Marketing individuals have a lot of ways to interact and “read” their customers online thanks to the power of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Customers are posting their unfiltered opinions about movies, books, local restaurants and brands online after almost every interaction—a brand that can dig through the noise and clutter of social media to find real, valuable insights into the mindset of their customers can really differentiate themselves via the customer experience. When you know what your audience really needs and wants you can position your brand as the solution much easier.  Social networking sites are also becoming popular customer service forums, as well as powerful lead generating solutions for many brands. But online social networking sites aren’t the only places a brand can really connect with their target audience. The voice channel, including your contact center, is arguably your best channel for connecting with your customers to gain customer experience insights and enhance their customer experience.

What makes the voice channel so powerful?

1. One on one interaction between you and the customer.
There is so much noise and clutter on social networking sites that it is very easy to be dismissed by your target audience or lose them along the way. Updates, refreshes, videos, photos, links, ads, articles—they all keep the online social experience from becoming a one-on-one interaction between your brand and your customer. In the voice channel there are none of these distractions. Your customer and your customer service agent are interacting directly with one another, which can create a much more personalized customer experience.

2. Competitors can’t replicate your approach.
Have you ever heard the phrase “monkey see, monkey do”? Part of what makes social networking sites unique is how transparent they are—everyone can see what you say and what you do…including your competition. Brands that have a successful presence on social networking sites and cultivate great relationships and customer experiences are bound to have copycats. Suddenly your brilliant social media strategy is being replicated by 4 other brands; you have lost what makes your customer experience so special. But in the voice channel your competition doesn’t get an “inside peek” at how your agents handle customers. They don’t see what goes on between your brand and your customers which means they can’t copy it! Your customer experience remains uniquely your own.

3. It creates valuable partnership marketing opportunities.
Marketing partnerships are a great way to introduce your brand to a new audience and leverage the reach and brand authority of another company for your own lead generation efforts. The voice channel is another place to create and cultivate these partnerships and connect your sales agents with live, interested customers on the phone. As mentioned before, the one-on-one nature of the voice channel means you have much better chance of connecting with and converting those live phone leads. A lone Tweet or Facebook update might get some attention, but connecting with someone who chose to interact with your brand on the phone is a much stronger interaction.

Whether companies are willing to admit it or not, their customers are not willing to engage and interact with their brand in one channel and one channel only. Nor do customers’ expectations of your brand promise stay tied to a single channel. The customer has needs and wants that transcend a solitary customer engagement channel and, depending on those needs and wants, they may attempt to interact with your brand through the voice channel, online forums, FAQs and live-chats, social networking websites, mobile technologies and more. Everyday customers are attempting to engage your brand through these various channels, sometimes using multiple channels within a single transaction.

For brands, it’s more important to focus on what the individual customer hopes to get out of a particular channel than the channel itself. The customer experience needs to be upheld regardless of the channel used, which means companies need to understand why their customers would turn to a specific channel. For instance, why would someone chose mobile over the voice channel? What would drive someone to visit the website and then reach out via social media? The customer has different needs and expectations depending on which channel they use and in order to preserve the customer experience companies need to understand these subtle differences and react accordingly.

For instance, a DIY customer service customer might visit an online FAQ first, hoping they can find the answer to their question quickly and move on with their day. If your website has the information they need than the particular customer experience lived up to its promise. But what if your FAQ doesn’t answer their question? Will they try your site’s live-chat feature? Phone into your contact center? Post a message on Facebook? Your brand has to remedy the fact that your first channel failed and save the customer experience in the second channel.

Research has shown that multichannel customers (those who are willing to engage with your brand in multiple channels) spend 20-30% MORE money than single channel customers. The multichannel customer also tends to buy more frequently, is more likely to be open to cross selling and upselling, and typically will be loyal customers for a longer period of time than single-channel customers. An IBM survey found that customers using 2 channels spend 114% more than single channel shoppers!

However, it is important to note that there is a large different between a customer that chooses to be multichannel customer and one that is forced to become one. When a customer is forced to jump from channel to channel because the customer experience keeps failing (the FAQ didn’t have the answer they needed, no one got back to their Facebook post, and they were on hold for 20 minutes in your contact center) chances are they will not be spending more with your company. In fact, customers that have a negative experience with your brand are more likely to turn to a competitor for their next purchase.

97% of customers expect their experiences to be consistent and seamless regardless of technology the use, which means your brand has to prepared in every channel. Becoming a multichannel business isn’t an option, it’s a necessity.

It’s no secret that happy customers are much more likely to become repeat customers. It’s also conventional knowledge that it costs less to keep a current customer than it does to acquire a new customer. When a customer calls in to your contact center, the entire customer experience boils down the level of efficiency and speed that you exhibit in solving their issue. And these callers are incredibly valuable to your company because they can have significant impact on your bottom line: happy customers are perfect candidates for a new revenue enhancement program called cross pitching^TM.

Cross pitching^TM involves your call center agent offering a relevant product to your customers at the end of sales and service calls and transferring interested customers to your marketing partners. Your company is paid for the customer referral and your customers are engaged with complementary product offers. Cross pitching programs provide a seamless and highly efficient way to monetize your contact center and increase your company’s revenue, while engaging your customers with product offers that they want and appreciate.

But how does customer experience factor into your cross pitching strategy?

A recent study found that over 80% of customers who are happy with your call center agent’s performance are willing to listen to an additional offer, whereas only 53% of unsatisfied customers were willing to consider an add-on product offer. So, in order to maximize the incremental revenue potential via cross pitching, it is paramount that contact centers focus on delivering top-notch customer service during the “primary” portion of the customer engagement.

The happier your customers are with the customer experience you deliver, the more likely they are to become valuable referrals (via call transfers) for your marketing partners, and the more money your contact center lead transfer campaign will generate!

The relationship between a company and its customers has always been important, but it seems like delivering top-notch customer experience is getting more critical in today’s market. Interactions between brands and their consumers are becoming increasingly more customer-driven thanks to the power of social media, and companies are no longer the only ones influencing their brand perception. What your customers say about you and your products is just as important (arguably even more important) than what you say about yourself. Technology has enabled today’s customers to have tremendous clout. Through the power and virality of Facebook, Twitter and online review sites, customers can influence a company’s brand value in a positive or a negative direction. And what your customers have to say about your brand is directly related to the experience they have when interacting with your company. Much of that interaction will stem from your company’s contact center.

According to recent customer experience studies, 73% of customers say friendly employees and customer service representatives (your frontline employees) are what made them fall in love with your brand. The same study found that 86% of consumers would be willing to pay 25% MORE for a better customer experience. A better customer experience could actually provide your company with more revenue! Having a great product is important, but your customer relationships have strategic criticality.

Even little positive customer experiences can have a dramatic impact on your customer retention and customer acquisition rates. Say a customer has a question about your return policy. If they can get in touch with a member of your contact center staff quickly and have their questions answered, you would have created a positive customer experience – leaving them feeling good about doing business with your brand. Happy customers are much more likely to become repeat customers and brand advocates, taking to popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter to share what your company did for them. Happy customers will typically tell 4 to 6 other people about their positive customer experiences with your brand, which introduces your brand to more potential customers.. In today’s market, peer reviews are an increasingly important component of a customer’s buying cycle, and having that word-of-mouth working in your favor is essential. A reputation of giving great customer service can actually aid in your customer acquisition efforts!

On the flip side, customers that have a negative experience with your brand are more likely (89% of customers surveyed admitted to this) to turn to a competitor for their next purchase. According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, a dis-satisfied consumer will tell between 9 and 15 people about their experience, which in turn diminishes your overall brand value within the market as a whole. Can your company afford to lose customers and turn off potential customers because of poor customer experience and bad customer service?

If you want to keep your current customers happy, as well as encourage new customers to buy from your company, you have to take the customer experience to heart and make it a core component of your company’s strategic priorities.