Sustaining a successful, home-based community of agents is only possible with a lot of two-way communication. And one of the biggest lessons LiveOps has learned over the years is that happy agents create happy and loyal customers. In fact, in-house research recently confirmed what we’ve known all along: 92 percent of consumers surveyed report that a customer service agent’s perceived happiness has a direct impact on their customer experience with the brand. So what’s the secret to happy agents and exceptional customer service?

 

The Top 10 best practices for creating happy agent experiences that “wow” customers, drive an excellent customer experience, and build long-term customer loyalty are detailed below.

 

Encourage Agents to Use Social Media

If you choose to add or enable agents who work remotely, creating private, password-enabled, agent communities on social media can foster an agent culture that is nurturing and motivational. These measures will prepare them for the day they need to provide social customer service. Communicating with customers on public channels can be intimidating, and often requires more finesse than a private email or phone conversation. But when your agents have been interacting with each other on social media in a consistently professional manner, doing so with customers in the same channels will no longer be intimidating.

 

Take Advantage of the Cloud

Working within the cloud and embracing the concept of agents working from anywhere gives you access to skills and talent everywhere. The cloud also allows for better preparedness in the event of disaster. You never want your customer service agents to be taken offline—especially when customers need you most—and the cloud can provide additional security against power failures and destruction.

 

Let Agents Be Brand Ambassadors

Customer service agents have the most direct interaction with customers of anyone at your company. By integrating sales and marketing strategies into agent training, your agents will be able to convey your brand message on every call, as well as turn a reactive customer service call into a proactive opportunity to upsell.

 

Integrate Applications with a Contact Center Solution

Confusion surrounds CRM application providers and their versions of call-center applications. One of the biggest drawbacks of selecting a CRM provider’s contact center application is that it limits you to that application. As organizations grow, they often add new CRM applications, which increases the need for a contact center solution that is CRM-agnostic and can integrate with all CRM applications. Integration with CRM applications gives your agents access to all the valuable information about your customers. This makes the infrastructure decision simple: Select a contact center solution provided by a contact center provider that can grow with your organization.

 

Integrate Customer Information and Histories

“I’m so sorry for the delay; my system is freezing up on me.” How many times has an agent on a customer service call said this to you—or your clients? System freezes are partially due to agents having to flip through several applications (sometimes up to 50) to find the information they need. Agents must have access to all customer information and histories on an integrated system that enables quick and easy access, and reduces agent frustration.