In today’s crowded marketplace, customer experience (CX) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) can ultimately make or break a business. There are major considerations around how a call center can help or hurt your company, with pros and cons on both sides. And that’s just the voice channel—if the entire experience doesn’t feel hyper-personal, you’re already behind your competitors.
The stats show it too. On one hand, 86% of customers say they’re “willing to pay more for an excellent customer experience.” On the other hand, one-in-three customers say they would walk away from a brand or business following one bad customer experience.
So, how can your business provide a personalized customer experience that will wow your customers and keep them loyal to your business? Here are three ways you can use Mindful to deliver a personalized, relevant customer experience at just the right time and place—helping you boost customer retention and grow your bottom line.
Be present on your customers’ preferred communication channels.
Today’s customers have more communication channels available to them than ever before. Phone calls, text messages, emails, social media platforms, website forms—the list of channels goes on and on.
But when it comes to business interactions, one thing remains clear: Customers want to interact with businesses through the communication channel they are most comfortable with. In fact, 51% of US consumers say they’re most loyal to those brands that engage with them through their preferred channels.
So, which channels do customers prefer most?
A poll by the CMO Council discovered customers “couldn’t live without” these five channels when interacting with a business:
- Phone (28%)
- In-person (17%)
- Text message (13%)
- Email (13%)
- Social media (12%)
These are the channels you need to be present in if your business is going to provide personalized customer experiences.
What’s the solution?
Our Mindful platform lets customers control how they interact with your business, allowing them to move seamlessly between voice, text, and digital channels. If a customer wants to connect with your business over the phone, Mindful shows up in the IVR to offer a callback instead of holding—which raises customers NPS. And they can choose to schedule that call over voice, or switch to texting and schedule via SMS or a link to the brand’s website.
Mindful makes it possible for your customers to connect with your business using the channel they’re most comfortable with—no matter where they are. And simply providing customers with that choice and engaging with them on their preferred channels (rather than forcing them into one channel or the other) leads to higher customer satisfaction (CSAT) and brand loyalty.
Give customers the option to schedule a callback.
We’ve yet to meet anyone who enjoys calling a business and being put on indefinite hold. Customers crave convenience, reliability, and speed when communicating with a business—and putting customers on hold fits none of those categories. Two-thirds of consumers say they’re only willing to wait on hold for a maximum of two minutes before abandoning the call. And 13% of consumers said that “no hold time is acceptable” when contacting a business.
Your business needs to offer callers a way to skip the on-hold elevator music and schedule a callback at a time that works best for them. A survey by Customers that Stick found that over 50% of respondents would rather schedule a callback than wait more than five minutes in a hold queue. And 25% of respondents would rather schedule a callback than wait at all.
Additionally, when you allow customers to schedule a callback, they’re generally happier (and easier to serve) customers. Callbacks result in higher customer satisfaction (CSAT) and net promoter scores (NPS)—two critical indicators of customer service performance.
What’s the solution?
Mindful lets you quickly and easily set up a callback solution using your brand’s existing telephony. When a customer calls, they’re greeted by Mindful in the IVR, informing them how long their estimated wait time is before talking with a service representative. From there, they have the traditional option of remaining on the line, or they can schedule a callback either as soon as possible or at a future date and time. For example, a customer may choose to receive a callback later the same day or a few days later, depending on what’s most convenient for them.
Mindful also allows customers to schedule a callback via a widget placed directly on your website or app—letting customers skip an initial phone call altogether and schedule a time to get in touch with a customer service representative at a time that works best for them. These widgets can be placed on product pages, support pages, Contact Us pages, or anywhere else where a consumer might want to contact your business. This also allows your business to coordinate call times with business staffing and availability—maximizing efficiency for your workforce while still providing excellent customer service.
Your customers feel more valued and appreciated when you let them put down their phone and get back to their daily lives. This naturally translates into better customer interactions with your service representatives and a better perception of your business.
Don’t make your customers repeat themselves.
Consumers want the freedom to choose which channels they use to interact with your business, but they also want to be able to seamlessly switch between channels without losing their place or having to repeat themselves to your agents. Eighty-four percent of consumers say having to restart a conversation on a new channel is a frustrating experience, and 71% said that this particular frustration has led them to question their loyalty to a brand or business.
To deliver an excellent customer experience, make sure that the context of every conversation a customer has with your business transfers seamlessly between channels and is available to customer service representatives.
What’s the solution?
When it comes to providing context for each conversation, Mindful has you covered. Mindful allows customers and service representatives to seamlessly connect between talk and text without losing context.
Say a customer initially calls your business seeking help for a misplaced order and leaves a callback number for your service department to follow up with later in the day. However, when the time for the callback rolls around, they can’t get to the phone for the call. Mindful’s messaging platform lets the agent (or automation!) and customer connect via text to reschedule the callback—eliminating the need for the customer to have to call, restate their problem, and reschedule their callback.
And it’s not an either-or scenario: Customers can seamlessly transfer between texting and calling an agent to resolve their problem, all without having to repeat themselves and lose valuable time.
This not only enhances the customer’s experience—it also maximizes operational efficiency. Traditionally, money would start piling up as the customer calls back in, waits on hold, and takes the time of another agent that may be in a different department. Better for customers, agents, and the brand.
Summing up: Customer satisfaction is the differentiator.
Businesses can’t afford to ignore the urgent need to provide excellent customer experiences to their customers. Ninety-one percent of consumers say that good customer service increases the chances of them purchasing from the brand or business again, and another 80% say that customer service is just as important as the product or services a business provides.
If you want to differentiate your business from your competitors, start by giving your customers control over how and when they engage with you. Use Mindful to help your business easily implement these three steps and increase your customer satisfaction and loyalty today.
