Customer Experience Trends, Challenges & Innovations: AUGUST 2021

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M A R K E T S TU DY
Customer Experience
Trends, Challenges &
Innovations
SPONSORED BY:
2021 CCW MARKET STUDY | Customer Experience Trends, Challenges & Innovations
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Customer Experience Trends, Challenges & Innovations Review

4 Methodology & Demographics
4 About the Author
5 Key Findings
6 Customer Experiences Should Have Been Better, But Were They?
8 What’s Going Wrong With The Customer Experience?
10 What Attracts Customers?
14 Why Do Customers Choose Certain Channels?
19 What Did COVID-19 Mean for Consumer Behavior?
24 4 Signs of a Great Customer Experience | What They Are, and
How to Achieve Them
29 Unlocking Humanity From Employees At Every CX Touchpoint
32 CASE STUDY: How Farfetch Makes Humanity a CX Reality
33 Rethinking CX: 5 Trends You Cannot Ignore
37 Transform Customer Service with Next-Gen Knowledge: Why and
How
41 12 Customer Emotions Organizations Must Understand: Why
Emotion Analysis is Key for CX
47 Building Customers for Life: Value of The Connected Enterprise
50 Cobrowsing: The Ultimate Tool for Visual Engagement and
Customer Satisfaction
54 Appendix
55 2021 Editorial Calendar
56 Meet the Team
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www.customercontactweekdigital.com | 2
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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE TRENDS,

CHALLENGES & INNOVATIONS
Discussing the extent to which the customer experience landscape changed in the wake of
COVID-19 has moved distantly past the point of cliche.
Evaluating how customers are responding to such transformation, on the other hand, represents
a pivotal step for all businesses.
It is not enough to simply observe that customers are more frequently using digital channels; it is
essential to understand what kind of experiences they expect at each potential touch point. It is
not enough to simply recognize that customers care more about their experiences with brands; it
is essential to understand which aspects of the journey they most value, and how companies can
adapt accordingly.
Fueled by an extensive Consumer Preferences Survey, this market study is your window into the
hows and whys of evolving customer behavior. It is your guide to what customers want when
they interact with your agents and self-service tools. It is your briefing on how consumers are
transforming their shopping habits in a post-COVID world.
It is your chance to ensure your efforts to build a better customer experience are rooted in the
actual voice of the customer.
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METHODOLOGY & DEMOGRAPHICS

Whereas many CCW Digital Market Studies draw from executive survey research, the CX Trends,
Challenges, and Innovations report relies on a different source: the voice of the actual customer.
In July 2021, CCW Digital conducted an extensive survey of actual consumers. This Consumer
Preferences Survey inquired about the interactions consumers are having with brands, their
preferences for interactions in different channels, their biggest pain points and satisfaction
drivers, and their reaction to the new customer experience landscape.
The respondent pool encompassed all age ranges and income levels to provide a true snapshot
of what the overall market wants from brand experiences.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Cantor
Principal Analyst, CCW Digital
Customer Management Practice
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PRACTICE
Brian Cantor is the principal analyst and director for CCW Digital, the global online community
and research hub for customer contact professionals. In his role, Brian leads all customer
experience, contact center, technology, and employee engagement research initiatives for CCW.
CCW Digital’s articles, special reports, commentaries, infographics, executive interviews,
webinars, and online events reach a community of over 150,000.
A passionate advocate for customer centricity, Brian regularly speaks on major CX

conference agendas. He also advises organizations on customer experience and business
development strategies.
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KEY FINDINGS
Customers and brands say they care more about the experience than ever, but
1
interactions are not universally getting better. Only 43% of consumers say digital
engagement experiences have improved, and just 41% have encountered better
phone interactions. A mere 34% report stronger social media interactions.
Excessive hold times remain the most common CX pain point, with 68% of consumers
2
saying they often wait on hold.
Other leading pain points include difficulty finding the right agent or system for an
3

issue, needing to repeat information, and the requirement to use self-service before
reaching a live agent.
Customers value ease and warmth. Convenient experiences are the #1 way to attract
4
customers, but friendly interactions rank as a close #2.
A whopping 95% of consumers, meanwhile, say that they are more likely to support
5
brands (in at least some cases) after dealing with friendly employees.
Other powerful CX drivers include success in rectifying mistakes and loyalty discounts.
6
Quick remedies, make goods, legitimate sympathy and empathy, and customer-
requested resolutions are the best ways to rebound from a CX mistake.
Of the potential reasons to call for support in 2021, none is more significant than
7
complexity. Customers still believe voice interactions are their best option for handling
complicated matters.
8 Many customers choose to message or chat to avoid long wait times, because they
cannot find the appropriate phone number, to take advantage of the added flexibility,
or to avoid dealing with an IVR
. Top self-service use cases include informational inquiries, transactions, and situations
9
in which fast resolutions are the priority.
The majority of consumers do not engage in meaningful customer service interactions

10
on social networks, but many do follow brands – and review the issues others are
facing.
COVID-19 restrictions have loosened, but many customers are still forgiving of the
11
“COVID explanation” for longer wait times or other service limitations.
Following their experience in COVID-19 lockdown, many customers are eager to

12
continue using online finance, mobile payments, curbside pickup, and online shopping
for tangible items like beauty and clothing products.
13 Moving forward, nearly 50% of consumers will prefer to shop in retail establishments
with clear safety protocol.
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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES SHOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER, BUT

WERE THEY?
Over the past year, CCW Digital research has revealed A non-trivial 32% of consumers, meanwhile, feel phone
that consumers and companies care more about the experiences have gotten worse.
customer experience than they ever have.
Granted, meaningfully elevating phone experiences was
Over the past year, companies have had ample obviously going to be challenging for many companies.
opportunity to adapt to changing consumer expectations, Phone volume surged at the same time employees began
as well as significant increases in digital engagement and working in remote environments far less conducive to
remote work. high-quality voice interactions. These two realities, in fact,
explain why digital engagement rose to prominence over
Collectively, these realities confirm that companies should the past year.
have markedly improved their customer experiences over
the past year. Aware of the greater stakes and how to Unfortunately for customer contact optimists, the
handle the new normal, they simply had no justification for statistics for digital channel improvements are far from
complacency. They had every incentive - and opportunity impressive. Many consumers experienced little-to-no
- to make customer centricity a reality. improvements when interacting via digital means; some
even encountered reductions in quality.
Based on what consumers are actually experiencing,
however, many brands did not seize this opportunity. Forty-three percent (43%) of consumers experienced
better chat and messaging interactions over the past
Only 41% of consumers, for instance, feel that companies year, but 34% saw no change and 23% encountered
have improved their phone/voice experiences over the degradations in quality.
past year. A mere 14% believe they have made significant
improvements
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A mere 34%, meanwhile, report improvements in social improvements they did make. One should not, therefore,
engagement quality. Forty-five percent (45%) witnessed treat the aforementioned statistics as proof that the
no change, and 21% faced a decline in social service majority of businesses made little-to-no attempts to
experiences. elevate their digital experiences in 2020 and 2021.
Companies may have been able to ignore the digital hype Companies do not, however, receive participation
prior to 2020, but there was no denying their importance trophies. Their success hinges on outpacing consumer
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital became the expectations. Given that CSAT scores for digital channels
heart of the customer experience for many brands and trail those for the traditional voice environment, and that
consumers, meaning improvement should have been a consumers sense a lack of meaningful improvement
paramount priority. in chat, messaging, and social interactions, it is simply
impossible to say the typical company met this standard. It
To companies’ credit, it is possible that rising customer is simply impossible to say that heightened passion for the
expectations for digital channels negated some of the customer experience translated into meaningful action.
Over the past year, do Over the past year, do Over the past year, do
you feel companies have you feel companies have you feel companies have
gotten better or worse at gotten better or worse at gotten better or worse at
delivering great customer delivering great customer delivering great customer
support/service over the support/service via live web support/service via
phone? chat or messaging? social networks (Twitter,
Facebook, etc)?
14.35% Much better 15.80% Much better 9.98% Much better

26.40% Slightly better 27.65% Slightly better 24.12% Slightly better
27.23% No change 33.68% No change 45.32% No change
21.00% Slightly worse 16.42% Slightly worse 13.31% Slightly worse
11.02% Much worse 6.44% Much worse 7.28% Much worse
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WHAT’S GOING WRONG WITH THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

Clearly, consumers do not yet feel they are in the “era of Other common pain points — all similar to those
customer centricity.” They are not blown away by their reported in 2020 — include difficulty finding the right
experiences within the omnichannel journey. agent or system for their issue (53%), the need to repeat
information (43%), and a requirement to use self-service
What is going wrong? What “pain points” are inhibiting prior to reaching a live agent (43%).
their satisfaction?
Growing comfort with digital channels is obviously a positive
The answers are similar to what CCW Digital uncovered sign, but it does come with a potential cost: more complex
in 2020. journeys. As the majority of customers have found, it can
become harder to identify the right touch point at which
Excessive waiting again ranks as the most common pain
to begin the process. Inconsistent channel experiences
point, with a whopping 68% of consumers saying they
further exacerbate the issue, as there often will be a right
often wait on hold. Alarmingly, this percentage actually
and wrong place to begin an inquiry. If this information is not
exceeds the 2020 figure of 56%, which was gathered
apparent, let alone intuitive, to the customer, a frustrating,
at a time when pandemic resourcing issues and digital
effort-intensive journey will likely result.
inexperience should have been far bigger factors.
The fact that contact center data remains tribal – agents
One can counter that business (and thus contact volume)
do not all have access to the same product and process
has grown amid 2021’s lighter lockdown restrictions, but
knowledge, let alone customer insights – increases the risk
is that really an admirable justification for longer wait
that customers will end up on ineffective, inefficient journeys.
times? More importantly, is it a wise one? If companies
are subjecting all these new, enthusiastic customers to A notorious contact center issue, the challenge of
poor service experiences, they are making a bad first repetitive questioning is only intensifying in today’s
impression and thus squandering their opportunities for landscape. For starters, the addition of new channels
long-term loyalty and revenue growth. automatically heightens the risk of data fragmentation.
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The growing emphasis on complex, personalized service Although customers are demonstrating an unprecedented
also increases the likelihood that agents will need specific comfort with self-service, they still seek agent assistance
customer data to proceed, therefore increasing the in certain situations. Forcing them to engage with a bot
likelihood that they will need to clarify information that or IVR in these situations – especially if the self-service
customers feel they have already provided elsewhere. portion does not demonstrably improve the agent’s ability
to provide fast, personalized service – will register as a
point of frustration.
Which of the following issues do you often experience when

communicating with companies?
Hard to find the right person or system to contact
53.18%
Long wait time before getting help

68.01%
Representative is slow, frequently goes silent, and/or puts you on hold

36.86%
Have to repeat account/issue information or re-ask questions

43.43%
Can’t use the channel I want (I want to call, they only offer email, etc)
27.54%
Transfers to other representatives or supervisors

28.60%
Told they can’t help you due to policy

16.31%
Support is too generic - can’t get specific help for my issue

27.33%
Can’t contact them when I want (support not available at night or weekends, etc)
26.27%
Different employees tell me different things or promise different resolutions

29.66%
Difficult to switch between channels (move from chat to phone, etc)

9.75%
No option to request a call back at a more convenient time

15.89%
Forced to use self-service - chatbot, automated voice response - before reaching a live representative
43.01%
Forced to talk to a live representative; no way to solve problem on your own

11.23%
Representative doesn’t seem to know much about you or why you’re contacting

17.16%
Representative doesn’t seem like an expert in their brand or products

22.67%
No issues - most of my customer service interactions are perfect

4.66%
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WHAT ATTRACTS CUSTOMERS?

If companies indeed want to make customer centricity a ATTRACTING CONSUMER SPENDING
reality, they cannot allow the common pain points to stand.
They cannot continue subjecting customers to challenges For many consumers, those experiences will be
like long wait times, complicated journeys, and repetitive convenient. A substantial 62% say that they are more likely
questions. Disappointing in the “call center” of old, these to spend with brands that deliver easy experiences.
issues are downright inexcusable now that customer
contact teams have better technology, more data, Consumers have long demonstrated a preference
convenient channel options, and stronger corporate buy-in for frictionless experiences, and recent marketplace
at their disposal. developments have only strengthened that demand. Having
spent eighteen months interacting with new brands, often
But while eliminating pain points will minimize customer via convenient online and mobile platforms, consumers
frustration and churn, it does not necessarily elevate customer know that they do not have to take inefficient, unintuitive
satisfaction. It does not guarantee marked increases in journeys for granted. They can find companies that leverage
customer delight, let alone acquisition and retention. personal data and astute experience design to deliver quick,
simple interactions on the customer’s terms.
Indeed, true customer centricity also hinges on delivering
positive sources of value for customers. It involves Other key drivers include offering warm and friendly
delivering the kinds of experiences they actually want. experiences (59%), handling mistakes well (51%), and offering
discounts for loyalty (39%). All three drivers make sense in
the contemporary customer experience landscape.
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Today’s customers may oppose long conversations, but they Granted, it takes more than a favorable impression to
still want them to be warm. They still prefer to interact with win business. Consumers also appreciate direct financial
agents who demonstrate a legitimate interest in their needs incentives; loyalty discounts meet this need by providing
and an undeniable passion for providing great assistance. a tangible reason to spend more money. Admittedly,
they also provide a hedge in the face of experiential
Not simply useful during the sales and relationship-building imperfection — leaving for a competitor becomes more
processes, those elements of empathy and urgency are difficult when staying comes with a financial reward.
also important when things go wrong. Consumers have
no illusion that all experiences will be perfect, but they do
prefer brands that make an honest effort to identify — and
correct — the imperfections that emerge.
Which of the following will make you more willing to shop at or

otherwise support a business?
Customer experiences that are consistently easy and convenient
62.00%
Customer experiences that are consistently warm and friendly
59.24%
Customer experiences that are consistently “magical” and above and beyond
23.35%
When an experience does go wrong, the company handles it really well
51.38%
Discounts for loyal/repeat customers (gold customers save 10%, etc)
39.49%
Rewards programs (buy 5 cups of coffee, get the 6th free, etc)
32.70%
Targeted discounts and offers based on your personal profile, past purchases, etc
26.33%
Company reaches out to you proactively to check-in, provide help, recommend new products
10.19%
Business has a favorable brand reputation; social media channels are cool, etc
16.14%
Company makes it easy to renew (auto refills, subscriptions, etc)
22.93%
Company continuously upgrades its products, inventory, features, etc
17.83%
Company proves it listens to customer feedback
32.27%
Company demonstrates social responsibility and/or supports the same causes as you
19.75%
Company never talks about social or political issues
16.14%
Company partners with some of your other favorite brands, making it easier to buy and use their products
15.50%
Company gives you an incentive for reviewing or promoting the brand online
14.65%
Your friends/social media contacts love the brand
7.43%
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WINNING BACK CUSTOMER TRUST Money talks, and companies that are willing to pay in
the form of discounts, replacement products, or freebies
Consumers are less willing than ever to endure bad are demonstrating a clear desire to keep the customer’s
experiences. Previous CCW Digital research confirmed that business. Whether because the compensation makes it
roughly two-thirds will look to competitors after just one or easier to forget their anger or because they assume the
two bad experiences. brand will clean up its act to avoid continually paying out
make-goods, consumers tend to appreciate this gesture.
All hope is not, however, lost in the face of mistakes. As
evidenced by the premium they place on brands that The fact that it costs money, of course, means a make-good
rebound from challenges, consumers are willing to give policy is not a sustainable strategy. It works in cases where
brands new opportunities to regain their support. the business made an unavoidable or at least unexpected
mistake, but no company can afford to keep offering make-
The most effective way to seize such an opportunity is goods instead of addressing root causes.
also the most straightforward: providing a quick, and easy,
solution to the problem. A whopping 69% of consumers In an era of blame-passing, brands that not only accept
appreciate this gesture, making it the most popular method ownership for the situation but demonstrate clear sympathy
of rebounding. for the impact on customers stand out from the crowd. If
customers feel the brand understands why the mistake
Other noteworthy ways to regain customer trust include was so important, they are more likely to trust the brand to
offering a make good (48%), demonstrating legitimate eliminate such mistakes moving forward.
sympathy or empathy for the situation (46%), and providing
the specific resolution the customer requests (42%). The Although they want companies to address mistakes quickly,
resonance of each strategy is decidedly intuitive. consumers still care about the content of the resolution.
Naturally, many believe the right resolution is the one they
are specifically requesting.
Suppose you had an issue with an order or service experience.

Which of the following would help win back your trust and support?
Sincere apology
38.64%
They seem legitimately empathetic about your situation and/or interested in your feedback
45.65%
They provide a resolution quickly and easily

68.79%
They provide the specific resolution you ask for

42.46%
They offer a “make good” coupon, discount, gift, etc

48.20%
They provide instructions/assurance on avoiding the issue in the future

26.11%
They assign you a personal support agent to avoid future problems

18.90%
They proactively reach out to you with help (before you complain)
27.60%
They promise to do better in the future

15.29%
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USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN A non-trivial 32%, in fact, say that the online and mobile
user experiences almost always impact their appreciation
Although they care deeply about the interactions they for a brand. Another 58% say that the user experience
have with bots and live agents, consumers do not matters in at least some cases, with only 10% ruling out its
exclusively judge brands based on conversations. Many impact altogether.
make judgements based on the initial user experience,
including the appeal and intuitiveness of their online and The most customer-centric companies, therefore, are focusing
mobile channels. intently on first impressions. They are ensuring that even
those customers who never need to call customer service
know how much the brand values great experiences.
Does the quality of a company’s website or mobile app (ease of

use, value of information, types of features, appeal of design, etc)
impact your willingness to buy from or otherwise support them?
32.02% Almost always

58.42% Sometimes, depending on the type
of company/product/industry
9.56% Almost never
FRIENDLY INTERACTIONS A significant 52% of consumers note that they are almost
always more willing to support brands after encountering
Friendliness, whether in the form of an enthusiastic friendly employees. Forty-three percent (43%) say
“hello” to new shoppers or a pro-customer attitude during friendliness matters in at least some cases.
complex service interactions, also plays a pivotal role in
shaping consumer perception. Only about 5%, therefore, downplay the importance of
friendliness in today’s environment. Indeed, the rise of
technology-driven experiences has not negated the
importance of human connections.
Does the friendless of a company’s employees impact your

willingness to buy from or otherwise support them?
51.77% Almost always

43.24% Sometimes, depending on the type
of company/product/industry
4.99% Almost never
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WHY DO CUSTOMERS CHOOSE CERTAIN CHANNELS?

Sports programs have varsity and junior varsity teams, Indeed, the only way to truly master the omnichannel
each with their own sets of starters and backups. experience is to understand why customers pursue
interactions in different channels. From there, companies can
This hierarchical concept does not apply to the simultaneously tailor their channel experiences accordingly
omnichannel experience. Thought leaders have long while also uncovering any operational issues that may be
cautioned businesses not to think of their channels causing customers to abandon their true preferences.
as “A team” and “B team.” Instead, they have advised
companies to ensure they are delivering consistently great
experiences at all touch points. WHY CUSTOMERS CALL
This is not a call to treat all channels as identical. Just as When discussing the ideal customer contact hierarchy,
different players are best-suited for different positions on thought leaders often note that “digital is best for simple
the field, different channels do have different communication issues, whereas the phone is ideal for complex ones.”
limitations. Different channels do attract different customers. Consumers are at least somewhat on board with
Ignoring these differences, and trying to make every that sentiment.
channel “just like the phone,” can prove as unproductive and
Complexity is the #1 motivation for voice interactions, with
anti-customer as simply ignoring certain channels.
50% of consumers noting that they call when the issue
seems too challenging for digital.
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On the one hand, the statistic does confirm the inherent questions, and IVR inefficiencies — was the fastest option,
validity of the voice-digital hierarchy. Some consumers the statistic offered a damning commentary on the state
simply feel more comfortable talking through complex of digital engagement. Channels that were literally built for
service issues. convenient were not even as fast as the dinosaur channel
they were replacing!
On the other hand, it is worth considering whether the 50%
statistic is rooted in organic preference or past experience. In 2021, however, only 23% of consumers call because
It stands to reason that if digital interactions were markedly they believe it will be their fastest option. Indeed, digital
better, some customers would feel less pressure to take channels are catching up. Some of their potential is starting
their complex matters to the phone. to come to fruition.
Thirty-six percent (36%) of consumers, in fact, say that Granted, the growing viability of digital channels will not
they have chosen to call after enduring an unhelpful prompt all customers to put down their phones. Thirty-nine
digital experience. percent (39%) of consumers say they prefer voice for most
or all issues.
Digital channels definitely are becoming more viable,
however. Three years ago, consumers identified speed as A preferred option for complex issues, the phone channel
their #1 motivation for calling. In proving that consumers also represents a popular choice for personal matters.
felt that voice — with its notorious hold times, repetitive About 33% of consumers prefer to call when dealing with
these high-stakes situations.
What would make you choose to call customer service (via the phone number), as opposed
to using online or mobile options like chat, messaging, email, social media, etc?
I prefer to call for most or all issues
38.56%
Issue was personal or otherwise very important (related to something like family, legal, healthcare, finance, etc)
33.05%
Issue felt too complicated, unusual or difficult to explain in a digital interaction

49.79%
Wanted to share feedback or complaints, not just ask a question

14.62%
Wanted to talk to someone to get a refund, coupon, apology, etc

25.64%
Wanted to get specific/personal advice, such as whether to upgrade a plan, change services, etc
16.10%
Needed to reach support as fast as possible

23.31%
Already tried the company’s online or mobile option(s), and the support wasn’t helpful
35.59%
Already tried the company’s online or mobile option(s), and they were too slow or otherwise inconvenient
20.34%
Couldn’t find the right online or mobile option

25.85%
I would never call for support at this point - I only use online or mobile options
5.51%
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WHY CUSTOMERS CHOOSE landscape. Messaging, therefore, represents a consumer-

backed solution to a longstanding contact center challenge.
MESSAGING OR CHAT
About 36% of consumers appreciate the flexibility of
Whether in the form of SMS texting or app-based
messaging and chat, which more commonly allow for
communication, today’s consumers routinely use live chat
interactions outside traditional business hours. Thought
and messaging in their everyday lives. As CCW Digital’s
leaders often talk of an empowered customer that gets
2020 Consumer Preferences survey revealed, they are also
to set the terms and conditions for brand interactions.
increasingly choosing to message and chat with brands.
Chat and messaging are one avenue for recognizing
Admittedly, their choice is not always of the emphatic variety. such empowerment.
Forty percent of consumers (40%) choose to message or chat
Whereas some consumers message because they cannot
not because they necessarily love those options but because
find the brand’s phone number, others do so because
they cannot easily find the customer service phone number.
they do not like what happens when they call. A whopping
Many customers do, however, derive positive value from chat 36% of consumers say they chat or message specifically
and messaging experiences. Forty percent (40%) see it as an to avoid interacting with an IVR. The statistic really speaks
option for avoiding long waiting, which incidentally happens to how the IVR of old — conceived as a customer-centric
to be the most common pain point in today’s experience enhancement to the experience — ended up becoming a
source of frustration.
What would make you choose to contact customer service representatives using online/
mobile interaction channels, like chat or messaging?
Don’t like talking on phone - will always prefer text or video option if available
28.18%
Can’t find customer service phone number
40.47%
I require flexibility (I can message with an issue at 10PM but can only call during business hours)
36.23%
Don’t want to deal with automated voice menu before reaching a phone agent
36.23%
Don’t want to deal with a long wait time before speaking to a representative
39.83%
When I am in a rush or just don’t want to spend too much time on this issue (online channels seem faster)
22.67%
Issue seems easier to handle via online channel (related to a mobile app or website issue, it’s easier if I login to my account, etc)
18.22%
Issue just doesn’t seem like it needs a phone call
23.73%
I want to converse at my own convenience (can start a text conversation, go do something, and then come back to it)
15.04%
Want to use multimedia (share pictures of problem, screenshot of billing issue, etc)
11.02%
In a situation where talking isn’t an option (crowded room, private issue, etc)
15.25%
It’s payment or bill related (since I can easily go from chat to payment screen, don’t have to give my credit card out over phone, etc)
11.23%
Seems easier to explain my issue/need in writing than verbally
11.23%
Worried that I will get too emotional if I call
4.87%
Will never prefer these options; will only use if phone isn’t an option
9.96%
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WHY CUSTOMERS CHOOSE As consumers not only become comfortable with digital
payments but arguably more confident sharing payment
SELF-SERVICE information with an encrypted automated platform than with
Although historical iterations of the IVR gave self-service a a human agent, self-service’s viability as a transaction tool
bad rap, consumers are not at all averse to handling their will only grow. The added convenience is icing on the cake;
own issues. The overwhelming majority, in fact, say they are paying via a technology platform is far easier in 2021 than
comfortable solving problems without agent assistance. reading a credit card to a live phone agent.
They are particularly willing to self-serve for informational As it eliminates the need to wait for a live agent, speed is an
issues. Just under 49% of consumers prefer to use self- inherent benefit of self-service. Consumers are starting to
service for inquiries like account balance checks and delivery appreciate this reality, but many still require more convincing.
date confirmations. Companies have to provide first-hand proof that interacting
with a chatbot or IVR will actually save time.
Other popular self-service drivers include transactions (38%),
desire for a fast resolution (30%), and situations in which Similar to the motivation for chatting or messaging, time
connecting with an agent would be inconvenient (26%). flexibility is also a noteworthy driver. Since no agent is
required whatsoever, self-service literally takes place at the
customer’s own leisure. It thus has appeal for those who want
to resolve issues late at night or while in a crowded place.
In what situations would you prefer to use self-service (chatbot, instructional

video, automated phone voice menu, etc) instead of working with a human
employee/representative?
Informational issues - what’s my account balance, when will order be delivered, etc
48.73%
Transactional issues - paying a bill, requesting a return/refund, etc

37.92%
Private issues - medical or financial issues that you don’t want to discuss with a person
18.86%
Complicated/legal issues - don’t trust human employee to give me 100% accurate information
13.56%
When you’re looking for a solution as quickly as possible

29.87%
When it doesn’t seem like a good time to communicate with an agent (it’s 4AM, you’re on a crowded bus, etc)
26.06%
When situation seems like a bad fit for a live agent (calling someone at a noisy restaurant when you can change an order or reservation on an app?)
16.53%
It seems easier to self-serve (example - chatbot already has access to your account info, so why spend time restating for an agent?)
22.46%
Haven’t had good experiences with company’s representatives in the past

13.56%
You’re upset and don’t want to get into an argument with a real person
10.81%
None - I require assistance from an agent every time

14.19%
CUSTOMER
CONTACT WEEK
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CUSTOMER
HOW CUSTOMERS ENGAGE IN people are reacting to a brand. These people recognize
social media’s power to not only amplify word-of-mouth
SOCIAL MEDIA (instead of hearing from two or three friends, they can gain
Much like phone and chat, social media represents a viable insights from thousands of other customers) but provide
customer service environment. It allows consumers to an honest counter to marketing copy, commission-minded
easily communicate with the brands for the sake of asking salespeople, and potentially biased critics.
questions, sharing feedback, and making purchases.
About 30% of consumers take a what’s-in-it-for-me approach;
Where social media differs is in the breadth of its offerings. they follow brands to gain updates and access to discounts.
Whereas phone and chat platforms are largely geared to They have come to recognize brand social media accounts as
direct communication between the customer and brand, news sources and coupon books, and they are happy to trade
the public nature of social media introduces a host of other their follows and likes for such incentives.
applications. Consumers can interact with brands merely to
Just shy of 30% of consumers do approach social media
signal their preferences and interest. Companies, moreover,
with customer service eyes, but not necessarily in an
can use their social networks to establish a corporate identity,
active context. They scan social media accounts to see
informally interact with consumers, and share broad-reaching
if other consumers are having the same issue, but they
information and offers.
do not necessarily ask their own support questions in the
Today’s consumer is certainly aware of social media and its same environment.
role in helping them connect to the brands from whom they
Just over 29% of consumers take a completely passive
buy. Because of the breadth of use cases, however, there
approach to brand social accounts, doing nothing more than
is no guarantee all consumers interact with brands in the
following or liking brands they support. For them, corporate
same way.
social media is simply a way to show support and signal one’s
Thirty-one percent (31%) of consumers, for instance, say that interest — it is not an engagement mechanism.
a priority social use case is to review comments to see how
How do you personally engage with companies on social media networks

(Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc)?
I like/follow/retweet companies, but I don’t actively converse with them
29.45%
I follow to get updates on new product announcements, discounts, contests, etc

30.08%
I comment on their posts (funny memes, product offers, etc)

16.74%
I review comments to see who else likes the brand, if there are any positive/negative reviews, etc
31.14%
I check to see if anyone is having the same customer service or product issues that I am
29.66%
I ask general customer service or tech support questions with the expectation of a broad answer (yes, our service is out in the New York area)
14.19%
I ask specific support questions with the expectation of a personalized answer (yes, your product was lost in shipping - we’ll send you a new one)
16.74%
I answer questions that other fans/users may have about the company
8.69%
I share positive and/or negative feedback about the company

18.01%
CUSTOMER
CONTACT WEEK
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CUSTOMER
WHAT DID COVID-19 MEAN FOR CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?

Amid lockdown restrictions and global health and economic Companies did not automatically win points for this strategy;
concerns, consumers spent the past eighteen months a bad experience does not automatically become stellar
engaging with new brands, adopting new shopping habits, because the company was transparent about it. Plus, some
and communicating in new contact channels. They gained companies powered through the challenges and thus
a new respect for the customer service experience, while proved themselves as truly customer-centric — they are the
developing a new appreciation for what really matters during ones who won the most points.
the engagement journey.
On the other hand, these companies did not necessarily
The question, of course, concerns the long-term impact receive the fallout they would have received in a typical
of these changes. Which short-term reactions will turn into climate. Consumers are ultimately rational, and they
long-term consumer habits? Which crisis response measures expressed tolerance toward some COVID-driven
will turn into mission-critical strategies? service issues.
Moving forward, the COVID justification will become

THE COVID JUSTIFICATION objectively less valid. Even if lockdown restrictions return (a
legitimate concern at the time of this report’s publication),
The COVID-19 pandemic complicated the service companies have had eighteen months to learn how to excel
experience, and many brands openly acknowledged that in a remote, digitally driven service environment. They have
reality. They warned customers of long wait times due to had ample time to build scalable contact centers with robust
high call volume. They eliminated certain channels and continuity plans.
support options to consolidate customer inquiries. They
pushed customers to self-service for a growing array of Many consumers are nonetheless still willing to give them
issues. They even delayed addressing certain service a pass. Thirty-five percent (35%) of consumers say they are
requests and changes with a promise to provide a resolution now more tolerant of these COVID-driven explanations; only
when things calmed down. 31% say they are less tolerant.
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Why are consumers — the same ones who say the unwilling to question the potential impact on service. Their
experience matters more than ever and criticize brands appreciation for transparency further softens the blow.
for not meaningfully improving their offerings — willing to
tolerate suboptimal performance? There are key factors Consumers’ increasing comfort with low-touch and self-
at play. service options, moreover, gives them less reason to stress
over potential wait times. Whereas they might have once felt
First, for as much as the COVID-19 vaccine and declining like they had to choose between an hour on hold or awful
hospitality rates have helped restore some normalcy, some service, they now trust alternative channels for at least some
consumers may scoff at the notion that society is “out of the of their issues. In turn, they need not sweat the inability to
woods.” They still see this as the COVID era and are thus reach an agent.
During COVID-19 lockdown, some companies began to give explanations for lesser service
experiences — unusually high call volume, not enough employees, noisy work-from-home
environments, etc. Now that companies and experiences are recovering, how would you feel
if you encountered these kinds of “COVID” service issues moving forward?
31.21% I am now less willing to tolerate

these service issues/explanations
34.82% I am now more willing to tolerate
these service issues/explanations
33.97% I am indifferent to these service
issues/explanations
SHOPPING IN THE DIGITAL WORLD Forty-five percent also cite mobile payments – whether
to pay a friend or business - as a behavioral focus moving
eCommerce was hardly a new concept prior to the forward. Platforms like Venmo were already gaining
COVID-19 pandemic; Amazon was already a trillion- societal traction prior to the pandemic, and the rise of
dollar business in early 2020. Mandatory lockdown digital interaction only accelerated their adoption. The
restrictions and societal health concerns did, however, increasing robustness of digital payment platforms —
introduce a wider array of customers to a wider array of including the addition of banking and cryptocurrency
digital shopping and consumption options. Many of these capabilities — is further solidifying their traction.
experiences turned into preferences, and consumers
have no intention of looking back. Curbside and in-store pickup options always presented
some value, but such advantages were not always clear
Mobile and/or online finance, for example, will be a to consumers. After all, they still required the buyer to
popular option for 59% of consumers. Whether because spend time shopping online and spend time walking
they could not go to physical banks or because they got or driving to the store. When they became mandatory,
caught up in the “meme stock” hype, consumers spent however, consumers began to better appreciate the
the past year becoming more acquainted with the world concept. They essentially represent a best-of-both worlds
of financial technology. They learned that digital banking offering, allowing customers to gain the convenience of
is not about sacrificing security for convenience; it, in fact, shopping online (as opposed to walking through crowded
could offer an added degree of protection (and control) aisles and potentially dealing with pushy salespeople)
over one’s assets. and the instant gratification of brick-and-mortar checkout.
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Thirty-six percent (36%) of consumers, consequently, will eCommerce — can you buy pants without trying them on,
adopt these pickup options as a behavioral fixture even perfume without sampling the smell, or makeup without
as in-person shopping restrictions ease. seeing the color — but consumers are increasingly willing
to buy without direct physical exposure. Convenience
In a true testament to the rise of eCommerce, thirty-four is surely a factor, although augmented reality and “try
percent (34%) of consumers express confidence buying on before you buy” options are also helping to instill
beauty and fashion products online. The physical nature confidence in digital buyers.
of these products long seemed to clash with the idea of
Which of the following shopping options will you start, continue and/or
increasingly use moving forward?
Online or mobile financial services (such as banking, stocks, insurance, mortgage, etc)
58.60%
Paying friends/service providers via mobile platforms (Venmo, Zelle, etc)

44.80%
Online/mobile purchasing for luxury items (cars, jewelry, etc)

18.05%
Online/mobile purchasing for beauty or fashion items (clothes, makeup, fragrance, etc)
34.18%
Curbside/in-store pickup orders

36.31%
Getting delivery from local department stores, grocery stores, etc

27.60%
Reading feedback on review sites (Yelp, etc) or social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc) before buying a product
28.87%
Sharing your own feedback about brands and products on review sites or social networks
19.53%
Using contactless to pay for items in-store (Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, etc)
23.78%
Investing in cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, etc)

9.77%
Buying goods and services with cryptocurrency

4.88%
Using new brands/products you discovered during COVID lockdown

18.47%
Online wellness and lifestyle services (food box deliveries, Peloton, etc)
10.83%
Online health and medical services (virtual doctor visits, prescription refills, etc)
21.44%
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SHOPPING IN THE PHYSICAL Forty-eight percent (48%), in fact, say they would prefer to
shop in an environment with enhanced safety restrictions,
WORLD such as vaccine requirements or recommendations, mask
recommendations, or social distancing markers.
eCommerce continues to grow, but it is not replacing
in-person experiences. Consumers continue to shop in Thirty-seven percent (37%) do not care either way,
physical stores, and many have eagerly been going to and 16% are less willing to shop in establishments with
brick-and-mortar retailers, restaurants, and restaurants to additional restrictions. Whether due to an objection over
make up for the time they lost during the pandemic. what restrictions represent or a mere frustration with
COVID’s enduring impact on their lives, these consumers
That they are growing more comfortable with in-person
seek the in-person experience of 2019 and earlier.
experiences does not, however, mean all consumers are
abandoning their safety concerns.
Moving forward, will an establishment’s safety policy (masks required/recommended,

vaccine checks, sanitizer available, mandatory social distancing, etc) make you more or less
willing to shop/eat/do business there?
47.56% More willing - I will prefer businesses

with stricter rules/policies
36.52% No impact - doesn’t really matter to me
either way at this point
15.92% Less willing - I will
prefer businesses that have fewer
rules/policies
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PRACTICALITY GUIDE:
Customer experience
case studies, expert tips,
and practical exercises that
you can bring back to the office.
4 SIGNS OF A GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE | WHAT THEY ARE,

AND HOW TO ACHIEVE THEM
It is easy to trumpet the importance of the customer To empower your quest toward customer centricity, this
experience. It is easy to declare one’s commitment to briefing details four irrefutable signs of a great customer
customer centricity. Actually delivering a great experience, experience. It subsequently provides guidance on how
on the other hand, continues to prove difficult for many to achieve each crucial element, before sharing real-life
companies success stories.
Although most brands say they care more about the

customer experience than ever before, CCW Digital’s SIGN #1 | COMPANY PROVIDES
Consumer Preferences Survey reveals they are not walking MAXIMUM SUPPORT OPTIONS
the talk. Nearly 60% of consumers have witnessed no
improvements to phone or messaging experiences with Consumers have long used digital engagement options in
brands, and over 20% feel interactions have actually their everyday lives, and companies have long discussed
gotten worse. the importance of omnichannel communication. These
realities did not, however, stop many brands from dragging
It is time to escape this landscape of complacency and their feet regarding new channel options. They did not
underperformance. With consumer spending rising and stop brands from doubting the long-term viability of digital
demands soaring, the stakes of the customer experience customer service.
have never been higher. The costs of inefficient and
impersonal journeys have therefore never been greater.
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EMBRACING DIGITAL To ensure they are actually delivering, companies will make
use of robust, multi-dimensional, omnichannel analytics
The COVID-19 pandemic firmly eliminated that doubt. Due programs. Encompassing survey feedback, behavioral
to a combination of unprecedented call volume and social data, and external social media monitoring, these
distancing measures, companies and customers found intelligence efforts will give companies a crystal-clear
themselves utterly reliant on agent-led and self-service look into the quality of individual channel experiences,
digital options. As comfort with different communication the navigability of the overall journey, and the impact
channels grew, use out of necessity turned into use out of the experience is having on customer loyalty and brand
preference. Consumer proclivities for digital options will reputation.
only increase in the months and years ahead.
Granted, the CCW Digital Consumer Preferences Survey SIGN #2 | COMPANY MINIMIZES
reveals that 95% still see value in calling for at least some CUSTOMER EFFORT
issues.
As the CCW Digital Consumer Preferences Survey reveals,
A successful customer experience, therefore, provides
easy and convenient experiences are the #1 way to attract
customers with a full array of communication options.
customers. A customer-centric organization, therefore,
Whether consumers choose to speak on the phone,
commits itself to reducing customer effort.
interact with a chatbot or IVR platform, engage in
messaging, or contact a brand on social media, they In theory, increasing the number of support options
should never experience any “dead ends.” They should should help with this cause. Omnichannel businesses
never feel as if they are being asked to sacrifice their empower customers to conveniently access support in
preferences just to make life easier for the company. their preferred channels, on their preferred devices. They
also provide a wealth of self-service options for customers
To make this a reality, successful companies will first
who cannot – or at least do not want to – wait for live agent
ensure they are leveraging an omnichannel contact center
support.
platform. Companies should be able to quickly deploy and
integrate new channel offerings without creating visible In practice, the introduction of new channel options has
fragments for customers or inefficiencies for employees. added complexities and inefficiencies to the customer
journey. Because companies have not taken an outside-in
CHANNEL-MATCHED EXPERTISE & overview of their journeys, customers struggle to locate
ANALYTICS the best and most convenient channel for their issue.
Not content with merely offering different channel options, Making matters worse, companies are not sufficiently
these companies will ensure each offers an experience connecting their channels, which creates difficulty
that sufficiently represents the brand and captures the when customers switch between environments. This
individual nuances of each channel. A company that fragmentation also affects data, which means agents will
promises the ability to message, for example, will ensure often have to ask repetitive questions of customers who
its agents can communicate using SMS as well as popular escalate or transfer. This requires even more customer
applications like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. effort and thus drives even more dissatisfaction.
A company that offers chatbots will ensure the tools
make use of conversational AI, have access to accurate “The effort of reaching-out to support should be frictionless,”
knowledge bases, and provide seamless escalation to explains Julie Casteel of ibex. “This includes easy access
agents when necessary. to the initial call or click, simplifying the IVR flow, and -
perhaps most importantly – ensuring the customer does
While honoring the unique elements of each channel, not have to repeat their information multiple times as they
companies will also ensure they are delivering a consistent move through the system.”
standard of care wherever customers choose to connect.
This entails allocating the appropriate resources and
staff at each touch point, as well as introducing metrics
that assess overarching challenges and overall customer
satisfaction levels.
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MAP AND CONNECT THE OMNICHANNEL Offering 24/7 phone support may not seem attainable
CUSTOMER JOURNEY for all organizations, but being consistently available
is essential in today’s digital world. Customer-centric
Minimizing effort begins with a customer-centric approach companies look across their full suite of channels to ensure
to data. By analyzing customer intentions and preferences they are giving customers the power to not only connect
and designing journey maps from the outside-in, but receive meaningful support without waiting or other
companies will ensure customers can easily get to the sacrifices.
channel they prefer for their issue. Such data will also help
companies identify and remedy pain points throughout Robust self-service platforms are essential to this
the journey, such as the need to repeat information when cause. By leveraging advanced technologies, including
moving to new channels or employees. conversational AI, companies can create IVR and chatbot
experiences that actually solve problems. As a result, the
Granted, companies aiming to reduce effort hope to company is able to provide on-demand support without
eliminate the need for channel-switching and thus ensure increasing the operational burden.
all communication touch points, whether self-service
platforms or agent-led channels, are capable of providing a Even when customers cannot fully resolve problems on
great experience. their own, advanced self-service tools aid the process
by capturing necessary information about each customer.
On the backend, companies ensure all employees have This data empowers the company to intelligently route
access to 360-degree views of customers and knowledge the customer to the right agent, who will (by virtue of his
bases. With such insight, agents can deliver quick, yet 360-degree view) already be ready to help. Customers will
personal support that further reduces customer frustration. not only avoid waiting to speak to a live agent but benefit
AI-powered solutions can uncover the most actionable from a faster resolution once the conversation starts.
data in every interaction.
Not simply about fast real-time conversations, an
SIGN #3 | COMPANY PROVIDES on-demand experience also supports asynchronous
interactions when convenient for the customer. This
CUSTOMERS WITH FAST SERVICE involves support for start-and-stop messaging interactions
ON DEMAND (as dictated by the customer) as well as call back
technology.
When it comes to customer pain points, none is more
prevalent than excessive waiting. The CCW Digital
Consumer Preferences Survey reveals that 68% of
SIGN #4 | COMPANY EMPOWERS
consumers frequently experience long wait times before AGENTS TO ENGAGE IN HIGH-
connecting to someone who can help. QUALITY CONVERSATIONS
A great experience minimizes waiting by committing to the When customers demand speedy interactions, they
notion of fast, on-demand service. It is about being ready are specifically urging companies to remove wasteful
to wow customers exactly where and when they wish to inefficiencies from the experience. They are not looking for
engage. rushed conversations.
ENGAGE WITH CUSTOMERS ON THEIR “Once a customer connects with an agent, the priority shifts
from speed to quality,” says Casteel. “Quality involves the
TERMS
proficiency, professionalism, and personalization of the
interaction itself. Once a customer is seeing their issue
“Humans move through their day completing on- resolved effectively, their concern for speed drops, and
demand interaction after on-demand interaction with the focus turns to the quality of the resolution. Spending 10
the technologies and brands that surround them... It is minutes on a call is fine for most customers, as long as they
imperative that a brand’s support channels re-enforce the can see their issue receiving the dedication and resolution
on-demand experience, and do not break the on-demand it deserves.”
flow.” explains Casteel.
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AGENT EMPATHY AND PROFICIENCY Leveraging AI-driven simulators, gamification, and

With customers increasingly using self-service for simple personalized coaching solutions, leading organizations
tasks, agents will spend a higher percentage of their days go beyond traditional classroom training to ensure each
on complex and high-stakes interactions. This amplifies the employee develops immense product knowledge, second-
need for high-quality conversations, as agents will have to nature comfort with all tools, and confidence engaging in
simultaneously answer difficult questions and develop a empathetic, high-stakes conversations with customers.
meaningful rapport with customers. Unsurprisingly, CCW
Training is not a set-it-and-forget-it endeavor, however,
Digital’s Customer Contact Industry Review reveals that
and leading companies leverage real-time performance
empathy, comfort with different types of interactions, and
monitoring and assistance solutions (both AI- and
mastery of complex topics now rank as essential qualities
supervisor-led) to consistently identify and transform
for customer-facing employees.
competency gaps into strengths. Not simply useful at
Naturally, companies will have to take these standards into boosting performance, such real-time monitoring improves
account when hiring new employees. By collaborating with agent engagement even in remote environments.
proven business process outsourcers and considering
In working to empower their employees, leading
remote work options, brands can gain access to a high-
organizations recognize that great agents require great
quality, global talent pool capable of dazzling customers at
technology. By offering access to robust customer insights,
all times, in all channels.
AI-driven knowledge engines, and seamless, omnichannel
The effort does not, however, stop with recruiting. engagement solutions, customer-centric brands eliminate
Customer-centric brands also commit heavily to talent the factors that lead to inefficient or inaccurate information.
development. Agents will always be clear on what to say or do, enabling
them to focus on making meaningful connections with
ADVANCED TRAINING METHODOLOGY & customers.
TECHNOLOGY
“Training may not be the most exciting piece of the CX

puzzle, but it is truly fundamental,” declares Casteel.
“Training impacts the speed at which agents reach

proficiency and efficiency, which in turn reduces CX risk as
a program launches, or as new agents transition into the
program.”
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PROVEN SUCCESS: HOW LEADING BRANDS UNLOCK THE POWER OF THE

CONTACT CENTER
As the gateway between a brand and its customers, the contact center is the centerpiece of the customer experience. It is the
engine most capable of – and certainly most responsible for – increasing support options, reducing customer effort, providing
on-demand support, and empowering agents.
To maximize the potential impact of their customer contact function, leading brands are turning to ibex and its tech-enabled,
agent-first approach to CX. Rather than simply focusing on specific tasks or capacity needs, ibex leverages a leading training
methodology, omnichannel expertise, cutting-edge technology, and seamless integrations to offer high-quality, low-friction
experiences that are agile in the face of sudden market changes and scalable in the event of growth. Examples of successful
partnerships follow:
Leading Fitness Technology Brand

Challenge: Our leading Technology client was looking to revamp its digital customer experience for improved conversions
and a more engaging and dynamic experience across every digital touchpoint. They partnered with ibex to reduce costs,
improve conversions, and drive revenue. .
Solution & Result: ibex strategically analyzed the buy-flow of our client’s digital customers, and recognized that new users
were becoming ‘stuck’ during the online buying experience.
To unstick the customer experience and reduce friction in the support and buying process, ibex leveraged its expert Digital
and Business Intelligence units to map the customer journey, identify points of friction, and develop an engagement solution
to optimize the digital buy-flow. After launch, ibex:
• Scaled the client’s CX program from 32 to 420 agents in 2 years
• Added $1.03M to client revenue over 2 quarters vs. prior year
• Removed $2.08M in client cost
• Achieve a 32% customer conversion rate
• Became the client’s #1 CSAT Vendor
Leading
Leading
Global
Fitness
Digital
Technology
Payments
Brand
Brand
Challenge:
Challenge: Our
Ourleading
leadingdigital
Technology
paymentclient
clientwas
needed
looking
a customer
to revampsuccess
its digital
partner
customer
who experience
could manage
for improved
seasonal staffing
conversions
variability,
and a morereduce
engaging
call-backs
and and
dynamic
transfers
experience
to banking
across
partners,
every and
digital
whotouchpoint.
could achieve
They apartnered
quick speed-to-green
with ibex to reduce
and costs,
effortless
improverampconversions,
to Peak for
andthe
drive
holiday
revenue.
season,
. all while servicing multiple support channels and working with multiple
banking partners.
Solution & Result: ibex strategically analyzed the buy-flow of our client’s digital customers, and recognized that new users
Solution
were becoming
& Result: ‘stuck’
iibex unified
duringits
theOperations,
online buying
Recruitment,
experience.
Training & Business Intelligence teams to deep-dive into
program
To unstick the customer experience and reduce friction in the analysis,
pain points & challenges, implementing expert Gemba contact trigger analysis,
ibexchannel analysis, and Digital
support and buying process, leveraged its expert
Value Stream Mapping.
and Business Intelligence units to map the customer journey, identify points of friction, and develop an engagement solution
Bytosynthesizing
optimize theinteraction
digital buy-flow.
insightsAfter
into launch,
a closed-
ibex:
loop feedback communication process, ibex translated daily program
performance data into real-time agent training and performance enhancements, resulting in a drastic reduction in call
transfers to banking partners and a marked improvement in First Contact Resolution rates. Results of the program:
• Scaled the client’s CX program from 32 to 420 agents in 2 years
• 40% reduction call transfer rates
• Added $1.03M to client revenue over 2 quarters vs. prior year
• Ramped fast to 350 agents for seamless seasonal CX
• Removed $2.08M in client cost
• Became #1 in Client’s Global Vendor Ranking
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UNLOCKING HUMANITY FROM EMPLOYEES AT EVERY CX

TOUCHPOINT
Customers increasingly expect fast and convenient The answer involves adopting a human-centric approach to
experiences, but they also demand interactions that are customer experience technology. Instead of viewing it as
friendly, empathetic, and geared to their unique preferences. a “contingency” for workforce limitations, successful brands
They are increasingly comfortable using self-service, but will harness the power of modern technology to unlock
they also seek live agent assistance for complex, personal, humanity from each and every employee – at each and
and other high-stakes matters. every touch point.
Today’s customers, indeed, expect an experience without This briefing will reveal how to position modern customer
compromises. engagement solutions as your gateway to a higher standard
of customer centricity.
“We’re now in post-pandemic recovery in many ways, UNCOMPROMISING CUSTOMERS

but that isn’t stopping customer expectations from REQUIRE EMPOWERED AGENTS
rising. There is more than the expectation of speed and
accuracy in solving any problem, customers now expect There are no shortcuts for wowing today’s customers. They
personalized, seamless, and proactive solutions to be truly want it all. They truly seek humanity in an increasingly
offered through their preferred engagement channel - digital, fast-paced world.
across all industries, from retail to financial services.”
Talkdesk Research™ confirms the importance of frictionless,
—David Gardner, VP, Research & Insights (Talkdesk). omnichannel experiences. About 84% of customers ascribe
significant value to speed, and 78% demand the ability to
engage in their preferred channels. Sixty-nine percent (69%),
meanwhile, expect the ability to seamlessly switch between
How can companies empower their teams to meet this
channels while talking to a representative.
standard for a support experience that is incredibly efficient
and immensely personal?
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CCW Digital’s Consumer Preferences Survey, similarly, confirms Insufficient contact center platforms: Legacy contact
“consistently easy and convenient” experiences as the #1 way center platforms lack support for omnichannel. They
to attract customers. In a testament to the uncompromising neither allow companies to add and integrate channels nor
nature of today’s customers, however, the study reveals empower agents to communicate in all channels from a
“warm and friendly” experiences as the second-most powerful single interface.
method of winning business.
Channel-specific strategies: Instead of thinking about the
Although 86% of customers are comfortable using self- overall journey, companies design channel experiences
service, almost all continue to value high-quality interactions in isolation. This creates inconsistencies throughout the
with agents. A whopping 96% of customers say they are experience.
more likely to support a brand after engaging with friendly
employees, and many specifically seek phone agents for Ineffective data platforms: Thanks to antiquated analytics
complicated and personal issues. tools, companies can neither capture actionable data from
all channels nor communicate the intelligence to agents or
It will take a higher caliber of agent to meet this higher bots at moments of truth.
standard for customer engagement. According to CCW
Digital’s Customer Contact Industry Review, companies now With modern technology and a true omnichannel mindset,
view empathy, friendliness, comfort in all channels, comfort companies can overcome these challenges and make
with complex issues, and comfort with different types of customer centricity a reality.
interactions as the most essential qualities for customer
In addition to reducing customer effort, omnichannel
experience employees. Mindful of this higher standard,
companies gain unprecedented insight into customer
some companies are phasing out the “agent” name in favor
intentions, behaviors, and sentiments. They can gather and
of titles like “expert,” “consultant,” or “advisor.”
unify this actionable data from all touchpoints, ensuring they
Technology is the key to empowering and cultivating these have the most accurate, actionable portrait of all customers.
qualities. They can use the resulting intelligence to simultaneously
design simpler overall experiences and empower agents
to engage in more meaningful, personalized conversations.
OMNICHANNEL: MAKING Routing will be intelligent, escalations will be seamless, and
UNPRECEDENTED CUSTOMER interactions will be human.
CONNECTIONS Since omnichannel platforms also allow individual
agents to instantly support customers in all channels, the
Talkdesk summarizes today’s customer as one that seeks
probability of developing a human connection is especially
real-time support on a 24/7 basis, seamless experiences
high. Time that multichannel agents waste on introductions,
across channels, and intelligent service cognizant of their
record lookups, and repetitive questions is time that
unique needs and preferences.
omnichannel agents use to build trusting relationships
A company can meet these demands – and achieve throughout the journey.
unprecedented customer connections – by embracing an
omnichannel engagement framework. AI: MAKING HUMAN EXPERIENCES
Many companies, unfortunately, lack the necessary MORE ATTAINABLE
capabilities. Due to a combination of technological
Clichés like “AI handles simple tasks so that agents can
limitations and strategic mistakes, they fragment their
focus on complex ones” or “AI is about augmenting, not
experiences. Customers endure more friction, agents
replacing, employees” speaks to a simple reality: artificial
have less ability to connect with customers, and humanity
intelligence can help companies increase humanity
becomes impossible to demonstrate. Particularly common
throughout their customer experiences. By virtue of the
challenges include the following:
following mechanisms, it empowers agents to reach higher
Multichannel mistake: Companies focus only on standards for performance and customer centricity
adding as many contact channels as possible, forgetting
Eliminates simple tasks and interactions: By using AI
that omnichannel engagement hinges on seamlessly
to automate tedious operational processes and improve
connecting them.
self-service capabilities, companies can take low-value
work off their agents’ plates. Agents can, in turn, focus
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more intently on complex service interactions. They can AI investments, which means there is an urgent need to
also pivot to new forms of engagement, such as proactive improve training and hiring models.
support and outbound sales.
Instead of cultivating agents who can read scripts and recite
Improves agent performance: Not simply about giving policies, successful companies will build teams that can
agents more time for complex work, AI makes agents identify and capitalize on revenue-generating opportunities.
better at such interactions. By improving analytics Confident that agents will be able to find the information
capabilities in digital channels, AI helps companies glean they need, these companies will spend more time coaching
information agents can use to create more productive, employees on how to demonstrate empathy and warmth in
personalized conversations. AI solutions also simplify their conversations.
knowledge base and CRM lookups, while providing agents
with “next-best action” guidance in real-time. To capitalize on shorter ramp times and automated
scheduling flexibility, they will redesign workflows and
Expedites agent onboarding: By eliminating cumbersome policies for the gig economy. To continuously increase the
tasks, streamlining workflow, and enhancing knowledge impact of AI, they will cultivate AI-era skills, such as “training”
access, AI markedly reduces ramp time for new agents. bots and quality-checking other automation solutions.
This empowers companies to add talent, including short-
term “gig” workers, on a moment’s notice.
SCALABILITY: PUTTING
Strengthens agent training: Along with helping them EMPLOYEES IN POSITION TO
spot competency gaps, AI helps companies deliver the SUCCEED
requisite training in a real-time, user-friendly manner.
Agents can get the skills and guidance they need without During the COVID-19 pandemic, business leaders
having to attend inefficient classroom training. witnessed just how quickly the customer experience
landscape can change. Consequently, they gained a new
Supports a modern contact center team: From appreciation for the importance of agile, scalable contact
scheduling automation to intelligent routing, AI helps center systems.
companies make better use of agents’ time and skill sets.
In addition to boosting productivity, such solutions will also As companies grow, move into new channels, or deal
improve agent satisfaction by ensuring they are working with sudden volume shifts, their experience cannot suffer.
on the most fulfilling, personally relevant tasks. Agents, even brand new ones, have to be in position to
deliver great experiences no matter when or where they
are working.
“Automating self-service features not only improves the
customer experience but also deflects inbound calls and Many customer experience teams lack the necessary
enables organizations to capture the elevated value of framework. They continue to rely on legacy systems
human agents,” summarizes Margi Deinlein, Customer that lack flexibility, struggle to accommodate changing
Insights Manager, Talkdesk. “Streamlining workflows and business needs, and cannot support innovative new
processes across departments empowers your employees technologies like AI. Built for phone-centric, single-
to be more. This will enable your organization to expedite site “call centers,” these systems are neither capable of
time to market and grow revenue.” supporting seamless omnichannel interactions nor remote
employees on personal, mobile devices.
—Margi Deinlein, Customer Insights Manager, (Talkdesk).
Not simply unable to accommodate the sudden addition
of new remote workers, these cumbersome platforms
Thanks to their robust AI capabilities, modern contact
are frustrating for even the most seasoned contact
center solutions are making these benefits more attainable.
center veterans. With slow, difficult interfaces that require
The most successful brands, however, recognize the need
employees to access multiple screens for even the
to complement the right technology with the right strategy.
most basic issues, they inhibit the very agents they are
More specifically, they are actively preparing for a supposed to be empowering.
landscape in which agents can focus more intently on
Adopting a modern contact center platform, therefore,
complex work. Talkdesk Research™ reveals that only 37% of
represents a pivotal step on the road to customer
companies believe their agents have the skills to maximize
centricity. By adopting a leading cloud-based platform,
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companies can greatly simplify the process of adding or data. More importantly, it makes voice of the customer
subtracting employees based on volume, helping agents insights actionable through training workshops and
connect from different devices and locations, unifying videos. Stakeholders gain a clear window into what drives
data access, integrating new channels and tools, and particular customer behaviors and sentiments.
automating historically inefficient workflows.
Seamless omnichannel experience: Farfetch leverages
Boasting secure, user-friendly environments, the best a combination of intuitive digital experiences and
platforms simultaneously help remote agents get up to consultative human support to make it convenient to
speed quickly and leaders manage performance in real- do business and easy to derive personalized value.
time. Integrated workforce management capabilities further Connectivity between all channels ensures a seamless
boost productivity, while allowing companies to seamlessly experience.
accommodate hybrid and gig work models.
Free from the hassle of accessing and using the contact “What is low in terms of emotional value can be automated,
center platform, customer experience employees have if the customer wants to buy something fast, we make it
more capacity to focus on connecting with customers. simple, easy, effortless. Done!” says Loureiro. “The other
They can inject humanity into each and every interaction. cases, even when the clients manage to purchase easily, if
they still don’t feel right, then that’s something that you as
a company shouldn’t allow to happen.”
CASE STUDY: HOW FARFETCH

MAKES HUMANITY A CX REALITY Emotion-guided use of AI self-service: Instead of thinking
about AI use cases in terms of volume, Farfetch focuses
In a session at Opentalk 21, Farfetch Global Customer on emotional value. Cases with low emotional value are
Service Director Patrícia Loureiro perfectly summarized perfect for chatbots; cases with higher stakes warrant
the role for today’s customer service employee: “To be agent involvement.
very good at your job, as an advisor, one needs to connect
emotionally to the customer.” Advisor experience befitting the higher performance
standard: In CCW Digital’s Customer Contact Industry
Farfetch, an online marketplace that connects shoppers Review, leaders identified employee well-being as the
to luxury brands and boutiques across the world, focus that most “keeps them up at night.”
recognizes the rising standard for today’s customer service
employees. The successful eCommerce company also In addition to enabling employees with the technology and
recognizes the role innovative technology and savvy data they need to effectively support customers, Farfetch
strategy can play in cultivating agents who can deliver emphasizes mental health.
humanity at every touch point.
From ensuring advisors can alternate between phone
Farfetch, a Talkdesk partner, elevates its customer cases and offline work, to offering employees an internal
experience in a number of ways: helpline for those who need to take a break, vent, or
receive guidance, Farfetch minimizes stress and thus
Voice of the customer amplification: It takes in-depth maximizes employees’ ability to connect with customers in
knowledge of one’s customers to build meaningful high-stakes, emotional situations.
connections, and Farfetch works diligently to uncover this
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RETHINKING CX: 5 TRENDS YOU CANNOT IGNORE
For far too long, complacency reigned supreme within Now that the stakes of the customer experience have
the customer experience space. Brands talked about reached an all-time high, it is time for organizations to
customer centricity and celebrated the idea of omnichannel prioritize innovation. It is time to rethink the customer
engagement, but they continued to deliver fragmented, experience.
inefficient, impersonal experiences. Prior to 2020, only 18%
of companies even possessed omnichannel capabilities. CCW Digital data confirms that customers care more about
Unsurprisingly, just 13% of consumers felt very satisfied with the experience than they did prior to the pandemic. Their
their brand interactions. vision of a great experience, moreover, is as lofty as ever.
They expect meaningful support in all channels, whether
During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies had no choice they are self-serving or working with an agent. They
but to take action. They had to begin supporting customers demand convenient interactions, but they also place a
in digital channels, and they had to adopt distributed premium on the human connection. They seek an end to
workforce models. These efforts were laudable, but they long-lingering and still common pain points like wait times,
were ultimately of the responsive variety. Companies were complicated journeys, and repetitive questions. They
attempting to maintain operations in the face of change, as appreciate proactive communication and personalized
opposed to meaningfully and proactively elevating their engagement.
experiences.
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By adapting to the five crucial trends detailed in this TREND #2: DELIVERING SEAMLESS
briefing, companies can thrive in this ever-demanding
OMNICHANNEL ENGAGEMENT
landscape. They can transform their customer experience
from a workable support system into a haven for employee Digital communication, including self-service, rose to
empowerment and customer delight. the forefront over the past eighteen months. The CCW
Consumer Preferences Survey reveals that 90% of
TREND #1: EMBRACING THE NEXT- consumers are comfortable engaging with brands in chat
and messaging; 86% are comfortable using self-service in at
GENERATION CONTACT CENTER
least some cases.
In addition to underscoring how dramatically (and quickly)
Naturally, this means companies have to build out their
customer needs can change, the events of the past
digital capabilities. Instead of merely offering customers
eighteen months introduced two important realities.
the ability to start conversations in these environments,
“First is the shift to digital due to more e-commerce and successful brands will provide them with a complete support
mobile ordering as well as the inability to really manage experience. This entails sufficiently staffing agent-led
demand swings,” explains Gayathri Krishnamurthy, AVP digital environments, harnessing conversational AI to offer
Product Marketing at RingCentral. “The second is work from productive chatbot and IVR experiences, and leveraging
anywhere - where agents need to be able to work from innovative functionalities like co-browsing, multimedia
home or wherever they may be.” sharing, rapid authentication, geolocation, and proactive
alerts to deliver the value customers have come to expect in
Indeed, the days of the single-site, 9-to-5 “call center” the digital world.
are officially over. Customer engagement is spanning all
channels, interactions are taking place at all times, and While elevating their digital experiences, companies
agents are increasingly working in different locations. cannot lose sight of the big picture. They cannot forget that
omnichannel is not just about offering more channels but
A cloud-based, omnichannel contact center platform unifying them to create a seamless, consistently customer-
therefore represents an essential ingredient for any centric experience.
customer-centric business.
“Omnichannel is more important today than ever before,”
Rather than restricting customers to certain environments, declares Danita Belcher, Head of Contact Center Sales
innovative brands are bringing great experiences to their of RingCentral. “Customers really want to interact in the
customers. By allowing companies to seamlessly add, channel they are in and have the ability to seamlessly
integrate, and staff new channels, modern contact center move between channels when interacting with a
platforms make customer centricity a reality. company. They want consistency in the experience as
well as the context of the conversation to continue across
Beyond creating a seamless front-end for customers, these
the various channels.”
platforms create an empowering backend for employees.
Agents can access necessary systems, tools, and data from In addition to making it easy for customers to move between
all locations and all devices. Built-in security and workforce channels, leading brands will ensure their data follows suit.
management frameworks, as well as vast integration With a 360-degree view into each customer, the company
capabilities, ensure companies do not have to sacrifice and its employees can spot inefficiencies within the journey,
performance in order to support the employees’ demand for tailor experiences to a given customer’s intent, personalize
flexibility. communication based on their profile and sentiment, and
avoid the much-maligned habit of asking customers to
Inherently scalable, cloud-based platforms empower repeat information.
companies to embrace change and celebrate growth. They
will never have to worry about market forces impacting their
ability to efficiently support customers.
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Companies can further reduce effort – and further actualize “There have been exciting developments in the analytics
the idea of omnichannel – by providing tools that allow space being able to mine all the customer interaction data
employees to support all channels from the same interface. to gain insights into the overall customer journey,” adds
Krishnamurthy. “Being able to access all the information
TREND #3: SETTING A NEW STANDARD FOR associated with all customer contacts in the contact center
will enable companies to identify where there is friction in
ANALYTICS
the customer journey.”
Customer centricity requires access to robust, actionable
information about customers, their preferences, their TREND #4: EMPOWERING NEXT-
intentions, their behaviors, and their sentiments. GENERATION AGENTS
Consequently, a robust analytics program plays a pivotal
role in meaningfully elevating the customer experience. To say the agent experience landscape is transforming
would be the understatement of the century. As remote and
Elevating customer analytics begins by creating structure hybrid workforce models take center stage, the very idea
and unity between all potential data sources. It hinges on a of a customer contact agent is changing. With customers
360-degree view of the customer experience landscape. using self-service for simple matters, agents are increasingly
focusing on complex, high-stakes interactions. They are also
“The contact center is so data rich but historically has been
taking on new roles in the customer journey, transitioning
information poor due to the majority of the data being
from frontline support into relationship building and revenue
unstructured,” explains Joanna Palmer, CX Client Principal at
generation.
RingCentral. “At the first level, data from enterprise apps like
CRM, ERP should be integrated to get the full view of the Given the undeniable link between agent and customer
customer as we talk to them.” experiences, customer-centric organizations will empower
their employees to thrive in this new environment.
Not simply about connecting systems, data unification
involves democratizing intelligence. Whether they are Naturally, they are implementing cloud technologies
looking for feedback on a product, redesigning an overall and devising strategies that allow employees to remain
customer journey, tuning a chatbot, aiming to personalize productive, engaged, and collaborative in wholly remote
a conversation, or hoping to upsell a longtime customer, and hybrid models. From rethinking hiring practices, to
all stakeholders require access to digestible, actionable determining when and why certain employees should
intelligence that can inform their work. With seamless return to the office, to adopting flexible scheduling habits,
access to personally relevant insights and overarching these organizations are tirelessly redesigning the agent
operational trends, employees can proceed with confidence experience for the new normal.
that the decisions they make and support they offer are in
the best interest of both the customer and business. “Thanks to the ‘work from anywhere’ wave, we can now
have agents hired and trained and coached anywhere in
Thanks to advances in the analytics space, this the globe,” states Belcher. “Investment in integrated unified
democratized intelligence continues to become more communication will bring in a lot of value here.”
actionable – and valuable. Harnessing the power of AI,
leading solutions gather deep insights from all interactions Aware of the higher standard for today’s agents, astute
in all channels. Employees can use this data – which is companies are also eliminating sources of operational
intelligently surfaced to them at key moments of truth – to friction. By offering agents unified desktops with instant
engage in the most personal and productive conversations access to knowledge bases and 360-degree customer
possible. Leaders can also identify and remedy overarching views, companies free employees of the tedious tasks
issues throughout the customer journey. and empower them to focus on meaningfully conversing
with customers.
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“Just like consumers, employees bring their consumer With a framework of collaboration in place, the contact
expectations to the workplace and want an effortless center can realize its potential as a data hub. Actionable
experience where they are empowered and have the tools customer intelligence can flow freely throughout the
necessary to effectively service the customer,” says Palmer. organization, empowering all teams to align their people,
processes, technology, and work output to the voice of
Because they are easier to use, modern contact center the customer. Customer satisfaction will rise, and favorable
and analytics tools require less upfront training. Agents business results will soar.
will get up-to-speed faster, and the training they do
receive will focus on personal needs as well as high-value “The contact center is no longer a reactive cost center that
competencies like empathy, de-escalation, and upselling. handles customer complaints,” explains Belcher. “The
contact center is a strategic partner to the entire business
This favorable agent landscape, of course, hinges on that can now feed intelligence to other departments from
effective use of self-service throughout the customer the voice of the customer on product defects, marketing
journey. If the company cannot leverage chatbots, IVR initiatives, what resonates with the customers and what is
platforms, and similar platforms to solve problems, or at causing friction.”
least gather relevant information about each customer, the
system breaks down. The agent will revert to a frontline
support role, leading to less productive conversations and
greater employee and customer attrition. CUSTOMER-CENTRIC THINKING ENSURES
CONTINUOUS READINESS
The customer experience function has, historically, focused
TREND #5: THINKING BEYOND THE on responding to existing problems and closing lingering
CONTACT CENTER gaps. The aforementioned five trends represent a new,
more forward-looking approach to customer experience
Customer centricity is only possible when all business units, strategy.
not just the contact center, work collaboratively to create the
best possible experience. When a company adopts a cloud-based contact center
platform, builds a seamless omnichannel experience,
“The most critical trend is the blurring walls between the elevates its approach to customer intelligence, prepares
contact center and other parts of the organization and the agents for more complex and unpredictable work, and
ability to connect UC and CC will be key to how an agent unites the entire organization around the experience, it
can connect with any part of the organization, get expert empowers itself to evolve as customers and the overall
advice and serve customers wherever they are in the marketplace do. Companies will always be keenly aware of
customer journey,” declares Krishnamurthy. what customers want, and forever be capable of retailoring
their customer contact function to meet those demands.
By integrating all enterprise systems and uniting them
around core metrics, a company will create a framework At a time when the customer experience is more meaningful
for collaboration. Stakeholders will always have a clear than ever and change is more likely than ever, this
line of sight into where the experience is going wrong, framework of agile customer centricity will be a pivotal driver
what they can do to make it right, and which other team of lasting success.
members and experts can support their effort. Rather than
putting bandages on ongoing customer experience woes,
stakeholders will be able to address and forever remedy the
root causes.
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TRANSFORM CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH NEXT-GEN

KNOWLEDGE: WHY AND HOW
Knowledge first • Customers are often in a negative emotional state when
they get to the agent having had a negative experience
There are many ways to get to pain-free customer service, with self-service or another agent. So the stakes are even
but what is the fastest path to relief? “Knowledge first” is a higher in human-assisted service.
sound approach. These are some of the reasons.
• Contact center agents are mostly young, possibly
• Forrester Research asked 5000 consumers, “What millennials or Gen Z. While older workers internalize
created the biggest pain when you contacted a business knowledge and often keep it in their heads, this
for customer service?” The answer was loud and clear— generation, often called the “look up” generation, goes
the lack and consistency of agent knowledge, followed to the Web to literally run their lives. Having a KM system
by the difficulty of finding relevant answers on company in place, aka a place to look up information or get guided
websites. This pain was true across a whole bunch of to answers or next best steps in the service process, is
industries. therefore essential for today’s contact center workforce.
• The knowledge deficit can be the root cause of many • Automating everything else without knowledge guidance
operational ailments in the contact center, such as lower can detract rather than help the customer experience. It’s
First-Contact Resolution, increased Average Handle Time, like turbocharging an automobile engine to speed it up
slow Average Speed to Answer, and increased agent when the driver doesn’t know where to go and what to do
shrinkage (partially caused by endless training). One can next. With no guidance, the consumer (in self-service) and
also add strategic metrics such as customer loyalty. the agent (in human-assisted service) are going to reach
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the wrong destination or take U-turns in cul-de-sacs, skills (based on products supported, functions performed
leading to awful service experiences. such as servicing, selling, onboarding, collections,
language skills), and past history. The system should be
Knowledge-enabling customer service contact centers able to personalize for authenticated customers or even
anonymous prospects to the degree possible, while making
Here are key attributes to look for in your Knowledge
it easy to deliver hyper-relevant knowledge from one single
Management system to maximize your odds of success.
knowledge base.
Does it find? A financial services BPO serves multiple clients from a single
eGain-powered knowledge base. eGain Knowledge+AI
Can the KM system find accurate answers fast when the
delivers personalized views for agents, depending on their
customer is on the line and the pressure is on? Make
clients, roles, and if the caller is a consumer. Queries cover
sure your KM system makes findability easy with flexible
payment processes, credit card issuance and reissuance,
search options such as FAQs, keyword search, natural
fraudulent use, complaint resolution.
language search, federated search, and topic tree browsing.
The contact center could also mandate the path based
Does it guide?
on agents’ tenure with the organization and regulatory
requirements. Suffice it to say that the business value of Artificial Intelligence (AI) takes guidance to the next level. AI-
content without fast findability is zero. infused KM systems can handhold agents through customer
interactions based on organizational best practices and
A leading retailer was able to deflect up to 60% of incoming
regulatory requirements for automated compliance. The
calls with knowledge-enabled self-service, and a global
output might be step-by-step guidance to a customer
media and legal services giant deflected up to 70% of agent
goal like problem resolution or even a go/no-go decision
assistance requests with fast findability, powered by eGain
on whether to go ahead with something. Watch out for
Knowledge+AI™.
pretenders like rigid scripting and rule-based systems that
claim guidance—they tend to put agents and customers in
Does it federate?
conversation cul- de-sacs, especially when the customer
In the digital world, knowledge is literally everywhere goes off-script, and cannot make mid-course adjustments to
and easily accessible. Sometimes, “power users” know move the interaction towards the customer goal. Moreover,
more about products than even the companies. Likewise, such legacy systems are difficult and expensive to maintain.
in consumers’ purchase journeys, online reviews are
A global bank uses eGain’s patented AI technology to
often the first stop. It therefore makes sense to tap into
guide a largely novice agent pool through best-practice
this information and present it on the business’ own
interactions across 11 countries, while reducing training
website when customers search for answers rather than
requirements by half! The same technology enables a
risk abandonment by letting them go to other websites.
global media and legal services giant to make decisions on
Compiling answers from multiple sources and presenting
whether to take on malpractice lawsuits, based on multiple
them to customers while marking them as trusted or curated
factors like the amount of damages, win rates in the past
is called “search federation,” an important KM requirement
for any given topic, tendencies of specific courts/judges. A
now. Likewise, the Knowledge Management system
leading telco guides 10,000 contact center advisors and
should be able to “harvest” answers from such sources
associates in 500 retail stores with eGain Knowledge for a
automatically and feed them to the knowledge manager for
37% improvement in First-Contact Resolution (FCR), 50%
quality control and publishing as trusted knowledge.
improvement in advisor speed to competency, and a 20%
Does it personalize? boost to their NPS (Net Promoter Score).
Finding accurate answers and getting to resolution is Does it comply?

good, but depending on where the user starts the quest for
Compliance with ever-changing industry regulations makes
answers it can be fast or convoluted. One way to increase
customer service even more challenging for companies. AI-
speed to answer is to get hyper-relevant right at the start by
enabled guidance can help.
personalizing for customer preferences, agent roles, agent
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A marquee global bank guides advisors through a step- powered contextual knowledge to the shopper at the time
by-step dialog and industry-compliant questions as they of escalation to live chat. The same retailer makes over 50
qualify and onboard small business clients, with eGain AI. million contextual content or promotional offers per year
Utilities clients use AI guidance not only to resolve customer with eGain Knowledge, complemented by its offers engine.
problems but also help them avert safety hazards due to gas
leaks and the like, while complying with regulations on who Does it unify?
asks and does what and when.
One of the top pain points in customer service is the
Does it embed in other systems? inconsistency of answers across touchpoints and
agents, per the above-mentioned consumer survey. Is
eGain partners with “systems of record” providers such as the KM system capable of delivering knowledge that is
call center infrastructure, CRM, and content management personalized to the customer and the touchpoint from a
solution providers, where its award-winning digital single source?
engagement and knowledge management capabilities
are embedded in the agent desktop. CSRs can find fast, A large federal government healthcare system in the US
accurate answers for customer questions by simply clicking uses eGain-powered omnichannel knowledge across
on a “Solve” tab or button, whereby eGain Knowledge phone and digital channels to deliver consistent answers
is bootstrapped with expanded context from third-party that are also compliant with regulations. The agency powers
systems for speedy problem resolution. over 24,000 agents and 2 million self-service sessions
annually with eGain.
A multinational telecom services company embeds eGain
Knowledge in its agent desktop, where the solution pinpoint Does it make it easy?
answers from a SharePoint content repository at the push
of a button. A toy manufacturing leader does the same, Out-of-the-box functionality, proven domain expertise, best-
embedding eGain Knowledge into a CRM agent desktop. practice methodology, ease of trial, ease of deployment,
and ease of optimization are critical to not only creating
Does it pervade? business value with knowledge but also doing it with speed
and expanding it over time. Here’s how eGain makes it easy:
The world has gone omnichannel. And mobile is a big part
of omnichannel. Can the KM system deliver consistent and • Easy “riches”: Unlike solutions from new entrants and do-
channel-tailored knowledge on any channel or device? Can it-all generalists, eGain Knowledge offers best-of-breed
it bootstrap a human-assisted service conversation or an functionality—including patented AI technology—out of
autonomous remote fix from device data? the box for rapid, cost-effective value creation. A pioneer
in Knowledge Management, consistently rated #1, eGain
A telco giant uses eGain to bootstrap service interactions has developed the richest solution for customer service
with data and context gathered from the calling number through sustained innovation and collaboration with
even before the agent starts the conversation, and also fixes world-class clients for over two decades.
problems remotely with the push of a button from the agent
console! • Easy to pilot: eGain Innovation in 30 Days™ is a unique
production pilot in the cloud that enables contact centers
Does it engage (proactively)? to try our solutions—knowledge or other products—free
of charge with no obligation to buy. Unlike traditional
Contact centers that want to differentiate themselves deliver pilots, Innovation in 30 Days also includes free assistance
contextual, personalized knowledge proactively across from domain experts to guide the pilot to quick business
touchpoints to accelerate customer service journeys. value.
A leading catalog and digital retailer deflects requests • Easy to optimize: eGain Knowledge+AI offers slice-and-
for human-assisted chat by proactively pushing eGain- dice knowledge analytics for continuous optimization.
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For instance, knowledge managers can measure and fine- knowledge across its 10,000 contact center agents and
tune the effectiveness of answers and knowledge base 500 retail stores
articles, scope of knowledge based on what’s working
and what’s not, and automatically create and track • Leading global bank reduced call handle time by 67% and
knowledge tasks for the service organization. agent training time by 50%, while its subsidiary vaulted to
the #1 position in customer experience in its market
A multinational manufacturer of cleaning systems piloted
eGain digital engagement and proactive knowledge • Leading North American telco reduced average handle
solutions. Happy with the results from the pilot and the time by 17% and incoming calls by 19% with omnichannel
hands-on guidance provided by domain experts, they knowledge
moved forward with the eGain partnership.
• Leading US branded manufacturer improved service
A toy manufacturing leader, a household name, used quality by 33%
eGain Innovation in 30 Days to arm agents with contextual
• Leading European telco reduced unwarranted handset
knowledge to serve consumers for its own brands and
returns and exchanges by 38% through better problem
third-party brands that white-labeled its products. In the
resolution in the contact center, while enhancing agent
latter case, the knowledge had to be compliant with the
experience by 90%
agreements that the manufacturer had made with those
companies. In addition, the company simultaneously tried If this is not customer service transformation, what is?!
out eGain Superchat™, the most comprehensive solution for
real-time digital collaboration. Happy with the benefits from Next Steps
the production pilot, the manufacturer is deploying both
solutions to their entire agent pool! eGain Innovation in 30 Days offers a real-world trial in a
production-setting, with no-charge expert guidance and no
Does it “pay”? obligation to buy! This offer is also available to pilot our AI-
infused knowledge management solution.
If there is a killer use for KM in the enterprise, it is in the
contact center. Historically, knowledge management has About eGain
been limited by weak technology and generic content
management substitutes. eGain stands out, having created eGain customer engagement platform automates digital-first,
transformational value for over 20 years for the world’s omnichannel experiences for global brands. Powered by
leading companies! knowledge, AI and analytics, our top-rated cloud software
enables effortless customer journeys with virtual assistance,
• Telco giant speeds up agent time to competency by 100%, customer self-service, and modern agent tools. To learn
First-Contact Resolution by 37%, and NPS by 20%, while more, visit www.eGain.com.
reducing advisor training time by 43% with omnichannel
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12 CUSTOMER EMOTIONS ORGANIZATIONS MUST UNDERSTAND:

WHY EMOTION ANALYSIS IS KEY FOR CX
The stakes in customer service have never been higher. intelligence (AI) and conversation analytics, organizations
The rate of innovation and growing customer expectations can detect and deliver the emotional insights needed to
have pushed customer experience (CX) to the forefront improve the customer journey, and ultimately connect with
of market competition. Getting emotional could be the next customers on a deeper, more impactful level.
big differentiator.
“Emotion has a bigger impact on brand loyalty than THE VALUE OF EMOTION ANALYSIS
effectiveness or ease in every industry,” according to IN IMPROVING CX
Forrester Research. But for most CX professionals, emotion
is undiscovered territory. Measuring, understanding and Customers who are emotionally connected to your brand
responding to customer emotions has become the key are worth two times more than highly satisfied customers.
for businesses seeking increased customer loyalty and Additionally, 83% of consumers indicated they were
competitive advantage. more likely to purchase from a brand they are emotionally
connected with. Creating an emotional connection with
Delivering exceptional CX and forming emotional customers goes a long way toward building a stronger
connections during every interaction begins with brand, improving loyalty, and driving revenue.
understanding the customer emotions that have the
deepest impact on experiences. With tools like artificial
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But achieving this is hard. In “The New Contact Center Interest Indicators: Excitement and Surprise
Powers Its People with Customer Intelligence”, a study
commissioned by CallMiner, Forrester Consulting found CX can deliver excitement by ensuring your offerings meet
that 57% of contact center decision makers struggle or exceed customer needs. Once you have the customer’s
to determine their customers’ dynamic emotions. It attention, you can help them explore ways to solve their
also asserts that “brands will find it difficult to provide problem.
emotionally resonant interactions if they don’t understand
Negative Interest Indicators: Fear, Guilt, and Shame
what customers are trying to do and how they feel about
the interaction.” CX can create fear by introducing new features without
explanation. Guilt can arise when customers discover a
By identifying and analyzing customers’ emotions, your
fix they should have seen earlier. These emotions get
business can uncover what matters most to customers,
attention, but not for the right reasons.
enabling you to support them with the following benefits
that extend well outside of the contact center. Destructive Indicators: Anger, Irate, Contempt,
Disappointment, and Disgust
• Stronger emotional connections: Customers are
emotionally connected with how well they feel your CX that delivers disappointment, for example, will lead
brand aligns with their motivation and fulfills their to lost revenue, missed opportunities and increased
needs. Emotion analysis can reveal critical drivers to resolution costs. When these emotions are identified,
enable data-informed strategies. brands should intervene with appropriate efforts.
• Improved customer experiences: Negative emotions,
Once you begin to understand your customers’ emotional
like frustration or stress, can be tracked to reveal
experiences, you can determine whether that experience
systemic failures across different departments, such as
will drive or destroy loyalty.
product, marketing or sales.
• Higher performing agents: Emotions provide new
perspectives on how your frontline team is representing ACTIONABLE CX INSIGHTS FROM
your brand and how customers are reacting. Based on EMOTION ANALYSIS
how your agents represent your brand, you can uncover
opportunities to improve training. Leveraging emotion analysis reveals valuable insights into
your customers’ feelings and perceptions. Driven by AI and
• Emotion-driven decisions: Insights gained from
machine learning, these tools provide actionable insights
understanding customer emotion can impact decisions
based not only on what your customers say, but how they
throughout the enterprise. Sales and marketing, for
say it. This allows you to develop more effective, impactful
example, can easily leverage customer emotion data
connections within the omnichannel customer journey, as
to inform product preferences and the resonance of ad
well as drive better customer experiences throughout your
campaigns.
business.
12 KEY EMOTIONS TO KNOW FOR CX Improve outcomes through historical analysis: The
multifaceted data provided by emotion analysis gives
For businesses to determine how emotions influence information on every aspect of each moment of every
customer decisions, it’s important to understand the 12 key interaction, making it easier to pinpoint trends in the
emotions, divided into four bundles, that either improve or appearance of negative emotion. For example, analysis
hinder CX. of emotional trends within contact centers might discover
that a call script creates specific customer emotions that
Loyalty Indicators: Happiness and Satisfaction
can then be fixed. Or departmental decision-makers
Positive CX, like the best products and quick fixes, can can understand which of their products or services elicit
evoke these vital emotions from customers. When specific emotions, and make more informed changes.
customers are satisfied, they become more connected to
your brand.
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Deliver real time interventions: Customers often reach Measure voice of the customer: Understanding what your
out to contact centers as a last resort after failing to resolve customers are feeling during and after their interactions
an issue via self-service, and emotions can run high in with your brand can completely change the way you do
these situations. Emotion analytics delivers real-time, business. With emotion analysis, you can increase the
crucial feedback to agents, equipping them to respond value in voice of the customer (VOC) programs. You not
appropriately and improve the outcome of the interaction. only gain insight into what each individual customer may
be feeling, you also get trend information that identifies
Prevent churn of vulnerable customers: Customer issues so they can be used to address smaller issue before
vulnerability can be difficult to pinpoint and address. they can evolve into bigger problems.
Emotion analysis enables you to generate customer
scorecards to confidently and automatically identify the Driving enterprise decisions: While understanding
criteria associated with vulnerability. Agents can then customer emotion can improve contact center operations,
be empowered with real-time notifications of customer you can also leverage customer emotion data to inform
vulnerability to address the customers’ needs more enterprise-wide departments, such as marketing, product,
appropriately. and financial teams, to create even greater impacts. For
example, product management teams, can use historical
Improve agent response and connection: According to emotional analysis to spot trends in customer feelings
the recent Forrester Snapshot Study, commissioned by toward new products or features.
CallMiner, 68% of businesses agree that the call center
has become the new empathy channel for customers, and Customers expect brands to clearly understand their
70% feel that agents are dealing with more emotionally challenges, needs and feelings – better understanding
charged situations than ever before. Emotion analysis can emotion and leveraging data drives better CX. AI-powered
help with training and support to improve agent responses conversation analytics gives companies the ability to better
to dynamic situations, including helping agents develop understand customers, improve service in the contact
the skills they need (empathy, politeness, efficiency, etc.) to center, and create stronger customer connections. These
reach better outcomes. insights also have the power to improve performance
enterprise-wide. When businesses can understand how
customers truly feel about them and make better, more
customer-centric decisions, everyone wins.
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For over 750,000 businesses worldwide, including more AUTOMATED TESTING

than 90% of the Fortune 500, Pitney Bowes is a trusted
technology partner that plays a critical role in coordinating
IMPLEMENTED FOR CX ASSURANCE
the on-time delivery of essential invoices, statements, and Pitney Bowes began the transition to a newer, more
packages. sophisticated Genesys contact center solution, with the
understanding that they would need a way to automate the
As today’s world has evolved, so has the need for
testing of all seven of their IVRs, as well as perform load
omnichannel customer contact solutions that can meet the
testing on the new system to ensure that customers would
needs of Pitney Bowes’ global customer base. Customers
always be able to get their questions answered.
rely on the ability to quickly access account details, check
on the status of a delivery, or connect with a live agent The project manager overseeing their Genesys
for help with complex logistics. The capabilities of Pitney implementation recommended Cyara for test automation,
Bowes’ legacy call center solution could no longer keep based on her positive experiences with Cyara on
pace with the demands of modern commerce, and they previous projects.
were overdue for a platform upgrade.
Cyara Velocity enabled the team to develop test cases from
Migration to any new technology requires a great deal of existing customer journeys represented by their suite of
coordination and collaboration between teams to ensure IVRs and begin automated testing to ensure the Genesys
that customer-facing services experience minimal impact. migration progressed smoothly.
This was of particular importance to Pitney Bowes, who view
customers as their North Stars and consistently capture Pitney Bowes’ Manager of Technology Solutions, April
metrics such as net customer satisfaction (NSAT) and net Del Angel, found particular value in the amount of test
promoter scores (NPS) to continually evaluate and improve automation coverage they were able to obtain with
the customer experience. Velocity. Thousands of test cases were created to assure
the full range of Pitney Bowes customer journeys, and
automated tests could be run in close to half the time it
“This is one of the most important measures for Pitney took to dial manually.
Bowes. We are very focused on NSAT and NPS which are
“We set up our Velocity campaigns to cover numerous
key measure of client satisfaction.”
complex IVRs at one time. Although the campaigns can run
—April Del Angel, Manager Technology Solutions, anywhere from a few hours to a few days, it saves so much
Pitney Bowes effort versus dialing manually. So it’s a huge time saver in
that aspect.”
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Moving from manual dialing to automation accelerated CYARA TRAINING AND 1:1 SUPPORT
project timelines by reducing the time needed to devote to
the testing process. Additionally, it gave time back to IVR The team is continuing to fine-tune the level of the alerts
team members who could step away from making test calls they receive to distinguish a true failure that requires action,
to focus on other projects and initiatives, resulting in greater as opposed to data that can be collected and addressed in
overall productivity. due time.
“We work a little bit differently than maybe some other

ACTIONABLE, REAL-TIME companies do,” McLaughlin explained. “We work primarily
PERFORMANCE DATA with models and test cases, we don’t necessarily use a lot
of blocks.” The Cyara team worked with Pitney Bowes to set
Another benefit the team gained with the Cyara Platform thresholds that were necessary to enable them to use the
was the amount of data and documentation they collected, platform in a way that was most beneficial.
providing them with a reliable way to share performance
data with decision makers. McLaughlin appreciated the ongoing training and support
provided by the customer success team, calling the live
Kate McLaughlin, Business Analyst at Pitney Bowes who instruction offered by Cyara “excellent.” Throughout each
works closely with the rest of the IVR team, found that training class, their instructor made certain the Pitney
Cyara helped quantify issues with latency that previously Bowes team had the information they needed as they
had been too subjective to address. “When you call and navigated the learning curve and continued to make system
you’re manually testing, you count, ‘one Mississippi, two adjustments.
Mississippi.’ For us to actually have the data available to
show a response took 8.23 seconds, that’s something that’s “He made sure we were equipped with the knowledge and
been truly beneficial and something that we did not have tools needed to be successful and was available if we had
prior to using Cyara.” questions or needed clarification via email after training.”
Having this precise level of detail at hand through Cyara’s

reporting, the IVR team found it easier to communicate these
“I also think that the continued training that Cyara offers,
issues to the right party so they could be accurately addressed.
even virtually, is really important. It’s nice to be able to log
on to those and get any training that we need at any time
at no additional cost.”
“It’s really beneficial for us to be able to escalate potential
concerns to the business with factual data and say, ‘look —Kate McLaughlin, Business Analyst, Pitney Bowes
at this Cyara data, seems something may not be working
as we expect.’”
—Kate McLaughlin, Business Analyst, Pitney Bowes
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NEXT STEPS IN THE STRATEGIC

CUSTOMER CONTACT PLAN
According to Del Angel, Pitney Bowes has outlined several
steps in their strategic plan to enhance the overall customer
experience. One area of focus will likely be an upgrade
of their current IVR system, potentially with the goal of
implementing a cloudbased visual IVR or natural language
IVR that would promote omnichannel capabilities and
enable customers to engage more naturally with self-service
channels.
The Cyara Platform will help the IVR team prepare for
and assure upcoming technology migrations. Additionally,
Pitney Bowes is exploring ways that Cyara’s integration
capabilities with Splunk might enable their team to monitor
back-end systems even more extensively than what is
currently possible.
CUSTOMER SMILES. DELIVERED AT

SCALE.
As the world’s leading Automated CX Assurance platform
provider, Cyara helps you deliver better CX with less
effort, cost, and risk. Cyara supports the entire CX software
development lifecycle, ensuring enterprises can build
flawless customer journeys across digital and voice
channels while reducing the risk of customer-facing defects.
Every day, the most recognizable brands trust Cyara to help
them build better customer experiences faster.
Call +1-650-549-8522 (NA/LATAM); +44-0203-786-5070

(EMEA); +61-3-9093-0815 (ANZ)
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BUILDING CUSTOMERS FOR LIFE: VALUE OF THE CONNECTED

ENTERPRISE
TAKING AN OUTSIDE-IN APPROACH The real value of moving towards a connected enterprise
begins and ends with getting closer to customers. An
BASED ON VOICE OF THE emerging truth in the modern world is that there is general
CUSTOMER ANALYTICS parity among products and services in almost every
market. Products and services are generally well-designed
You’ve been flooded with commentary and insights and can deliver on basic promises made to the buyer.
regarding “digital transformation.” Every analyst and Some more innovative offerings enjoy an advantage for
publication that covers your market has affirmed the “go a period, but agile innovation practices in competitive
digital or die” mantra in some form. But what does “going organizations generally close the gap quickly. So, unless
digital mean?” What value is there in the “connected you want to discount your pricing to the point where you’re
enterprise” that is presented as the goal of almost every the low-cost provider, you need to find compelling ways to
digital discussion? engage customers and convince them that your offering is
worth a premium price. Success requires establishing that
there’s little reason to consider switching to other brands —
and there are ample reasons to remain a customer for life.
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Sounds good, right? First, get close to customers, then all be “connected” and work towards that common goal
convince them to buy and make sure they loyal for life. of lifetime loyalty. An effective practice is to collect data
Seems so logical that every organization would follow this that’s relevant to the full lifecycle from a scientifically
path. But it’s an incredibly hard reality to create. It requires significant number of customers. Then, use that data to
a commitment — in terms of both organizational focus and identify distinct phases and map key customer beliefs and
an investment in technology — to three key pillars: behaviors to each phase. The resulting customer journey
map will provide great value across the organization in
1. UNIFYING THE ENTERPRISE terms of innovation, branding, pricing, service, supply
chain and ongoing customer communications.
The cracks in customer loyalty are most often a product
of silos and disconnection in the enterprise. Aligning on
customer insights and customer-driven brand promises WHERE TO GET DATA AND HOW TO
tends to break down silos and allow an organization to TRANSFORM IT
deliver better and better experiences as relationships
evolve and expand with customers. This means the entire Here’s another truth about our business in the modern
organization — from innovation teams to sellers to supply world: loyalty is highly portable.
chain departments — must have access to changing
customer insights. In other words, every part of the Customers lead highly connected lives, which gives them
organization must be “connected” and centered on real- instant and unlimited access to information about the many
time customer insights. choices the market presents them. And while price will
always be a factor in the decisions people make, there is a
2. THINKING OUTSIDE-INSIDE growing preference for products and solutions that reflect
an understanding of the individual buyer. There’s also an
There was a time when customer relationships were increasing expectation that engaging with a brand and
initiated, and brands were built through advertising. getting the products and services a customer wants will take
Technology has changed that. Now, customers are won, minimal time and effort. This trend was already in motion
and brands are built through the creation of exceptional before the onset of the pandemic. Customers in every
experiences that make life easier, healthier, safer, more market accelerated their adoption of digital technology,
productive and rewarding. It’s not possible to create developed allegiances to highly connected brands and
and deliver those experiences with traditional inside- established new expectations in terms of greater simplicity
out thinking. Enterprises need to know precisely what and less (or no) friction in every process from evaluation and
matters to their customers and continuously track the purchasing to delivery and ongoing service.
evolution of that ever-changing reality in real-time. The
most direct source of data to fuel an effective “outside-in” Again, building an organization that can deliver on this is
approach is the contact center. Every day, unfiltered and not only difficult, it’s exceeding rare. In fact, a 2021 Ernst
up-to-the-moment voice of the customer data pours into & Young study found that during the pandemic, 77% of
contact center over multiple channels. The key to strong consumers changed the way they shop, yet only 36%
and sustained customer relationships is making sure this of companies are actively investing to accelerate the
information isn’t trapped and lost in the contact center. It’s digitization of customer journeys and business processes.
important to extract, analyze, activate and share these Clearly, becoming one of the minority of organizations
high-value customer insights across the organization. that routinely meet or exceed customer expectations will
create game-changing differentiation and value.
3. ADDRESSING THE ENTIRE LIFECYCLE
Generating the insights you need to become one of
Getting customers in the door is valuable but keeping them these elite connected organizations requires continuous
for life is worth a fortune. Building lifetime relationships access to customer data, tools to turn that raw data into
requires knowledge (or even anticipation) of how meaningful insights and a commitment to align the entire
customer beliefs, behaviors and preferences are changing, organization on the resulting strategies. The simple act of
then making sure the entire organization — including collecting the right data can be troublesome. The problem
technology partners, suppliers and third-party service isn’t finding data. In fact, at the beginning of 2020, the
organizations — understand the customer-driven strategy, amount of data in the world was estimated at 44 zettabytes.
so they can deliver on it consistently. The core concept is By 2025, that figure will likely exceed 463 exabytes. So,
“experience” and, while it must always remain consistent data isn’t just pouring into your enterprise, it’s flooding
to the brand, “experience” will mean different things at in and creating oceans of information that’s increasingly
various stages of the lifecycle. For example, the processes difficult to navigate. Clearly, some of that data offers great
customers use to evaluate, buy, service, upgrade and
value and some is just noise.
expand your offerings will each be unique, but they must
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Considering the power customers have and the portability what’s most important. Start by focusing on direct points of
of their brand loyalty, the most valuable data is the contact with customers. Use those insights to ensure that
information that comes directly from them. Their perceptions your innovation, sales, service, and supply chain processes
of your offerings, their changing beliefs, their preferences, are aligned to real-time customer preferences. Ensure that
and their expectations form the high-value insights that drive information is customized in terms of format and availability
the connected enterprise. The most concentrated and direct for each work group, while maintaining consistency and
source of those direct-from-the-customer insights is your remaining true to direct input received from customers.
contact center. Every day, customers and prospects call,
email, text, video chat or interact with bots in your contact Step 3: Bridge the silos
center and tell you precisely what you need to know to build
Even if your innovation team gets it right, you won’t get
a connected enterprise.
the results you want if sales, service, or supply chain are
Sometimes customers can directly articulate how they feel working in silos and not leveraging high-value customer
about your brand, the experiences you deliver and your insights. The two keys here are planning and technology.
competitors. But often what they believe is not directly As you build you connectivity strategies, ensure that all
articulated but layered below the words they choose. For disciplines are involved in the process and that employees
all these direct-from-the-customer insights, best practices are empowered to act quickly on customer insights. The
call for the use of analytics and sentiment analysis tools right AI, ML and analytics tools can also connect teams and
that are driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine ensure that everyone is working the same plan.
learning (ML) technologies.
Step 4: Work in real-time
SIX STEPS TOWARD AN Digital transformation is real, and it was greatly accelerated
during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, we experienced
EFFECTIVELY CONNECTED about 6.5 years of transformation in the first eight months
ENTERPRISE of the pandemic. As a result, consumers became even
more connected and their expectations for speed and
Every enterprise is unique in terms of how it innovates, exceptional experiences increased. So did the pace
creates value, engages customers, and builds experiences of innovation. You must get to market in weeks now,
throughout the customer lifecycle. But most enterprises not months. You also need a direct feed coming from
that have been successful in building a connected customers regarding their evolving beliefs, behaviors
enterprise take six key steps toward that goal. Collecting and buying habits. The best place for this connectivity
information and getting your teams thinking in these core is the contact center — it’s where customers directly
categories can provide an effective path moving forward. communicate what they are thinking right now.
Step 1: Solve the data issue Step 5: Engage the channels

Your enterprise is awash in data and the pace is only If you employ a matrixed sales or service organization,
accelerating. All the data pouring in isn’t valuable; but you likely use channel partners. But in the customer’s
much of it is absolutely essential. Leverage AI, ML and eyes, you’re all just one big entity. Even though your
analytics tools to identify what’s meaningful and turn it sales and service may be matrixed, there is only one
into insights. Never think that you’ve solved the customer branded experience. Clearly communicate your customer
experience question. Build processes for collecting connectivity strategies to channel partners in the
relevant data in real time and turning it into actionable development stages and leverage digital tools (AI, ML and
insights. These insights must offer out-the-box relevance analytics) to keep partners continuously aligned.
for each user in order to speed time to value. It’s also
important that insights are and available in the location
and format that align with the user’s process. For example,
Step 6: Mainline the contact center
insights may be integrated into existing departmental The pandemic showed just how quickly customer belief
business intelligence tools for one group of users, while and behaviors can change. It’s important to realize that
maintaining consistency and accuracy when adapted for the unfiltered customer insights pouring into your contact
users in other work groups. center can show you precisely how and when changes are
happening. By continually extracting data from the contact
center, you can provide every part of the organization it
Step 2: Connect with customers
needs to respond quicker and more precisely to changing
While obvious, this is often a difficult step to master. The customer needs.
volume of data makes it difficult to identify and analyze
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COBROWSING: THE ULTIMATE TOOL FOR VISUAL ENGAGEMENT

AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
The key to higher conversion rates, increased revenue, and happier customers
COBROWSING FOR VIRTUAL-FIRST The Benefits of Adopting Cobrowsing as a

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT Customer Support Solution
Why would you want to consider introducing cobrowsing
Customer service is becoming more and more important into your customer support organization? Here’s the top
for all businesses across the board. Consumers have 4 reasons cobrowsing is a perfect tool to up-level your
increasingly high expectations of what they need from customer engagements:
businesses. This means companies are constantly striving
to find ways to provide quick and comprehensive customer Increase revenue – The ability to view a customer’s
support solutions that are as personalized as possible. browser in real-time allows your agent to guide them
through your website and support them throughout the
One of the most innovative customer support solutions to buying process and even to the completion of a purchase.
date is cobrowsing. This eBook explains why cobrowsing This translates into higher conversion rates and increased
is the ultimate customer service solution and shares the revenue. ScreenMeet customers see increases in Average
6 most important customer support applications that your Order Volume by 30%.
cobrowser should have.
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Improve customer satisfaction – Cobrowsing provides

fast and comprehensive, digital-first customer service,
answering questions quickly and with visual guidance, which
leads to happy consumers. ScreenMeet customers have
increased their CSAT and Net Promoter Scores.
Increase customer service productivity – Cobrowsing

takes the guesswork out of troubleshooting what the issue
is by giving you the ability to see what the customer sees,
real-time. This reduces call handling time, which means your
support team can handle more calls in a shorter amount of
time. Screen Meet customers have seen an average First
Call Resolution increase by 35%.
Improve customer retention – Cobrowsing creates the 2. Superior Two-Way Video

ultimate customer service experience, therefore these Video interaction and collaboration is now an integral part
customers have a much higher likelihood of becoming of the provision of service. Whether it’s CRM, HCM, or help
repeat consumers! desk, video interaction drives productivity. This feature is
the closest you can get to recreating an in-person customer
support experience online. Video allows your team to not
THE 6 MOST IMPORTANT USE CASES
only cobrowse and collaborate with clients in real-time but
FOR COBROWSING APPLICATIONS to be able to communicate more effectively to solve issues.
When searching for the best cobrowser to integrate into Let’s say that you are pitching your product to a client
your websites for optimal, virtual-first customer service, who is interested in carrying it in their store. The ability to
there are six main features you should look for. not only cobrowse your webpage to effectively point out
different features and benefits of the product but to also
1. Versatile Annotation Tools engage in two-way video chat is important. It creates a level
of personalization and trust that may be the difference in
Annotation tools are drawing and text tools that can be used
landing a client or missing out on a great sale.
by both the customer support agent and the consumer to
draw attention to certain features on the webpage. These
tools act as visual aids throughout the entire process, 3. Convenient File Transfer
enhancing the consumer’s experience. This feature is useful File transfer refers to the ability to share content such as
for your agents in helping customers find links, pages, Word documents, PDFs, desktop applications, and so
products, forms, and any other information they may be much more over the internet. This is important if customers
having trouble locating. need access to forms, instruction manuals, product
specifications, etc.
For instance, a potential customer wants to download a
demo of your product but is unable to navigate the process For example, you have an online rental company that rents
successfully. If the consumer can’t find a solution, they out chairs, tables, tents, and such for parties and events, and
won’t try the demo, and will not buy the product. This is a you have a customer who is interested in renting equipment
lost sale. However, through cobrowsing a customer service for their next event. Unfortunately they are having difficulty
representative can walk this customer through the entire with being able to successfully submit the rental form. File
process of downloading the demo in real-time. By the time sharing allows your agent to share a rental form via file
the session ends, the consumer not only knows the steps transfer over the internet. The customer can fill out the form,
to download the demo but already has it downloaded and with your guidance if need be, with sensitive data masked,
ready for use. and send it right back. The customer is now highly satisfied
because a quick and comprehensive solution was provided
with minimal effort on their part.
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4. Helpful Session Recording 6. Personalized Voice Feature

Session recording refers to simply recording sessions The integration of a voice feature in a cobrowsing
on your web page. This feature is beneficial for ensuring application allows customers the option to initiate a call with
that your conversion rate is optimized and eliminating a customer support agent. This can be done easily with the
customer frustration. click of a button through your website, meaning there is no
need for dialing. Voice feature creates a more personalized
Session recording allows your customer service team to and enhanced customer service experience.
essentially virtually sit-in on a customer’s session so that
they can already see the solutions that have been tried. It is important to note that voice is available through
This eliminates the redundancy of consumers and agents ScreenMeet with the addition of ScreenMeet Live, which
having to go back and forth about which techniques have combined with the cobrowsing solution, provides second-
been tried and which ones haven’t. Cobrowsing with to-none-customer service.
session recording allows your agents to solve problems
more quickly, with the session being saved directly into For example, if a customer is unable to navigate the
the session case, in the platform you’re using, such as purchasing process of your website. Instead of exiting
ServiceNow or Salesforce. with frustration, he or she can call your customer service
department directly from your website and get the help
Let’s say your company sells smartwatches. A customer needed to complete the purchase. That’s a win for
calls in with a technical issue pertaining to their smartwatch. both parties.
Cobrowsing with session recording allows the agent to
troubleshoot and help the customer resolve the issue Additionally, ScreenMeet’s in-platform integrations turn the
without wasted time and redundancy, plus the session data about these interactions into intelligence. Logging
recording is automatically attached to the customer’s the data into the system of record makes it auditable and
support case for future reference. reportable. This helps the enterprise to track and deliver on
the KPIs around the business case to support the service
being provided.
5. Secure PII Data Masking
Cobrowsing understandably raises the question of privacy.
A cobrowser that features PII data masking protects
SCREENMEET - THE ULTIMATE
consumers’ confidential data from unintended exposure and COBROWSING SOLUTION
even goes as far as to prevent the customer support agent
ScreenMeet offers the state-of-the-art cobrowsing solution
from seeing any sensitive information that could be used to
that has delighted hundreds of customers. Agents can
identify the person. This includes but is not limited to:
walk end-users through any process on the website in
• Social security numbers real-time. Their cobrowser provides all of the 5 critical
cobrowsing applications and so much more when you
• Drivers licenses
combine cobrowsing with ScreenMeet Live for the ultimate
• Names customer experience.
• Addresses
Watch a brief 2-minute cobrowse product demonstration
• Phone numbers here.
• Passports
Hear directly from our customers how they’ve leveraged
• Email addresses ScreenMeet to reduce operating costs and improve
For instance, if a consumer is in the process of making a productivity in these case studies, watch ScreenMeet
purchase and begins to enter their credit information, this in action in these product videos, or contact us for a
solution ensures that the information entered will not be product demonstration, and let us show you how you
visible to the customer support representative. can get higher conversion rates, increased revenue, and
happier customers.
CUSTOMER
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CUSTOMER
BE ON THE SAME PAGE AS YOUR CUSTOMERS… LITERALLY.

Transform online support experiences with ScreenMeet.
Customer: Global enterprise with the world’s largest technical support operations.
Challenge: How can a global enterprise operating remote support centers in 25 countries and in ten languages attain agility
and efficiency in delivering peerless remote enterprise customer support to its worldwide customer base? They needed to
streamline the numerous disparate and on-premise customer support. In the course of a thorough review of their existing
support tools, they found them to be deficient for a variety of reasons:
• Their integrations with the CRM platforms were limited (WebEx).
• Their architecture was not truly cloud-native and did not scale globally (Bomgar).
• Their agent-facing software was not web-based (Logmein).
When they evaluated ScreenMeet, they found a vendor in the category that understands the requirements of servicing a
demanding, global, 24x7x365 enterprise customer. Not only did ScreenMeet approach the problem from the perspective
of the technical architecture in the cloud, but they also fit perfectly with both the CRM platform and the users for simple, yet
powerful support software in the cloud.
Solution & Result: ScreenMeet was able to fully address the customer’s requirements:
• Global support for their offices in 25 countries and 10 languages. In addition to localizing the platform for geographically
distributed markets, the software was able to run behind corporate firewalls and run in both low and high-bandwidth
environments.
• Interoperate with OEM software on the customer’s machines. ScreenMeet was able to provide various builds to the
enterprise customer to test and implement as a native solution on their PCs.
• Have all support sessions automatically captured and save data needed for auditing, reporting, and future analytics inside
of the CRM platform’s data model. ScreenMeet was able to convert what had been a lost opportunity with each service
call to collect valuable session data into a vast source of business intelligence, all captured within the CRM.
• In addition to improved customer satisfaction, with the in-platform ScreenMeet technology, this customer has saved $8k/
month with 90% of sessions connecting in <5 seconds.
ABOUT SCREENMEET
ScreenMeet delivers better real-time online experiences, with easy, secure, and reliable voice and video calls, chat, cobrowsing,
and remote support. ScreenMeet customers around the world use it to drive best-in-class customer, employee, remote work,
and remote support experiences. Founded in 2016 by cloud, online meeting, and customer support veterans to build solutions to
support better real-time online experiences, ScreenMeet delivers those customer, employee, and remote-support experiences for
hundreds of customers worldwide.
www.screenmeet.com
CUSTOMER
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APPENDIX
Transform Customer Service with Next-Gen Knowledge
Innovation in 30 Days
The Power of Connection
5 Ways to Change a Toxic Call Center Environment
Understanding Omnichannel Customer Experience: Analyzing Every Touchpoint
The Power of Real-time Conversation Analytics and Agent Guidance
White Paper: 5 Tips for Successful Contact Center Cloud Migrations
Cyara Cloud Migration Strategy Checklist
DMG 2020-2021 Workforce Optimization Product and Market Report

Enterprise CXI for the Contact Center
DRIVING FRICTIONLESS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES - SALESFORCE +

SCREENMEET
THE EVOLUTION OF VIDEO: TRENDS IN REAL-TIME CUSTOMER

ENGAGEMENT
Leading Fitness Technology Brand

Leading Global Digital Payments Brand

Case Study: Consumer Finance Industry

Customer Experience in Regulated Industries:
Piecing Together the CX and Compliance Puzzle
CUSTOMER
CONTACT WEEK
DIGITAL
CUSTOMER
2021 EDITORIAL CALENDAR

CUSTOMER
CONTACT
WEEK
DIGITAL
JANUARY FEBRUARY
CUSTOMER
CONTACT
WEEK
DIGITAL
2 02 1
JAN UAR Y
MAR KE T
CUSTOMER
CONTACT
S TUD
WEEK
DIGITAL
State Of Contact Center Strategic Planning For CX Operations

Technology February 9-11, 2021
STATE OF
CON TAC T
TEC HNO LOG CEN TER
Y
S PON SORE
D BY:
APRIL
CUSTOMER
CONTACT
WEEK
DIGITAL
APRIL 2021
APRIL
CUSTOMER
State Of Contact Center Technology

CONTACT
New Benchmark
WEEK
DIGITAL
Customer Contacs For

CUSTOMER
CONTACT
WEEK
DIGITAL
Performance t
APRIL 2021 MARK
ET STUDY April 6-8, 2021
New Benchmarks For
Customer Contact
Performance MAY
SPONSORED BY:
New Standards For Customer Contact

CUSTOMER
CONTACT
DIGITAL
WEEK
Performance
JUNE CUSTOMER
CUSTOMER
CONTACT
WEEK
DIGITAL
CONTACT
CUSTOMER
May 25-27, 2021

CONTACT
WEEK
DIGITAL
INDUSTRY
REVIEW
Customer Contact JUNE 2021

MARKET STU
DY
Industry Review
SPONSORED
JULY
BY:
Modernizing Service Experiences With

AI & Digital
July 20-22, 2021
AUGUST
Customer Experience SEPTEMBER

Trends, Challenges &
Innovations Customer Experience Trends,
Challenges And Innovations
September 14-16, 2021
NOVEMBER OCTOBER
Future Of The Contact TBD
Business Continuity 2.0
Center: A Forecast October 26-28, 2021
DECEMBER
Future Of The Contact Center:

A Forecast
December 14-16, 2021
CUSTOMER
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MEET THE TEAM

Brian Cantor Simon Copcutt
Principal Analyst, Director Head of Strategic Accounts
CCW Digital CCW Digital
E: Brian.Cantor@customermanagementpractice.com E: Simon.Copcutt@customermanagementpractice.com
Andy Kuang Matt Wujciak

Marketing Manager Staff Writer & Editor
CCW Digital CCW Digital
E: Andy.Kuang@customermanagementpractice.com E: Matt.Wujciak@customermanagementpractice.com
Emily Dunn
Marketing Manager
CCW Digital
E: Emily.Dunn@customermanagementpractice.com
CUSTOMER
CONTACT WEEK
DIGITAL
CUSTOMER

Customer Experience Trends, Challenges & Innovations: AUGUST 2021

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Customer Experience Trends, Challenges & Innovations: AUGUST 2021

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CUSTOMER

CONTACT WEEK AUGUST 2021

3 Customer Experience Trends, Challenges & Innovations Review

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE TRENDS,

METHODOLOGY & DEMOGRAPHICS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A passionate advocate for customer centricity, Brian regularly speaks on major CX

The majority of consumers do not engage in meaningful customer service interactions

Following their experience in COVID-19 lockdown, many customers are eager to

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES SHOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER, BUT

14.35% Much better 15.80% Much better 9.98% Much better

WHAT’S GOING WRONG WITH THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

Which of the following issues do you often experience when

Long wait time before getting help

Representative is slow, frequently goes silent, and/or puts you on hold

Have to repeat account/issue information or re-ask questions

Transfers to other representatives or supervisors

Told they can’t help you due to policy

Support is too generic - can’t get specific help for my issue

Different employees tell me different things or promise different resolutions

Difficult to switch between channels (move from chat to phone, etc)

No option to request a call back at a more convenient time

Forced to talk to a live representative; no way to solve problem on your own

Representative doesn’t seem to know much about you or why you’re contacting

Representative doesn’t seem like an expert in their brand or products

No issues - most of my customer service interactions are perfect

WHAT ATTRACTS CUSTOMERS?

Which of the following will make you more willing to shop at or

Suppose you had an issue with an order or service experience.

They provide a resolution quickly and easily

They provide the specific resolution you ask for

They offer a “make good” coupon, discount, gift, etc

They provide instructions/assurance on avoiding the issue in the future

They assign you a personal support agent to avoid future problems

They promise to do better in the future

Does the quality of a company’s website or mobile app (ease of

32.02% Almost always

Does the friendless of a company’s employees impact your

51.77% Almost always

WHY DO CUSTOMERS CHOOSE CERTAIN CHANNELS?

Issue felt too complicated, unusual or difficult to explain in a digital interaction

Wanted to share feedback or complaints, not just ask a question

Wanted to talk to someone to get a refund, coupon, apology, etc

Needed to reach support as fast as possible

Couldn’t find the right online or mobile option

WHY CUSTOMERS CHOOSE landscape. Messaging, therefore, represents a consumer-

In what situations would you prefer to use self-service (chatbot, instructional

Transactional issues - paying a bill, requesting a return/refund, etc

When you’re looking for a solution as quickly as possible

Haven’t had good experiences with company’s representatives in the past

None - I require assistance from an agent every time

How do you personally engage with companies on social media networks

I follow to get updates on new product announcements, discounts, contests, etc

I comment on their posts (funny memes, product offers, etc)

I share positive and/or negative feedback about the company

WHAT DID COVID-19 MEAN FOR CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?

Moving forward, the COVID justification will become

31.21% I am now less willing to tolerate

Paying friends/service providers via mobile platforms (Venmo, Zelle, etc)

Online/mobile purchasing for luxury items (cars, jewelry, etc)

Curbside/in-store pickup orders

Getting delivery from local department stores, grocery stores, etc

Investing in cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, etc)

31.21% I am now less willing to tolerate

47.56% More willing - I will prefer businesses

DMG 2020-2021 Workforce Optimization Product and Market Report

DRIVING FRICTIONLESS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES - SALESFORCE +