What "Normal" People Think About Customer Service

When levying criticism against organizations, customer management thought leaders—including contributors at Call Center IQ—often dwell on detachment from the voice of the customer.

Businesses, thought leaders argue, devise and implement strategies from the isolated comfort of their boardrooms. Unable to relate to customers and unwilling to truly understand who they are and what they want, these segregated business leaders naturally produce suboptimal customer experiences.

But while that assertion is undoubtedly fair, accurate and illuminating, it also underscores a degree of hypocrisy within the community of customer management thinkers. In not only condemning businesses for operating at a distance from customers but advising them on how to better satisfy customers, those who speak, blog or read about the customer experience often render themselves guilty of the exact same offense.

They, bearing experiences and perspectives not necessarily held by the "normal customer," are advising on customer service strategy. They are simply asking businesses to replace one uniquely disconnected view with another.

Customer service thought leaders advocate on behalf of concepts like strategic calls, proactive engagement and web self-service without actually considering whether the entirety of every business’ customer base ascribes value to those notions.

Does a customer actually want to engage in lengthy, personalized calls on the road to resolution? Does a customer really want the business to contact him before he even identifies an issue? Does a customer really want to resolve most issues without assistance from a live agent?

While the answer to all three questions will be affirmative in many cases, it will not be supportive in all cases. In some cases, customers will appreciate a transactional, reactive contact center that provides constant access to live agents. A business that ignores the desires of those customers in favor of trendy blog advice is no more customer-centric than one that holds agents accountable for average handle time at the risk of eliminating deeper, engaging calls with customers.

Aware of this dilemma, I paid close attention this weekend when a group of friends—none of whom is a customer service professional or coach—began discussing what experiential elements they value.

The discussion began when one friend revealed that he is working with a startup that plans to challenge transportation and ride-sharing juggernaut Uber. All fans of the Uber product, the group of "normal" customers began discussing how a brand could differentiate itself from a business that has such a stranglehold over the market.

The conversation quickly veered in the direction of customer service. Passionate about riding with Uber but less so about the way it supports customers, the individuals began dissecting the business’ experiential shortcomings.

That dissection provided an interesting window into what "normal people" value when it comes to customer service. Common value items are highlighted below:

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Full Service Must Be Available 24/7

The quote: "No matter when I run into an issue, I should always be able to reach someone who can truly help me fix it."

The logic: If there is no restriction on when a customer will use a product, there is no restriction on when a customer will run into an issue with that product. And if there is no restriction on when a customer will run into an issue, there must be no restriction on when the customer can receive support for that issue.

Customer service is designed to optimize the customer’s experience with a brand or one of its products. Inherent to that commitment is the requirement that a business can satisfy customers as they require that assistance. Ignoring that commitment—and staffing only during hours of convenience to the business—is to fundamentally cripple the customer experience.

The solution: Realistically, a business needs to assure its live agents can assist customers on a 24/7/365 basis. If doing so is truly unfeasible or truly beyond what the specific customer base demands, the business still must assure it is offering an alternative form of full service around the clock. A customer should never have to wait for the mere opportunity to introduce his support inquiry.

Quick Resolution is Paramount

The quote: "I eventually got in touch with someone from support, but it then took six days and a bunch of back-and-forth conversations to get the credit. It took so much effort , and it shouldn’t have. It should have been instant."

The logic: Time is money. Effort is money. A customer intends to "spend" as little as possible when pursuing a resolution. In fact, to the extent that he should never encounter an issue that requires resolution, he should truly be devoting no time and no effort to the customer support process. Every second he does spend is thus an unwanted cost and a likely source of dissatisfaction.

Being responsive during regular hours, let alone around the clock, is only one piece of the customer experience puzzle. In order to best support customers, a business must assure its agents are capable of delivering an acceptable, if not desirable resolution on the first contact. The customer support function is not meant to be a messenger service or answering machine. It is meant to deliver immediate—and significant—results.

The solution: Beyond properly staffing all channels at all times, businesses also must assure front-line agents and/or systems are empowered to actually resolve customers’ issues. By stripping agents of that ability, businesses render it impossible for the customer to get the first contact resolution he desires.