CX Fails Of 2023 And Fixes For 2024

Reposted from Forbes | Authored by Colson Hillier | Alorica’s Chief Marketing Officer  

Turning around negative customer experiences (CX) is as important as creating positive interactions. Bad CX can lead to frustrated customers, a tarnished brand reputation, low customer loyalty and losing business. 

As we embark on a fresh new year, let’s look back on CX fails of 2023 that brands should prioritize to get right in 2024. 

The Annoying Bot 

Who hasn’t found themselves in the nightmare scenario where a bot doesn’t understand your request, can’t resolve your issue and won’t give you the option to escalate to a live person? 

While the cost savings and 24/7 availability of chatbots are critical to an effective CX strategy, relying on bots alone to meet customer expectations can cause issues. A Forrester survey last year showed that the majority of respondents used chatbots as the top way to interact with brands, but  50% of them  found chatbots to be often frustrating and 40% said the interactions were negative. 

To solve this problem, leverage the best of the bot with the live support backstop needed. This will take strategizing to find the right balance, and one way to do this is with technology that “listens” for customer sentiment and provides the ability for a live agent to pick up a chat conversation from the bot, or better yet, offer to transfer to an agent. Over-dependence on technology alone can backfire as lost sales, frustrated customers and loss of brand equity can easily erode immediate cost savings. 

Am I Who You Think I Am? 

What about when personalized CX gets the wrong person? Companies must ensure their data analytics is accurate, relevant and helpful. Otherwise, the attempt at personalization flops, like when the context behind customer searches is not fully considered. 

For example, if a husband is shopping online for his wife’s anniversary gift and she starts receiving ads for that product on a shared device, personalization is not going to be perceived as a benefit. Or, when a customer receives unaddressed email blasts, communications directed to the wrong customer or with a misspelled name—these are all common mistakes that ruin the tailored experience. 

The key is to strategize when and where to insert a human in the loop and how to utilize data to better predict customer actions. By integrating technology, unifying a comprehensive suite of digital solutions and tapping into analytics, brands can deliver on customer preferences. 

The Fumbled Handoff 

Getting a customer to the right channel for support should be easy, right? But after entering your account number, answering multiple prompts about the reason for your call and being advised of a wait time to reach an agent, it’s discouraging when the person who finally answers isn’t able to solve the issue. 

The biggest part of the fail often comes when the handoff occurs: the dreaded transfer to another department, resulting in having to reexplain the situation, go through the same security details you just completed or, in a true flameout, the call disconnects and you have to start over. This is usually a symptom of patchwork legacy systems that aren’t unified around the customer. When systems like your CRM, call center, social and digital channels aren’t connected, the result is handoffs to various departments, a need to authenticate and a lack of continuity across channels. 

To overcome this challenge, design around the customer. All channels should use the same knowledge base, CRM and technology infrastructure. When implemented correctly, a customer-centric approach can allow better handoffs across channels, provide more personalized experiences and improve customer satisfaction. 

Rethinking CX Overhead 

When times are tight, companies must decide where to invest and make cuts. While there’s not a singular standard for a structured CX team, not building service into the business plan and treating CX as an expense versus an investment is a big mistake that underpins poor execution, lack of innovation and can be hard to recover from. 

Forrester’s report, “Predictions 2023: Customer Experience,” estimated that  80% of brands  have not made CX a part of their brand identity. This mismatch during a time when customer expectations are increasing is a high risk for organizations that lack structure, skills, funding and discipline in CX. 

Companies must develop a CX strategy that focuses on ROI versus cost control and includes analytics, design, technology and operations. The combination of digital efficiency and a balance of hybrid workforce models is a logical way to maintain cost controls while improving service. 

Learning From The Past And Transforming The Future 

Customer tolerance for poor experiences is low. If earning customer loyalty is the end goal, then brands must commit to avoiding CX fails of last year to achieve success this new year and beyond.