Campbell’s thought-provoking questions and Katz’s industry insight really hit the mark. We just can’t help but share the complete behind the scenes Q&A interview with Katz.

Hold-Free Networks will be exhibiting at ITEXPO West in Austin, Texas on October 3-5. You can find Joseph Katz himself at booth #519! ITEXPO West 2012 Q&A with Joseph Katz:

 1. What’s been the most important trend in business purchasing decisions this year?

I’ve been impressed by the renewed focus on ROI. Budgets are limited and there’s a power struggle going on between advocates of the cloud and traditional CPE. So with a lot of scrutiny around purchasing decisions, enterprises are taking a hard look at the numbers to understand risk, return, and time-to-value.

 2. What is the smartest thing companies can do from a technology perspective to prepare for the future?

 The smartest thing to do is join the conversation. Even if your company is typically a late arriver to the party, it’s never too early to start getting ready. Vendors are doing more than ever to educate prospective customers and there are so many opportunities with shows, professional associations, on message boards, etc. to collect the insights that will shape the company’s vision for the future. So take full advantage of it!

 3. Will the verdict in the Apple-Samsung patent case have ramifications for the technology market?

 I don’t think so. When a company worth $600 billion wins a billion dollar verdict from a company worth $180 billion, it’s like losing a wager on the golf course. I doubt it will change the behavior of either company…or any large company for that matter. All the litigation going on could be a bit scary for smaller companies though.

 4. Do you think the U.S. patent system is effective or in need of reform?

 Well, I’d say that whether reform is needed or not…it’s coming! One good thing about the America Invents Act is that it creates more consistency with the system used by all other countries. I get the argument that first-to-file puts smaller companies at a disadvantage, but I think the little guys will always have the inherent advantage of being more innovative and nimble.

 5. What role should video play in business communications?

 Video should play a major role. I think it’s safe to say at this point that most of us don’t want to be on a big screen video phone like the one in Demolition Man first thing in the AM. But video is a critical medium for delivering a more hands-on experience, bridging geographical divides, and can be a great differentiator for companies looking for more ways to deliver “service with a smile.”

 6. How would you characterize the ubiquitous coverage of the Olympic Games delivered by NBC?

 “Ubiquitous” sounds like a pretty good way to describe it. My big takeaway from the London Games is just how connected we are at this point. If something of universal interest happens anywhere in the world – we all know about it instantly. It doesn’t matter where you live, if you are at home or on the go, or what time of day or night it is. Is there really such thing as a “spoiler” anymore?

 7. How important do you feel technology will be in deciding the upcoming presidential election?

 I think technology will be important, but maybe not in an easily discernible way. I mean, one candidate has a million followers on Twitter and the other has twenty million. So, if it comes down to which candidate is the most “plugged-in” then there is really no contest. But I don’t think it will be as simple as looking at which candidate has the higher Klout score. Should be interesting…

 8. What’s the one technology item you want most? Why?

 An Easy Button! Can I get one of those? I already have a million gadgets…iPhone, Slingbox, Roku, you name it. But I think I’m like most consumers in the sense that what I really want at this point is simplicity. If you can save me time, anticipate my needs and proactively address them, and do it without a hassle – then I’m ready to be your customer.

 9. Will you use your smartphone to pay for retail purchase when mobile wallet capabilities become widely available? Why or why not?

 Definitely. Again it comes down to convenience. A couple generations ago, if you asked people if they would pay for things with a piece of plastic, you would probably get some pushback. Same thing with mobile wallet…you’ll have some people who are slow to adopt and service providers will have to solve some of the problems that they didn’t initially anticipate to get to mainstream adoption. But I’m confident that it will happen.

 10. What will attendees experience at your booth/session that will be unique at ITEXPO?

Hold-Free Networks’ booth at ITEXPO will be unique because attendees can casually visit our “living room” setting and walk away a few minutes later armed with three new ways to improve the customer experience. All while leveraging the cloud to minimize risk. It’s a great opportunity to get questions answered too…it’ll be kind of like Apple’s Genius Bar over at Booth #519.

 11. What are you looking forward to at ITEXPO?

 I’m looking forward to quite a few things. It’s always a great opportunity to interact with customers, analysts, and even competitors. The keynote from Rob Carter at FedEx should be very good. We’re also participating in a session on Friday morning called “Oh Brother, Big Brother” where we’ll discuss consumer attitudes towards sharing social data with companies.

 12. Care to make a bold or surprising prediction about the future of tech?

Sure. My bold prediction is that we’re going to see a wave of innovation in the next few years that rivals any we’ve seen before. I think we’ll see technology solve some major problems that have troubled the human race for a long time. I think this Renaissance will result from changes in how great ideas are funded…call it the Shark Tank effect. But even more important than that, I think it will be driven by a culmination in the way that we’ve grown comfortable in collaborating in recent years: virtually, socially, agilely.

(Part III of III)

Feedback Essentials

Surprisingly most enterprise Smartphone apps have no real, inherent feedback loop. No way to tell how well you did on the last interaction from inside the app. The problem with this is that sentiment can fester if not treated. And this goes beyond simple surveying. I am talking about actually responding to sentiment, not just allowing for feedback. The trick is to respond and offer care before the sentiment goes viral. In-app sentiment feedback solves this problem because your are first able to capture relevant sentiment and then pipe it in real time to customer care agents.

There are several benefits to this approach. First, there is a link between customer loyalty and retention and sentiment feedback. Second, a real time sentiment feedback solution is kind of a “social early warning system.” In other words, you have first crack at responding and trying to help a customer before the issue gets posted on Facebook or Twitter or a blog.

The Holy Grail of Cross-Sell and Up-Sell
A lot of enterprises talk about cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. But very few examples exist in mobile care applications. Sometimes you will see a banner add or equivalent but nothing highly personalized. In-app secure messaging solves this problem by offering rich media transport that can be personalized. You can also take advantage of alerts and badges to let customers know if a new offer or other private message has landed in their app.

The benefit of the in-app secure messaging approach is that you can avoid the problem of  Phishing without forcing your customer to log in to the proprietary messaging system on your web site. That eliminates channel confusion right there and provides you the ability to deliver personalized communications right to the app. This paves the way for mobile cross-sell and up-sell.

The point is that there is hope for run-down care-clueless Smartphone applications. If you are ready to go beyond token “cool” and ready to embrace customer care you can do it with in-app enhancements to your current application.

(Part II of III)

Salve for Cross-Channel Confusion

You can solve the cross-channel confusion problem and the problem of having to bail from the app to communicate. The answer is surprisingly simple: Do it in-app. In other words, you can add a private message channel, and even an enterprise-connected chat channel inside your enterprise Smartphone app.

The benefit of this approach is smoother channel control. Simply put, you don’t have to jump around from app to app to get simple communications done. And it can be built to provide a common look and feel inside the app – with a common interface.

Make Your App Keep-Worthy.

(Part I of III)

Sadly, the majority of Smartphone apps were built quickly to fulfill the “cool” mandate. Versions 1.0 rarely scratch the surface of customer care and provide only the fundamentals like checking balances or looking up credits. So what’s the problem? Well the fact that most enterprise Smartphone apps are built in a silo creates channel confusion (phone vs. web vs. chat vs. SMS) and can create more problems than they solve.

Do You Know What Your App Is Doing?

I often ask customer care practitioners if they really know what their Smartphone app is doing. For example, is there a likelihood that chances for cross-sell are getting blocked? Or chances for retention of an angry customer falling away? How about the “contact us” page? Is it nothing more than a speed dial? Can customers communicate with you without having to dump out of the app and go to a discrete communication channel? All of these questions and more are often answered with a knowing nod: “Yes it’s a mess and we have to figure out how to make it better.”

Why Was Mobile Care Forgotten?

Most Smartphone apps are not truly aligned to provide superior customer care. In fact many are not very “smart” at all when it comes to customer service. In most cases, if you need to speak with someone in the enterprise, you encounter a few speed dial buttons. And each one dumps you into a generic ACD queue. And then you go to a generic operator who then must ask you what you want and then transfer you to the correct skill group. Now that just ain’t right. You logged in to the app. They have your credentials. They should know what you want by your click stream. Why create more channel confusion by chucking you into a generic queue?

And what about feedback? Some apps let you fill out a quickie survey, but most don’t. Even fewer actually treat your feedback as a chance to interact. That is to say, the “care” part is missing. Why don’t the enterprises take advantage of the fact that they already have a contact center and pipe the sentiment in so it can be responded to in close-to-real-time?

What about standard communications such as chat or private messages? Most enterprise Smartphone apps require that you dump out of the app to send a message, or pick up messages. Why? Why do I have to go jumping around opening up all kinds of other apps – creating channel confusion – when all I want to do is send along text of some kind – or get an answer? And why are coupons or other personalized offers relegated to email or a separate channel and not piped-in to your enterprise Smartphone app?

The list goes on. But the point is most enterprise Smartphone apps are woefully devoid of true customer care attributes. There are ways to overcome these problems, but you may need a little help…

“As for the complex ways of living, I love them not…however much I practice them.”

– Henry David Thoreau

I promised in my last post that I would have more to say about the “emerging” customer touch points and the customer’s desire for simplicity. On the surface, these might seem like contradictory ideas – if the customer truly wants to keep things simple stupid, why bother with all the newfangled contact methods like mobile apps and social media?

Before we attempt to answer this question, let’s talk about the suggested reading from my last post. The purpose of articles like the one published by HBR is to look for a variable (or variables) that strongly correlates with certain business outcomes such as loyalty, willingness to spend more, pay a premium, etc. The authors acknowledge several variables that correlate fairly well, but suggest that the “being easy to do business with” metric outshines all others in terms of predicting positive business results.

The theory  

Although I haven’t published the dissertation just yet, I actually theorize there are three factors that explain the customer experience: delight, consistency (which I’ll soon suggest includes simplicity), and good faith.

The relationship starts with delight – the customer expects to receive a certain amount of value and if those expectations are met, then it’s a good transaction. If those expectations are exceeded…then the customer is delighted and will come back again. From that point forward, the customer’s expectations have recalibrated and now that same high level of value must be delivered each and every time. Consistency.

The customer is realistic enough to understand that there will be times when things fall short of the mark…and that’s where “good faith” comes into play. The customer expects the provider to genuinely admit that it screwed up, most importantly as an acknowledgment that the product or service has to be better in the future. That’s the good faith part…the company shows that it recognizes it still has an obligation to uphold its end of the bargain. Customer service obviously plays a key role in this component of the model and that’s why when something goes wrong, the last thing a customer wants to hear is an automated system or a scripted apology.

Not so fast my friend

But this is where things get a little more complicated — consistency doesn’t just mean doing the same thing over and over again. It means delivering the same level of value each time. But value is a matter of perception, and changes in customer preferences and competition tend to push the bar higher over the course of time. This is where innovation comes into play. If you aren’t getting better, you’re falling behind…

So it turns out that customer service plays a role in the “consistency” component of the model as well. Primarily this role is to remove the obstacles that stand between the customer and the inherent value that the company has to offer.  If that can be done in an automated fashion, then so be it. But that’s not what the customer is concerned about; what the customer is looking for is the path of least resistance. If that path happens to come through a Smartphone app (as an increasing number are beginning to believe), then you can bet that even the Henry Thoreau’s of the world will find their way to this channel.

In case you’re looking for the hat trick…yes, I do believe that customer service can contribute to the initial delight phase as well. But for the Customer Experience folks looking for a call to action, I think there is plenty to focus on in terms of adding in the emerging customer touch points with an eye on simplicity and good faith. Adding new channels certainly brings with it a series of challenges to maintain consistency (there’s that word again!), but hopefully now you have a clearer sense of why we’re innovating in the first place and what we hope to achieve as an end result.

]]> http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?feed=rss2&p=459 0 http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?p=409 http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?p=409#comments Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:00:00 +0000 Sarah http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?p=409 Continue reading →]]> By Edwin Margulies

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Systems have been serving-up automated self-service since the late seventies and the subject of running pop culture jokes on shows like Seinfeld and The Simpsons ever since. Now the “Systems We Love to Hate” have a new lease on life.

Pay the Devil His Due

IVR Systems do a lot of heavy lifting. From multiple data dips to grab customer account info or order status, to screen pops for agents to speech recognition input from callers. All that infrastructure and professional services to build-out a good IVR app comes at a heavy cost.

And to what end? Well, for the most part to automate phone calls that would otherwise (unnecessarily) take operator assistance when no assistance is really needed. Such is the case for bank balances, order status or even a PIN code change.

Other value-added capabilities of IVR systems include call steering, multi-site routing and automated attendant. These systems save enterprises literally millions of dollars a year. Ostensibly the justification is to re-order the use of agents for more complex tasks that really require human intervention.

Enter Web 2.0 Customer Service

But wait. For a few decades, customers have been able to self-serve on web sites and now with SmartPhone applications. Doesn’t that make IVR go away? Not really. Despite rumors of its death, the commonplace phone call still dominates as a channel for customer service. And where there are phone calls, there will always be a way to automate them, hence the existence of IVR.

So Now What?

There is a way to leverage all of that heavy duty infrastructure and investment we have made in all these IVR systems. And that is to use them for what they were made for and even more so. The choices customers have now in terms of channel are pretty diverse. Take SMS (and automated SMS response), email, chat, and self-serve SmartPhone apps.

Wouldn’t it be cool if all of the time and money spent on IVR infrastructure could be extended so as to provide core services to other channels and modalities? The good news is this is not only possible but now practical with overlay applications.

Overlay Apps for IVR

The native modality of IVR is voice. But that does not mean all of that infrastructure can only service voice. This is where overlay applications come in. As the phrase implies, overlay apps run on top of, but do not replace, existing infrastructure.

For example, a great overlay app for IVR is Web Callback. Here, you can design a Java, PHP or other application on your web site to offer a callback option in addition to chat. You can create a form that allows customers to pick product and service choices from a drop-down list, pick a time for a callback and even a preferred number to call. All of that data can be sent to a hosted switch and media server that uses those data to call in to a target IVR system.

Imagine further that service doing all the legwork for the caller so the caller does not have to wait on hold or enter any navigation data into the IVR. That’s a perfect example of how the life of your IVR can be “extended” with an overlay app.

Here’s another example. Imagine a SmartPhone application for customer service (think retail banking application). Imagine further that you have trouble in an account transfer and a “panic button” appears offering you the ability to be called by a personal banker. All of your credentials get passed to a hosted system that submits routing data into the target IVR so you get to the right person. Another IVR extension with an overlay app.

The list goes on to include voice augmentations to in-application chats on mobile devices, to “screen scraping” data from an IVR and delivering it via text message.

The point is there are plenty of ways you can extend the life of your IVR system by using overlay applications. So before you retire your IVR, think of ways all of the routing, screen-popping and self-service capabilities you already have can be leveraged with modern overlay applications.

Another benefit of the use of overlay applications on top of IVR is to put a “pretty face” on IVR. Since IVR is telephony and purely verbal, the menus and task completion in general is much more difficult to navigate than visual ones. Overlay applications can get around this problem by presenting the same core capabilities but with a visual interface. This can drive down abandonment, decrease misdirected calls, and even improve containment. This makes overlay applications the friend of IVR and the practitioners of IVR. Overlay apps can be life extenders that provide alternate modalities on top of a fairly stable infrastructure.

]]> http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?feed=rss2&p=409 1 http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?p=413 http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?p=413#comments Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:00:43 +0000 Sarah http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?p=413 Continue reading →]]> By Michael Haisten

Enterprises that decide to offer a callback option enable their customers to avoid quite possibly the most frustrating problem with call centers, excessive hold times.  In cases where the callback option is presented via the company’s website or mobile application, customers are also able to skip navigating an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, another frequent source of frustration.    By allowing customers to choose whether they want to wait on hold or receive a callback at a convenient time, enterprises are providing a sense of empowerment which results in increased levels of satisfaction and loyalty.

On the other hand, the enterprise is able to more evenly spread its demand throughout the day.  Agent productivity and service levels are improved by shifting calls from busy periods to the slowest periods.  Idle time in the call center is reduced.  Callbacks also reduce the number of abandoned calls which can increase sales and revenue.

So how is callback technology best implemented?  Here are some rules of thumb, many of which are slightly modified concepts from regular inbound calls.

Set proper expectations – If the callback is to be offered in the voice channel by an IVR, provide the applicable queue’s expected wait time (EWT) prior to offering a callback.  This helps the customer decide whether he would prefer to wait or choose the callback option.  Also, regardless of the channel where the callback is offered, make sure to communicate when the callback will occur (i.e. “within an hour”), or even better, provide options where the customer can choose when they would like to receive the callback (in 10 minutes, at 2:00, etc.).  Again this keeps the customer feeling empowered.  Call volume and work force management data can be applied in business rules here to help the enterprise dynamically discourage callbacks during busy periods and encourage them in slower periods.  Busy, less desirable times could either be “grayed out” in a menu as not available or not provided at all.

Make it simple – Excessive customer effort has been proven to decrease levels of satisfaction and loyalty, so it is best to make the callback process easy for the customer.  In the case of callbacks offered via the web or mobile app, the customer will have to fill out a pre-callback form to submit the callback request including the phone number to be called and when the call is desired.  To reduce customer effort, display a default callback number based on the customer’s account login information, but allow him to change it if necessary of course.  For IVR-based callbacks, allow the customer to choose to be called back on his ANI rather than requiring him to enter a complete phone number.

Route the call to the proper agent – If a customer has navigated an IVR prior to choosing a callback, he has already selected the type of agent needed.  For web or mobile callbacks, a dropdown menu can be added to the pre-callback form to capture the reason for the customer’s call and assign it to the proper queue.  This visual version of an IVR is usually much easier for a customer to comprehend than an auditory version.  Alternatively, the context of the page the customer was browsing when the callback was first selected can be used to intelligently route the call.  For example, if the customer clicks the callback button on the “Pay My Bill” page, the call can be routed to a billing agent.  Some combination of the two approaches can also be used.

Ensure the same standard of service is provided across channels – For example, do not allow customers to avoid waiting on hold while introducing another inconvenience in its place.  IVRs may be frustrating to some customers, but when paired with Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) or whisper coaching, they provide a benefit by passing important information to the agent about the caller and his needs.  Make sure that any data collected by an IVR, website, or mobile app prior to performing the callback is somehow passed to the agent, so the customer will not have to repeat themselves.  Callbacks are a great way to leverage existing business rules and infrastructure in order to enhance their impact on the customer experience.

Following the guidelines above should help any enterprise ensure a customer-centric and well-accepted implementation of callbacks whether they will be offered by IVR, web, or mobile app.

]]> http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?feed=rss2&p=413 0 http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?p=389 http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?p=389#comments Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:15:28 +0000 Sarah http://holdfree.com/hfblog/?p=389 Continue reading →]]> By Joseph Katz

When you’ve spent as much time in the contact center space as I have, it tends to shape your thinking just a bit. For example, whenever the topic of Customer Experience Management comes up, I automatically think of customer service.

I realize that customer experience (or CX as it’s known) has been an area of heightened interest in recent years for the very reason that it does not limit itself to one particular area. To understand things from a customer’s perspective, you have to look at everything from which way the doors open at the local branch to the color of the envelope used to send the monthly bill.

The forest from the trees
Most companies nowadays have someone who heads up Customer Experience; I can think of a few companies who have a whole team of these folks. I’m always fascinated by these individuals because of their attention to detail and their ability to see things through the eyes of a customer. Most of us lose that view of the “forest” simply by living in and amongst the “trees” for too long.

It does make me wonder though about the intersection between customer experience and the contact center. I think that most CX professionals would acknowledge that service plays an essential role in the overall experience. For example, if you work for Disney then it’s not just a matter of how long the customer waited in line to ride Space Mountain – how long did they wait in queue to book the trip to the Magic Kingdom in the first place?

Where did you come from?

Some Customer Experience people came out of the call center area, so not only do they understand its importance, but they also have enough subject matter expertise to improve it. Others come from Marketing or Operations and have learned about the contact center purely out of necessity. I’m reminded of a Product Manager for a large PC manufacturer who figured out that the buyer magazines were rating his product so harshly because of the company’s poor customer service. Upon sharing this information with the CEO, he was promptly put in charge of “fixing” the problem. Welcome to the contact center world!

If you’re coming at it from one of these other backgrounds, then the complexity may be a bit intimidating. What is all this IVR, ACD, CTI stuff anyway? But as noted, it could also be an advantage since your forest-level view may simply tell you which things annoy customers and need to be addressed, without getting muddled in the murky details. For that approach to work, you better have a strong collaborative relationship with the contact center organization. I’m betting that most Customer Experience folks are good collaborators by nature though since it’s just not feasible for one person to be intimately familiar with every pulley and lever within a massive company.

At the fork in the road

So while sitting at this proverbial intersection, what types of customer service improvements should the CX leader be focused on to improve overall experience? Of course it varies by company, but it’s likely that quite a few are considering the “emerging” channels (mobile, social, etc.) that customers are increasingly turning to in lieu of making a phone call or visiting the company’s website. That’s a favorite topic of mine these days and sure to be the subject of some of my future posts. If you want to talk about these channels in the meantime, drop me a line and we’ll chat. But if you’re just looking for some good reading on the topic, I would recommend recent studies by Harvard Business Review and the IBM Institute for Business Value. Both have good reason to suggest that what while your customers may be turning to these channels for deeper engagement and free stuff – the most important thing they’re looking for is simplicity.

“Make it easier to do business with our company.” Sounds like the motto of any Customer Experience leader worth his or her salt!

Waiting on hold to speak with a real person in a call center is a common complaint among consumers.  So common that television shows and companies alike have capitalized on our collective pain by making fun of these frustrating experiences.  Saturday Night Live performed the Julie skit, and Discover created its line of advertisements starring Peggy.  A British study, commissioned in 2011 by the mobile network giffgaff, went so far as to indicate that waiting on hold for longer than 5 minutes and 58 seconds could actually lead to minor health problems due to increased blood pressure and anxiety.

Some companies are starting to listen to their customers, however, and are offering callbacks as an alternative to waiting on hold.  Callbacks can be offered in a phone menu, website, or mobile application.  I think most people and businesses would agree that a 10 minute wait time is generally a poor experience – a call center failure.  But the first time I used such a service, I received a callback in exactly 10 minutes, and I thought it was a customer service breakthrough.  I even told everyone at work the next day how great it was!  It certainly beat the alternative of being captive to my phone line waiting on hold.  It got me thinking about the fun or productive things people could be doing every day rather than waiting on hold with the companies we patronize.

Here’s my top 10:

1. Change of scenery – Go outside or to a different room – even the room so many of us have that has poor cell reception.  Even if your phone has a cord or no speakerphone.  Don’t feel confined to your current location.  You can even drive legally, hands free.

2. Listen to the music of your choice – There’s probably a reason that The Greatest Hits of Hold Music isn’t a top seller on iTunes.  64% of giffgaff respondents said annoying music made their experience worse.  Instead, hang up the phone and listen to whatever music you want – Indie Rock, Bluegrass, Reggae, Dixieland Jazz, Death Metal – whatever makes you happy.

3. Call a friend – Yes, you can talk to the real person of your choice while waiting on your callback.

4. Eat nachos – Go ahead and get your hands messy.   You’re not holding a phone.

5. Get a neck massage – There’s nothing better for relieving the neck strain from your last endless hold time spent balancing the phone between your head and shoulder.

6. Work out – If waiting on hold is bad for your health, a quick work out would be the perfect converse.  Nothing throws off your balance while doing yoga or running on a treadmill like holding a phone to your ear.  Be honest: How many of you tried to run around the room with your hand up to your ear to see what it felt like?

7. Watch TV – It’s nearly impossible to figure out who the killer is on CSI with annoying hold music competing for your attention.

8. Household chores – Prepare a gourmet meal.  Hang some new artwork.  Vacuum the floors.

9. Cure cancer – Hey, the best of scientists wait on hold too.

10. Cancel service with other companies that make you wait on hold – According to the giffgaff study, 50% of respondents discouraged family and friends from using a company that kept them waiting too long while 25% of respondents canceled their service.

Today, when it comes to customer service, we all know who is calling the shots. Customers are loosing patience quicker and becoming less forgiving when they encounter a poor customer service experience. The 2012 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer shows that “over half (55%) of consumers have intended to conduct a business transaction or make a purchase, but decided not to based on a poor service experience.” Deciding when, where, and how they want service, the average customer’s service expectations, compared to a decade ago, have skyrocketed.
We can attribute much of the shift in customer service expectations to the smartphone and its precious app offspring. Apps, apps, and more apps! They entertain, teach, narrate our lives, inform, and most importantly, help us. A 2012 study by ClickFox found that “over 78 percent of consumers surveyed use mobile apps for customer service purposes such as billing, account status/updates and interactive chat.” The same study revealed, “over 90 percent of respondents would replace some or all traditional customer service channels with a mobile app if available.”

So what can we take away from these findings? I think it’s pretty obvious; apps are a key customer service channel, not to mention their added coolness factor. And, the best part of it all… If an app is done right, we tell our friends about it!

I have a good friend who recently got her first iPhone. Being overwhelmed by the multitude of app options, she thought she’d consult fellow iPhoners to see what apps she “needs.” Note, she asked what apps she “needs”, not “wants”. As a modern age Rolling Stone might say, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes well you might find” there’s an app for that!

Well, this experience got me thinking about apps and if there are any apps that are really need-worthy. I came to the conclusion that there are no essential apps, but there are convenience-enabling apps out there that the modern consumer’s expectations are causing them to think they need. These are apps that make our lives easier, saving us time and money. Transfer money seconds before you overdraft, book a flight on your way to the airport, request roadside assistance even when you have no idea where you are, pay bills last-minute, the list goes on and on. A study by Nuance revealed; “84% of consumers surveyed generally prefer to use a company’s mobile app for routine inquiries (checking balance, check flight status, etc.) rather than calling the company on the phone.”

Many of these convenience-enabling apps encourage self-service, and go as far as self-checkout. Take for instance, the apple store. Now, if you are going to make a significant purchase such as an ipad or new macbook, you’ll probably want some assistance making a decision. But if you are simply looking for some new software, a case, or a keyboard, apple has enabled iPhone users to complete a transaction themselves from start to finish. iPhone owners can literally scan a product, pay for it, and walk out the door all using their smartphone. Yet another app employing the coolness factor, I might buy something just to try it out! Nielsen conducted a survey in Q1 2012, finding “the vast majority (79%) of US smartphone and tablet owners have used their mobile devices for shopping-related activities.” Smartphones are literally changing our shopping behaviors.

However, there is a cold, hard truth that we must recognize when it comes to cool self-service apps; Sometimes we just need to talk to somebody. As the complexity of an inquiry escalates, the more we feel the need to talk to somebody. When faced with difficult or complicated question, nearly half of consumers (46%) prefer to speak on the phone with a ‘real’ customer service rep (2012 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer).

Now, after experiencing a great app, where the self-service is stellar, we despise searching for 800 numbers and waiting on hold. This old-school way of dialing in and listening to confusing menus, only to be put on hold with terrible music OR even advertisements, it’s got to go. Let’s get rid of these ancient practices and make the experience ‘app-easy’. Let’s make it so flawless for the customer that they deem your app need-worthy. Let’s create consistency by offering quality service across the board whether you’re in an app, on a website, or calling in. Let’s add the coolness factor and exceed those customer expectations!