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Making the shift is worth it because satisfied members are loyal, helping to build your reputation and grow your business.
Sponsored by Harland Clarke
Historically, the success of contact centers was measured in terms of efficiency: average handle time, calls per hour etc. But according to ContactBabel’s 2017 U.S. Contact Center Decision Makers’ Guide, customer experience is the No. 1 indicator of success. And this shift from call volume to call value makes sense. Satisfied account holders are loyal. They help build your reputation--and grow your business.
Good Customer Experience = Healthy Business
It’s easy to see why customer experience is now top priority. Not only do happy customers remain customers, a good experience creates its own word-of-mouth advertising. According to the 2014 Global Customer Service Barometer, 93 percent of customers talk about their good customer experiences at least some of the time, with nearly half (46 percent) saying they talk about their positive experience all of the time.
In contrast, nearly all customers (95 percent) who have a poor customer service experience say they talk about it all of the time. Even worse, more than half (58 percent) of people say they would never use a company again after just one negative experience. Account holders who feel they aren’t getting the service they need and desire will simply take their accounts somewhere else.
The contact center has become more than just a place for your account holders to call when they have issues or questions. Managed properly, with a strong focus on customer satisfaction and even customer delight, the contact center experience becomes your differentiator, helping you stand out from the competition like a shining star, which can bring in new accounts and increase wallet share.
How to Turn Your Contact Center Into a Customer Satisfaction Center
Shifting your mindset from call volume to call value—ensuring account holders get their problems solved and ultimately reach their goals—will help to increase customer satisfaction levels dramatically. Account holders want to feel like their questions are being answered accurately and thoroughly. And if the contact center representative can proactively understand what the account holder needs to know, and can bring insight and understanding about how to make the experience better, the account holder will feel that his financial institution knows and understands his needs.
The more you know about creating and increasing account holder satisfaction and call value, the better chance you’ll have of standing out from the crowd and seeing positive results.
As VP/contact center solutions for Harland Clarke, Terri Panhans oversees all aspects of the contact center solutions programs that are supported by Harland Clarke, a CUES Supplier member based in Atlanta. Terri is continually focused on delighting customers with each and every contact, delivering incremental profitable growth, and providing solutions that grow and retain the customer base. Learn more about how Harland Clarke’s Contact Center Solutions can deliver a high-quality customer experience to your account holders.
Read about five call center challenges credit unions face in “Answering the Phone.”
