In my last post we talked about what Trust is, why it’s more important than CSAT or NPS, and how it can easily be measured and tracked in real-time in all customer communications (surveys, emails, chat, transcribed phone calls etc.)
Today I’d like to share 5 ways to build Customer Trust during the current crisis.
Customer Service Advice During Crisis
There is a lot of value in understanding Trust in customer communication better. A lot of this involves understanding which particular touch points, policies, processes, products or employees affect Trust. But for purposes of this post I will stick to very high level recommendations that make sense regardless of your business.
1. Communicate
Communication is key. Make sure all customers are aware of any changes in policy happening now. If you are not communicating to them that you are doing good things for them and why you are doing it, change can be perceived as a negative.
Take a physical store, with longer lines, distancing etc. These measures might be taken as a negative if they are not communicated as a benefit. Communicate clearly what is being done to benefit/protect/help customers. This will immediately create Trust and customers will better understand what is happening. It also satisfies the honesty dimension of Trust, e.g. “…we understand this may be difficult for you, but it’s in your best interest, and we care about you.”
Communication should be timely, clear, honest, and transparent.
2. Be Confident
Confidence is important, communication that mimics official public health guidelines can give immediate benefit in terms of competence and that you are following scientific public health guidelines. When possible linking to government/public service announcements should have increased benefit of authority.
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3. Be Fair
Fairness may play a smaller role but still can matter. Is it fair to give preferential treatment to people at risk such as allowing senior citizens to shop at grocery stores earlier. Most customer would see this as very fair, and even admire it. However, take the example below which was posted in social media a few weeks ago when virtually no airline travel was available or advisable. Is this fair?
The Gold Member who received this message posted it along with the comment
“Are you frickin kidding me, @americanair?? In the middle of a pandemic, you basically tell frequent flyers that the only way to save their miles (500K of them, BTW) is to book travel? #epicfail #marketingdisaster #tonedef”
I do not think I can add much to what this Gold level Member said. And her friends on social media all agreed…
4. Be Proactive
Make changes proactively to policy before people have problems. Before you get 1,000 complaint emails. If a company does not do anything, then trust will be affected of course.
Take insurance companies like USAA, State Farm and others that have recently reached out with a letter and rebate on car insurance. The letters/emails acknowledge that no one has been driving much during COVID, and that the insurance companies have decided to be proactive and have calculated a deduction from the payment term.
In the case of State Farm the company gave policyholders a 25% credit on premiums paid between March 20 and May 31. That is $2 Billion to 40 million policy holders.
This is a great example of being both fair and proactive. Possibly staving off multiple individual calls and emails asking for discounts, while looking good in the process.
5. Empathize
Almost every company already has guidelines in place regarding empathy when customers are emailing, chatting or calling with issues and problems. These typically include basic advice such as saying sorry, let me see what I can do to help you with this, and acknowledging their pain. Customer Service/Success should offer solutions that solves problems. As opposed to no, nothing can be done bye.
These are normal best practices. If you are following these, you are already doing it right. There is no need to talk about COVID-19 issues per se. BUT ASSUME that your customer is under extra stress (Note we OdinAnswers can help you measure this as well). If your agents are not already very empathetic then maybe they should be extra so now. Remind them. — Think, this could be someone from a family that lost two incomes, maybe they really need to be allowed to cancel/return etc. Extra understanding should be available.
If COVID-19 is mentioned by the customer, then of course it is ok to respond, yes, we are aware the current situation may have impacted you in several drastic ways. Even bots are trained to exhibit a high level of empathy. It is not just nice to be empathetic any more it is a MUST.
It is important for us to Recognize that the ‘New Normal’ is not Normal
Initial reaction to the crisis among customers was simple gratefulness for simply being open. During these initial stages of a crisis there is a shift in customer attitudes. Customers likeliness to complain decreases, and there are less likely to be complaints around wait times or out of stock issues.
Rather than reacting negatively to out of stock issues, the default was reacting positively if something was available and in stock. Customers will suffer through a lot more before they hit a threshold where they feel the need to complain.
Companies who serve customers better during this time will build Trust. This trust will benefit them long after this crisis is over.
I welcome your comments or questions below. If you would like more information on how OdinAnswers can help you understand Trust and other key issues in your customer communication and feedback feel free to contact us here.
Great topic. Trust is the most important behavior. without that you can’t move forward.
It’s unfortunate that some organizations rely on “popular” CX metrics, and don’t want to dig deeper. If things “go bad,” they scramble for the “whys,” when they could have been collecting other information to assess or circumvent declines. Myopia and ignorance can be harmful…
@Jeffrey EXACTLY what I have been thinking as we’ve been working more and more with real-time operations data VS survey data!