1 Human-Centered Customer Support Creating Customer Service Programs That Center Human Relationships 2 At first glance, the concept of “human-centered customer support” might appear somewhat redundant. Of course people are at the center of customer support. People are buying products; other people are supporting them. Why even make note of it? Consider all the times you’ve received dehumanizing service from a company that prioritizes nickel-and- diming their customers over delivering a positive customer experience. Maybe it was the airline that gouged you when you had to change your travel plans due to a family emergency, the cable company that rescheduled three times and still no-showed in the four-hour window you took off from work to meet them, the retailer that failed to ship your partner’s birthday gift on time and took another week to respond to your calls and emails. Did you feel valued as a customer, not to mention as a living, breathing human being with needs, and plans, and a budget, and a full life that’s already complex enough, thank you very much? Clearly not every company that offers customer support centers humans in their delivery of it. And despite how it may sound, we’re not here to judge — different approaches can work for different business models, and where you position your business will vary depending on your market. 3 Relational vs. transactional service models Transactional “Transactional” may seem like a negative way to describe a relationship, but we all experience positive transactional relationships with certain businesses (e.g., both sides are happy with a transactional relationship when you’re ordering fast food or streaming a movie). Relational Relational brands, on the other hand, invest in real-life relationships with their customers. They know you, they take their time with you, and you feel good going back to them every time because you know you’ll be treated well. They treat you like a real person, and they make business decisions with you first and foremost in mind. “Every decision that could have the slightest impact on the customer must be carefully considered before moving forward. As we move into the digital era of customer service, that is more true than ever. A customer is not a transaction or account number. A customer is a human being.” Shep Hyken Customer service and CX expert, keynote speaker, and bestselling author 4 Relational companies see customer service not as a cost center, but as a growth opportunity and a competitive differentiator. Generally, they don’t require a spreadsheet to tell them putting people first is the right thing to do — they put people first because they understand the value of a great experience. If they did want to point to research supporting their approach, though, they wouldn’t have to dig very far: Seven out of 10 U.S. consumers say they’ve spent more money to do business with a company that delivers great service. — American Express 2017 Customer Service Barometer Increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by more than 25%. — Bain & Company It is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one. — Harvard Business Review A moderate increase in Customer Experience generates an average revenue increase of $823 million over three years for a company with $1 billion in annual revenues. — Temkin Group U.S. consumers are willing to spend 17% more to do business with companies that deliver excellent service, up from 14% in 2014. — American Express 2017 Customer Service Barometer 5 Despite the mounds of data showing that investing in customer service drives better business results, a truly human-centered customer support program still takes courage to implement. That’s for a couple reasons: It’s challenging to draw a perfectly straight line between quality customer support and revenue. According to a study by the Temkin Group , “Organizations have a natural tendency to operate from an internal perspective, focusing on the needs of their functional silos more than on their clients.” In other words, building out human-centered customer support programs is easier said than done because it requires a deliberate commitment to principles that may run counter to the kinds of short-term, cost-cutting tactics that are easier to connect to the bottom line, and because we tend to focus inwardly on ourselves rather than outwardly on our customers (much less the people our customers are trying to serve — that requires even more focus and restraint). 1 2 “Here’s what I think a lot of organizations don’t realize. Let’s say they make it difficult to reach someone. Well, research shows that when you’re already angry and frustrated, you become more judgmental and less open to ideas. And guess what that does for the service interaction? It extends the time. So if you’re cost conscious, guess what, your handle time goes way up because you first have to talk the person off the ledge before they’ll listen to any ideas on how to resolve the issue. ... So everything unravels and ultimately ends up costing you more, anyway. ... I think executives that are cost conscious think only A to B, and with support it’s kind of an A to B to C, where you really have to see things from the customer’s perspective to real- ize the cost savings is there, it’s just not the way you think it’s going to happen.” Jeff Toister Customer service author, consultant, and trainer 6 Companies that decide to prioritize the customer experience may need to: • Pay their customer support agents more and hire for empathy (not for who will accept the lowest salary). • Consider how to bake a customer-first philosophy into their product or service. • Eschew metrics like first response time in favor of measuring customer happiness or customer effort • Move past the reactive, call-center model of customer service and treat their support team members as the proactive, empowered, revenue-generating professionals they are • Implement a “whole company support” program, where everyone in the company, from engineers to human resources to the CEO, takes turns helping customers. The truth is that while it’s easy enough to say you want your business to focus on human relationships, it just doesn’t come naturally. Businesses that want to implement customer-oriented mindsets need to commit to those values, and instill them across the entire organization. “Let’s be clear that market wage is not necessarily living wage, so do some quality math before you decide on salaries. Don’t pay people what you can get away paying them; pay people people a wage that affords them less worry about money and more motivation to do a good job. It’s only with mutual respect and living wages will your employees be able to center human relationships with your customers. Your employees will only treat your customers as good as you treat your employees. Treat your employees with humanity and they’ll show that same humanity to your customers.” Kristin Aardsma Head of Customer Support, Basecamp 7 What are your customers trying to accomplish? Centering human relationships means taking a hard look at who your customer service is for and what those people are trying to do. As Kathy Sierra describes in Badass: Making Users Awesome , your customers don’t care about your product or service all that much. They care about what it helps them accomplish. The way we see human-centered customer support, our job is to make our customers succeed in the context of their jobs. So what are your customers trying to accomplish? Is it more important that they fully understand how to leverage your product so they can excel at their jobs, or is it more important that your support team “crush tickets”? Your answer to that question will determine your customer experience philosophy. 8 If you choose to center speed, for example, just know that it may come at the expense of an exceptional customer experience. Speed is certainly important, and because it’s easy to measure, it’s easy to manage. That may explain why many companies default to time- based support metrics like first response time. The problem with centering time-based metrics, however, is that ticket times don’t show how well customers are being treated or if the interactions are creating any sort of goodwill and loyalty. The kind of service that keeps people coming back can’t be rushed. Just because service is fast doesn’t mean it is good — when speed is placed as a priori- ty, you can’t be sure your support team cares about competent service and first contact resolution over ticket times. Tunnel vision around reducing the “time per ticket” metric can lead to poor decisions When you pressure employees to get customers out the door as fast as possible, you lose assurance that accuracy and quality aren’t being sacrificed in the name of an impending time limit. “Obsession with metrics often replaces obsession with customers for support leaders. We often overlook the simple goals of our individual customers in return for the complex goals of our scaling organizations, and we end up losing touch with the customer. The more that support leaders can use their help desk metrics to solve for real outcomes, even at the expense of traditional help desk metrics, the more they will delight their customers and contribute to their business’s growth.” Michael Redbord GM, Service Hub, HubSpot Not to mention that speed simply isn’t a customer’s biggest concern when communicating with the customer service team. Customers’ perceptions of support agents’ courtesy and willingness to help are far more important in generating customer engagement. 9 Automate like a human As with speed-based metrics, the temptation to use automation to cut time and costs can come at the customer’s expense. Automation and self-service can “robotize” interactions, making your communications with customers less relational and more transactional. Think about the last call menu you encountered — did you believe the recorded voice that thanked you for your patience and assured you that your call was important to them? Did it make you feel like a valued customer? Touch-tone call centers, automated emails, and canned answers that barely assess your customers’ real issues may save you time and money in the short term, but at what cost to the customer experience? “Unfortunately, some companies are becoming enamored with technologies that supposedly offer solutions that take care of customers while also making it easier on the support team. Sounds great, but that comes with potential risk. Not all customers are ready to go all in on chatbots, AI and self- service options. The result is a loss in human-to-human interaction, and often that leads to a loss in the relationship. Smart companies recognize the need to create a balance between digital and human interaction. Yes, customers want ease and convenience and many are willing to embrace technology, until they aren’t and need help. That’s why the human connection must available and easy to get to.” Shep Hyken Customer service and CX expert, keynote speaker, and bestselling author 10 That said, automation and self-service aren’t all bad — in fact, they can serve as key elements in a human-centered customer support program when they’re used to enrich, not replace, your customers’ human-to-human experiences. The best implementation of self- service is when it’s an extension of the user experience. It’s true that self-service is a cost-efficient way of serving customers. But it can also enable human-centered support by helping customers get what they need quickly and by creating space for support team members to focus on more meaningful work: When a customer figures something out through self-service, it’s a win for both sides. Among consumers, 71% want the ability to solve most customer service issues on their own. Sometimes, the best way to help your customer is to get out of their way. When it’s done right, self-service is a scalable, cost- effective way to make customers happy. In human-centered customer support programs, automation is best used as a means of creating more efficient processes so that support teams can spend more of their time in- teracting with customers in meaningful ways — for example, an email filter that routes invoices to the finance team, sales inquiries to the sales team, and so on. “I think if you start with a question around ‘How can we get more people to use self-service?’ you’re going to end up with the wrong conclusion. ... I would suggest changing the question to, ‘How can we serve custom- ers more effectively?’ And when we do that, I think what happens is you realize that your customers want self-service [for certain] transactions.” Jeff Toister Customer service author, consultant, and trainer 11 As evidenced in the chart on the right, the minutiae of who handles what and when shouldn’t be for support to memorize. By using filters or workflows, no one in support needs to spend time guessing where to send certain non -support-related emails. They only need to know what type of email it is, and let the automation do the heavy lifting. This way, support won’t become a routing center, and you can shave time off their process so they can reallocate that focus to supporting customers. Finding the right balance of automated processes takes some testing, and it’s important to stay receptive to your customers’ feedback while that happens. If they get the sense they’re getting shuffled around or feel your responses don’t address their concerns, listen and adjust. You can give yourself a competitive edge with the right automation processes, as long as you look for ways to improve your customers’ experiences as opposed to saving time and labor. Communication Map 12 AI, chatbots, and the future of customer service Despite all the hype around AI and machine learning (and the fear that robots are coming to take our jobs), we believe they’re best embraced as an extension of using automation to enhance the customer experience in powerful ways: “As customer support tools get smarter, self-service is going to become more relevant, helpful and powerful. When customers do end up talking with someone, the support team will have everything they need to be helpful in a personalized way: account information, recent in-app activity, and probably a video of the most recent session where the customer ran into trouble. In addition, teams will get assistance from AI-powered suggestions, making it quicker than ever to provide a great experience.” Nick Francis CEO, Help Scout One example of human-centered AI: The live chat tool Beacon leads with self-service, first directing website visitors to quick answers in the knowledge base, then offering chat and email options (and setting expectations for how soon a real person will respond) when more help is needed. When customers can’t find an answer in the knowledge base, they can easily request help from a real person. Beacon only shows a live chat window when a support team member is available to help, and it lets customers reach out using the channel that works best for them. 13 Customer service experts say that chatbots are only able to resolve 10% to 35% of customer inquiries without a human touch. Even if we see a massive improvement over the next several years and can resolve up to 40% of customer questions via automated assistance, we’ll still need humans helping humans — the questions will just be more interesting. The vast majority of support pros — 79% — feel that handling more complex customer issues improves their skills . A further 72% feel they have a bigger impact in the company when chatbots take on the easy questions. Any question a chatbot can answer is monotonous work for a support professional. AI elevates customer service professionals into roles that develop their skills, increase their impact, and improve their ability to participate in proactive, revenue-generating activities When you take monotonous work away from support professionals, they level up. They create more value for the company and, in turn, for themselves. Those aren’t the folks who will be losing their jobs to robots. 14 Talk to customers like people (because they are) Pressing “one” for this and “two” for that, listening to tinny hold music, being transferred to another department and accidentally hung up on — years of dealing with that kind of insensitive, robotic, inhuman customer service has hardened us all. As commerce becomes increasingly digitized and we interact with fewer and fewer customers face to face, it can become too easy to forget they’re real people — not ticket numbers The Support Ticket Downward Spiral Help Scout calls interactions with customers “conversations” instead of “tickets,” to reinforce the difference in feeling between robotic transactions and human interactions. Customers want to feel seen and heard — people want to feel seen and heard. World-class customer service, then,begins simply with treating humans like humans . Communicating thoughtfully with your customers yields better results than any splashy new logo or 20% off coupon ever could. “As our lives get more digital, the value of human relationships goes up.” Scott Tran Founder, Support Driven 15 Our best pointers for talking to customers in a way that centers their humanity: Reframe messages to use positive language. Instead of “No, we don’t have that in stock,” say “That’ll be back in stock in two weeks — can I place a backorder on that for you?” In most cases, people just want to know you’re listening. Small touches — like using the customer’s name and phrases such as “I understand” or “I can see why you’d want that feature” — go a long way. Thank customers for telling you what they’re looking for. Whatever their issue, it was important enough to take time out of their day to contact you. Acknowledge the effort and your gratitude for it. Use the customer’s real name. Here’s another area where automation can enhance the customer experience: Your email provider and help desk should allow you to automate using the customer’s name. Mirror your customer’s tone. If their tone is formal, hold back on the LOLs. If they’re more casual, relax your tone, too. Give directions chronologically. When you need a customer to carry out a lengthy set of instructions, use numbers or bullet points. Choose clarity. Use accessible, candid, precise, plain language. Avoid using passive-aggressive or didactic language (“actually,” “ought to,” “should”), slang, colloquialisms, and technical jargon. Admit when you’re in the wrong. Apologize for your mistakes, follow up promptly, and take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again. You’ll find your customers are a forgiving bunch. Use the first person. “I completely understand why you’d want that.” Great support is defined by genuine compassion. Honesty is always the best policy. It’s better to say no and potentially disappoint a customer than hedge with falsehoods like “good idea, I’ll check with the product team about that.” If the answer is really no, it’s best to be direct. 16 Empowered support teams = happy customers Companies shouldn’t direct their customer service teams to center their customers’ humanity, then leave those same teams hanging with disempowering, revenue-centric business decisions. Instilling a truly human-centered customer support culture has to come from the top down. “Human-centered customer support means not only fostering meaningful and empathetic relationships with your customers, but also making sure that empathy and care extends to your team. If your team feels valued, respected and well, human, they’ll show the same to your customers.” Abby Armada Customer Support Lead, Clubhouse Fortunately, we’re witnessing a shift in the market wherein customer-centric companies are leveraging their support teams toward revenue-generating activities.The Support-Driven Growth business approach shifts the customer support channel from cost center to critical revenue driver — it recognizes customer support professionals’ business value, and it views every customer interaction as an opportunity. “Commit to building authentic relationships with your customers every chance you get. Instead of simply reacting to feedback, issues, questions, etc., you turn that interaction into an opportunity to learn more about your customer, teach them something, or give them beta access to a new feature. When you deliver the unexpected at every touchpoint, in every conversation — that’s where the magic happens.” Taylor Davis Director of Customer Support, Litmus 17 Conclusion Human-centered companies use self-service and automation to free up their most valuable resource — their team — to focus on meaningful, person-to-person interactions with customers. Support professionals shine when automation gives them more space to add value, and customers stick around (and tell others) when they feel valued. Everyone wins. Get started with software that can make your customer support strategy human focused. Start Here HubSpot Service Hub Help Scout 18 Contributors Emily Triplett Lentz Emily Triplett Lentz is the editorial lead at Help Scout , the company that empowers customer- centric businesses with tools that make every interaction more human and helpful. Margot Mazur Margot is the Sr. Marketing Manager, Global Acquisition, Co-marketing at HubSpot , working with partners to create valuable content for our audience. On any given day, she pets 2-3 dogs. Gabby Pinto Gabby is a graphic and web designer, co-founder of CopyxDesign , an innovative marketing and web design agency for small to mid sized businesses in the Greater Boston area.