How can you design a customer interaction that reduces customer effort?

In my experience it’s important to leverage more than one of these tools to evaluate where there’s opportunities for improvement. Starting with journey mapping is great. It’s important to ensure that it’s outside in (fueled by your customers voices vs. what your internal teams think the journey is). This kind of mapping is a great tool for identifying critical moments in the customers experience. Then, dig deeper on those critical moments to understand what’s really going on under the hood with surveys, quality audits, etc.

There are two sets of data you can use to identify customer effort . Customer feedback through customer surveys and TAT and SLA processing reports(Audits). If you are consistently not meeting set TATs whether it be against internal targets or external benchmarks then you have to carry out an audit of the customer journey end to end and where you identify bottlenecks is where most of the highest CES is likely to be found. Its important to compare these reports to customer feedback as customers also have their own expectations of how much time and effort they are willing to put into procuring services and products. Look for patterns and themes on repeated pain points and these will also help you identify areas with highest CES

In the end it's about moving from a transaction (process and standards' based) to a relationship (feelings/emotions) where the staff member is empowered to make decisions in the best interest of the customer, a one-stop-shop. No 'But this is the process' or 'I need to check with my manager'...

Businesses often become so engrossed in their marketing efforts to fill their sales funnel that they lose sight of the customer’s journey. Understanding your customer’s effort should begin well before and extend far beyond the buying cycle. It’s crucial to invest time in understanding what happens at the outer edges of your customer lifecycle. How does your business appear to them? I assist my clients in visualizing their customers’ efforts, often leading to increased revenue through improved customer experience, without the need for additional SEO or marketing efforts.

Every customer has a complex life their living in and taking time to be in communication with you takes a big chunk of their precious time. Focusing efforts to lessen pain points and friction are key skills in customer service. Provide them a one-call resolution, direct them to customer-friendly website chat channels, offer a direct line to call when in need or show them FAQs for their queries.

No product or service will ever be perfect. Customers and users know this. Loyalty is built on knowing that when (not if) they run into an issue, they are confident that it will be resolved quickly with minimal fuss. 1) Increase the ease and efficiency of self-service 2) Offer multiple channels: meet them where THEY are, not where YOU want them to be 3) Use metrics and qualitative data to locate key pain points, both in support interactions and in product and the big one: 4) Collaborate with other departments to fix them!

Customers will tell you what they need if you just listen. Listening to customers isn't just hearing about their problems. It's not picking up the phone or answering the ringing bell at your service desk. Listening to customers is about connecting with them. It involves paying close attention to their needs and understanding how you can help them achieve their goals. The best service reps are excellent listeners. They can recall relevant details that were mentioned earlier in the call and are consistently in-tune with the customer's emotions. This saves customers from having to repeat information which adds friction to the service experience.

Prior to simplification of the customer interaction, it is important to create a baseline against which any simplification effort would be measured. Analytics from process mining is a great place to start along with other organisation KPI like sales, conversion and funnel fall out.

Proactive and personalized is what I think the future of customer service will be. Companies of the future will stay close to their customers after the sale is completed to enable them to create more value. To do that, they will be proactive in their approach. To be proactive, they would need to predict customer needs, and to do that, they need to fuse multiple data sources. The latter means they are going to have to break org silos that exist today and blend their customer data and knowledge.

Keeping up on industry and market trends and then sharing relevant information with yours customers is a great way to anticipate customer needs. At this point, your customer may be in the very early learning stages of a specific trend and by you no only bringing them the information but also sharing a solution, you have potentially eased a few pain points!

These are excellent initiatives. However, to engage in predictive analytics, two important prerequisites exist: equipping oneself with technological tools capable of predictive analysis and hiring individuals with the skills to manage data (collect, process, analyze).

Anticipating customer needs to reduce customer effort is crucial for several reasons: enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty; gaining competitive advantage; building trust and credibility; and improving operational efficiency. All of these can be supported by leveraging advanced analytics tools such as a Customer Success Platform. Anticipating customer needs is a strategic approach that enhances the overall customer experience and increases value realization on the customer end.

In an industry where the change is just around the corner peeking, anticipation and strategic planning is a must to deliver an excellent customer experience. Interaction and real time data comes hand in hand in meeting the needs of your customer even before they realize it. If you work on the frontlines, always keep in mind that every interaction is a chance to do account review, gathering of feedback, probing further needs and wants and also resolving issues at its roots. Focusing on customer experience ups the game in customer service. Be upfront, have the initiative and take necessary actions.

Consider implementing a digital "Customer Toolkit" app, offering personalized solutions based on past interactions. Enable customers to track their journey, access FAQs, and troubleshoot common issues independently. Empower employees with real-time data insights, enabling proactive support and personalized recommendations. Streamline processes through continuous feedback loops, ensuring effortless interactions for all.

A pro in customer service once said, "a client and customer service employee relationship should be gentlemen serving gentlemen".

Customers feel most empowered when you remove their knowledge of your tool and remind them of what they do best. Remembering to connect how you & your company's tool can further boost their main skills. When you spotlight their lack of experience in using your tool, it only gives them another reason to leave

Behind every customer frustration hides an employee's pain. It's crucial to focus on improving the employee experience to deliver a quality customer experience: provide suitable tools, automate low-value tasks, assign employees to high-value tasks, train your employees, basically treat them well. It's not a secret. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers.

Self-service options empower customers by giving them control over their own experiences. Customers can access information and services at any time, from anywhere, without having to rely on customer service representatives. This gives them a sense of empowerment and control over their own experiences. you can empower your agents by giving them autonomy to make decisions in livetime, as opposed to having to wait for a supervisor. Giving agents the sense of autonomy helps them to feel like they have the keys in their hands and increases both satisfaction for the agent as well as for the customer.

Understanding customer maturity is important for designing customer interactions that reduce effort because it enables personalized support, efficient resource allocation, and improved customer satisfaction. Tailoring interactions to different maturity levels leads to reduced friction, promotes product adoption, and enhances the overall customer experience.

1. Evaluate the areas where you need to reduce the Customer Effort eg. A. Ease of connecting with the Customer experience team or B. Ease of going to the self help page or C. Ease of getting a refund or a service etc... 2. Calculate the CES (Customer Effort Score) on a 7 point scale for all identified areas 3. If the CES is lower than 5, it should be the area where you need to start working 4. Do a testing yourself on all the areas and then calculate the CES of yourself/internal team 5. Create a customer interaction survey & take direct feedback from customers on their struggles 6. Basis self analysis and customer feedback work on improvement areas and create solutions 7. Do a CES again post making changes to measure effectiveness

I would like to add some points here: ? Design user-friendly websites, apps, and interfaces that are intuitive and easy to navigate. Conduct usability testing to identify areas for improvement. ? Use customer data to personalize interactions and recommendations, making it easier for customers to find what they need. ? Provide consistent support across various channels like phone, email, etc., so customers can choose the one that suits them best.

Also, as Charlotte mention, if you are providing a tool to your customer, care about how the tool works for them, and what they see about the tool. Your customer can make your tools and services better if you listen to the customers input.

In my experience leading various CX projects, I've found that customer journey mapping is a potent method to streamline and ease the customer experience. This tool involves mapping out the customer journey at every touchpoint, highlighting pain points, and uncovering opportunities for improvement. Ultimately, it contributes to minimizing customer effort.