How does your CX handle diversity?

Diversity is a hot topic these days. But how well is the diversity of different customers and their variety of needs reflected in the way in which your organisation designs its customer service?

The drive for greater efficiency in service organisations has led to more processes being standardised, then outsourced to companies who manage their employees based on process compliance.

The push for automation has, by its very nature, required rules based processes to be hardcoded into the technology.

For standard customers with standard demands, this can be a win-win for customer and organisation.

But what happens if you are a non-standard customer or have a non-standard need?

An example of people falling into this group are “vulnerable customers” and - pushed by the Financial Services regulator - banks and insurers have had to go to considerable lengths to adapt their service offerings for those who fit this category.

But despite this huge industry focus, the FCA’s most recent update highlights that vulnerable customers are still more likely to report a negative experience with financial services firms, such as their bank or insurer, when compared to non-vulnerable customers.

If you’ve ever listened to a dozen IVR options but concluded none of them fits the reason for your call, or unsuccessfully tried to explain to a voice-bot the reason for your call, you’ll know what I am talking about.

Or not found the answer to your question among the FAQs (because the “infrequently” asked questions don’t appear!)

Or been transferred to countless different people because your particular issue “isn’t something that is handled in this department.”

Ensuring your frontline teams and technology are trained and able to handle high volume, predictable customer demands is essential. But the real test is how well you are able to handle diversity.

• Does your QA scoring penalise agents who deviate from the standard process to help a customer?

• Do your productivity targets penalise agents who try to find a solution that’s a bit “outside the box.”

• Are customers able to talk to the “decision makers” (such as underwriters) or are they hidden away in a back office, leaving unempowered contact centre agents to fend off frustrated customers?

Non-standard customers and non-standard demands are a huge source of Failure Demand and repeat contact in any organisation.

Do you know how much of this type of demand exists in your business?

Our Effective Service Review could help you to find out!