Customer Experience Management - Why You Should Outsource

What is customer experience management and how could it help?

• Jared Black
• Aug 27, 2019
• Out-Sourcing

The benefits of outsourcing and how getting a little help certainly Isn't a bad thing

Customer Experience Management is defined as the collection of processes a company uses to track, oversee and organize every interaction between a customer and the organization throughout the customer lifecycle. The goal of CEM is to optimize interactions from the customer's perspective and foster customer loyalty. Traditionally, the management of a customer's interaction with your business is managed by staff that you've hired on and they deal with reservation management, handling unhappy customers, handling reservation inquiries and responding to negative or positive reviews that a customer has posted. Reviews drive a ton of what a business can hope to expect in terms of future volume of the business they could receive. If you have too many negative reviews compared to a competitor that has all 4-5 star reviews who do you think the customer is more likely to book? The business with better reviews! Of course with everything, things just happen but steps can be taken to minimize how many negative reviews a business receives and it's a rather easy step that owners or staff tend to neglect. If you receive a negative review on one of the numerous review platforms, reaching out as the business owner can be HUGE in having the customer delete the said review or at least get them to edit it. Sometimes it may involve a refund, a better understanding of what occurred, a voucher, just anything to try and meet in the middle and see how you can make their next experience with your business a more positive one. Businesses that just leave the negative review are seen by potential customers and not only are they not resolving the past complaint but they're portraying the business in a negative light that can be easily improved. 

 

Another means to grow your business and making it have a positive online presence is that people don't want to sit on hold. People are impatient in nature, they want answers now, they want to feel like you truly appreciate the fact that they are considering you for their vacation or outing. At times they may be handing over thousands of dollars in hopes that the experience you provide is going to provide life-long memories for their family. A rafting trip, a snowmobiling trip, walking tours, or ziplining. All of these experiences create everlasting imprints in the brain for families involved and having a good experience and getting what its worth is very important. When you first start a business you check off a few different boxes, staff, payroll, is my product priced correctly, how can I optimize my entire day and get the most out of my business, are just a few. An issue for long-standing businesses can be a scale dilemma  - You're receiving HUNDREDS of phone calls a day, your staff is constantly answering customers questions, you're in the weeds all day trying to preserve your positive business reviews while also trying to book as many reservations as you can. At the end of the day business management and the customer experience management program has changed, reservations fly in via email, chatbots, over the phone, and online if you provide online booking. It's not as simple as it once was when you could call a business up, make your reservation and never have to wait on the other end of a phone. Technology has gotten more sophisticated and is forcing businesses as well as customers to keep up.

 

One of the biggest reasons this shift is occurring is because of how technology has advanced throughout recent years. Fifteen years ago online booking for activity providers was non-existent. In todays world, you need to have a variety of booking methods because of WHO is booking. A baby boomer is not likely to book online but rather to call, a millennial will probably ring in via chatbot or book online. The issue is that it's not so cut in dry, booking engines came about in recent years in hopes of automating the booking process but the fact of the matter is that over 60% of bookers would still like to speak with somebody about what they're booking. It's understandable when you think about it too, people spending thousands of dollars want to be sure of what they're booking because some activities involve a number of variables from cold to kids, to arrival times, what to wear, etc. 

 

So, people are still calling..how do we fix that? We do! We employ agents that are dedicated to driving more business, handling customer service, responding to emails and chatbots - the works. It saves you time, money, and allows you to focus on your day to day operations and ensuring each customer is beyond satisfied. What does that mean in the end? Better reviews, repeat customers, more bookings, happier staff, and more time for you to focus on what matters! I've been in the spot where you have two phones strapped to you, constantly ringing. Now envision this, I'm on the phone tied up answering a basic question someone else could be answering and because of my time being tied up, I just missed a sale in the shop and could’ve additionally sold a snowboard because the operation is ski shop & tour business. It's about trusting the experts, letting go. Now you're probably thinking, I can't put my business in the hands of someone else? They won't care or know the answer. Wrong! We thought of that as well, our agents become one with your business so that they have the knowledge of how everything operates down to the culture of the business. Outsourcing is a great thing and you should expect to see more of it until everyone catches up with all this automation. Save yourself stress, decide what tasks to outsource, know what you'd like to achieve, and see what can happen.

 

 

The Benefits of Outsourcing