Rather than attempt to cut the costs of delivering customer service on the phone, how you can use that opportunity to actually increase customer satisfaction and revenue through the use of technology?

Shep Hyken speaks with Kyle Christensen, VP of Marketing at Invoca, about using technology to create a better customer experience.

First Up:
Shep Hyken’s opening comments focus on how it is reasonable for our customers to expect a good experience on the phone. They shouldn’t have to know and repeat their account number. They shouldn’t need to be transferred to someone else. They shouldn’t have to tell their story again and again. As usual, Shep shares examples that we can all relate to that give clarity to his ideas and concepts.

Featured Interview:
Shep begins his interview by asking Kyle Christensen, Senior VP of Marketing at Invoca, “How can you enhance the experience of customers on the phone?”

Christensen responded by saying, that customers have avoided calling and have sought out answers on their own because we have made the phone experience a painful one. The problem is that some companies haven’t invested in the right processes and technology. First, they can make it difficult to even find the customer service phone number –almost hiding it on their websites. Second, they make the customer navigate through a phone tree with (what seems like) at least seven options. Third, if the customer does find the correct option, companies make you sit on hold for (what seems like) 10 minutes before ever talking to someone.

While we are pushing people toward alternative solutions to customer service, we must recognize the power of the live phone conversation with a customer.

Artificial intelligence, is going to unlock an incredible amount of data that has never been available before, particularly as it relates to voice. Through the use of technology, customer service agents will be able to deliver a better customer service experience. As a result, customers won’t need to announce their account number three times during a series of conversations. The system will already know this and additional information about them that the agent can readily access.

The resulting friction-less conversation can deliver a better service experience and the agent can get feedback about their customers’ needs and expectations. This can be a goldmine of information that the agent can then use to deliver a better customer experience and to find opportunities to create more revenue.

Top Takeaways:
• 74% of people who have a bad phone support experience are likely to choose another business the next time they shop for that product or service. In fact, 70% of them will also complain to their friends and family about that experience.
• If they are using their smartphone rather than their desktop computer, people are three times more likely to make a call to the business rather than to fill out a form to contact that business.
• AI will help support agents eliminate the common problems with support calls, by providing account information automatically to agents with customer voice recognition.

About:
Kyle Christensen is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Invoca, a call intelligence company. Kyle has also served in senior strategic product marketing and management roles at Zuora and at Salesforce.com where he ran enterprise marketing for Data.com and helped launch the Service Cloud line of business.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, best-selling author and your host of Amazing Business Radio.
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