What happens when you’re more popular or in demand than you can cope with as a business? In music circles last year, it was disappointed Swifties looking for Eras tickets, now it’s Oasis fans desperate to be at their reunion gigs next summer. Customer Service experts ResultsCX have advice not just for online ticketing companies, but for other businesses who find themselves overwhelmed on an occasional basis by customers desperate to get in touch.
Sid Parashar, MD for ResultsCX, which employs over 21,000 customer service experts across the globe, said: “It’s not just ticketing companies that can face surges in customers trying to get in touch during peak periods. The same is true for insurance companies after floods, or utilities companies after storms, where there is arguably more at stake for customers. The challenges of being well set up in this regard are numerous, especially when we think about how unplanned or unanticipated events can put paid to the best laid plans.”
“Our advice to businesses that are susceptible to swings in customer contact numbers is to understand that a static plan for ‘peak’ periods, which many will have in place already, may not be enough, and that you may require tools to deliver agile contingency. The key to this is a continually developing plan and engagement with your partners which helps you to react fast, mitigating degradation in customer experience at times of peak.
Meeting your volume commitments allows you to continue to focus on harnessing the power of authentic connection, creating rapport and advocacy by providing a frictionless experience for customers. Not only this, but it avoids the risk of complaints arising which will take even more time and resource to resolve.”
Complaints present a challenge, but when they do arise, they must be seen as opportunities to create connection with customers. ResultsCX research into the complaints landscape via UK-based group company, Huntswood, shows the benefits of doing just this. In its most recent Complaints Outlook Report, Huntswood demonstrated that:
- When a firm gets its apology right, it retains the business of 72% of complainants
- Where firms did not apologise effectively, that number fell to 42%
This example speaks to the increasing need for organisations to act with humility and empathy when dealing with customers, ultimately making them feel valued.
ResultsCX has a unique insight into complaints which forms part of their operational approach, the advice they offer their clients and their ability to maintain customer experience in a surge situation. In mapping the emotional signatures of customers receiving good and bad complaints experiences using Plutchik’s wheel of emotions, they have been able to better understand the effectiveness of the various approaches firms take to complaints at each stage of the journey.
This insight has supported the development of a ‘target operating model’ for complaints, though, as Sid highlights, “there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to any of this – the sector in which you operate, the nature of your products / services, the risks your firm is exposed to and the makeup of your customer base are all factors, so it’s about interpreting what ‘best practice’ means to your firm and tailoring as appropriate. This necessitates another layer of thinking, but it’s something we strongly believe firms can do themselves, perhaps with some light-touch guidance”.
The Complaints Outlook Report, published by Huntswood, a ResultsCX group company, and gives businesses of all sizes insight that can help in dealing with some of the most difficult moments, opportunities to shine and improve.
Huntswood’s 2024 Complaints Outlook report will be released in November 2024, and will be available for free. The 2022 report can be downloaded FREE HERE.
About ResultsCX:
ResultsCX is a global Customer Experience Management (CXM) leader.
A purpose-driven company, we believe the proof is in the results. For over three decades, we’ve been helping leading global brands move the needle on customer experience and drive growth by delivering outcomes that matter. Enhanced Experiences. Accelerated Revenues. Optimized Costs.
With the recent acquisition of Huntswood, the UK-based consulting and customer solutions company, ResultsCX have significantly expanded their service capabilities for the BFSI and Energy and utilities sector. As a market leader in complaint management, remediation, and fraud resolution, Huntswood brings specialized capabilities and also extends the ResultsCX presence into South Africa, an increasingly sought-after offshoring destination for customer-centric work.
Media Contact
Lucy Gilly
07921 308 978
lgilly@huntswood.com