Customer Contact - Should be so simple, but still such a mess...

Ok, so LinkedIn is now full of thousands of CX articles on best practice, insights, analytics, software, AI, CRM, Digital, Omnichannel, Effort, NPS etc etc

However, I think what every single customer wants is actually very consistent and very simple.

FIRST : The Need... I have a question, I want an answer.

So, I will very likely first go online (mobile, tablet, desktop, app, shouldn't matter). I could call first, but less and less likely. But I'll come onto that.

STEP 1. Make it obvious where I can go to 'Get Help'. Don't hide it in a submenu or at the bottom of the page. Oh and if I'm an existing customer make it EASY to SIGN IN. No clicking of 50,000 traffic lights to get through authentication.

STEP 2. Make the Help Contextual. If I've just received a device or I am waiting for it to be delivered, then that's probably the first place I will need some help or advice for. Don't just give me an enormous list of generic FAQ's.

STEP 3. Design the Help & Support area as deliciously as you'd design your Product Marketing Page. Big bold icons, Intuitive free text boxes that populate intelligent answers as you type. Sure Bots, AI etc can have a try at answering your questions, but they still can't do the complicated or sophisticated things at all, so let us quickly move past them if we want.

STEP 4. Ok so the act of not being able to help myself (actually more common than not I'd think) has failed, so let me now seamlessly go onto make Contact.

STEP 5. Oh and let me choose the channel, not you. I will probably still be more happy to send a digital message, but make sure you pull through all of the context of the self-help journey I've been on so far. Do not make me repeat anything, particularly my bloody name and address, or worst still, order number, reason for contact, what I need all over again !!

STEP 6. However, if I do want to call you (or webchat - although digital messages should really be webchats these days), or request a callback, again, pull through the context. You should know who I am, why I'm getting in touch, and be able to route me quickly to the right expert immediately.

STEP 7. Start the conversation on the right foot. 'Hi Alex, I can see you've been trying to work out how to do xxx on your new yyy device', or 'Hi, I can see you're still wondering when your product is due to be delivered.'.

STEP 8. Own it... 'Ok, Alex, If I can't answer it right now, you can leave it with me, 'I will find out where your order is', 'why we can't get your device to do x' etc, and I'll definitely get back to you. Can you just confirm if you'd like me to call or message you back, and if there is a convenient time.

STEP 9. By the way, if you check your webpage or email you will now see I've already raised a case for you, so you can now track it completely from this stage onwards, track our progress on resolving it, and add any updates to that case at any time.

STEP 10. So hopefully, we've answered your question, resolved your query, sorted your issue, so now you can go to your case in your personalised support area, and tell us how happy you are that we have actually resolved your issue or enquiry. If you don't think we have, that case stays open and gets escalated.

STEP 11. By the way, in your support area feel free to provide feedback on every aspect of the interaction, the effort, the employee attitude, the outcome, the way you were made to feel etc.

SO UNLESS I'M MISSING A TRICK THAT FEELS FAIRLY SIMPLE, AND JUST WHAT EVERY CUSTOMER WANTS AND NEEDS IN THIS MODERN DAY OF CUSTOMER CONTACT INTERACTION, THAT ACTUALLY SEEMS TO BE DETERIORATING EVERY YEAR, NOT GETTING BETTER...