9 out of 10 customers say that their purchase decisions are influenced by the online reviews left by other customers. Online reviews have become an integral part of a company’s online presence. Research even shows that companies with at least 200 reviews generate twice as much revenue. Whether it’s a local florist or an insurance company, everybody needs reviews and hopes they generate good customer reviews. As seen in the figure below reviews play an important role in every industry.
A survey of 25000 customers across 22 countries by Accenture in 2021 revealed a major shift in priorities for consumers, especially after the Pandemic. For the customers, 60% of the motivations to buy were related to factors other than quality and price. Ease & Convenience, Service & Personal Care, and Trust & Reputation make up a major chunk of the motivations. With the latter two noticing a significant rise. This proves that while the actual products/services offered play an important role in generating good reviews, it also needs to be supported by good customer service and experience.
Customer relationships, therefore, need to be nurtured with continuous efforts. Every interaction matters. This is not just a CRM issue. Companies need to approach this from every angle. They need to invest in a solution that thoroughly analyses the customer journey from start, to finish, and beyond. This analysis can then help companies prepare and pre-emptively be ready to successfully deliver the expectations of the customers. From outbound sales calls, to email and chat interactions, to post-purchase inbound calls, companies need to equip themselves with a solution that supports them at every stage of the customer experience.
And this is where Xdroid’s AI-driven solutions come in. From VoiceAnalytics for audio-based interactions, to Text Analytics for email, chatbots, and text-based interactions, to Real-Time Agent Assist for on-call assistance and recommendations, or all the above integrated into Xdroid’s Interaction Analytics for a comprehensive all-in-one solution. It’s everything you need and more to help you achieve or maintain good reviews on Trustpilot, Yelp, Google, or any other customer reviewing platform. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how these tools can help:
Step 1: Knowing Your Customers
It’s the age of Hyperpersonalisation. Customers demand a customized experience that goes beyond targeted ads. They want personalized service and care that goes beyond the point of purchase, a long-term relationship with the customers needs to be established and maintained at any stage of the customer life cycle.
Contact centers will have to be intuitive, foresee the needs of the customers, and be prepared to tackle anything that comes their way. Such preparedness requires automated data analysis and syncing which can be provided by a speech analytics solution like Xdroid’s InteractionAnalytics. This will not only ease their load for agents but also help them perform better and support the customers with what they need. Agents will have access to all the data related to the customer at their fingertips.
Interaction Analytics will not only help the customer service department to stay on top of its game but also provide valuable consumer insights and recommendations to other departments. It will effectively tie in the customer journey.
Step 2: Maintain a short IVR, High FCR, and low AHT
If a company fails to meet the expectation of the customers with their product/service, the customer gives them a second chance to fix the relationship when they reach out to the customer support team. But did you know, a long wait in the IVR, not getting their issue resolved in the first call, and a generally long ineffective call, all lead to a list of customer complaints or at least lower customer satisfaction?
When a customer calls in with a complaint, it should be seen as an opportunity to salvage the relationship, it shouldn’t become another reason to anger or frustrate the customer. The customer service department needs to find a way to get in their good books again. Additionally, in a dynamic market, where customers have multiple choices, customer service could just be the differentiating factor to beat the competition.
All three of these aforementioned issues related to customer support can be fixed with Speech Analytics. Utilise Speech Analytics to improve the quality of support. Help agents reduce their Average Call Handle Time by giving them everything they need on the call and further equipping them with real-time recommendations. Maintain a high FCR by identifying departments that need more attention and be better prepared to tackle those issues. Analysis and categorization of all the calls will also help companies track unproductive calls to find and fix the cause behind them.
Step 3: Take feedback seriously and manage escalations efficiently
Companies shouldn’t let bad reviews get to them. Instead, they should view them as opportunities to take in direct feedback from customers and identify the gaps in the system. Reviews and escalations can lead to significant operational changes and can further lead to business growth. Solving the issue raised by the customer or addressing a bad review can mend the relationship with the customer, gain their trust back and retain the customer.
The overall aim is not just to tackle bad reviews but rather to ensure that such an instance never occurs (again). It’s to ensure that the company’s offerings and service procedures keep evolving for the better, based on what the customers really want. Therefore, once an escalation is resolved, Speech Analytics can help companies study what led to the issue in the first place. If it’s a recurring pattern, they can even figure out what needs to be done to ensure that the issue doesn’t repeat again.
Step 4: Build loyalty and generate good reviews
If your customers genuinely like the brand and trust the company, they want the company to succeed in every way possible. 88% of consumers said they would leave a good review of the company if they feel the business went above and beyond to ensure that the customer had a positive experience. Additionally, 80% said they would be motivated to leave a good review if the company found a way to turn around a negative experience i.e. fixed their mistake, or resolved the issue that the customer was facing and ensured that they finally had a good experience.
This goes to show that one escalation or bad review doesn’t matter, as long the company plays the long game and is constantly striving to improve and provide its customers with the best customer experience. Good CX and customer service are therefore the key to building brand loyalty and generating positive sentiment for the company in the market through positive reviews. Loyalty further reduces churn and ensures long-term growth for the company.
Step 5: Track Customer needs, anticipate and upsell
Companies also need to go the extra mile and make a deeper connection with their customers. Engagement of this kind requires a deep knowledge of consumer behavior, which can be done effectively with Speech Analytics. They can analyze 100% of the customer calls, and investigate the major concerns by further organizing the calls into categories and sub-categories. They can even track the pain points and general trends of the calls that they are getting.
Such deep analysis with a solution like VoiceAnalytics will enable companies to anticipate the needs of their customers and deliver personalized service and experience. The overall experience of the customer is enhanced when the agent goes the extra mile to give them what’s best suited to their needs. By harnessing the power of AI, the agents will be able to suggest upgrades, inform the customers about new products/new sets of services, and successfully participate in cross-selling and upselling initiatives for the sales department.
Step 6: Continue to give importance to every consumer interaction
Customer reviews, calls, and other interactions with customers are a rich source of insight for the company at a grassroots level. It is important to analyze and give each interaction the importance it rightfully deserves. Employing a solution like Interaction Analytics could be a game changer for companies to analyze interactions from emails to calls to chats across different platforms. The consumer insights from the analysis can also help the company stay agile in the market by driving innovation and inspiring other business development opportunities. Additionally, on-call assistance and recommendations for agents with a Real-Time solution can help agents get through all their KPIs efficiently, and improve compliance as well.
Conclusion
Bad reviews on the internet can cloud the perception of potential customers. They can also make the existing customers skeptical and affect their trust in the company.
It is important to remember that customers today are conscious buyers. They are on the lookout for purchases and transactions that ultimately add value to the quality of their life in a wholesome way. For instance, 85% are willing to pay more and choose a sustainable brand over one that isn’t. Similarly, 70% of consumers have paid more to do business with a company that offers great customer service.
Businesses, therefore, need to invest in solutions like VoiceAnalytics and Real-Time AgentAssist that ‘add value’ to their offerings and enhance the overall customer experience. Such investments are the driving force to generate good reviews on the internet and maintain a good online presence.
