A Thriving CX In Turbulent Economic Times: 5 Best Practices

In today's turbulent economy, businesses across the nation are grappling with challenges such as reduced staff, hiring freezes, and budget cuts. In fact, 91% of CEO’s firmly believe we are on an imminent path towards a long lasting recession.

Compounding these hurdles is the fact that providing excellent customer support is facing its own set of challenges. As customer support demand continues to increase by 11% per year, reduced staffing levels is causing 75% of customer service agents to face a serious risk of burnout. What happens when employees are burnt out? Lower productivity and less than satisfactory customer experiences.

These poor customer experiences often result in churn because customers believe they can get better care somewhere else. In a recent study, 89% of customers confirmed that they have switched to competitors because of poor experiences. 

This challenge, where businesses are grappling with reduced staff, lower productivity due to overworked customer service agents, and higher churn rates from poor customer experiences, is quickly becoming the industry norm - but it doesn’t have to. 

By implementing effective strategies, businesses and customer support teams can rise above the limitations imposed by the current economic climate and deliver exceptional experiences. In this blog, we will explore the five best practices that customer support teams should implement to provide great customer experiences even in challenging times.

1. Offer Self-Service Options

Customers increasingly prefer self-service options that allow them to find answers to their queries independently. 70% of customers recently stated they expect businesses to offer self-service options, while 40% say they PREFER it. By providing comprehensive and user-friendly self-service resources, such as knowledge bases, FAQs, and online forums, customer support teams can empower customers to resolve common issues on their own. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also saves valuable agent time, enabling them to focus on more complex and critical matters.

2. Use Standardized Responses

Standardizing responses to frequently asked questions or common issues can significantly improve efficiency in customer support interactions. By creating a repository of pre-approved, well-crafted responses, agents can quickly address customer concerns without reinventing the wheel each time. This approach ensures consistency, accuracy, and saves precious time, allowing support teams to handle a higher volume of inquiries effectively.

For those customer support teams who fear using automated, standard responses, a recent study found that 60% of customers rated their automated experiences an 8 out of 10, while 17% rated them a 10 out of 10. 

3. Harness Chat Automation

Chat automation tools, such as chatbots and virtual assistants, can be invaluable assets for customer support teams. These technologies enable prompt responses, reduce time-to-resolution, and facilitate first contact resolution by swiftly providing relevant information to customers. In total, if more businesses implemented chatbots, customer support teams could save 2.5 billion hours annually. Chat automation can handle routine inquiries, gather necessary details, and escalate complex issues to human agents, optimizing resources and enhancing customer experiences.

4. Realize The Power Of Analytics

In the face of a turbulent economy, customer support teams must leverage the power of data analytics to identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions. By analyzing customer interactions, ticket volumes, response times, and satisfaction ratings, teams can gain valuable insights into pain points, bottlenecks, and emerging trends. Data-backed evidence empowers teams to prioritize and address critical issues efficiently, resulting in enhanced customer experiences.

Pro-tip: If you’re utilizing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) (which you should be 😜), closely monitor your performance data to ensure you’re meeting those requirements.

5. Ensure Cross-Team Collaboration

In times of reduced staff and limited resources, it is crucial for customer support teams to foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing. These days, 40% of business leaders state the lack of collaboration seriously hinders their ability to provide good customer experiences. 

Encouraging open communication channels and providing platforms for collaboration across teams can eliminate silos and enable agents to access the expertise of their colleagues. By streamlining information sharing and seeking support from other departments, customer support teams can resolve complex queries faster, leading to improved customer experiences.

In today's challenging economic landscape, customer support teams face numerous obstacles, including reduced staff, hiring freezes, and budget cuts. However, by implementing the five best practices outlined above, these teams can continue to provide exceptional customer experiences. By embracing self-service options, standardized responses, chat automation, data analytics, and cross-team collaboration, customer support teams can navigate the turbulent economy while ensuring customer satisfaction remains a top priority. By putting these strategies into action, businesses can forge stronger relationships with their customers, even during these challenging times.

👉 Want to take a deeper dive into these best practices? Click here to watch TeamSupport’s webinar on the topic, with special guest and customer Constellation1, as they provide real-life expertise on these practices.