CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY TIPS FROM YOUR TRAINING COMPANY


As a customer, have you had this experience? You have an issue with a company and call customer service. You are bounced around through the automated phone system and sit on hold for an eternity. Once you finally reach a live person, they don’t know the answer to your question, so you are put on hold again, your blood pressure rising by the minute.

Most people have war stories of customer service fails. A 2016 Gallup study of more than 13,000 customers found that 59% (about six in 10) had problems with at least one company in the past six months.¹

There is no question that a poor customer experience and unsatisfactory problem resolution can damage a company’s brand and reputation, as well as negatively impact sales. This is especially true with the prevalence of social media giving unhappy customers the ability to quickly broadcast their frustrations across the internet.

What you may find surprising is the Gallup study also found that when there is a positive problem resolution, it can lead to increased customer engagement and improved brand loyalty. “Customers care more about how companies handle their problems than about the existence of the problems in the first place.”² It all comes down to the customer experience.

Creating an outstanding customer experience

The first step in improving your customer experience strategy is to ensure customer service staff, and sales staff as well, receive comprehensive training on products, policies and procedures. This is often achieved using in-person or virtual training sessions.

There are times when changes to products, policies or new promotions need to be delivered quickly to employees. In this case, microlearning is an effective training option.

Microlearning is the delivery of training content in short, relevant, modules focused on one specific topic. This training is generally delivered online and is accessible anywhere using a laptop, tablet or smartphone. Microlearning is also helpful for training employees in different locations across the city or country.

If you think it's time to use microlearning as part of your customer experience strategy, download the eBook 5 Reasons to use Microlearning for Sales and Service Excellence. It will show you why microlearning is so effective and the many benefits of using this method to supplement other longer format training.

Tips for developing microlearning content

Keep these tips in mind to help you develop effective microlearning content.

Focus on one specific topic
While longer format training courses can include multiple topics, microlearning covers one topic or one objective. Keep the content focused.

Use real-life scenarios
The more relevant a training course is to the learner, the more it will hold their interest and the better the chances of retention. Show don’t tell – use real-life scenarios learners are likely to encounter in their role. It could be a question about the return policy that was recorded during a call or how to defuse the situation with an angry customer.

Make it engaging
The online delivery format of microlearning allows for the use of different media – entertaining video, interactive exercises, quizzes and gamification to encourage friendly competition between team members. Using these techniques helps to make the training more engaging which leads to higher retention rates among learners.

If you want to implement microlearning as part of your customer service training program and need assistance, contact the global training experts at TrainingFolks. We have a network of instructional designers skilled in all aspects of microlearning who would be happy to work on your project.

1,2 Gallup's The Silver Lining of Customer Problems