Archive for the ‘Caller Experience’ Category

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FedEx “gets” telephone customer service

March 21st, 2011 by Chester Hull

I’m trying to call FedEx to schedule a pickup, and while they provide their number on the website, I found that it was a link.

When I clicked on it, I was presented with this page:

A visual representation of what options are available, and where they will take you. Along with what you can say to get you there.

What a fantastic way to help your customers navigate through your phone system!

This is SO much more elegant then forcing your callers to listen to: “Please listen carefully as our menu options have recently changed…”

Not only that, but if you decide to try to use the Online service, instead of the phone, they provide a link to the service you are calling about…the link takes you directly to the correct place on their site!

FedEx “get’s” it when it comes to integrating their phone system with their website. A visual representation of what options are available, and where they will take you. Along with what you can say to get you there.

Kudo’s to FedEx!

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Posted by Chester Hull Posted in "Hold It!", Auto-Attendant, Caller Experience, Phone Customer Service, Presenting Options | No Comments »


Your Brain is a Mountain Lion Eating Bags of Money

March 16th, 2011 by Chester Hull

Or: “The 5 Weirdest Ways Music can mess with your Mind”

But the title got you here, didn’t it? And music works kinda the same way. Distracting you from what you are doing…causing your brain to focus on something else.

It’s especially useful when you’re not doing anything important…like waiting On-Hold or waiting in line. And it’s at that exact moment that retailers, banks, and doctors offices want to distract you from realizing that you’re waiting.

Cracked.com has a recent article in which they explore the 5 weirdest ways music messes with your mind. (Cracked.com…the newest scientific journal, right?)

But seriously, check this out:

#5 It Changes Your Ability to Perceive Time

Hold music — the stuff you hear on the line when you call everyone from the bank to your local bail bond agency — didn’t fall into America’s phone lines by accident. It’s designed specifically to reduce the amount of time you think you’re waiting, so that you’re less likely to hang up in anger. Other places that involve waiting, such as doctors’ offices, use a similar trick. Time shrinkage is also the aim of most retail stores, which is why you’ll rarely enter a mall, supermarket or clothing store without hearing some sort of music in the background.

To understand why exactly music makes it seem like less time has passed, think of the human brain as a mountain lion that is eating a bag of money. It doesn’t matter what the zookeepers distract it with — food, shiny objects or just shouting and yelling. All that matters is that they give another zookeeper the chance to sneak up and retrieve the money while the lion is busy deciding which one of them to eat.

Similarly, when your brain is steadily distracted, you’ll be less likely to notice things around you in detail, and this includes the passage of time. Our brains have limited input capacity, and when something else is using up that capacity, we’re less likely to think things like, “I’ve been standing in line to get Richard Moll’s autograph for three goddamn hours” or “Do I really need this Garfield alarm clock?”

But be careful what you choose for your On-Hold music…

…it can quickly backfire!

In some situations, listening to music can actually expand perceived time. For example, listening to music while performing tasks that require concentration will usually cause us to overestimate the amount of time that has passed. The theory is that as your mind switches back and forth between perception of the music and concentration on the challenging tasks, it forms separate “events,” or distinct memories. When your brain thinks about what you’ve been doing for the past hour, you’ll remember more of these events and recall that the hour was quite long.

Experiments have found that time also expands when we’re listening to familiar music that we dislike.

When we hear the opening chords of a song, our brain remembers the whole thing and immediately skips ahead and plays it mentally. This fake mind-music is extremely vivid, working on exactly the same parts of the brain as actual music does. So the effect is that you take a few moments to vividly imagine that you’re sitting through five minutes of that damn New Radicals song before you come back to reality only to realize that you still actually have to sit through it.

Very cool stuff…that music. But if you want to know the rest, like how it taps into our primal fears, makes us stronger, changes your drinking habits, and makes you a better communicator, your going to have to read more at Cracked.com: http://www.cracked.com/article_19006_the-5-weirdest-ways-music-can-mess-with-human-brain.html#ixzz1Glz95EqJ

We, after all, aren’t interested in making your customers stronger…unless of course you are a gym. Then we need to talk. We’ve got this great soundtrack to play On-Hold…

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Posted by Chester Hull Posted in "Hold It!", Caller Experience, Hold Message | No Comments »


The unique sound of Petzl

February 17th, 2011 by Chester Hull

Petzl, the company that makes climbing gear, recently released their new Ange carabiner line.

And while there are a lot of neat things about them if you’re a climber, they’ve done some really great things that we as business owners can learn from.

Not only can you watch a video introducing the new Ange carabiner in real world use (if free climbing the Grand Capucin in the Mont-Blanc massif is “real world” enough for you!)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ0mlV4V1G8[/youtube]




But they have also released the unique sound of the carabiner gate as a ring-tone for your cell phone.

The click of a closing carabiner can be part of the communication between members of a climbing team. It’s even more true on long routes, when it is the climber isn’t visible or when it’s difficult to talk to one another. The sound of the carabiner can signal to the climber that an out-of-sight carabiner is clipped. It can also signal to the belayer that the climber will be needing slack soon (as when a bolt or peice of gear is clipped) or that the climber has clipped the rope.

Just like the click of a closing carabiner is important to climbers, the unique sound of your company or product is important as well.

There are two things we can learn from Petzl:

1. Audio is an important part of your brand, and,

2. Have you thought about the fun ways you could highlight the unique sounds of your products?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xZ9sYCYdyU[/youtube]

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Use a consistent sound brand throughout your business

January 31st, 2011 by Chester Hull

Have you ever seen a brand book? If you haven’t, you may not realize how much thought, detail, and specifics go into deciding how a brand image looks, how it’s used, and the proper ways to display it. If you’d like a really fun few minutes, take a look at Skype’s Brand Book. Go ahead…I’ll still be here when you get back.

Pretty cool wasn’t it? I mean, they have a really fun approach that doesn’t feel like some dictator yelling at you for even *thinking* about doing something wrong.

But did you notice something? That brand book is 93 pages long. Yes…93 PAGES! Just to show you how to use the Skype logo!

Have you considered your AUDIO brand? How people experience the sounds your company produces is just as important as your visual brand elements.

What is Audio Branding?

Audio Branding describes the process of brand development and brand management by use of acoustic elements within the framework of brand communication. It is part of multi-sensory brand communication and holistic corporate design. Audio branding aims at building solidly a brand sound that represents the identity and values of a brand in a distinctive manner. The audio logo, brand music or the brand voice are characteristic elements of audio branding. (from the Audio Branding Academy)

This Audio Branding needs to be designed for any space where your customer can experience your company, it’s products or services.

  • When they walk into your business, what music do they hear? What sounds in general? Is it consistent with your business image?
  • When they call your business, what do they hear? Does your Auto-Attendant use the same voice throughout? Or is the voice of the receptionist that used to work for you but has been gone for a year?
  • When that caller is On-Hold…can they still identify that it’s the same company?

Designing and implementing an “Audio Brand” is a critical piece of your overall Customer Experience.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjKzFw3S5Nk[/youtube]

“Concerning the effect on the emotional level and the communication of the brand image, sound is more efficient than visual elements. By using acoustic touchpoints like music on-hold, phone mailboxes, and the company’s website, it is also possible for small and medium sized companies to do audio branding in a reasonable way.” Margarita Bochmann – Audi AG

Bob McCurdy created a very compelling presentation called the Power of Sound. (www.myradiocreative.com/powerofsound). In it, Julian Treasure, author of “Sound Business”, says:

“Sight and hearing must be considered the twin major senses for two reasons. First, they can both carry specific messages: we can say exactly what we want in either vision or sound. Second, sight and hearing can both be broadcast, and they are therefore the only two mass communication senses. So far, nobody has found a way of broadcasting smells or tastes.”

In 1999, (I know, the dark ages, right?) three scientists got together to study the effect of sound influencing product sales. Over a two week period, French and German music was played on alternate days from an in-store display of French and German wines. French music led to French wines outselling German ones, whereas German music led to the opposite effect on sales.
Obviously, sound plays a critical role in the emotional connection a customer makes to your product or company.

Sound is Engineered

Did you know that Mercedes employs 12 engineers who are dedicated to fine-tuning the sound of opening and closing doors? Mercedes takes their sound seriously!

The sound a Pringles potato chip can makes when opened is engineered to make you associate the product with freshness.

“Sonic branding is about getting something that sticks in someone’s head and is not going away, even if you’re not watching or not paying attention, you hear that sound and you know it.” Alex Moulton, Creative Director at Expansion Team

Brands you know by sound

How many of these brands can you identify by their signature sound?

Signature Sound #1

Signature Sound #2

Signature Sound #3

Signature Sound #4

Signature Sound #5

Signature Sound #6

Signature Sound #7

(See the logos while you play the signature sounds.)

Audio Branding is about much more then simply having your secretary voice the new Auto-Attendant greeting Audio Branding is as important to your customer as your visual brand. How important is it to you?

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Posted by Chester Hull Posted in "Hold It!", Caller Experience, Phone Etiquette | 1 Comment »


Please listen carefully as your customers have changed

January 25th, 2011 by Chester Hull

I didn’t write most of the headline. Credit for that goes to David Myron in his Editor’s Letter of Speech Technology Magazine. (I’m hoping he won’t mind me tweaking it here to suit my purposes).

Have you noticed? Your customers have changed. What used to work so well to connect with customers 5-10 years ago is no longer effective. If you really want to know what’s going on, watch Michael Drew present the 40 Year Pendulum presentation at TedX Calgary.

So what does this have to do with phone systems?

Your customer’s expectations have changed from wondering what you can tell them, to demanding you give them the information they need this instant. Social media, cell phones, text messaging, push email, and IM have all increased the speed at which we consume information. This leads to less patience, and more knowledge. Customers no longer care what you think, and how you want to present it.

Instead, they are asking: Why should I care?

Caller’s are quick to tune out, and one of the most frustrating phrases you can tell them is: Please listen carefully, as our menu options have changed.

“Really?” says your customer, “I’ve heard that everytime I’ve called, and frankly, you’re wasting my time.”

Melanie Polkosky, Ph.D, a social-cognitive psychologist and speech language pathologist, has this to say about the oft-heard phrase:

Never open with platitudes: It only signals antagonism for the listener to utter something as trite as, Please listen carefully as our options have changed. The listener is more apt to roll his eyes in exasperation and stop listening altogether. It creates atmosphere for your interaction, no more positive than a book that begins, “It was a dark and stormy night.”

Well said Melanie, well said.

Is your phone system making this same mistake? We can help evaluate your Caller Experience. Go ahead…you may be surprised at what your callers are putting up with!

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Posted by Chester Hull Posted in "Hold It!", Caller Experience | No Comments »


Please choose from the following 6 options…

January 17th, 2011 by Chester Hull


When designing the options for your IVR or Auto-Attendant, make sure they match your customer’s expectations. Presenting a caller with a few clear, concise options will allow them to navigate through your system quickly, with out wasting time waiting to hear options they are not interested in. 
Limiting yourself to only a few options will likely take some extra thought on your part to make sure you are expressing the options in a way that callers are looking for them.

My experience with a system recently was along this line. I was trying to reach the TurboTorch division of Thermadyne, a large holding company, for tech support on a torch. I found their number on the Support section of their website, which lists 8 divisions of the company. However, the Auto-Attendant only listed 6 options! (Two of which sounded VERY similar) And worst of all, the one company I wanted wasn’t even listed. Now, what was I to do? I stabbed option 1, and got lucky that they combined the tech support for the company I was looking for there as well!

So, what could they have done to make this more Caller Friendly? If in fact the two support options were combined, go ahead and express that in the greeting. Instead of saying “For Victor, press 1”, they could have easily created “for Victor and TurboTorch, press 1”. Then I would have known which option to choose. In their case, they had the choice to include TurboTorch as a 7th option, combine it with the first option, or leave it out all together. Unfortunately, they chose the last option. With a little more thought, they could have not only kept their options short and concise, they could have saved me the frustration of having to call back a couple times to guess the right option!

Repeat the options, with a prompt

When you have reached the end of your options, allow them to repeat, but let the caller know that is what is happening. You can give them the choice to repeat (“To repeat these options, press *”), or you can automatically repeat them (stay on the line to hear these options repeat). Sometimes people do need to hear the options again, and to simply send them to an operator won’t serve them, or your business the most effectively. No matter what, don’t EVER simply disconnect the call after the options are played! That is a great way to make people never call you back!

Let callers know the number of options up front.

Another way to manage your caller’s expectations is to let them know at the very beginning, how many options you will give them. That would sound like: “please select from the following 6 options”. This allows callers to know how long they’ll have to listen, and how many choices they need to keep in their head before they choose a selection.

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Please leave a message…Voicemail etiquette for your outgoing message

January 3rd, 2011 by Chester Hull

Speak Clearly

The greeting you record on your own voicemail box can be critical to how callers connect with you. Number 1 on the list of things to remember is to Speak Clearly. I’ve heard dozens of mumbly greetings, garbled recordings, speaking too fast. This is not a great way to start a relationship! Your greeting should be an invitation for people to connect with you. Speak clearly and distinctly. This doesn’t mean overly slow or robotic, but you want people to be able to understand you.

Use your name

“Hi, leave a message” Hmmm, have I reached the right voicemail? Was that really their voice I heard? I don’t want to leave this message for the wrong person and look like an idiot. Maybe I just won’t leave a message at all. Use your name. It provides confirmation that callers have reached you, and they’re not on some accidental mis-dial adventure that sends them off into Generic Voicemail Land.

Use your voice

Second to using your name, your voice most closely identifies your mailbox. Use it. Record your own greeting. Don’t leave it up to the phone installer, your secretary, or some person you find on the sidewalk. It’s your voicemail, record it in your voice! And customize it beyond the default standard of “You have reached the voicemail of……please leave a message after the tone.”
Think of your voicemail not as a hassle, or a pain, but as a way to multiply your effectiveness. It allows you to be in two places at once. One, answering calls at your desk, and two, out where you want or need to be. So use your voice when you record your voicemail greeting.

Provide another way to reach you

If another way of reaching you is preferred, your want to give people the option, it’s a great way to let people know how to reach you. Leave your email address or cell phone. More than one or two alternate options is probably too many, but it might be easier to reminder people about your email address, than to play phone tag with them only to find out they wanted you to attach a file and email it to them! Remember, 51 percent of people are extroverted and would prefer to pick up the phone and call you, even when an email would be more efficient!

Change it every day

Changing your voicemail daily might sound like a chore right now, but what a difference in makes in the connection you’re able to provide by updating them about your daily plans. Are you in the office today, and temporarily tied up? Are you out of the office all day, and they shouldn’t expect a call back today? Will you be out in the morning, but back in this afternoon? Or are you on permanent vacation? (in which case, maybe voicemail isn’t applicable to you! Send me your secret so I can join you!)
I’ve often appreciated reaching people who have updated their voicemail daily. Most phone system will let you set a one-button speed dial to connect with your voicemail to change the greeting. Very quick and easy. 
One caveat: Don’t forget to change it back after a holiday, vacation, or being away. That’s easily solved if you do it everyday, but if you forget, it’s a little embarrassing that your summer vacation greeting is what callers hear in November!

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Hello Operator?

December 9th, 2010 by Chester Hull

to call home press 0Always. Always. Always give the option for your caller to reach a live person. Make it easy. Don’t hide behind your phone system, forcing callers to do things the way YOU want them done.

I can guarantee you that at some point, a customer will call with some issue that doesn’t fit neatly into your pre-programmed options, and connecting them to a live person will resolve the issue with less frustration on their part.
You can do it as the standard “0” option, or by some other unique way. (“If you want to reach someone, ANYONE, just press 0, and we’ll be happy to talk to you!”)

Think about who should take those calls. It depends on your business structure, but consider NOT sending those calls to a receptionist or secretary. Think about it…what this caller needs hasn’t been addressed by any of the options in your Auto-Attendant. Do you think the secretary is qualified to handle their request? Likely not. That doesn’t mean route it to the business owner or president, but at least send those calls to a person (or group of people) or have the power to make things happen, answer in depth questions, or otherwise generally make customers happy (which IS the point of your business…isn’t it?)
Having said that, when calls come in that are simple, but will take more than a minute to answer, have someone designated to hand that call to. There may be calls that come in that CAN be handled by the secretary. Have a plan to simply say “Mrs Jones will be glad to help you with that…may I transfer you directly to her?”
Always give the option to reach a live person in some way. Your customers will thank you for it!

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Auto-Attendant or Real Person…Who is answering YOUR phone?

December 7th, 2010 by Chester Hull

answering the house phone

Take control of your phone experience to elevate your company by knowing when to use an automated attendant.

Have you made the decision to use an auto attendant? What went into that decision? Your company needs an edge, and how your phone is answered is a critical area to start.

Consider this example: A company with a “live answer only” policy thinks they are pleasing their callers. But in reality, without a dedicated receptionist, a caller’s experience will be different every time. And with 4 dedicated sales people answering the call, callers only have a 25% chance of their salesperson answering the call. If they don’t, it means hold time, transferring, and maybe voicemail hell! That’s a difficult environment to make your company stand out!

Here’s where you gain an edge. This is a perfect environment to implement an auto-attendant solution. But give your callers the control over where they go. Offer your sales people’s extensions right up front, so callers can reach them by name, extension, or option. This gives them a precision experience, reaching exactly the right person 100% of the time.

A second benefit to your company is eliminating interruptions and distractions for your employees. Pugh Research says that every time a call takes your employee off task, it takes up to 10 minutes for them to recover. Once they no longer have to

handle calls for fellow employees, they will stay much more focused on the task at hand.

Your competition has made a knee-jerk reaction to how their phone is answered. Now you can get a step ahead by extending your superior showroom experience over the phone to your valuable callers.

Rock your customer’s world, while controlling the interruptions for your staff!

Live or auto-attendant? Evaluate your inside environment to make that decision with confidence.

So how does it feel to have an edge on your competition? Winning the phone war wasn’t hard, was it?

Enjoy your happy customers! (and that’s a win for everyone!)

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Decreasing customer “pain points” at banks

November 22nd, 2010 by Chester Hull

In a Ipsos-Insight consumer survey of banks, less than half of customers surveyed fit into the “Loyal” or “Diehard” categories. The other 56% were split between”Switchers” (31%) and “Movers” (25%).

And where your ATM’s are located is just one of the reasons customers might leave your bank.

Decreasing “penalty pain” is an effective way to keep Switchers and Movers, and even your Loyal and Diehard customers as well.

In an article from Neuromarketing, Roger Dooley talks about one of the negative “drips” of dissatisfaction when banks process checks in reverse order of magnitude, increasing the chance that more checks will be overdrawn.

Roger writes:

“Businesses should weigh the short-term boost in profits from penalizing otherwise good customers against the pain these penalties will cause and the damage to their brand in the minds of those customers.”

While “Switchers” are ready to move on to a new bank that offers them fewer fees, and higher interest rates, even “Loyalists” will consider moving when they feel mistreated.

So what are those pain points?

  • Unclear fees
  • “Free” services that don’t remain free
  • Negative interactions with tellers
  • Navigating confusing Auto-Attendant greetings
  • Being placed On-Hold to just silence, or “beeps”
  • Not enough ATMs or Branch locations

We’re living in a society that values genuineness and authenticity. Clearly stating when and what you intend to charge for is a lot better then leaving a customer feeling like they’ve been “had”.

The next time you consider raising fees, or push that “Hold” button, understand that you’re giving your customer one more “drip” into an intravenous artery of unhappiness. How many “drips” will it take to make him look for another bank?

Identifying and removing as many “pain points” as possible is a great strategy for moving “Switchers” to “Diehards”!

Would you like an outside the box perspective on YOUR Caller Experience? We’d love to help you!

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