European companies should focus on three critical areas – or pillars – to build great customer experiences according to a report from Creative Virtual. The report – “The 2013 Global Customer Support Outlook Survey” -- says that to implement a strong customer experience program, companies need to make it a strategic imperative that has executive level support backed by measurable data.
“Only then will they be able to secure the budget and internal support required to enhance the customer experience on all channels,” the report says.
Here are the three pillars identified in the report that are necessary to build an effective customer experience program:
Knowledge Management: The ability to disseminate knowledge across an organization can help enhance the customer experience. “Find gaps in your current processes that can cause customer frustration and find tools that can help you solve them.”
Analytics: Data is key in identifying areas of concern and opportunity. “Go beyond traditional web analytics and look for tools that provide you with a more granular level of data that focuses on what customers are asking. Then use this data to inform your strategy, communicate its strategic importance, and secure the budget you need to meet your goals.”
Content Delivery: “Our hyper-connected society demands that you provide access to information on multiple channels. Find out where your customers are and develop a strategy to deal with their inquiries. Use interactive tools like virtual assistants, live chat, and IVR to augment the experience. These can help your customers find information faster and therefore, improve the impression they have of your brand.”
EMEA respondents said that communicating the strategic importance within the organization and managing content while ensuring accuracy and consistency were their biggest challenges.
Nearly 60% of North American respondents said that a lack of budget was their biggest challenge, followed by managing content while ensuring accuracy and consistency, and their inability to support a consistent multichannel strategy.
Creative Virtual surveyed 176 respondents via an online questionnaire. They represented companies from the Asia-Pacific Region, Central America, EMEA, the Middle East and Africa, and South America, with the majority being from North America.
While customer support budgets have remained largely unchanged, there is a major opportunity to do more with existing funds.
“Companies can, in effect, reduce customer support costs by simply leveraging newer technologies that create greater efficiency and better metrics to inform your customer experience strategy,” the report says. “With companies paying more attention to what their customers want, they can create great customer experiences that help them achieve key business goals