Customer service, something that is so conceptually simple, has become strangely complex in the age of social media. It is a term that can easily carry different meanings, even between business owners working in the same industry. This is because customer voices are no longer muted when they leave a store or hang up the phone after speaking with a service agent. Review sites and social media networks allow the dialogue to continue long after a transaction is completed, providing interfaces for both business owners and their customers to speak about, and respond to, questions and concerns about different products and services. For any business, there can potentially be countless relevant conversations happening across the Internet, and it is the responsibility of business owners to stay current with what customers and clients have to say by continuously collecting data about those conversations.
Analytics:
Why? Why not?
Data
collection and analytics are divisive topics. Some businesses rely on them and
make good use of the harvested information, some mishandle that info, and
others don’t bother collecting
it at all. Differing ideologies about whether or not these practices should
apply to customer service come down to both the attitudes of business owners
and the nature of their businesses. For example, a reputable “Mom
and Pop” shop in a small town probably won’t be relying on
online feedback as much as a new restaurant in a big city might. Customer
feedback in any form, though, is crucial for businesses to understand the
improvements that they can make to products, staff, infrastructure, etc. For
some, getting that information is as easy as engaging with customers in person.
For others, it’s necessary to trek
through cyberspace to find answers.
How
Deep Should You Dig?
So,
where is the line drawn in data collection?
Is there a line at all? Short of full-on NSA-like spying, there doesn’t appear to be a clear-cut
answer. The options for finding customer feedback about a business can be as
simple as doing some Google searches and keeping a diligent watch on Yelp,
Facebook, and Twitter pages. With that method, though, some conversations will
almost certainly be missed. Leaving that task to analytics software can fill in
the gaps.
The
Utility of Speech Analytics
If
your business operates a call center or contact center, speech analytics can be
a particularly useful tool for getting a better understanding of what your
customers are looking for, as well as what your employees are doing to help. As
part of your quality monitoring program, this kind of software will analyze
recorded calls to identify keywords, phrases, etc. that are relevant to your
brand. It will also allow you to pinpoint under-performing or under-trained staff
members and categorize calls as necessary. Phone calls between agents and
customers can reveal a lot about the behaviors of people on either end of the
conversation, and though it’s
not possible to listen in on each individual call, these dialogues provide a
unique perspective that you won’t
get from just reading reviews or comments online. Hearing first-hand how your
employees handle customer relations is vital for understanding the feedback you’re bound to
receive.
Let
Text Analytics Be Your Eyes
While
speech analytics is great for examining phone calls, text analytics can check
out just about every other channel where customers will be talking about your
business. Good software will be able to gather data from social media, survey
comments, email, news and review sites, and many other sources. Beyond just
getting a big picture idea of what customers think about your business and its
products, text analytics will help you identify areas that need improvement, as
well as potential emerging issues. Proactive customer service will always win
out over passive service, so the faster you act on preventing emerging issues
and fixing areas that need fixing, the better off your business will be in the
long term. Use text analytics data to get an idea of what your company’s reputation is,
and if it’s not what you want
it to be, read up on what people don’t
like and make the necessary changes.
Understand
How Your Employees are Operating
In
any customer service role, efficiency is what separates excellent employees
from the rest of the pack. One way to examine how your staff goes about
completing their work on a day-to-day basis is to utilize desktop and process
analytics, which will examine how employees use applications and systems to
perform their work in contact centers, branches, and back-office operations.
Previous difficulties with measuring and analyzing these procedures have become
feasible with this solution, and with its implementation, your business can
improve efficiency, reduce costs and liability, and greatly improve the
customer experience.
Data
collection and analytics tools are no longer just for statisticians and
scientists. They are innovations that are actually making the customer service
game a little easier to play. Consider taking a more proactive approach with
your customer service strategy. The technology can be intimidating, but it’s hard to argue
with the results.
CJ Silva is VP of Operations at KOVA Corporation.
