On Thursday 30th July, we held our sixth virtual meetup- and second in the Portuguese language- on behalf of our online customer support community Global Customer Support Heroes.
For this event, we sat down with Lídia Gordijo, CX Director at Pitzi, and Luciola Eboni, Executive Manager of CX at TOTVS to discuss:
“Managing an omnichannel strategy in times of crisis”
The panel discussion delved into some personal insights from our panelists on their experiences with creating effective omnichannel strategies and how the global pandemic has taken its toll on the Brazilian customer support sphere. Here is a summary of some of the key ideas that were discussed throughout.
The Customer support landscape in Brazil prior to the Pandemic
- Following the example of other markets around the world, Brazilian businesses have recently started paying more attention to offering high-level customer support, understanding that this represents an important competitive advantage against fierce competition.
- The “Call Center Mentality Era” is coming to an end, seeding a massive increase in companies investing in new strategies and technology to change the way services are provided for customers.
- Now, customer support is starting to be seen as a strategic area for business, playing an important role in product improvement & customer retention.
- The customer experience ‘trend’ has accelerated with the pandemic event, in which customers relied on companies that really had a well-structured customer support department.
- Companies that had invested in resources & innovative strategies to handle the peak-time due to the crisis really took advantage and consolidated themselves as leaders in the industry.
- Companies that didn’t have this structure set, were forced to implement new strategies & tools in a hurry to keep up with their customer demands.
Omnichannel strategy in Customer Support Operations
- Lidia and Luciola have both implemented omnichannel strategies in their teams with significant results.
- Before implementing an omnichannel project, it is essential to understand which channels your customers are using, adapting the strategy to the client’s reality.
- To implement omnichannel within the company, it is important to first map out the process and find possible bottlenecks.
- Today’s omnichannel approach is slowly demystifying voice channels, shifting towards more immediate and easily controlled channels like chat & email.
- This has lead to a complex debate about the importance of speed vs quality when it comes to answering customer inquiries.
- Even in busy periods, support teams need to ensure their omnichannel strategy focuses on a healthy balance between the two.
Structuring your Support & Best Practices
- When structuring your customer support operation, both panelists highlighted the importance of hiring the right leadership.
- This leadership will steer excellence in the customer support team, finding the right tools & crafting the best strategy.
- Companies should focus on transmitting the importance of being empathetic with customers, especially in crisis time.
- By being empathetic, the company is able to retain the customer for a longer period of time and build more personalized customer support.
- In a society where a company’s values drive customer acquisition, poor customer support is unacceptable.
- The data extracted from customer inquiries must be leveraged and taken into consideration in the decision-making process such as product roadmaps & marketing initiatives.
- The customer support departments equal the voice of the customer within the company and this must be taken seriously by the leadership.
If you enjoyed this webinar and would like to join one of our many upcoming events, check out the Global Customer Support Heroes and stay tuned for our bi-monthly online meetups!
