In this article, Shimi Ezer, an omnichannel service expert at 7I’s, shares his experience and insights from his time as Head of Customer Service Operations at HOT. Shimi was one of the pioneering service executives to build and implement a multichannel digital service operation in practice.
It is fair to say that the 21st century has brought about a communications revolution. From the beginning of the century, the use of multiple communication channels and online media accelerated significantly. Traditional boundaries began to disappear, and the growing use of digital media and social networks has influenced major developments around the world. This transformation has also had a significant impact on the way organizations deliver service and sales experiences to their customers.
Today’s customers spend many hours each day online, particularly on forums and social networks. 56% do so primarily through a mobile device, which, beyond its basic functions, has become a “mobile office” and an easily accessible platform for browsing the internet and using dedicated apps.
n a world where almost everything is becoming digital, every service leader understands the importance of providing customers with digital service platforms, as they create a clear win-win situation.
On the one hand, customers can access services, carry out transactions, and obtain information wherever and whenever it is convenient for them. On the other hand, companies can achieve significant savings in service costs, some of which can be redirected toward strengthening customer loyalty and improving the overall service experience.
One of the main challenges I faced as the manager of a large and complex customer service operation was shifting customer demand toward digital platforms. Despite the increasingly digital environment, when it comes to customer service, many customers are still accustomed to turning to traditional channels, either by phone or through face-to-face service.
Listen to the customer
Like every service leader, one of the first lessons I learned was that the key to delivering excellent service is listening to customer needs and tailoring the solution accordingly.
I therefore realized that shifting demand from traditional service platforms to digital channels must also begin with understanding and mapping customer needs. This led me to the first task: segmenting our target customer groups and analyzing the information most frequently needed by each group, including when and where it should be made available.
The process also involved identifying the most common types of inquiries that could be addressed through self-service and developing appropriate solutions; carefully determining when customers need more detailed information and when it is better to keep information concise and focused, before they lose patience and abandon the process; and identifying situations in which proactive service information should be provided (with the customer’s consent, of course).
If the Mountain Won’t Come to Muhammad…
Once we had defined our customers’ needs, I moved on to mapping the existing touchpoints where customers already interact with us, the channels through which they are accustomed to receiving service. These are the most relevant points at which to introduce customers to digital service options.
We promoted our digital platforms through the IVR, on the company website, and in forums where customers discuss the company’s service. At the same time, we used customers’ waiting time to introduce and provide easy access to digital service options, while highlighting their benefits.
Simple, simple, simple
To accelerate the shift in demand toward digital channels, it is important to understand that one of the key factors for success is keeping the process simple. Almost every service leader is familiar with the barriers created by concerns over customer privacy, as well as the requirements imposed by information security teams and the company’s legal advisors in order to protect against these risks.
I identified this as a critical issue and brought the relevant stakeholders together to think creatively about how to address it. If you decide that customers need to register for a “personal area” in order to access digital services, it is essential to invest the time and effort needed to make the registration process as short and simple as possible. A lengthy registration process can become a significant barrier to the adoption of digital services.
It is also important, wherever possible, to avoid adding marketing questions about customer behavior and consumption habits to the registration process. Yes, this information is highly valuable to marketing teams for tailoring offers and increasing revenue, but every additional field in the registration process risks losing the patience of hundreds more customers on their way to using a digital service.
We realized that the average customer does not use our services on a daily or even weekly basis. Therefore, alongside a standard registration process, we chose to create a “quick actions” interface that does not require prior registration. We simplified the authentication process as much as possible, for example, by sending a one-time password to the customer’s mobile number registered in the company’s systems, or by using another identifying detail, such as an ID number.
The Human Option Is Always an Option
At the entry point to the digital service platform, it is important not to remove the option of speaking with a human agent entirely. We chose to give the digital options greater prominence and make them easily accessible, while clearly explaining their benefits. At the same time, we kept the option of using the traditional service channels customers were already familiar with. Customer surveys clearly show that removing the human option creates resistance and leads customers to abandon the digital platform.
An incentive can serve as a trigger for building new usage habits. The vast majority of customers are accustomed to using traditional service platforms. Shifting demand toward digital channels requires changing existing habits and educating the market to use digital services, while also building the digital alternative in the most effective and convenient way possible, so that customers who choose it will want to use it again.
It is important to create an incentive that encourages customers to make that first choice and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate that the platform is convenient, user-friendly, and reliable. To that end, we brought together the relevant functions across the company to create a meaningful package of benefits for using digital services.
For example, product-related benefits, discounted purchases of value-added products, discounts on dedicated marketing plans, discounts on payment arrangements, waived fees, and more.
The company website is not necessarily the center of everything. When the goal is to shift demand toward digital channels, the specific means used to achieve that goal are secondary. The company website is a means, not an end. If customers find it more convenient to access services through online forums, a service app, or email, we will be there for them.
Of course, traffic to the company website is important to the marketing team. However, when it comes to shifting service demand, the main objective is to meet customers where they already are – wherever and whenever it is most convenient for them to access services.
The process is one of trial and error. In service processes, what matters most is staying attentive to customers, learning, and making adjustments along the way. To achieve continuous improvement over time, it is important to listen to customers throughout the entire journey, to measure, survey, listen, analyze, and investigate.
We established daily monitoring and control processes to track usage patterns across all platforms and support continuous improvement. When a customer used a digital service for the first time, we created a dedicated survey tailored to the relevant platform to understand their level of satisfaction, their willingness to continue using it in the future, and which services they considered suitable for digital channels, as well as which they did not, and why.
When a customer used a digital service once and then stopped, returning to traditional channels, we reached out to those customers, investigated their experience, examined what had happened, asked questions, and drew conclusions for improvement.
On a daily basis, we analyzed the end-to-end funnel of digital service processes: how many customers entered through each platform, where they abandoned the process, and what the root causes were. We then adjusted the processes and platforms based on our findings.
Digital service is not the future – it is already the present. Customers are already there, and all that remains is to provide them with a solution that is simple, convenient, reliable, and worthwhile, so that they choose the digital platform again and again and benefit from service that is available wherever and whenever they choose. And, of course, the benefit to the company is clear: shifting demand toward a less expensive and more efficient platform.
Combining a convenient, accessible platform tailored to the customer with benefits, discounts, promotions, or dedicated marketing plans for services available exclusively through digital channels is a winning formula.
Did we already mention that it’s a win-win situation?
