Delivering Branded Customer Service Across Multiple Technology Channels
Ensuring Your Outsourced Call Center Speaks Your Brand
by Wendy Shooster, co-CEO, Global Response
Your customers expect to encounter the same personality wherever they interact with your brand, whether that’s in your brick-and-mortar store or via phone, chat, email or social media. The question is, How do you replicate the in-store experience over the phone or the internet?
Training Call Center Agents to Speak Your Brand
If you’re using an outsourced call center, it’s vital that you work with its managers to hire and train agents who fit your call types, schedules, and most importantly, brand culture. For instance, if you’re an upscale fashion retailer, hiring agents who are already fashionistas is a good start; teaching them about your products and brand culture gives them the tools to convey the essence of your brand in every interaction.
Agents need training in both hard skills, such as how to use computer systems, and soft skills, such as how to communicate effectively. But you need to expand the definition of soft skills to include training agents in your brand culture so they can understand and express it. One especially effective way to do that is to arrange for agents to visit your location and immerse them in your brand. If you can’t arrange a visit, the next best thing is to send your products to the call center. Institute a "train-the-trainer" program, developing top supervisors inside the call center that are brand experts. Training should be ongoing, with a commitment from both you and the call center to communicate regularly. Conduct calibration sessions, which can include selective monitoring of phone calls, emails and chat sessions, and analyzing metrics on customer satisfaction, call times and sales results.
Agents who know your brand personality are comfortable personalizing email templates, call scripts, and chat communication, and can converse on social media in your brand voice. Providing agents with a template that can serve as a starting point for several channels, including email and chat, is a time-saver—but it should always be modified to connect with each individual customer, and only an agent who understands your personality can do that and still communicate in your brand voice.
The Vital Role of Technology
Having the right technology infrastructure supports the goal of delivering a consistent cross-channel customer experience. In particular, integrations that give call center agents access to your order management, warehouse management, CRM, inventory control and other systems enable them to quickly and efficiently get the accurate information they need to be responsive and provide a seamless customer experience that ends in first-call resolution (FCR).
An internal web portal that gives agents access to real-time updates on products, issues and policies ensures agents are working from “a single source of the truth” and can deliver consistent responses and service via every channel. In addition, when agents all work at a centralized location, the task of communicating with them quickly and ensuring they all receive the same information is faster and simpler than it is when working with agents at many remote locations.
In the final analysis, though, technology—valuable as it is—can do only so much to help retailers deliver a consistent message across channels. Factors that play a larger role are clearly defining your brand personality, recruiting agents who fit that personality, immersing agents in your brand culture, and communicating frequently with your call center to analyze and optimize your process and improve results related to customer satisfaction, average order value, FCR and more.
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Wendy Shooster is co-CEO of Global Response, a leading brand-care call center headquartered in Margate, Florida.