Customer Service Becomes a Marketing Tool
Similarly, companies need data from all customer touchpoints to ensure they provide their highest-value customers with a higher level of service. In some cases, companies can offer multiple tiers of service.
TURNING NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES
Despite their best efforts, companies can’t completely eradicate all negative customer experiences. Errors will inevitably happen, whether that means missing a delivery window or shipping the wrong item.
Other times, there might not be a flaw in the customer service per se, but there is a mismatch between what customer service can do and what the customer expects. The financial services industry saw this early on when customers expected the same responsiveness from remote banking apps as they had from retail apps.
It’s all about resolution, according to Punishill, who notes that with social media, customer complaints can go public very quickly.
The successful resolution of a customer’s issue—especially when the customer recognizes that the company went above and beyond what was expected to address his complaint, and especially when he expresses his pleasure on social media—can be a great time to ask the customer if he can be cited in the company’s marketing materials.
Look for advocates; people are watching those messages in real time, Punishill says.
However, even with integrated systems and a shared marketing, sales, and fulfillment focus, the linchpin for customer service usually comes down to the contact center agent or other customer-facing personnel, according to Smuda. “You need to hire and train the right people, ones who are dedicated to providing a great customer experience,” he says.
One of the prime examples of this is USAA, which serves current and former members of the military and their families. The financial services and insurance company favors ex-military in its hiring, people who know some of the financial challenges members face and seek to service those needs. The company then highlights those successes in its marketing and advertising.
Myers adds that to provide exceptional customer service, these front-line personnel need to have the access to 360-degree customer data.
“You might have a treasure trove of data, but you need to know how to properly structure it and organize it so that the customer service employees can take action,” Myers says.
Beyond the front-line customer service employees, chief marketing officers, ones who have a true customer focus, are another essential element in the customer service equation, according to Nikki Mendonca, global president of Accenture Interactive Operations.
“Past marketing formulas are no match against the new breed of disruptors that seems able to win, time and again, by delivering more relevant customer experiences,” Accenture says in its “Way Beyond Marketing” report. “To stay ‘in the new,’ pioneering CMOs infuse a customer-centered culture that shapes marketing strategy.”
These CMOs instill a customer-obsessed culture and focus on marketing as the focal point for a single customer record for the entire customer journey, from first contact through sales and service.
“The companies that get [customer service] right are the ones that understand the potency of it,” Mendonca says. “What is so sad is that only 17 percent of companies are getting it right. Many companies that are seeking to improve customer retention are still struggling on how to do it. Marketing and sales need to be focused around customer service.”
It’s not an easy fix, Mendonca concedes, citing the need for rich data, the elimination of silos, and the related challenges mentioned earlier.
But it’s worth it for companies to solve those challenges because, as a sales and marketing strategy, “CX works,” Mendonca says.
Phillip Britt is a freelance writer based in the Chicago area. He can be reached at spenterprises@wowway.com.