Most contact centers use data-driven approaches to streamline operations and achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction. However, numbers alone can be insufficient if you genuinely want to take your customer experience (CX) to the next level. Instead, humanizing data before taking action is essential. If you want to boost CX in your contact center and want to know how humanizing data can make a significant difference, here’s what you need to know.
What Is “Humanizing Data?”
Humanizing data is the act of factoring in the people part of the equation. It is a process that allows you to get a complete picture of who your customers are and what they need, accounting for behavioral, perspective, and preference differences. How Humanizing Data Improves CX
Often, traditional contact center data is highly impersonal. Metrics like call times, resolution rates, and similar data points don’t take customer behaviors, preferences, and needs into account. When you look at those alone, you have an incomplete picture. Additionally, any subsequent actions also lack personalization. Essentially, changes cast a broad net with the goal of having enough of a positive impact overall to improve key metrics. Again, this doesn’t take into account the perspective of individuals, making the approach less customer-centric than it may seem. When you humanize your data, you create opportunities to offer each customer something more targeted. You can take each customer journey into account, as well as their unique position. In some cases, humanizing data empowers you to act proactively. You can anticipate the best approach for each situation, ensuring your teams handle every one with a unique, customized level of care and consideration. Integrating the Human Factor
If your goal is to humanize your data, you need to use the right approach. This means looking beyond classic metrics, ensuring you get a holistic picture of every customer that engages with your company. Often, the simplest way to start is listening. Teach your team to prioritize empathy, ensuring they focus on what individual customers share when they reach out for support. Additionally, collect feedback from customers at all stages of the overall journey. Find out what strategies are meeting and exceeding expectations, as well as moments where they fall short. Even small pieces of information are powerful, creating opportunities for more personalization. As you gather data and make changes, continue the feedback cycle. Continuous improvement is part of the equation if you want to succeed. It ensures you can fully measure the impact of actions and continue to iterate until an ideal point is reached. Finally, ensure all contact center representatives have some level of autonomy. While scripts can be helpful for gathering vital information at the start of an interaction, make sure your employees have the ability to shift away from scripts if the situation demands it. This ensures agents can act in a customer-centric manner, prioritizing the customer’s needs above certain standard procedures. The approach above can serve as a framework for meaningful change. It allows you to take the unique nature of people into account, humanizing data in a way that isn’t otherwise possible. Then, you can make wiser choices, ensuring your contact center is meeting the needs of customers across the board.
