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The Role Messaging and Automation Will Play in the Future of Customer Service

Posted Under: Experience This!
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About Experience This!:

Welcome to Experience This! where you’ll find inspiring examples of customer experience, great stories of customer service, and tips on how to make your customers love you even more. Always upbeat and definitely entertaining, customer retention expert Joey Coleman and social media expert Dan Gingiss serve as your hosts for a weekly dose of positive customer experience. This show will help you attract and keep more customers so you can grow your business, increase your profits, and have more fun in the process. A fun collection of quick-hit segments filled with deep learning and takeaways, you don’t want to miss this audio experience!

Apple Podcast Reviews:

Love these characters! Joey and Dan break down the customer experience, uh, experience, in a fun way.

by Brief is the New Black

Such a great pair! I have followed both of these guys online for a while and was stoked that they teamed up for a podcast. The podcast is super easy to listen to and provides a lot of insight that is actionable for my work. Excited for what is to come. Thanks Joey and Dan!

marykmetcalf

Why direct messaging is crucial to the customer experience of tomorrow, when a “free” cruise isn’t really free, and how a CEO reports to his employees.

The Role Messaging and Automation Will Play in the Future of Customer Service

Bite-Sized Delight From the Episode:

  • Why messaging and automation are the future of customer service.
  • The problem with making offers that aren’t everything they promise to be.
  • A tire company with a remarkable management structure.
  • The challenge of personalizing every interaction.

THIS JUST HAPPENED: “Free” Cruise [01:04–12:37]

A college buddy of Dan’s recently returned from a cruise with his family where he had a stroke of good luck—or so he thought. He won a free cruise in a game of Bingo (which you pay to play), but it turns out that the definition of “free” actually had a lot of strings attached.

Tweetable Quotes

Most lawyers never encourage their marketing people to use the word 'free.' @thejoeycoleman #CX Click To Tweet
Just say that you need to pay fees. Don’t pretend that you’re offering something for free when you’re not. #CX Click To Tweet
Consumers are smarter these days, so when you see a big asterisk next to 'free,' you know that something’s up. #CX @dgingiss Click To Tweet
Simplify the offer to reduce the need for detailed terms and conditions. #CX @dgingiss Click To Tweet

Takeaways

  • Giveaways and sweepstakes are a great way to engage customers, but make sure that the winners actually have a good experience winning.
  • With anything that requires a legal disclosure, less is more. Simplify the offer to reduce the need for detailed terms and conditions.
  • Don’t try to trick people. It can cause a customer who should be happy with you to be disappointed and leave for your competition.

Book Report: Message Me [12:38–21:58]

This week we’re looking at Joshua March’s book, Message Me. Josh is the founder and CEO of Conversocial, one of the leading digital customer care platforms, and was built from the ground-up from the perspective of customer service agents. He correctly predicted that direct messaging was going to become the future of customer service. The book follows up with advice about why this is true and how to implement messaging and automation in your customer service.

Tweetable Quotes

There are two main benefits of messaging: the complaints are private, and the messages are persistent. #CX Click To Tweet
Messaging and automation are going to have a huge effect and impact on customer experience over the next few years. #CX. @thejoeycoleman Click To Tweet
Messaging often gets better customer satisfaction ratings than every other service channel, including phone calls. @joshuamarch #CX @thejoeycoleman Click To Tweet
Messaging and automation can turn a horrible experience into a remarkable one in just minutes, which is hard for other channels to make happen. #CX Click To Tweet

Takeaways

  • The future of customer service is messaging and automation.
  • Expectations for response time are going down, and the best brands are meeting those expectations.
  • For more, pick up Message Me by Joshua March.

CX PRESS: Tire Company CEO [22:00–26:38]

This week’s article is “How a Humble Culture and Self-Deprecating CEO Fuels This $130 Million Tire Company,” from Blake Morgan (author of the previously featured More Is More). It details how Larry Sutton, CEO of RNR Express, has created an amazing culture by inverting the traditional pyramid hierarchy system. Sutton, the CEO, reports to other executives, who report to regional managers, who then report to store managers and employees.

Tweetable Quotes

RNR Tires uses an inverted version of the traditional pyramid hierarchy system. #CX #corporateculture Click To Tweet
Culture is experience and experience is culture. #CX #corporateculture #employeeexperience Click To Tweet
Manning the phones or listening to customer service phone calls is incredibly eye-opening in a way that you cannot get from any report. #CX @dgingiss Click To Tweet
When the CEO stops by stores, he often checks to see if the bathrooms are clean. If they aren’t, he quietly grabs a mop and gets to work. #CX Click To Tweet

Takeaways

  • Every employee, up to and including the CEO, should get as close to the customer as possible in order to truly understand the experience.
  • Letting the people who do the actual work make decisions can be incredibly empowering to middle managers and encourage out-of-the-box thinking.
  • Don’t ever say that a part of the customer experience isn’t your job; if this CEO can grab a mop, you can do you your part as well.

CHECK OUT THIS NUMBER: 84% [26:40–29:26]

84 percent of North American C-level executives say that their organization has experienced a trend toward customers wanting a more individualized experience. However, fewer than one in five of those executives give their organization an “A” in its ability to offer this personal touch. The biggest challenge is the ability to respond quickly and effectively to changing market conditions. This stat comes from Oracle CX, in an article called “3 Ways Your Retail Shoppers Have Changed.”

Tweetable Quotes

84% of North American C-level executives say that their organization has experienced a trend toward customers wanting a more individualized experience. #CX Click To Tweet
How can we create the feeling of a personal touch at every interaction? #CX @thejoeycoleman Click To Tweet

Takeaways

  • C-level executives know what their customers want, but also know that their organizations are struggling to achieve it.

Be a Part of the Show!

We’d love to hear about your great customer experiences, which segments you like, and your ideas for future episodes!


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