The Role Messaging and Automation Will Play in the Future of Customer Service

Why direct messaging is crucial to the customer experience of tomorrow, when a “free” cruise isn’t really free, and how a CEO reports to his employees.

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Full Episode Details

Bite-Sized Delight From the Episode:

• Why messaging and automation are the future of customer service.
• The problem with making offers that aren’t everything they promise to be.
• A tire company with a remarkable management structure.
• The challenge of personalizing every interaction.

THIS JUST HAPPENED: “Free” Cruise [01:04-12:37]

A college buddy of Dan’s recently returned from a cruise with his family where he had a stroke of good luck-or so he thought. He won a free cruise in a game of Bingo (which you pay to play), but it turns out that the definition of “free” actually had a lot of strings attached.

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Takeaways

• Giveaways and sweepstakes are a great way to engage customers, but make sure that the winners actually have a good experience winning.
• With anything that requires a legal disclosure, less is more. Simplify the offer to reduce the need for detailed terms and conditions.
• Don’t try to trick people. It can cause a customer who should be happy with you to be disappointed and leave for your competition.

Book Report: Message Me [12:38-21:58]

This week we’re looking at Joshua March’s book, Message Me. Josh is the founder and CEO of Conversocial, one of the leading digital customer care platforms, and was built from the ground-up from the perspective of customer service agents. He correctly predicted that direct messaging was going to become the future of customer service. The book follows up with advice about why this is true and how to implement messaging and automation in your customer service.

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Takeaways

• The future of customer service is messaging and automation.
• Expectations for response time are going down, and the best brands are meeting those expectations.
• For more, pick up Message Me by Joshua March.

CX PRESS: Tire Company CEO [22:00-26:38]

This week’s article is “How a Humble Culture and Self-Deprecating CEO Fuels This $130 Million Tire Company,” from Blake Morgan (author of the previously featured More Is More). It details how Larry Sutton, CEO of RNR Express, has created an amazing culture by inverting the traditional pyramid hierarchy system. Sutton, the CEO, reports to other executives, who report to regional managers, who then report to store managers and employees.

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Takeaways

• Every employee, up to and including the CEO, should get as close to the customer as possible in order to truly understand the experience.
• Letting the people who do the actual work make decisions can be incredibly empowering to middle managers and encourage out-of-the-box thinking.
• Don’t ever say that a part of the customer experience isn’t your job; if this CEO can grab a mop, you can do you your part as well.

CHECK OUT THIS NUMBER: 84% [26:40-29:26]

84 percent of North American C-level executives say that their organization has experienced a trend toward customers wanting a more individualized experience. However, fewer than one in five of those executives give their organization an “A” in its ability to offer this personal touch. The biggest challenge is the ability to respond quickly and effectively to changing market conditions. This stat comes from Oracle CX, in an article called “3 Ways Your Retail Shoppers Have Changed.”

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Takeaways

C-level executives know what their customers want, but also know that their organizations are struggling to achieve it.

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