Every customer interaction is an opportunity to make a great impression, which is why companies should consider using interactive workflow engine technology to create more personalized self-service. It’s a cutting-edge way to “wow” your customers in every phone call.
To distinguish themselves in today’s always-on, global marketplace, companies need to deliver exceptional customer experiences at every touchpoint. But too often, consumers find a business’s phone greetings and call flow underwhelming. Long wait times are common, and solutions to issues are often seen as “too little, too late.”
Now consider that customers routinely rank “personalized service” at the top of their list when they’re asked, “What can a company do to deliver a memorable customer experience?” In addition, they highly value quick response times, human-sounding voice prompts, relevant and timely information and proactive experiences. Unfortunately, companies who don’t take advantage of the latest automated service technology to personalize their phone greetings almost never meet these critical requirements.
And things could potentially get worse. According to IBM, experts predict more than 85 percent of all customer interactions will be handled without the need for a human agent by 2020. It’s hard to be “personal” with a robot, isn’t it?
Not necessarily.
Although technology has a reputation for being impersonal, it doesn’t have to be. The latest systems actually offer companies the ability to be more personal and proactive in customer interactions — and to do so at scale.
Phone Greetings Done Wrong
Let’s imagine two vastly different on-hold experiences for Anne, who’s called the service line to follow up on a field technician’s work on her 3-D printer.
In the first scenario, ABC Repairs uses a standardized phone greeting with an unnatural-sounding voice:
“Thank you for calling ABC Repairs. For Sales, press one. For Service, press two. For Support, press three.”
Anne needs to know if the part required to finish the repair has arrived and when the technician plans to come back, so she selects Support and listens as the robotic voice walks her through a long series of prompts, until finally she’s asked to provide her account information.
The experience isn’t just impersonal—it also takes far too long. By the time Anne reaches an agent, she’s frustrated.
Phone Greetings Done Right
On the other hand, if ABC Repairs used interactive workflow technologies, IVR with speech recognition and high-quality voice talent, Anne’s experience would be markedly different. When she called the service line, she’d hear:
“Hello Anne, are you calling about last week’s technician visit? We ordered part number 4435 for your 3-D printer, and it’s now in stock. Our technician is available to come to your office on Monday at 8 a.m. Do you want to confirm that appointment or choose another time?”
Notice how much more personalized and proactive this is?
Interaction workflow engines make dynamic, personalized IVR prompts and greetings possible, and a warm, natural-sounding voice optimizes this technology by making customers feel more comfortable and cared for.
In this scenario, ABC Repairs used superior voice talent and incorporated real-time customer information from CRM systems into its workflow. It then used an IVR with speech recognition to greet Anne personally. By tapping into her customer history, ABC Services anticipated and resolved her issue, without requiring her to navigate an unwieldy menu.
The result is a highly satisfactory customer experience, one Anne will remember the next time someone asks her to recommend a service company.
Put Interactive Workflow Engines To Work
The key to making this work is the ability to combine customer data with new workflow and IVR technologies. Although most companies know a lot about the customers who call them, they don’t use that information to personalize the caller’s experience in the front-end IVR prompts and greetings.
However, as IBM points out: “Organizations collecting customer data can combine big data, machine learning and AI to deliver an unrivaled level of personalization throughout the customer journey.”
Although many businesses might think this level of sophistication is out of reach, in truth, it’s not that difficult. By leveraging communications technology that identifies repeat callers and understands why they’re calling, businesses can tailor their on-hold messages.
To do so, companies must first integrate customer details and history with their communications technology. Then, using an intuitive, drag-and-drop business process designer, customer support teams can create sophisticated interaction flows. When a customer calls, an IVR with speech recognition answers and activates the appropriate workflow. It’s simple but highly effective.
However, using a cold, robotic voice for your phone system greetings and call flow defeats the purpose of such personalized, innovative technology. Leverage high-quality voice talent to truly optimize your phone greetings and call flow.
You can vastly improve your customer experience by using call center technology from Mitel to deliver more customized interactions. Innovative organizations shouldn’t miss the opportunity to create a memorable impression with intelligent, speech-enabled IVR workflows that deliver a personalized, proactive, automated service.
About Mitel:
Based in Kanata, Canada, Mitel is a global market leader in business communications, serving more than 70 million business users in over 100 countries.
