experience. The digitally savvy customer today demands a constant flow of up to date information narrating their broader service experience, from initial consultation to post service follow up and billing.

Concurrently, customers want these technological breakthroughs to still have a human touch, and (if needed) easy access to a person to help navigate supposedly intuitive systems.

Relying upon a range of digital touchpoints include websites, app interaction and use of online CRM systems; such as JobWatch by BigChange, technicians can better deliver specialised services on the click of a button.

As PwC astutely points out “The challenge [is]: how to use new technology with purpose to make the experience feel more human—without creating frustrations for customers and while empowering employees.” If technicians and service staff cannot apply the new methods to resolve the broader issues- regardless of the technology- customers will not be happy.

In a time where the service experience is strongly dictated by technical capability, the results are often projected for the world to see. Good experiences are shared on social media — and as are less than ideal ones, while surely horrible service experiences go viral — and can easily damage or destroy a company’s reputation globally.

Personalisation:

The service experience is not limited to the physical service call or maintenance event. Increasingly customers are demanding optimized post-purchase experiences which include personalised service and support. As a result, “79% of customers are willing to share relevant information about themselves in exchange for contextualized interactions in which they’re immediately known and understood.”

Customers want to feel heard and catered to. They are willing to expand engagement and the information they share if it can significantly improve their broader customer experience.

“59% of customers say tailored engagement based on past interactions is very important to winning their business.”

In the past customers wanted a prompt response to their questions or complaints. Now customers expect every element of their service experience to be personalized. “61% of the people surveyed [by Forbes] felt they were treated like case numbers rather than people. That must stop. The survey found that 59% of customers said being treated as an individual was more important than how fast the issue was resolved (53%). The numbers are close, but the point is that customers want to be treated like people, not account numbers. And, if you can deliver both speed and personalisation, you have a winning combination.”

Customer Experience, Company Loyalty and Retention:

“80% of companies believe they provide a superior proposition with only 8% of customers agreeing.” Bridging the gap between perception and reality, as the stats clearly show, can be difficult. The only way to make real improvements is to ask customers: What went right? What went wrong? Why did you choose our service? Did our services meet your expectations?

At the end of the day, no one is a mind reader and thus we all must lean on the recipient of the service experience to facilitate best practices and improve retention.

The resolution to this may be simpler then you may think. Auto messaging, standardised templates and surveys to gauge customer experience and satisfaction in real time. With fully integrated mobile workforce management software, like JobWatch from BigChange, your business can streamline operations and engage customers holistically.

The customer experience is more often than not a complicated formula which requires the balancing of technical skills and emotional awareness. If blended correctly the customer experience can provide the basis for a symbiotic relationship between the service provider and customer. Bringing these two parties together is the CRM element which can centralise and organise the entire service dynamic.

BigChange Mobile Workforce Management Revolutionising the Customer Experience:

BigChange’s 5-in-1 platform enables businesses of all sizes to better manage many of the most significant factors influencing the customer experience. With BigChange, your back office can easily monitor, schedule & dispatch service requests to optimise your field based teams’ strongest skills and prevent unnecessary travel.

With JobWatch, powered by BigChange, the point of contact staff can access complete customer history and ensure all service requests and customer expectations are met the first time, every time. Utilising BigChange’s innovative mobile workforce system, contractors are able to specialise service, workflow requirements and mandatory safety protocols with ease.

Through the use of an integrated platform, technicians can resolve any service request with the click of a button. Additionally, the use of preventative maintenance workflows directed via the Mobile workforce management system dramatically improves the rate in which service technicians resolve all issues fully, while also alerting the operator to any upcoming scheduled maintenance. By improving transparency and collaboration between all aspects of operations through the implementation of mobile workforce management software, such as BigChange, your business can drastically improve customer experience.

What to do from here?

Improving the overall quality of customer experience for service providers often is the determining factor driving customer relations and long term business performance.

Optimising the broader customer experience goes beyond fulfilling customer requirements to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. The ultimate objective in catering a comprehensive service experience is to maintain and cultivate a long-term customer relationship which continuously creates opportunities for business to profits via sustained service interactions and activities.

Balancing the complex dynamic of customer experience requires constant calibration and dedication to providing the best services, staff and technology all integrated to give real-time data and live quotes with ease.

A recent study of 15,000 consumers surveyed in 12 countries found that “60% of customers would stop doing business with a company due to unfriendly service, 46% said they would cease the business relationship because of employees lack of knowledge and 50% would end the relationship if they don’t trust the company. 32% of customers would walk away from a brand they have a strong affinity towards after just one bad experience.”

With customers increasingly willing to change service providers after the smallest inconvenience it is essential to be receptive to customer needs and ensure all elements of the customer experience are consciously monitored and improved daily.

To read Part I click Here.