By: Kara Lawson, Cincom Marketing

Do you treat customer contacts as transactions or conversations? This depends on if you implement Customer Experience Management (CEM) in your interactions with customers. Unlike Customer Service Management, CEM views each customer interaction as an opportunity to strengthen brand loyalty and, in turn, enhance or sustain revenue and profitability.

Customer contacts are conversations, not just transactions. Transactions can easily fall into the category of cold, unforgettable and mechanical. They do not convey emotion or positivity. It is the conversation that builds a positive, emotional connection with the customer or delivers on the brand promise. Conversations by nature are emotional, universally valued and memorable.

Throughout customer communication, contact centers need to differentiate the experience based on the needs and economic value of the customer. All callers should not be treated the same.

The estimated cost of poor customer service in 16 countries is $338.5 billion. Building a deeper emotional bond with customers may yield big dividends. Treating them as just another transaction will cause a much greater, opposite effect, as demonstrated by the figure above. Seventy percent of customers who switch to a competitor do so because of poor service. Furthermore, poor service and bad quality can do more damage to a brand than any competitor.

Every interaction with a customer creates a customer experience. Contact centers and customers communicate across a variety of mediums: telephone, e-mail, IM, text messaging and Web self-service. By implementing CEM, you ensure that interactions at all levels, especially the contact center, can be elevated to positive, memorable experiences.

The Cincom® Synchrony™ CEM solution guarantees consistency and conformity across all touch points as well as a better experience for both the customer and the agent. Synchrony guides agents, step by step, enabling them to respond promptly and properly to each customer through any communication medium.

For more information on Customer Experience Management strategies, read this Cincom-sponsored Pelorus Associates White Paper titled “Power to the People.”