Customers expect a response whether they call, text, email, use chat or reach out on a social media channel.
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Customer experience is often judged by how easy or difficult it is to communicate with a company. Customers don’t care what communication platform a company uses. They simply expect employees to know who they are, understand their history and respond quickly, regardless of whether they call, text, email, use chat or reach out on a social media channel.
It’s becoming harder for companies to create that great experience when they use outdated and disconnected communication tools that make employees jump between programs, force customers to repeat themselves, and worse, make it difficult or impossible to find important information. The result is frustration for both customers and employees.
I had the chance to interview Damon Covey for an episode of Amazing Business Radio. Covey is the general manager of unified communications at GoTo, a cloud communications company that offers an all-in-one solution to simplify customer communications. His advice is simple and centers around one idea: unify the experience for both customers and employees, and the result will be less churn (again, for customers and employees) and increased revenue.
What Is Unified Communications?
This sounds like a technical term, and one that I don’t hear mentioned much in smaller and medium-sized businesses, but it needs to be considered for any and every type of business. The easiest way to describe unified communications is that even if you have different ways for customers to communicate with you, such as texting, emailing, phone calls and more, you can manage all these channels with one technology solution. The result is that all communications with a customer can be easily tracked in one place.
Eliminate Multiple Systems
To follow up on that, Covey shared that some companies have as many as 10 different software solutions to track communication across multiple channels. Switching between programs is what Covey called a “swivel chair problem,” a term for being forced to shift from one screen or program to the next, or to look left or right for information. This can be a disaster for both customers and employees. When a customer contacts a company and an employee can’t easily view all past conversations, everyone loses. It wastes everyone’s time, mistakes can be made if the employee doesn’t see the customer’s history, and customers are often forced to repeat themselves, which is one of the top reasons customers don’t come back. Covey’s suggestion was simple: Find the one system that works for you.
Fragmented Communication Erodes Trust
Fragmented communication lowers trust. When it’s tough for customers to connect with a company, or when they feel like they are starting over, telling the same story over and over, the frustration turns into reduced trust, which increases the likelihood of the customer leaving. When messages and information are lost or not shared between employees and departments, problems get worse, and people feel ignored. While there are plenty of ways to lose a customer, don’t let a bad communication platform be the reason.
Missed Connections Equals Lost Revenue and Loyalty
Just as a poor or fragmented communications platform erodes trust, when a company doesn’t respond to a customer’s message, regardless of the channel, customers will leave. A recent No Jotter article about Verint’s research on customer experience reports that eight of 10 customers (80%) are one call away from staying with a company after a good experience, or leaving (79%) after a bad one. Customers won’t tolerate poor service, especially when they call for support. Lost customers means lost revenue.
It’s Not the People—It’s the System
When there is a customer service or experience failure, it’s often not the people. Most of the time, it’s the tools or systems that create problems for both customers and employees. Good employees can get stuck using confusing or outdated software, so when they can’t help customers as well as they’d like to, it’s frustrating for everyone.
Final Words
Customers are telling companies exactly how they want to communicate. Most customers (68%) still prefer the phone. Others want to text, chat, use messaging apps or use AI-fueled self-service options. The companies that win will be the ones that make communication easy, regardless of the channel. As Covey shared throughout our conversation, the goal isn’t to force customers into a system the company prefers. The goal is to remove friction and meet customers where they are.
Communication should never be the reason a customer leaves. The easier you make it for them to connect, the easier it becomes to earn their trust and loyalty.
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