Investing in technology improve customer experience, automates tasks, and reduces operational costs, enhancing customer satisfaction.
The following outlines the recommended steps to implement this methodology:
An example of how an organisation might use the metric
A retail company discovered that responding to customer queries via email and phone was slow, leading to customer frustration and missed sales opportunities. They calculated that the process cost Ā£400,000 annually in combined staff time and technology infrastructure. The company invested Ā£180,000 in an AI-powered live chat system and self-service portal with Ā£20,000 annual maintenance. Instead of reducing staff, they used the technology to handle common and consistent queries instantly, freeing up staff to focus on upselling, personalised service, and customer retention campaigns. Sales conversions from online enquiries increased by 15%, and customer satisfaction scores rose. The organisation determined that their investment delivered measurable revenue growth and operational efficiency, resulting in a strong ROI and enhanced customer experience.
Focus on processes that are repetitive, time-consuming, and have high potential for automation.
Ensure that automation improves the customer experience and does not lead to frustration.
Choose solutions that can scale as the business grows.
Communicate with staff about changes and opportunities to focus on higher-value tasks.
Key themes of the research include:
The research is based on interviews with senior executives (including Chief Executive Officers, Chief Operating Officers and Customer Service or Customer Experience Directors) and online surveys with 751 employees in a variety of roles, across organisations and sectors, 929 consumers and 500 young people aged between 16 and 21. The research was conducted between December 2022 and February 2023.
Around 67% of UK employees spanning a wide range of roles, departments or functions, spend significant amounts of time in their job dealing with customers. Therefore, for many organisations, the profession of customer service is about embedding a service culture to deliver the organisationās commercial and customer experience objectives, as well as developing appropriate skills in specific roles.Ā The research identifies that there is a growing requirement for broader and more advanced skills and lays out in detail what these skills and capabilities will be.
Customer service provides a challenging and rewarding career with genuine pathways to develop skills and experience but potential employees are not always aware of the breadth of career opportunities and many are more likely to see customer service as a foundation for other careers than a respected profession offering good career opportunities.Ā The research presents 5 main pathways for careers in customer service.
To conclude, our research highlights 9 areas to improve the perception and recognition of roles and careers in customer service as well as practical recommendations to aid organisations in addressing them.
With almost 80% of UK GDP generated by the service sector, there is an urgent need to define, develop and measure productivity in a service context.
This Breakthrough Research examines the perspectives of senior managers, employees and customers on productivity in a service context.
The research looks at how organisations have sought to improve both their productivity and customer satisfaction, and recommends a framework to enable organisations to improve and measure their performance.
