Customer experience – a crucial impression of a customer towards your company that can either make or break the brand.
From the early days of trading to the modern business era, customer experience (CX) retains as one of the most important aspects of a successful business. However, while many companies know why customer experience is important, they lack the strategy and technology to fully optimize their customers’ experience.
TOPdesk, a supplier of service management software in the Netherlands, shares its thoughts with Management Events on how organizations can provide great customer service experience.
A Snippet of TOPdesk
A provider of service tools, TOPdesk started in 1993 and has since garnered 10 million active users.
With 15 offices worldwide, the company offers service solutions that include enterprise service management, IT service management and facility management. TOPdesk also provides consultancy, tailored implementations and support to help their clients in service delivery.
DEFINING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Different companies have distinctive definitions of customer experience. For TOPdesk, customer experience is a combination of culture, capabilities, and systems.
“The three aspects work in tandem, therefore, lacking in one of these areas results in tarnishing the customer and supplier relationship.”
Harvard Business Review echoes this sentiment, stating that oftentimes businesses either don’t have the systems and technology, processes and operational capabilities, or most importantly, customer-centric organizational culture.
TOPdesk also voices the vitalness of customer-centricity in a company, expressing that, “The client values interactions with a vendor that go beyond the services they provide. This is where company culture comes in.”
“Working in partnership with clients allows us to have a better understanding of the customer to drive continual improvement of products and services based on their needs.”
PUTTING CUSTOMERS AT THE CORE
In the past, customer experience and satisfaction were thought to be attained by the product itself or by the service given during the sale. What companies failed to realize at the time was that every encounter with a customer, from raising brand awareness to aftersales, is crucial in building and nurturing client relationships.
Today, businesses have to go even further in order to become a truly customer-centric organization, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Being customer-centric means focusing on the client’s needs and adapting based on these. And we believe that creating an open dialogue with the customer is key.”
“This is the best way to get to know each and every customer, creating a personal connection, and understanding what they expect from us as an organization.”
“Facilitating this open conversation means taking an outside-in approach instead of inside-out – using customer feedback to drive changes and improvements.”
For TOPdesk, one of the most important characteristics of a customer-centric organization is transparency.
Other key characteristics include a highly engaged team that exists to learn, share knowledge, and form partnerships.
“Without the entire team buying into this method of service delivery, it is impossible to succeed.”
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE EXCELLENCE OF TODAY
Over the years, there have been many customer experience optimization strategies with the core focus on building relations. But how is customer experience today? What has changed?
“While nurturing and serving customers has always been at the forefront of service delivery,” TOPdesk reveals, “the changes we have seen are in this being a priority during the initial stages of the sales funnel to the entire customer journey.”
“It’s no longer enough to just provide a service. It’s now expected that we go the extra mile.”
“For example, talk with each customer about how they define a successful relationship and involve them in shaping the process.”
This practice is highly encouraged at TOPdesk as the company understands the importance of providing a space for customers to share experiences with one another.
“This can come in the form of a customer event where clients can share stories, projects, and get new ideas to enhance their service experience. Or setting up a call between two customers in need of help and advice, or writing a case study to further promote their journey.”
Another key customer experience excellence trend is customer journey mapping, both internally and with the customers themselves. At TOPdesk, the customer journey maps look beyond the implementation of a tool to how they can continually support clients by identifying gaps.
“Service delivery is never ending. We must always be looking for ways to improve our offering and share our knowledge.”
ENHANCING DIGITAL CX CAPABILITIES
The arrival of the digital era brought great changes to the field of customer service, increasing organizations’ ability to maximize customer experience through technological innovations.
“The digital landscape offers a lot of scope when it comes to delivering great customer experience.”
TOPdesk observes that, “Digital tools provide an outlet for collecting both qualitative and quantitative data to influence improvements in customer experience.”
One example TOPdesk provided was their use of digital surveys to get product feedback, which can be passed onto the stakeholders in product development to prioritize enhanced features.
The company further believes that digital resources are also key for achieving great customer experience, naming podcasts, webinars, virtual events, blogs, ebooks, and case studies as top sources to help customers expand their knowledge and utilize their service better.
TOWARDS SEAMLESS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
With the multiple channels and stages of customer service, companies need to ensure that they provide a seamless customer experience throughout the entire customer’s journey.
As Forbes stated in their article, “Customers who love your solutions buy more and become natural brand advocates [while] customers who have a poor experience with your brand will take their money to your competitors. It is critical to provide a seamless and unforgettable customer experience across the various channels your brand uses.”
That’s why TOPdesk has experts at every touch point along the journey.
“For example, at the beginning of the TOPdesk sales cycle, our account managers must be attentive and be able to answer any commercial questions the customer may have.”
“Then, when implementation of the tool begins, a consultant must be on hand to provide knowledge, assist learning, and give advice on processes.”
“Once the typical sales cycle and implementation is complete, the customer support shouldn’t end.”
“This is where the TOPdesk customer success manager comes in. The customer success manager will reach out on a regular basis, is always available for a call, and able to triage any questions or problems to the right person or team.”
“Additionally, the TOPdesk support team is able to work harmoniously alongside the customer success manager, offering quick and effective technical solutions to ensure that the customer experience isn’t tainted by issues with the tool.”
However, TOPdesk emphasizes that internal communication is also crucial in order for the customer journey to be truly seamless.
“This way, everybody will understand the customer’s needs and be able to take the right approach in their service delivery.”
IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Customer service is continually evolving because customers themselves are constantly changing. Therefore, it’s essential for all businesses to be ready to make customer experience improvements, whether on the product or the level of service.
“TOPdesk values the feedback of our customers dearly, whether it’s service or tool-related. Via labs, we regularly consult our clients on new functionalities before they are released.”
“We also want to know how customers experience our support services and, therefore, ask for feedback after every incident.”
“Recently, the support team was rated out of 10 for: customer friendliness (9.6), knowledge level (9.4), and solution time (9.6).”
TOPDESK CX APPROACH
The first impression that a customer gets from a brand is crucial, regardless of which stage of the sales funnel they come in. At TOPdesk, customer experience starts at the first moment of interaction, not when they sign the papers and become a client.
“From the beginning of the sales funnel, we are focused on how each individual aspect of the TOPdesk tool can enhance the experience of an organization, its employees, and clients.”
“Our customer success managers are there to make sure that our customers are having the best possible TOPdesk experience, both with the software and the company.”
“We understand that people don’t want to have to rely on a service provider every time they come across a problem, which is why we strive to make our clients self-reliant: using the train-the-trainer approach.”
“But it doesn’t stop there – we encourage TOPdesk users to empower their customers through an accessible self-service portal and comprehensive knowledge base.”
TOPdesk is always looking for new ways to improve, and they want their users to do the same.
“We carry out health checks and maturity assessments to provide customers with the knowledge of where they’re at, what projects to take on, and how they can grow.”
TOPdesk upholds three core pillars, which make up the company’s DNA and shape the way they deliver services: standard and simple, shared service management, and service chain integration.
“We believe these are fundamental to the experience and satisfaction of our clients, therefore we aim to excel at each pillar to provide superior customer experience.”
