A survey conducted by Firstsource Solutions during this year’s Call Center Week 2013 – recently held in Las Vegas – shows that the majority of call center executives are sitting pretty when it comes to the quality of their customer service. In fact, 85 percent of those surveyed described their organization’s customer service as either “exceptional” or “good.” Meanwhile, only one percent admitted to delivering customer service that missed the mark.
Now, it’s one thing to say that delivering exceptional customer service is a top priority, but to confidently claim that you are currently delivering it is an entirely separate thing. The reason why it seems most execs aren’t coming clean is obvious to our eyes: The vast majority of them haven’t implemented a multi-channel service approach yet. When it comes to ensuring a positive and engaging customer experience, servicing consumers through every viable channel is a must, and yet 35 percent of respondents said that converting to a multi-channel approach is their biggest challenge yet.
Other challenges cited include:
· Struggling to integrate brand into a company’s customer-to-agent online relationship (40 percent)
· Adapting key performance indicators (KPIs) to match social media interactions (29 percent)
· Legal liabilities (18 percent)
· The agent’s digital communication abilities (13 percent)
Furthermore, top multi-channel priorities cited by respondents include:
· Web chat (38 percent)
· Mobile integration (26 percent)
· Social networking (22 percent)
· Analytics (14 percent)
Last but certainly not least, a whopping 79 percent of executives said they either fully or somewhat utilize social and digital media to communicate with their customers. Conversely, only two percent said that they have not – nor have no plans – to do so.
It seems clear that call centers not only want but need robust call center solutions that support multi-channel customer interaction. This can include: real-time collaboration and seamless CRM integrations for strengthening internal operations; as well as features that help strengthen agents’ digital communication skill set, like CTI screen pops and multi-channel virtual queuing.