1、ebookEmbracing thePower ofPersonalizationOvercoming 3 Contact Center Challenges02Personalization is more than just a buzzword in business today its a necessity.More than 70%of consumers expect companies todeliver personalized interactions.To retain and improve customerloyalty in a highly competitive

2、 market,contact centers must focuson what McKinsey&Company calls the care of one,orhyperpersonalization.While technologies such as chatbots and automated decision treesare now the norm,they sometimes miss the mark on deliveringthose hyper-personalized interactions customers crave.But with afew small

3、 changes,delighting customers can be as simple asidentifying callers with a personalized opening message.That meansgoing from this:“Thanks for calling Company A.Your approximatewait time is five minutes.”To this:“Alex,thanks for being a CompanyA customer for two years.An agent will be with you in fi

4、ve minutes.We appreciate your patience.”To achieve small but impactful personalized experiences like theone above,contact centers need the right kind of data,technologies,and processes.In this eBook,well explain threechallenges that stand in the way of creating personalized care andhow to overcome t

5、hem.Challenge 1:Going from ReactiveCommunication to ProactiveCommunicationChallenge 2:Creating Consistent,Personalized care Across Every ChannelChallenge 3:Caring Not Only For YourCustomers But Your Agents030710IntroductionContents03Challenge#1Going from reactivecommunication to proactivecommunicati

6、onTraditionally,contact centers have taken a reactivecommunication approach to customer issues,concerns,orcomplaints.However,customers increasingly expect contactcenters to already understand and be ready to respond to theirneeds as soon as an agent comes on the line.This kind ofcommunication approa

7、ch is personalized and consideredproactive.Lets break down the differences between the twoand how to strengthen your teams proactive communication.04Reactive communication occurs when the technology used requires an agent to find and piece together data from differentsources to solve customer issues

8、 essentially reacting to the processes at hand,not the customer.The agent spends much oftheir time hopping between systems.A typical reactive communication interaction may look like this:What is reactive communication?Alex calls and receives this automatedmessage:“Thanks for calling Sharpen.Yourappr

9、oximate wait time is seven minutes.”The experience doesnt feel very personalized to Alex,who needs to explain the issue over and over again to an agent everytime he calls.More than anything,Alexs frustration is building,and he vows never to be a customer of this company again inthe future.However,pr

10、oactive communication looks quite different.Once connected,the agent searches forAlexs data in a separate customerrelationship management(CRM)system.Once the agent returns to the line,they ask a few morequestions to better understand the issue at hand and howto solve it.The agent cant answer his que

11、stions right away as theyneed to go into a separate ticket system to pull up the emailAlex is referring to,so they place him on a three-minutehold.Alex begins to explain the situation,talking throughquestions and concerns with the agent.He says he emailedcustomer support three days ago for the same

12、issue.05With this approach,the technology used compiles and aggregates customer data to help agents provide personalized experiences from thestart of every interaction helping customers feel that their concerns or requests are valued and important.This means agents have acomplete view of customer in

13、teraction history at their fingertips,such as the number of interaction times,tier status(if applicable),total talkor handle times,different communication channels contacted with contextual information on each interaction,etc.With this,agents alreadyhave a basic understanding of the customer and can

14、 proactively solve the issue at hand instead of digging for information.The reactive interaction above would look like this from a proactive communication approach:What is proactive communication?Alex calls and the systemautomatically pulls up hisprofile and sends thispersonalized response:“Hi,Alex.

15、Thanks for callingSharpen.An agent will bewith you in one minute.Thanks for your patience.”Once connected,the agenthas a complete view ofAlexs data in oneinterface.Since the agentscan see exactly howprevious agents have triedto solve the issue,they trya different approach andwalk Alex through apossi

16、ble solution.The agent sets up anautomated outbound SMSsurvey to send to Alex in afew days to check if the issueis resolved.If Alex respondsthat hes still having trouble,a trigger will alert agents onduty that they need to reachback out.Since the system knows this customerhas called several times be

17、fore in thepast week,it pushes him to the font ofthe queue.The agent delivers more empathicservice and apologizes to Alex sincethey know hes called and email thisproblem before.Setting up automated outbound messages like appointment reminders,surveys,and order confirmation and tracking through SMS o

18、r email takes you from a reactive to a proactive communication approach.06Customer data is at the heart of the proactive approach.Connecting this data to where agents are using inbound andoutbound tools is critical,so instead of searching for thisinformation between different systems,agents have a c

19、ompleteview of the customers history from the very start of a call orinteraction.Even an automated decision tree can be personalizedwhen customer data is fully integrated.A platform that easily integrates with your CRM,provides an easy-to-use interface with a complete view of the customer all on one

20、screen,and gives your agents modern tools,like automatedoutbound messaging,helps personalize every interaction.Strengthening yourteams proactivecommunication07Challenge#2Creating consistent,personalized care acrossevery channelReady to take your proactive communication beyond the phonelines?With 9 o

21、ut of 10 customers wanting omnichannel service,astrong cross-channel strategy is more vital than ever.However,providing a consistent experience for customers without theproper tech stack can be a challenge.Contact centers need asingle truth source where customer information and interactionsseamlessl

22、y flow ensuring each touchpoint in the customerjourney is personalized.08Self-service tools can help boost your containment rates,whichis the rate at which customers use an automated system,website,or chatbot to solve their issues without a live agent.Insome cases,these tools can increase containmen

23、t by nearly20%,according to McKinsey&Company.The benefits includereducing call volumes and costs.But even if a customer doesnt solve their issue through self-service,there is another big benefit if a customer does end upcalling for additional support.Because the customer is feedinginformation into t

24、hese self-service tools,that information can bebrought directly into a phone interaction.Effective omnichanneltechnology will alert an agent to the customers intentions andactions prior to the call,helping to reduce the time it takes toresolve the issue.The agent will essentially have a leg up on wh

25、ythe customer is calling,enabling a more proactive andpersonalized experience.Why you need self-service toolsA low-code/no-code workflow builder that handles voice,chat,SMS,email,social media,etc.both for inbound and agentless outboundinteractions so no matter how a customer interacts with yourcompa

26、ny,the context between channels are integrated,and theexperience is seamless.Action bots or alerts that can be triggered such as automated re-routing of customers to self-service chatbots for simple inquiries soagents have time to focus on high-priority calls or can access data fromthe self-service

27、bot to solve issues faster.The ability to collect customer journey data and provide AI-driveninsights such as visibility into routing and customer interactions socontact center managers can change and optimize the customerjourney based on real facts,not assumptions.Upgrading to a single platform tha

28、t includes these features not only improves thecustomer experience but can reduce costs.Its how Radio Systems,amanufacturing company,saved$324,000 while incorporating new channels foragent and customer interactions.09According to McKinsey&Company,more than half of customers engage withthree to five

29、channels before finalizing a purchase or resolving a request.In orderto develop a strong omnichannel strategy,you need the right technology.Lookfor a solution that offers these three main features:The technology youchoose matters“We are just thrilled with our partnershipwith Sharpen and impressedwit

30、h the speed to go-live as well as howeasy it is for the agents to use.Becky Gargis,Director of Customer Care,Radio Systems10Challenge#3Caring not only for yourcustomers but your agentsIn order to meet the demands of a hyper-personalized customerexperience,contact centers need skilled and intuitive a

31、gents,but retention remains a key obstacle today.The averageturnover rate for the contact center industry ranges between30-40%,with top-performing agents making up the bulk ofthose leaving.One part of the equation is giving agents the technology andtools they need to do their job more effectively.Th

32、e other part and its often overlooked is personalized opportunities forcareer growth.Engaged and satisfied call center employees are16x more likely to stay than leave within a year,and 3.3x morelikely to feel extremely empowered to resolve customer issues.Provide personalizedcareer supportWith many

33、contact centers moving to remote operations,coachingthat would have happened in real time in an office setting needed tochange.Traditionally,when a manager heard one of their agentsstruggling with a call,they could just pop over to their desk andassist as needed.That same level of coaching can still

34、 happenremotely,and even be more effective with help from data andanalytics.For example,technology that collects and analyzes agentKPIs can uncover poor performance areas and why they may behappening.Managers then know what training efforts to undertakeand which agents may need additional support.To

35、ols that enable managers to review interactions and leavecomments directly inside an interaction in real time withoutneeding to stop a call in progress or put a customer on hold giveagents the opportunity to develop skills on their own.Another way to empower agents is to set up personalizedperforman

36、ce dashboards.When agents have real-time visibility intotheir individual success,and how it measures against their peers,they can take greater control of their careers.Managers can takedata from an agents dashboard and tailor 1-on-1s to drive moreimpactful,personalized training.11About SharpenAs you

37、r partner in performance,productivity,and empowerment,Sharpendelivers better outcomes:better outcomes for customers,agents,and yourbusiness.Our contact center platform is intentionally designed and masterfullyengineered for a seamless,intuitive experience across the board for a CXdifference you can

38、seeand Put personalized care at thecenter of your strategy forbetter customer and agentexperiencesWhen it comes to delivering personalized care,your service is only as good as your data.Contact centers need to collect,analyze,and act on data from several different sources todelight customers with th

39、e personalized experiences they crave.With a platform likeSharpen,they can do just that.Integrate key data sources,then route,measure,and record customer interactions fromevery channel and see it compiled all in one place.Acting on those data insights is easier,too.Deliver personalized customer experiences with AI-supported decision-making andautomated workflows.Give your agents and managers the tools they need to focus onbuilding human connections,not complicated processes.Help your agents go from data diggers to customer consultants with Sharpen.Lets chatSharpenCX.com|855.249.3357