Thoughts on Online Customer Service

The Trouble with Tools

2011-03-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

This post is a collaboration between Eric Sessoms at MyCustomerCloud & Nicole Radziwill.

Everyone knows what a tool is. We use tools all the time, every day. Hammers to drive nails… cars to drive to work… glasses to read a book. Tools help us do stuff. They make our jobs easier, our lives simpler, and our existence more orderly. But we have to remember that tools only exist to help us achieve our goals… we humans are the real brains behind the brawn of our tools! And we have to figure out what goals we’re trying to achieve – or else we could inadvertently use our tools and technologies to just stumble about without making any progress towards our goals!

In the words of the political scientist Langdon Winner [1], “What matters is not technology itself, but the social or economic system in which it is embedded.” It’s the context of what you’re trying to achieve that makes a tool work – or fail miserably!

In customer service, the choice of tools is particularly context dependent. Want to build trust with your customers? Consider the context in which your tools will be used. For example, there may be pros and cons of implementing an interactive voice response (IVR) system. People like efficiency, and your company will love the cost effectiveness of being able to route its contact center messages to the appropriate person. But I know I can react with vitriol if I’m forced to “Press 1” every time I want the sickly sweet fake customer service voice to move me to yet another menu. And I know I’m not alone. Furthermore, I want to be treated the same way whether I contact a company over the web, or via Facebook, or by phone.

Quality depends not only on the features, performance, reliability and aesthetics of your product or service, but also on your customer’s perception of you – and that includes their perception of your experience as a company, the reputation of your company and brand, the truth of your advertising, the prices you set, and their individual expectations of what you will provide. In addition, their expectations will depend on HOW they feel you should provide the product or service.

The tools you use to provide customer service will help shape your customers' perceptions. Choose them wisely!

[1] Winner, L. (1986). The whale and the reactor: a search for limits in an age of high technology. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 19-39. Retrieved from http://zaphod.mindlab.umd.edu/docSeminar/pdfs/Winner.pdf

It's Never Safe to Be Mediocre

2011-02-06T09:04:00.000-08:00

We tend to remember our first kiss, our graduation, or the passing of a loved one like it happened yesterday. It doesn't take lab mice to tell you that the events you remember most are those that evoke an emotional response. You know its true. Just look over your personal library of anecdotal evidence. What types of events do you remember best? My money's on the emotional ones.

I started thinking about this the other day after I came across this tweet on Twitter:

@SrHelenaBurns reminded me that great or, alternatively, horrible customer service experiences evoke an emotional response. We talk about them. We share them with others. What about mediocre customer service experiences? And by mediocre, I'm talking about those experiences where you felt neither pleased nor dissatisfied. You can't really say it was good or bad. Just adequate. How many of those do you remember? Yeah, thought so.

In online business, your competition is only a click away. Brick and mortar stores aren't much better off. Your competition is probably just down the block. It is never safe to be mediocre, especially when it comes to customer service. Mediocrity is dangerous. If your customer service stinks, your customers will talk about it. Don't believe me? Just search Twitter for "customer service". The conversation is always going. If you are a shining example of customer service, customers will talk about that too. However, mediocrity gets no buzz. It's boring. It's silent. Is it safe for you company to be mediocre? Only if you want to be forgettable.

Special thanks to Sr. Helena Burns for permission to use her tweet as inspiration for this post!

Genuinely Bad Customer Service

2011-01-27T19:39:00.000-08:00

This post is a collaboration between Eric Sessoms at MyCustomerCloud & Nicole Radziwill.

In previous posts [(1) (2) (3) (4)], we defined authenticity in customer service as not only genuine behavior, but a genuine desire to do what is best for the customer. Both aspects of the definition are required to make magic happen. In this post, we’re going to check out a couple examples of authentic behavior in a customer service environment where genuine behavior is definitely present, but the desire to do what is best for the customer is certainly nowhere to be found. This is the flip side of authenticity in customer service: I’m PO’ed and I’m gonna share it!

Steven Slater became the poster child for and hero of ticked off employees everywhere when he grabbed his beer and slid down the escape chute of his Jet Blue airplane. The Internet has not yet grown weary of re-examining Steven’s actions that day. His reaction was so over the top that it almost makes the frustration he must have felt that day palpable to any of us who can claim some degree of empathy. And the accolades he received from the employed-and-frustrated across America is a clear affirmation that the average worker can relate to his stress level that day. It’s a fantastic example of authencity. There is is no doubt that he said and did exactly what was in his heart at that moment. Too bad it’s become a horrible blot on Jet Blue’s customer service reputation.

A more recent example involves a fantastically authentic AT&T customer service representative rant on Twitter. Rachael Pracht, the CSR in question, railed against a TechCrunch review that highlighted AT&T’s track record of dropped calls on the iPhone and discussed the upcoming Verizon service. Siegler relates the exchange in AT&T Customer Service Rep Tells Us How She Really Feels: “This Is Bullsh*t”. Rachael’s rant echos the frustration of Steven Slater, but she takes it to the next level by choosing a medium that’s effectively a real-time public broadcast. After identifying herself as an AT&T CSR, Rachael states, “This entire article is garbage because it’s all based on an opinion of someone who assumes everything. Thanks anyway.” Kudos on the authenticity. The words make the reader feel as if a direct connection was established between thought and tweet. However, as you might imagine, AT&T wasn’t so thrilled. Siegler reports that “Pracht’s account has been suspended by Twitter now. We do know that AT&T is looking into the situation.” Plus Siegler is now even more stoked about his move to Verizon.

They’re looking into the situation. Yeah, that doesn’t sound too good for Rachael.

Although it feels good to sound off under stress, we always need to remember that as paid employees we do represent more than ourselves. This little detail is important to keep in mind when the desire to do what is best for the customer begins to wane. And if a customer is being difficult, it’s our responsibility to find more productive outlets for our frustration.

Racquetball, anyone?

Twitter Chat for Customer Service

2011-01-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Social media, especially Twitter, is becoming an increasingly important medium for businesses to connect with customers. Many businesses already use Twitter every day, integrating it into their marketing, public relations, and customer service. One popular use of this medium for business is Twitter chat. Twitter chat basically comes in two styles - group chat and individual chat. But which style is the best choice for business? The answer is both if a business wants to get the maximum benefit from its social presence. However for customer service, the individual chat is definitely the preferred choice.

Group chats on Twitter are characterized by the use of a hashtag (#). A hashtag allows participants in a chat to flag their tweets with a keyword. Then chat participants use third party software to extract all the tweets containing that hashtag from Twitter. One can think of the hashtag as a filter for all the possible tweets, only showing the tweets of interest. In order for this style of chat to work, participants need to agree on a common hashtag and remember to use that hashtag in their tweets. Lee Odden in "Twitter Marketing Tips: Twitter Chats and 8 Marketing and PR Chats to Follow" gives the basics on running a group chat. Group chats are best used when there is a structured format and the schedule for the chat has been clearly communicated ahead of time. This means that this style is more suited to marketing or PR events and less so for customer service, where the bulk of communication occurs ad hoc and on a one-on-one basis.

Individual chats on Twitter can be public or private. Public chats require the use of the @ symbol to address a particular Twitter user. The use of the @ symbol coupled with a username is called a mention and can appear anywhere in a tweet. Private chats can be accomplished via a message (formerly known as a direct message). Unlike mentions, users can only send messages to other users who are followers. Because it is impractical to follow every customer, businesses integrating Twitter into customer service focus on mentions. However using mentions for customer service is not without its challenges.

Perhaps the biggest challenge in harnessing mentions for customer service chat is overcoming the one-to-one problem. That is, how can a company accept incoming chats from individuals and route those chats to multiple customer service agents who are available to answer the chat? Moreover, once the one-to-many routing is accomplished, how can customer service agents coordinate to provide a singular response? The mention chat model connects two user accounts together through tweets and makes the assumption that those two accounts represent two individuals. For businesses, the username is actually a facade that encapsulates many employees. A bit of third party software magic is required to successfully eliminate this challenge for customer service. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options available on the market today that offer this functionality. My Customer Cloud is one example of a currently available software solution that overcomes the one-to-many problem; it also offers mention chat integration with instant messaging aggregators like Meebo, Pidgin or iChat. Additional software solutions are sure to become available as using Twitter for customer service becomes more popular.

The Customer Isn’t Always Right: Keeping Customer Conversation Authentic

2011-01-13T18:47:00.000-08:00

This post is a collaboration between Eric Sessoms & Nicole Radziwill.

In previous posts [(1) (2) (3)], we focused on authenticity in customer service. Being authentic in customer service means that the customer service rep demonstrates a genuine desire to do what is right for the customer. But what if what is right for the customer is not what the customer says he or she wants – or is asking for? The customer isn’t always right, and being authentic sometimes means letting them know.

Take, for example, a blog post we really enjoyed written by a guy named Rob – entitled “How to Detect a Toxic Customer”. Sometimes, your potential customers are vast reservoirs of viscous, acerbic sludge that will pollute the health of your company at best, or at worst, vaporize you upon contact. Citing a specific story in which he interacted with a toxic customer, Rob writes:

Few things are worse than supporting a demanding, entitled customer who feels that their purchase price buys them control over your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

In the end, it turns out that all the demands of Rob’s customer were completely unnecessary and overly complicated. (The Toxic Customer was eventually booted from his liaison role by another representative from the same company – who turned out to be much more civil and sane, and in fact – easy to work with.) At each point in the conversation with the Toxic Customer, Rob respectfully focused on his expressed desires (even though those desires seemed to be excessive). On the surface, Rob’s behavior could be perceived as authenticity. However, the real authenticity in this situation was demonstrated when Rob really started to question the expressed desires of the customer with boldness and tact.

The old adage “the customer is always right” isn’t always right – especially if we rely on the customer to be able to accurately express his needs. Great customer service is a partnership. Authenticity can mean pulling the plug on the relationship if that partnership can’t be effectively achieved.

(1) http://qualityandinnovation.com/2010/10/08/getting-to-great-authenticity-in-customer-service/
(2) http://qualityandinnovation.com/2010/11/05/authentic-customer-service-leadership-through-authenticity-part-i/
(3) http://qualityandinnovation.com/2010/11/12/authentic-customer-service-leadership-through-authenticity-part-ii/

Adding a Personal Touch to Your Online Business

2011-01-09T19:18:00.000-08:00

Online businesses are popping up all over the place. Some online businesses spring from brick and mortar businesses looking to grow their customer base by leveraging the increased visibility offered by the Internet. Many are online-only businesses counting completely on the Internet to reach their customers. In either case, online businesses are in constant competition for customers. There are many schools of thought on how best to attract customers online. However, one of the most powerful strategies for attracting customers is to create a corporate atmosphere that is customer-centric. Take Zappos.com for example, they credit their success to the fact that they've "aligned the entire organization around one mission: to provide the best customer service possible." In fact, providing excellent service is arguably the only thing that sets an online business apart from its competitors. What better way is there to create distinction with customers than to place a focus on them?

Quality customer service creates a personal touch that in turn creates loyal customers. In order to provide excellent online service, businesses must first figure out how to connect with visitors and then how to best use those connections to create a personal touch. One popular and effective method is to integrate real-time support chat. Current trends indicate that live chat for an online business is simply a must have. Creating a personal touch requires a direct connection with the visitor and that is exactly what live chat provides.

Live chat allows visitors to chat (usually text-based) in real-time with company representatives. Visitors can ask questions and get help as they browse a website through live chat. In fact, many customers even prefer live chat over other communication options because it traditionally offers rapid response times from service representatives. Often, questions can be answered in a matter of minutes - much more satisfying than pressing buttons in an automated telephone help system. People want to interact with people, not menus when they need assistance. Live chat gives businesses a chance to connect with customers and interact personally with them, mimicking the personal interactions generally associated with brick and mortar stores. Customers can browse online stores that use live chat knowing that customer service representatives are only a click away to answer questions about products or anything else they might need to know when making a purchase.

Although most live chat is text-based, video chat for customer service is most likely right around the corner. Video chat is already a popular choice for personal computer use through many popular instant messaging clients and services such as Skype. Video chat for customer service has potential to enhance the personal touch created by live chat and create an even better customer service environment online.

Authentic Customer Service: Leadership Through Authenticity (Part II)

2010-11-11T18:57:00.000-08:00

This is Part II of a two-part collaboration between Eric Sessoms at My Customer Cloud & Nicole Radziwill.

(You might want to read Part I first, if you haven’t already.)

Let’s say you’re the Leader of a Customer Service Intensive Environment or a Customer Service Rep working in one those environments. How can you be authentic – and promote authenticity – in your customer service interactions? That’s the motivation for our post: we’ve brainstormed some actionable ideas for how these Leaders and Customer Service Reps can achieve authenticity by using the 10 Commitments devised by leadership researchers Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner.

Commitment #6: Leaders strengthen people by giving power away, providing choice, developing competence, assigning critical tasks, and offering visible support.

Leaders & Senior management: The mindful leader provides opportunities for his or her staff to co-create an organization that can be considerate of, and attentive to, customer needs. To become mindful, leaders need to become comfortable with uncertainty, trusting that a sense of shared values will lead to outcomes in customer service situations that may not only meet but regularly exceed their expectations.

If a manager is confident but uncertain – confident that the job will get done but without being certain of exactly the best way of doing it – employees are likely to have more room to be creative, alert, and self-starting. When working for confident but uncertain leaders, we are less likely to feign knowledge or hide mistakes, practices that can be costly to a company… admission of uncertainty leads to a search for more information, and with more information there may be more options.
- Ellen Langer, Mindfulness

In the trenches: When managers provide you with power, use it wisely! Apply your best judgment, based on the values you share with the leaders of your company, and share lessons you learn with them regarding how to better handle customers’ issues. The knowledge you gain and share can help future customers, can help your leaders better craft customer-centric strategies, and can build trust between all parties involved. It’s a win-win-win-win-win (and maybe more).

Commitment #7: Leaders set the example by behaving in ways that are consistent with shared values.

Kouzes and Posner embody the importance of authenticity within this commitment. Both leaders & senior management as well as those in the trenches must consistently demonstrate authentic behavior and by doing so, set an example for others that encourages and demonstrates the value of authentic behavior in customer service. Put simply, if leaders within an organization want to talk the talk, they need to walk the walk. Authenticity is not present when words and actions are incongruent. So if you commit to a certain value or behavior – DO IT and BE IT! Otherwise you’ll be demonstrating authentithesis, and that’s way not cool.

Commitment #8: Leaders achieve small wins that promote consistent progress and build commitment.

Leaders & Senior management: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is an organization devoted to authenticity in customer service. In fact, there is a lot of trial and error that goes into the quest to achieve authenticity. Leaders need to create and execute a long-term plan for providing excellent customer service that focuses on a tangible end result while incorporating lessons learned along the way. By appropriately setting milestones as part of this campaign, leaders have ample opportunity to fine-tune progress and promote continued buy-in from CSRs.

In the trenches: CSRs need to remember that every day brings new opportunities to achieve authenticity. Setbacks one day can vanish thanks to the successes of the next – and vice versa. A focus on important values, such as authenticity, eases the lows and celebrates the highs of our daily interactions with customers. To borrow a sports phrase, keep your eye on the ball. By doing so, you’ll blaze the trail of progress. Who knows, you might even inspire someone else along the way!

Commitment #9: Leaders recognize individual contributions to the success of every project.

Leaders & Senior management: First of all, leaders, it’s important to recognize that any great accomplishment is not achieved in a vacuum. Behind any wonderful idea or fantastic success, there’s a network of people who have cooperated and co-conspired to generate greatness. When you become aware of a great customer service story, remember that there are always hidden players and seek to find them all. Then celebrate their successes (see Commitment #10). Caveat: to be authentic, you’ve really got to appreciate the contributions – or at least the customer should. (Ideally, both of you should be delighted.) Don’t just recognize a success because you have an award you’ve got to give out this month, or this quarter.

In the trenches: Well, you’re not off the hook here CSRs – everyone is a leader. And sharing in the responsibility of that leadership means that you should appreciate others’ contributions to the efforts that you are involved in – whether it’s new strategies for helping customers, or process improvements that will help everyone do their job more effectively, or just a coworker who makes sure everyone’s having a good day. After you appreciate these contributions, let everyone else know you appreciate them. Good vibes are infectious.

Commitment #10: Leaders celebrate team accomplishments regularly.

Leaders & Senior management: Now leaders, don’t get too excited here. We’re not talking about those rah-rah parties where you eat cake that’s been inscribed with “Great Job, Team!” in blue frosting. Authentically celebrating team accomplishments means 1) you’re always on the lookout for truly remarkable examples of where customer service has been stellar, 2) everyone else is always on the lookout for the same, and knows how to get the word to those of you in leadership, and 3) you use those opportunities to demonstrate to one another that you really do exemplify your shared values and customers are happy with the help you provide them. Celebrations should provide opportunities to share knowledge and reaffirm core values. Not just eat cake with blue frosting (although that never hurts, especially if it’s with good coffee).

In the trenches: Any time one customer service rep experiences success, everyone experiences success – because the customer’s image of the company will be enhanced, trust will be forged, and you may be able to learn a good strategy for servicing a particular kind of need as a result. If you are a CSR, you’ll benefit from easier and more friendly calls from that satisfied customer in the future. Be happy for your fellow CSR’s successes, because with each one, they have just earned you “happiness equity” in case you have to deal with that particular customer’s problem in the future. Be thankful!

Go back to Part I, covering the first 5 Commitments from Kouzes and Posner.

Authentic Customer Service: Leadership Through Authenticity (Part I)

2010-11-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

This is Part I of a two-part collaboration between Eric Sessoms of My Customer Cloud & Nicole Radziwill.

Let’s say you’re the Leader of a Customer Service Intensive Environment or a Customer Service Rep working in one those environments. How can you be authentic – and promote authenticity – in your customer service interactions? That’s the motivation for our post: we’ve brainstormed some actionable ideas for how these Leaders and Customer Service Reps can achieve authenticity by using the 10 Commitments devised by leadership researchers Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner.

First and foremost, everyone in the organization must converge upon shared or core values – those principles or beliefs that everyone feels are important and worthy of merit. Usually, these values are determined by the leaders of a company, but in some progressive organizations and start-ups, core values emerge more organically as everyone collectively defines the organization.

There are lots of examples of core values, if you need to get some ideas:
* http://www.mysticmadness.com/20-examples-core-values.html
* https://mystrategicplan.com/resources/core-values/
* http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/smartwork/201008/core-values-wall-posters-or-culture-builders

Once you know what your core values are, and know that everyone is solidly committed to those values, it’s time to start exploring authenticity in customer service. This initial article explores the first 5 of Kouzes & Posner’s Commitments; Part 2 will discuss the remaining 5 Commitments.

Commitment #1: Leaders search out challenging opportunities to change, grow, and improve.

The search for challenging opportunities to change, grow, and improve coupled with an authentic desire to do what is best for the customer creates an environment ripe for customer-driven development. In a customer-driven development environment, the concerns and ideas of customers are carefully examined and any insight gained is folded back into company policies. As a result, the customers actively participate in defining the organization they want to serve them. Customer-driven development can occur at all levels of a company.

Leaders & Senior Management: Generate an atmosphere of proactive customer contact. And we don’t mean contacting customers with the primary goal being to sell them more stuff. Proactive customer contact done in an authentic way means finding out what (if anything) the customer needs or will need. Sometimes your product meets those needs. Sometimes it doesn’t. If it does, help your customer leverage your product to meet their needs. If it doesn’t, do a quick gap analysis and fold that amazingly valuable information back into your product development plans.

In the trenches: Ask customers directly how your company or products can be more responsive and useful to them. Then listen to what they have to say! Highlight how your product fits their needs now. Resist the urge to shoehorn their needs into the bounds of your product’s current capabilities. If higher management has done their job, there should be mechanisms in place for you to feed back what you learn into ongoing product development plans.

Commitment #2: Leaders experiment, take risks, and learn from the accompanying mistakes.

Leadership is fearless and daring – and simultaneously a practical endeavor that’s infused with a solid vision of where to go. That vision, however, can and should change in response to prototyping and tinkering with new ideas.

Leaders & Senior Management: If your CSRs have new and innovative ideas for how to make customers happier – set aside a period of time to pilot new approaches and techniques, even in they seem crazy. You never know what customers might really respond to, and appreciate. For example, try one of Kate’s Seven Kid Secrets from Tom Kelley’s book The Ten Faces of Innovation. According to Kate, the way to make anyone comfortable sharing their ideas is to use techniques that make kids comfortable sharing ideas. How do you do this? Ask them about their shoes (or something personally important to them). Offer information about yourself. Ask them to invite their best friend along to chat. Remind them you’re working on a “top secret” project. Ask them to describe their house or surroundings. Ask what they would buy with ten dollars (or half an hour of your company’s time). Make them laugh.

In the trenches: CSRs can be leaders too! Use your customer service script for ideas, but don’t be afraid to diverge from the plan to make your customers feel like they’re valued friends. One of the best customer service experiences I’ve ever had was on a two hour call waiting for engineers to fix my DSL service. Turns out the CSR was a retired homicide detective who told me all about how customer service is – and isn’t – like solving murders. It was the best two hours I ever spent waiting for anything. He probably violated his script quite a bit by telling me about murders, but I really felt like he was being compassionate about my ungodly two hour wait. It gave me wonderful fuzzy feelings about my telephone company… can you imagine?

Commitment #3: Leaders envision an uplifting and ennobling future.

Leaders & Senior Management: Positive attitudes are not only important, but infectious. If leaders don’t believe that their organization’s efforts can help make the individual worlds of their customers better places to be – then there’s no sense providing the support! If you really don’t think that the service you provide is useful, maybe it’s time to build a better company. The future is bright! If it’s not, change course – your bleak prospects will poison your customers’ experiences with you.

In the trenches: You have an image in your mind of a world where you can – and routinely do – make your customers happy. You share in the joy of solving their problems, and feel a sense of camaraderie and community as you do your job. This Commitment establishes the kind of attitude you should aim to bring to your store or call center.

Commitment #4: Leaders enlist others in a common vision by appealing to their values, interests, hopes, and dreams.

Leaders & Senior Management: In Allen Schoer’s article, Uncovering alignment with authentic stories, storytelling is promoted as an effective mechanism for creating alignment (or common vision within an organization). In an organization for which customer service is an important component, leaders can create a cohesive culture of authenticity through compelling narratives that inspire Customer Service Reps on the front lines. In order for storytelling to be most effective in creating a common vision, Schoer reminds leaders to encourage employees at all levels to participate in customer service and tell their own customer service stories.

In the trenches: For the customer service reps that interact daily with customers, being leader who enlists others in a common authentic vision can manifest in a couple important ways. First, a customer service rep can appeal to the desires of the customer directly through authentic behavior. By listening to the needs of customers and folding their values, interests, hopes, and dreams, a rep works with the customer to create a truly customer-oriented solution. Second, a customer service rep can build a common vision with other reps by example. By consistently demonstrating authenticity in customer service, a CSR provides a model for others to follow!

Commitment #5: Leaders foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust.

Leaders & Senior Management: In any organization, but particularly within an organization that values authenticity in customer service, leaders need to create an atmosphere of cooperation and trust. This means leaders should actively provide guidance to CSRs, empowering them to shape customer service goals. Sometimes, the best way to refine an approach is to temper it through constructive, third party feedback – and that’s the role a leader can play. In the end, the overall quality of customer service will benefit from a closed-loop system where guidance comes from the corporate level but is refined through experience.

In the trenches: From a previous blog post, Getting to Great: Authenticity in Customer Service, trust between a customer and the company that a CSR represents results from combining authentic behavior with an authentic desire to do what’s best for the customer. Moving beyond a desire to do what’s best for the customer and into doing what is best for the customer requires a collaborative effort between CSR and customer – combining input from the customer and a sense of empathic understanding from the CSR!

Continue to Part II, where we’ll cover the next 5 Commitments from Kouzes and Posner.

5 Must Haves for a Real-Time Online Multichannel Customer Service Solution

2010-10-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

Real-time online customer service communication encompasses many channels these days - live chat, SMS chat, instant messaging, and social networking applications such as Twitter. In each of these channels, customer service representatives can engage customers in active, real-time conversation. Companies need a solution that allows simultaneous staffing of each channel in real-time. When comparing real-time online multichannel customer service solutions, it is easy to get lost in the myriad of features and to get frustrated comparing apples to oranges. A better approach is to focus on the fundamental benefits a solution can provide, cull the competitors according to those fundamentals, and then compare features between the remaining competitors taking into account the cost/benefit ratio. The following list covers the 5 must haves for a real-time online multichannel customer service solution.

1) The solution must appear seamless and be transparent to the customer.

Simply put, the software should automatically route customer inquiries to the best resource available to address their issues with minimal fuss. Similarly when resources aren't available, the solution needs to direct customers to an asynchronous alternative, e.g. e-mail. Ideally, the solution should provide mechanisms that allow for transparent redirect based upon resource availability. In other words if Bob is your widget support expert but Sarah knows a little about the widget too, customers wanting widget support should first be routed to Bob and then to Sarah, if Bob is not available. From the customer's point of view, each channel should have the same capability to engage customer service in a conversation that will resolve their issues. If a customer needs to be transferred between customer service representatives during a conversation, that should be seamless as well.

2) The solution should seamlessly accommodate a growing customer base.

No one starts a business with the expectation it will not grow. Likewise, a real-time online customer service solution should be built with the expectation that a customer base will only grow in size. An increase in simultaneous customer-representative communication should never adversely affect the overall quality of customer communication. The solution should never place restrictions on the number of allowed concurrent customer conversations. Unless a company plans to grow out of one solution and into another, concurrent customer restrictions are a deal breaker.

3) Adding new concurrent channels should not be a big deal.

Initially, a real-time online multichannel customer service solution must support the communication channels of immediate interest to the company. However as business grows and technologies evolve, companies will want to add more simultaneously staffed channels to best engage their customers. The solution needs to seamlessly integrate new channels without any reduction in capacity or quality. Ideally, the solution should provide a common interface for all channels. A common interface minimizes training as each channel is used in exactly the same way and makes the addition of new channels trivial to a staffing plan.

4) Adding more concurrent representatives should not be a big deal.

As with communications channels as business grows, a real-time multichannel customer service solution must grow to accommodate the staff required to operate it. The solution needs to scale gracefully when concurrent customer service representatives are added without adversely affecting the quality of service to customers. Ideally, the solution should have a simple mechanism for integrating new representatives, making the addition of new staff solely a training process and not a software configuration fight.

5) The solution should integrate inter-representative communication.

Sometimes providing the best answers for and resolutions to customer inquiries requires a group effort. A real-time online multichannel customer service solution needs to provide a simple mechanism for communication between representatives. Ideally, the mechanism should hide the "behind-the-scenes" conversation from the customer unless a conference-like interaction is required.

Holiday Special at My Customer Cloud: 50% off chats

2010-10-16T14:09:00.001-07:00

Through December 2010, we are offering chats at 1/2 off our usual rate of $0.20/chat. That's only $0.10/chat! This offer is valid on new purchases only. Stock up now and save!

Grow Your Business, Revive the Economy!

2010-10-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

As a small business ourselves, we understand the impact small business has on the economy. At Nub Games, creators of My Customer Cloud, we believe that small businesses possess the power to spark the growth necessary to revive the struggling economy. We are starting a pay it forward campaign called Grow Your Business, Revive the Economy! We want to give growing businesses a boost with My Customer Cloud and are expanding our sign-up offer to help businesses who are hiring new customer service employees. We will credit your business 100 free chats for each newly hired customer service employee.

If you are part of a small business, please consider creating a "Grow Your Business, Revive the Economy!" pay it forward campaign of your own. Give other businesses a boost by offering what you do best. If you have a Twitter account, use the tag #ReviveEconomy to announce your campaign.

We'd love to hear how you are growing your business and/or how you are paying it forward for other small businesses. E-mail us at ccloud@mycustomercloud.com or post comments here!

Getting to Great: Authenticity in Customer Service

2010-10-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

A recent series of conversations between those at My Customer Cloud and Dr. Nicole M. Radziwill evolved into her latest blog post, Getting to Great: Authenticity in Customer Service. It details the importance of combining authentic behavior with an authentic desire to do what’s best for the customer. The result is great customer service through the establishment of trust between customer and company.

Dr. Nicole M. Radziwill is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrated Science & Technology at James Madison University and creator of the Quality & Innovation Blog. Her current passion for authenticity is also embodied in her recent book entitled, Disconnected: Technology Addiction & the Search for Authenticity in Virtual Life.

What is Multichannel Customer Service?

2010-10-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

I was somewhat surprised to find that when I Googled for "what is multichannel customer service" that I received no results. Out of curiosity, I tried "what is multichannel marketing" which did produce results. 2,240 results actually. When I tried my original search phrase without quotes, I received over a million results. The lack of a basic "what is" definitions is intriguing to me. How could the unquoted text generate so many results and the quoted text return zero? I plan to spend more time perusing the web knowledge out there on the topic and see if I can get a better feel for reason behind the omission. Maybe the definition is too simple to warrant actually taking the time to write it? In the meantime, I figured that I'd give a definition a try and see if I can be ranked #1 in the Google results for "what is multichannel customer service." Shouldn't be too hard, it isn't like there is any competition at the moment. :-)

What is multichannel customer service? Multichannel customer service is the execution of a customer service strategy utilizing more than one customer communication channel.

The Importance of Consistency in Multichannel Customer Service

2010-10-03T19:43:00.001-07:00

Multichannel customer service is challenging because once more than one channel for customer communication is added, there is opportunity for confusion. And not only is there opportunity for confusion, the confusion can originate from the customers, the customer service representatives, or both. But why does multichannel customer service provide opportunity for confusion and what can be done to mitigate it? The answer lies in the accumulated complexity of the channels and the inevitable decision on how best to deal with that complexity. Because customer service is a many layered issue, the discussion that follows is focused at the front end - the communication channel between customer and representative.

The inner workings of a customer service department are mostly a black box to the customers. However dysfunction within the department can bubble up as an ugly wart to customers in the form of a negative customer service experience. An important strategy to achieve positive experiences is to ensure that customers receive a consistent service experience across channels. Multiple customer communication channels can make it difficult for companies to achieve consistency in a number of ways. Each communication channel may have its own account structure and/or dedicated service staff. For example if a company uses live support chat on its website, staff need to be trained on how to use live support chat, live support chat needs to be integrated into the larger customer service strategy, and live support chat might also require a new account and/or service for which the company must maintain. Now consider other popular channels such as phone, e-mail, SMS chat, instant messaging, and social networks. Each channel will bring its own unique challenges, but in general a company must always consider training, inclusion of a channel into the overall strategy, and maintenance of the channel. If the channels are not handled in a consistent and complimentary way, customers will notice as soon as they switch from one channel to another. And each channel, from the customer's point of view, should be equally capable of resolving the issue at hand.

A risk factor for confusion in multichannel customer service is the coordination of channels primarily through a staffing strategy. That is, devote a portion of each representative's time to coordination overhead and logistics. However this is less than ideal for a number of reasons, but the biggest reason is that the primary purpose of the representatives is to serve the customers and any other task given to them only detracts from that purpose. Because the number of online customer service channels seems to be steadily increasing, companies need to look seriously into solutions that tie channels together in a flexible, extensible way to achieve efficiency and consistency without stealing time and energy from the human-human interaction going on between representative and customer. Ideally, the solution should consolidate the various channels into a centralized service and provides a "value added" layer above the raw channels that enables consistency in the customer experience. An example of such a "value added" layer would be a uniform interface above each of the channels making each look the same to the representative; the benefit of this value layer would be the reduced need for training across channels as well as an increased focus on the customer conversation rather than the technology enabling the conversation.

When staffing multiple customer communication channels, a company must ensure that the customer is provided with a consistent customer experience across channels. The right solution to minimize disruption and confusion across channels is critical to ensuing good customer conversation.

Why Is There So Much Bad Customer Service?

2010-09-22T09:50:00.001-07:00

It seems that anyone who thinks about customer service is obligated to write something about bad customer service. But I don't just want to write about bad customer service (everyone has tons of stories to share on that topic), I'm more interested in exploring why it seems to be so pervasive today. And for me, it always comes back to a single source - the paycheck.

When I think of customer service (and I mean the good kind), the image of a shopkeeper from an old western always springs to mind first. Shopkeepers greeted their customers when they walked into the store, helped customers find what they needed and, when the shopping trip was done, cheerfully invited the customers back. The small mom-and-pop stores today generally have that same connection with their customers. I think it because small businesses can more easily see the impact a customer has on their business. It is easier for them to realize that the customer is the business. As companies grow in size, this realization seems to get lost somewhere. And I think that the "somewhere" is concentrated in the paycheck.

In larger companies, employees are paid hourly wages or salaries. They get a physical pay check from the company and because of this, I think it is easy for an employee to think that they work for the company and not for the customer. In a sense, large companies act as a sort of legal money launderer - concealing the source of the money (the customer) from the employee come pay day. From the employee's point of view, they get paid whether the customer is happy or not and whether they sell product or not. Ah, but what about commission sales, you ask. I would definitely agree that sales people working for commission (fully or in part) are more attentive. But that attentiveness is generally focused on the sale and not the customer. Customers get this important difference. I know that my first inclination when entering a car lot is to cringe as the sales people descend upon me before I can even exit my vehicle.

I've been thinking about bad customer service for quite some time and have read several other blog posts on the topic. There are a lot of bad customer service symptoms. But for me, the root cause always leads back to the paycheck. The perception that the company pays the salary (which it technically does) is so strong that the source of that money (the customer) is forgotten.

What is a Customer Cloud?

2010-09-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

The complexities of staffing multiple online customer service channels simultaneously is a growing headache in online customer service. Each customer communication channel (live support chat, AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, ICQ, SMS chat, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) requires the creation of a new account as well as a plan for how to staff that account within the greater service. The headache originates from the coordination of these channels solely using a staffing strategy. That is, devote a portion of a customer service representative's time to coordination overhead. A better strategy is to transfer responsibility for logistics from representative to software - a customer cloud. However before a customer cloud can be fully defined, it is worth a more detailed examination of why the decision to coordinate online customer service channels primarily through a staffing strategy can cause such a headache.

There are a number of possible staffing strategies to harness a portion of a representative's time to deal with logistics. One extreme is to assign customer service representatives by channel. Another extreme is to assign all representatives to every channel simultaneously. However in practice, the answer usually lies somewhere between these extremes to achieve a measure of efficiency while accommodating technological limits. Chances are that no one channel, except maybe live support chat, generates enough traffic to justify dedicated staffing. Monitoring many channels simultaneously improves efficiency. But some technologies, like instant messaging, only allow singular logons. Assigning multiple simultaneous representatives for these technologies isn't a viable option. Because the number of online customer service channels will only increase, what is needed is a way to tie channels together in a flexible, extensible way to achieve efficiency while overcoming technological limitations. Such a solution can be thought of as a customer cloud. A customer cloud combines channels into a centralized service and provides a "value added" layer above the raw channels. In the case of instant messaging, the value added layer can be the ability to transform a channel oriented for individual use into a channel that can be staffed with multiple, simultaneous representatives. Cloud computing provides a platform to transcend these difficulties and to create a customer cloud.

Cloud computing is a popular technology buzz phrase. But, what does it really mean in practical terms? In short, cloud computing flexibly provides resources on demand with little effort on the part of the consumer. Increased capacity and new capabilities are two types of resources in cloud computing. In the context of online customer service, increased capacity and new capabilities offer a cure for the headache created by multiple channels in the form of software. Increased capacity translates into more customers or more customer service representatives. As a company's online customer service demand grows, the software grows as well. Cloud computing offers an infrastructure that provides additional capacity on demand to support growth in a transparent fashion. New capabilities translate into additional customer service channels. When a company adds a new channel, the software incorporates the new piece as part of the whole with minimal fuss and retraining. Harnessing cloud computing in this way for online customer service is what creates a customer cloud.

Part of the power of a customer cloud lies in the growth and flexibility offered by cloud computing. There isn't complicated software to install and maintain, everything is treated as an online service. Adding new communication channels is easy, they integrate into a central service with which representatives are already familiar. Growth in the customer base doesn't require buying new computing infrastructure or additional software. But the real power of a customer cloud is that it places the focus on the customer, not on the software. Let the software take care of the headache of coordinating communication channels and accommodating growth. Focus the representatives' full attention on the customer conversation. After all, software is just a solution. The real value in customer service lies in the ability to create an excellent customer experience.

Instant Messaging for Customer Service

2010-09-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

Instant messaging, or IM, as we know it today started getting widely popular in the mid-1990's through clients like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). IM has been used for online customer service for almost as many years, once companies figured out that they could use it to communicate with customers. IM continues to be a popular form of online communication today, with the number of IM networks and clients available being a testament to that popularity. Companies can create accounts with popular IM networks and reach the customers who already use those networks. Instead of having to visit a website to contact a company, customers can IM directly with the company through their buddy list. Another variant of IM is live support chat for websites. Companies embed a chat widget into a websites allowing customers to chat directly with customer service representatives. Live support chat solutions are usually operated separately from the popular IM networks.

IM and live support chat on websites are effective tools to engage customers in conversations that, hopefully, create an excellent service experience. Both chat mechanisms allow customers instant access to customer service representatives. IM is more flexible than live support chat on a website because the customer does not need to visit a website in order to initiate a chat. Both IM and live support chat offer the customer an immediate conduit to representatives. She does not have to navigate your website to find a contact number. She does not have to send an e-mail and wait for an answer. She can ask right now. As a result, she is probably more likely to ask a question that, while of interest to her, may not warrant the perceived importance associated with a phone call or the wait associated with an e-mail.

IM for customer service is not without its challenges. One challenge is determining how best to staff multiple networks. There are a number of popular IM networks available. A company needs to decide on which network or networks it wishes to participate. Live support chat adds yet another network into the mix. In the past, staffing multiple networks with multiple IM accounts was more of a challenge. Today, there are a number of software solutions (e.g. Pidgin, Meebo Me) available that can gather multiple IM accounts together within a single software client. However, this does not necessarily solve the problem of consolidating live support chat with popular IM networks; such a consolidation is left to the capabilities of the live support chat solution. A second challenge is that popular IM clients and networks are primarily designed for individuals to chat with individuals. This limitation makes it hard to staff an IM service for customer service. For a company of any size, there is a need for multiple simultaneous operators to reasonably handle a large customer chat load. A third challenge is that there are also customer service flow issues that need to be addressed such as transferring customers between representatives. Because of these challenges, you'll want to look closely at any solutions you consider to make sure each is adequately addressed.

An Excellent Article on How to Deliver Great Customer Service

2010-09-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

I recently read a great article entitled How to Deliver Great Customer Service. It details 10 tips on how to deliver great customer service, with each tip focusing on caring for customers. It really did a good job detailing the importance of internalizing customer care.

Actually after reading the article, I thought about changing the title of this blog to "Thoughts on Great Online Customer Service," but decided against it. Great customer service should be the norm and not the exception. We should take back customer service to mean great customer service and leave the adjectives to indicate something lesser.

Reaching Customers Through Social Networking

2010-09-08T18:43:00.000-07:00

In today's world of mobile devices and online social networking, customers are increasingly getting their information from sources outside a company's website. For example, customers commonly follow Twitter feeds to keep up-to-date with their favorite companies or become fans of a company's Facebook page. But the information doesn't just flow from company to customer. Thoughts and feedback from a customer can flow back to a business or be shared with other customers of that businesses through online social networking. Customers commonly interact with other customers through Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. If a business wants to take advantage of both directions for information flow, customer service needs to be available on social networks and become part of the online conversation. In order to establish a relationship between business and customer, businesses need to be where their customers are. And chances are that many of their customers are already participating in online social networks.

Social networking is nothing new. Humans are social creatures. We prefer to surround ourselves with people who share our interests. Many long-term relationships start with a conversation shared over a topic of mutual interest. We nurture and possibly expand our networks of friends, acquaintances, and business associates every day, one conversation at a time. Online social networking is an expansion of what humans have always done into a new medium, the Internet. Social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, offer a special kind of conversation, one that is both familiar and new to businesses at the same time. Familiar characteristics include the spread of information to customers from other customers, the ability to improve customer relationships through communication, and the ability to establish a loyal customer following. However, the speed at which information flows, the large number of customers available on the web, and the persistence of information may take businesses by surprise.

Word of mouth is a powerful way for both positive and negative information to flow between existing and potential customers. In the physical world, this process of information distribution from person to person can be relatively slow. In the online world, information usually spreads much faster. In fact, it can spread like a wildfire or, more appropriately, like a virus from person to person. This phenomenon is usually referred to as "going viral," particularly when applied to e-mail, videos, or online marketing. A viral response from customers is a hit and miss proposition. But the potential for establishing solid customer relationships through social networking is available to all businesses and is arguably a much more important goal.

The persistence and availability of information on social networking sites can be both a blessing and a curse for businesses. When customers tweet through Twitter or post comments to Facebook pages, that content remains on the Internet for a long time and can be seen by many, many people. Establish a great track record for customer service through social networking and it becomes a blessing. Not only can businesses directly address issues their customers experience, they can build credibility with other existing or potential customers that might happen upon the online content. Establish a poor track record for customer service (or even worse, ignore your customers) through social networking and it becomes a curse.

Finally, social sites like Twitter and Facebook don't just have to be about static content. Businesses can make use of real-time conversation there as well. There are software solutions available that integrate live chat into Facebook pages; live chat allows customers to reach customer service representatives in real-time. There are also software solutions available that allow customer service representatives to receive tweets as they are posted and respond in a near real-time way. By combining static content with real-time conversation, a social networking site can be transformed into a customer-oriented service site.

SMS Chat for Customer Service

2010-09-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

SMS stands for short message service and forms the mechanics behind text messages. In today's world of mobile devices and increasing cell phone coverage, technologies like text messaging are used heavily to do just about everything. Not only are mobile devices important one's personal life, they are also important for one's business. Businesses are using SMS for a variety of purposes, including marketing, sales, and customer service.

SMS can be used for both one-way and two-way communications. In one-way communication, a message is sent with no expectation of reply. Communications of this type are usually informational in nature with no immediate action required on the part of the recipient. With two-way communication, a conversation is now possible. SMS chat falls into this second category.

An increasing number of businesses are integrating live chat into their websites to connect with customers in real-time as they browse. The concept of live chat is very simple. Customers are presented with two text boxes - one to type text intended for a representative, and one to receive replies from the representative. The result is a powerful and effective method to engage customers in a conversation that, hopefully, creates an excellent service experience. But what customers that aren't browsing a company's website? SMS chat offers a solution.

With SMS chat, mobile customers enjoy all of the benefits of website live chat without being tied to the website. A mobile customer can text a customer support phone number to connect with a customer care representative. The representative then responds and engages the customer in a conversation. Thus, SMS chat provides yet another channel for customers and businesses to communicate. And not only is it another channel, it is both convenient and timely for customers as well. SMS chat provides customers with an immediate conduit to your customer care representatives from their favorite mobile device.

SMS chat is a low-cost customer service solution for businesses. There are a number of software solutions available with a variety of price points. Shop around and you'll most likely find a product that contains the features you'll want at a price that fits your budget.

For businesses looking to make customer service more available to customers, SMS chat is genuinely worth consideration. These days just about everybody has a cell phone. SMS chat will help businesses stay connected with customers on the go.

Considering Live Chat for Customer Service?

2010-09-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

If you are considering live chat for customer service, you probably already have a website. Almost every business has a website these days. The purposes of the websites vary as much as the types of businesses that build them. Some business websites just focus on providing information and an increasing number of business websites offer sales of products or services to internet customers. Although running a website and offering internet sales might be new to some business owners, the importance of excellent customer service should not be new at all. Listening to customers is just as important online as it is face-to-face and live chat is an important way to connect with online customers.

I am a customer. You are a customer. Everyone becomes a customer many times over in a day - coffee shops, gas stations, any business to which your daily routine takes you. You already know how an initial excellent customer service experience can turn into a long-term customer/business relationship. Everybody seems to have that one favorite business that is frequented and recommended to family and friends. You also know that there are businesses that will never get your repeat business, probably due to a bad service experience. Customer service experiences - good and bad - happen online every day too.

Online businesses usually offer customer service through phone and e-mail. An increasing number of businesses are integrating live chat into their websites to connect with customers in real-time as they browse. The concept of live chat is very simple. Customers are presented with two text boxes - one to type text intended for a representative, and one to receive replies from the representative. The result is a powerful and effective method to engage customers in a conversation that, hopefully, creates an excellent service experience.

Why is live chat powerful and effective? An obvious answer is that it provides yet another channel for customers and businesses to communicate. This is definitely important. After all, excellent customer service requires giving your customers a voice through which they can communicate their needs and feedback. A more subtle answer lies in the timeliness and informality of live chat. A live chat widget embedded on a web page offers the customer an immediate conduit to your representatives. She does not have to navigate your website to find a contact number. She does not have to send an e-mail and wait for an answer. She can ask right now. And because the chat widget is right there on the page, she is probably more likely to ask a question that, while of interest to her, may not warrant the perceived importance associated with a phone call or the wait associated with an e-mail.

Because online customer service is important, businesses are increasingly incorporating live chat to connect with customers on their websites. If you represent a business that values excellent customer service, live chat is genuinely worth consideration.