Convenience is KING

There was a time when the adage was: content is king. But a new king is now in power. Companies have placed so many tasks with the customer themselves that customers often drop out of the buying process, simply because they find it too complicated. They also do not understand when they can best use which channel. The result: customers walk away from you because you create too many barriers in the buying process. Where do you start with the demolition of those thresholds?

The fact that customer service through many channels often leaves much to be desired is partly due to the fact that the number of customer contact channels has increased significantly. Whereas in the last century you could still manage with a physical store, a contact center, direct mail and advertisements, the number of channels is now almost infinite: social media, apps, email marketing, affiliate marketing, content marketing and of course a webshop. . And now there is already something new: the voice interface. Each channel has its own characteristics and must therefore also be approached with its own design principles. Of course, all those channels must be fully coordinated and easy to use.

What does which channel deliver?

Taking so many requirements into account is difficult. Because that costs a lot of money and manpower. Often so much that the majority of the channels cost more than they yield. Can you still justify that? And if you think that is no longer possible, which channels do you delete? Of course you can gain insight into the contribution that a channel makes to the customer journey with conversion attribution, but you certainly cannot blindly rely on the algorithms behind it. Moreover, has your conversion attribution model really included all channels and touchpoints, or are they mainly a simplified representation of reality? After all, it is and remains a model.

It's all about convenience.

Another problem is that customers immediately punish bad service. One step in the purchasing and after-sales process that does not function properly can prevent loyal customers from coming back.

In recent years, marketers have increasingly come to the conclusion that the Net Promoter Score (where customers indicate how likely they are to recommend your company to family and friends) has less predictive value for customer loyalty than the Customer Effort Score (where the customer during a contact moment on a scale from 1 to 5 indicates how much difficulty he or she has experienced in the conscious process). Customers can be very happy with your brand, but if they fail to order a product or get an answer to a question once, they will buy the relevant product from the competitor. Convenience is King.

Doesn't offer too much choice

Those who want to achieve a high CES must have a good map of their customer journey and have optimized their channels for this. This works much better if you do not give the customer too many options. It seems nice to invest in all kinds of 'bells and whistles' such as an app, a chat channel, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and a fancy digital kiosk in the store, but if the customer experiences thresholds while using such a channel, this will drive him or her away rather than attract him or her.

The trick is to offer exactly those channels that the customer would like to use in that phase of the customer journey. Of course, no customer is the same, they will all follow a different customer journey. Still, it is wise to look for the greatest common denominator. What are the preferred channels of customers? Which activities do they prefer to perform through which channel? Make sure you support those things very well and leave out the rest. You meet customers who walk outside the paths with your contact center. Only when the numbers become too large can you use an alternative channel or further automate processes.

Curious about the costs and revenues of the channels that you offer your customers? And what effect do these channels have on CES? I would be happy to help you provide insight into these KPIs. Send me a message on this site!