As businesses worldwide transform the way they do business to effectively manage through the COVID-19 crisis, customer engagement is a hot topic from the customer service front lines to the C-Suite. With home-based contact center operations getting underway, companies are looking ahead to what’s next, including how to optimize virtual contact center operations and how to build stronger relationships with customers in the weeks ahead—and in a post-COVID-19 world.
A recent McKinsey & Company article, titled Adapting Customer Experience in the Time of Coronavirus, looks at the sudden impact that the COVID-19 epidemic has had on individuals worldwide, and how it’s impacted contact center operations. According to the McKinsey article, the current crisis has required contact center leaders to examine customer journeys and customer satisfaction scores to make sure they are properly meeting their needs during these times of uncertainty.
But there’s more.
The Coronavirus crisis is literally forcing companies to “rethink” what customer care means, according to McKinsey, requiring them to adapt the customer experience they deliver. The article goes on to offer companies and CX leaders some great advice on how to keep your operations running smoothly today, while being ready for the future, including:
- Focus on fundamentals: Care and connection. Start with employee well-being first. Make sure they are in a position to safely and effectively serve customers, including with a home-based contact center operation. From there, customers need “extra information, guidance, and support” to help them get through the crisis. This starts with proactively reaching out to customers to offer support—not marketing. Companies are also contributing to community causes to help fight the virus.
- Meet your customers where they are today. More than ever, customers need digital options to engage with your company—and this will likely remain in place and increase after the crisis. This includes digital contact center channels like bots, web chat, and email, as well as social media and mobile device interactions. Accelerating digital interactions models, implementing home delivery, and making physical operations “touch-free” are just some of the strategies companies are carrying out during the crisis.
- Reimagine customer experience for a post-COVID-19 world. McKinsey warns of the “next normal” and what business may look like with a partial start-up and longer ramp-up to full economic activity. Companies should plan for this slower return to growth, looking for cost-savings opportunities that do not negatively impact the customer experience. This includes increasing digital self-service capabilities and looking for operational efficiency improvements.
- Build capabilities for a fast-changing environment. According to the McKinsey article, “maintaining a strong customer experience in crisis requires rapid research to understand changing dynamics and new pain points as well as agile innovation to address them.” Implementing snap surveys on customer sentiment, listening to employee input, and adopting agile innovation techniques can all help your business quickly adapt to dynamic business conditions.
If you’d like to see how QuandaGo can assist with your business continuity and home-based contact center needs during the Coronavirus crises, sign up for a FREE Home Agent Contact Center DEMO.
You can also find the complete McKinsey & Company article here.
