GUIDE TO GO
TECH JARGON
DECODING
Embracing the Customer Experience: 8 TERMS TO HELP BUILD RELATIONSHIPS BY GREG COLLINS
SANDBOX:
In an age of instantaneous access, customers want their problems solved fast. Even more important, they want quality answers delivered by someone who genuinely cares about their experience. In other words, they are looking for relationships with companies. This desire will become especially crucial as the subscription economy—the shift from buying products to buying services—takes off, with the result that transactions are ongoing as opposed to being one-time experiences. Here are some concepts and terms to aid your discussions and decisions about customer service.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: Known as CX, this is the sum of a customer’s interactions with your company or brand, from first awareness through purchase and support. Each point along the customer’s journey—seeing your storefront or website, visiting it, interacting with a salesperson, and making a purchase—is a chance to make service an underlying theme for your brand.
OMNICHANNEL: Omnichannel is the practice of providing a seamless experience for your customers across all channels, from in-person to telephone to smartphone app to website. That means that before, during, and after a transaction or communication, various channels are integrated so that each channel has access to the same information about the customer and all present a consistent brand experience.
SOCIAL CRM: Social customer relationship management utilizes social media to engage with current and potential customers. Social CRM allows your
24
are from 0 to 10 and based on a direct question: How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/ service to a friend or colleague?
company to move beyond static data, such as past purchases, and interact with customers authentically on platforms they use, like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, allowing you to meet the customers where they are, before they need to come to you.
FIRST REPLY: First reply or first reply time (FRT) is a metric measuring the interval between the time when a customer initiates a support request and the time when that request is addressed. Caution: a singular focus on reducing FRT can drive negative results if a quick response is not coupled with quality help. Viewing this metric in light of NPS (see below) and your CRM’s customer satisfaction (CSAT) score can provide needed insights.
A sandbox is a separate operating system environment in which new programs or code can be tested. You can create a replica of your CRM platform in a sandbox, where you can experiment and innovate without damaging your CRM or hampering your ability to engage with customers.
SELF-SERVICE: Today’s customers often prefer to find an answer themselves. Self-service is an aspect of CRM that allows customers to access online resources and resolve issues that arise without interacting with a customer support agent. For instance, creating a customer help center and customer knowledge base empowers customers to access key information, share their expertise, and solve their issues.
AGENT COLLISION: This occurs when more than one agent addresses the same ticket, frustrating customers with multiple or conflicting replies. Agent collision detection is a CRM feature that will often appear as an alert on the ticket letting others know that the issue is being addressed and doesn’t require further support.
NET PROMOTER SCORE® (NPS): This widely accepted measure of customer loyalty and retention helps companies evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their customer relationships, and to better direct their marketing and sales efforts. NPS scores
Greg Collins is vice president of global customer advocacy at Zendesk, a customer service platform designed to bring organizations and their customers closer together.
Fall 2015
solve magazine Q4 2015i-FINAL.indd 24
9/28/15 1:46 PM
