How to Take Your Contact Center Remote & Maintain Great CX

How to Take Your Contact Center Remote & Maintain Great CX

Quick action is required for many organizations adapting to the COVID-19 outbreak. But don’t let your customer service efforts be interrupted. Instead, lean on cloud-based customer service software to smooth the transition to remote working.

What started as a recommended working approach to slow the spread of COVID-19, has since been rolled out across the globe as mandatory. For many, the message is clear: do not come into work unless you absolutely, unavoidably, have to.

The thing is, this can’t mean that businesses slow down or close entirely, especially in light of plummeting stock values and panicked buying behavior. Now is the time for brands to buckle down on their customer experience and work on retaining all the customers they’ve already won.

A new reality

Thankfully, it’s far easier for most businesses to switch to remote working than they may think. And for customer service teams, there are some surprising benefits to employing remote reps too!

Who knows… Adapting to difficult times may even uncover some hidden strengths and advantages for your brand ?.

Here’s how to deliver a smooth, and speedy transition from an on-premise contact center to a remote network of empowered customer service reps:

1. Get cloud-based customer service software

If your customer service requires hardware or an on-premise solution, you’re probably scrambling to identify the most straightforward way of switching from an on-premise contact center to a team of remote customer agents who can do their job — and do it well.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For one, you’ll need a software platform that customer service reps can log into from anywhere. Ideally, agents should be able to access, monitor, prioritize, and reply to customers on all your existing customer service channels to minimize any disturbance in your customer experience.

This may sound like a headache, but it doesn’t need to be. The best customer service software does all this, and more. Keep in mind, in order to make the switch to new customer service software during this time, make sure it’s easy to implement, learn and use.

When time is of the essence, these elements can’t be undervalued.

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2. Empathize with your customers and answer their questions quickly

These are confusing times for business, but it’s equally unsettling for customers too. Will their order be canceled? Will it take longer than expected to fulfill? And for those with subscriptions or on-going orders — will they continue to receive what they’ve paid for up-front?

Being proactive with your customer service will help reassure any worried customers. Be sure to communicate how you’re managing changes internally and be transparent with what your customers may experience as a result. That way you can better manage their expectations, which will alleviate some of the pressure your customer service department will undoubtedly be feeling throughout these uncertain times.

Make your customers feel understood and valued

You’ll also want to make sure that every customer is met with a rep who knows who they are and what their history with your business is. Failing to show this level of personalization and empathy will only serve to intensify their concerns.

In a remote set-up, it’s not as easy as placing the customer on hold briefly to jump up and speak to a colleague to get caught up on a situation which is why it’s crucial that your customer service software can easily track customer interactions across different communication channels. Whether a customer has called, emailed, messaged, etc., reps should be able to see the latest interactions along with any relevant customer data that can help provide more context.

The most important thing to remember when running your contact center remotely is agents need to be able to act independently to speed up resolutions for valued customers. Having to constantly coordinate with other reps or managers will only keep customers waiting longer and risks making customers repeat themselves every time they contact you (which is the last thing you want to make a stressed customer do).

3. Prepare for fluctuating demand

Ecommerce businesses should anticipate spikes and drops in certain purchases as customers prepare for periods of self-isolation. Analysts expect consumers to purchase essentials more frequently and luxury items less frequently given the uncertainty of the economy in the coming months.

Online grocery orders and meal-kit subscriptions are already seeing a significant increase along with healthcare and wellness-related purchases. Many of these businesses have already experienced the effect of coronavirus with website crashes and long checkout queues. Unsurprisingly, travel websites and traditional retailers will be among those hit the hardest.

This will also have a knock-on effect on your customer service too. Increased demand likely means an increase in inquiries from (anxious) customers, so make sure your platform — and remote team — can cope with a fluctuating workload.

Being able to scale your customer service to adapt to a new demand will help you retain more customers and keep your business running during these stressful and unpredictable times.

Dixa helps teams run remote and improve CX

Who knows how long it will take for the dust to settle — or indeed if it ever will. Some experts are predicting that COVID-19 will make telecommuting the new normal for months and years to come.

But maybe that doesn’t have to be a bad thing… After all, remote workers have been found to be more productive, motivated and satisfied than their in-house counterparts — something all organizations could benefit from.

Whether the change is long-lasting, or just a means to an end during self-isolation, Dixa is here to help. Dixa has been voted the easiest CX platform to implement, learn and use – giving teams the tools they need to support their customers from anywhere.

Go remote in 24 hours with Dixa for free

Dixa is helping teams of all sizes go 100% remote today. We’re even offering all new customers the complete platform free through September 2020 to try and make your lives a little easier during this difficult time.

We’ll make sure your entire customer service team is up and running remotely within 1 business day across all customer service channels so you can keep your team safe and customers happy.

Author

Lauren Blair

Lauren Blair Klarskov

Lauren is a California native with a background in ecommerce and fashion, who is passionate about finding the ultimate online shopping experience and unique ways to acquire loyal customers.

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