Listening to understand instead of listening to reply with a generic answer is when possibilities for true contact and communication arise.
True in life and relationships, but also very much true in communicating with customers.
In this session from the Smartcom Spring Summit 2021, moderator Adrian Swinscoe (Customer experience advisor, author & speaker @ CX Punk) joined Nico Dammers (General Manager @ oneCentral), Ryan Henley (CCO @ Bandwidth), and Anne Bakker (CEO @ BotSquad (part of Enreach)) in a conversation on customer experience in agile enterprises.
They discuss what’s next and what the future will be like for agile enterprises that are trying to successfully navigate the digital transformation and the various manifestations of the new normal.
The technology is already available
Delivering the best experience or solution to your customers. That’s what customer experience is all about according to Nico Dammers.
And while the technology to deliver outstanding customer experience is available, many enterprises are still learning “how to combine those tools to create an experience that makes sense for the average users” he added.
Vendors of technology and software manufacturers can help their customers bridge this gap by answering the question: How can you use the technology to make your life easier, your work easier, and help your customers better? But without being too “technology-driven” Nico warns.
Chat, the new normal for meaningful conversations with customers
In the last couple of years, chat has all grown up and has quickly become the norm for meaningful conversations that people have with companies and between business customers.
The majority of conversations now happen asynchronous and simultaneous across different channels (think chat, tweets, messaging). Herein lies a big challenge for anyone dealing with customers in some form or another. How do you keep track of these conversations? How do you switch from synchronous to asynchronous conversations and facilitate users and customers as well as possible?
Anne Bakker joins in. Companies that “use a chatbot that’s purely aesthetic and that doesn’t really help” don’t add anything. Real good customer experiences originate when simple, mundane stuff gets balanced out with real interaction.
Final thoughts
They end the session with some wise words of advice. Try to understand your customers. Always start small. Focus on the problem you’re solving, not on the technology. And most importantly: if you can’t explain it to your mother it’s probably too complicated.
Watch the full video of the session below:
About the author
Adrian Swinscoe
Described as an experimental CX thought leader and visionary, Adrian Swinscoe is a best-selling author, Forbes contributor, speaker, investor, advisor and aspirant CX Punk. He has been growing and helping develop customer-focused large and small businesses for over 25 years now.
His clients have included brands such as Sky, NowTV, Apple, ING, KFC, Philips, Cancer Research UK, Talk Talk, Gazprom, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Olympus, Harper Collins, the UK Gov’s Crown Commercial Service, Microsoft, Pearson and Costa Coffee as well as numerous tech vendors and many smaller and medium sized businesses.
Adrian is a frequent writer, podcaster and speaker on all things related to customer service and experience. He published a best selling book in 2016 called How to Wow: 68 Effortless Ways to Make Every Customer Experience Amazing (Pearson), published an exciting new book: Punk CX in 2019 and has just published an exciting follow up: Punk XL.
