Help phone customers faster with visual communication

Your customer struggles to describe the problem over the phone. "The doohickey won't connect with the thingamajig," they stammer.

Their words don't make sense.

You try to walk them through some diagnostics. It's equally muddled. The customer can’t see something that should be right in front of them.

Are you two even looking at the same thing?

This would be so much easier if you were face-to-face. You could see exactly what the customer was talking about and vice-versa.

In this post, I'm going to share three techniques you can use to solve this problem when serving customers via phone, email, or chat.

You don't need any special software, though I will show you some ways that software can make it easier.

Use visual words

Visual words can often help you quickly get on the same page with a customer. The goal is to establish a common frame of reference.

I primarily use this technique over the phone. A support agent named Janelle recently used this concept brilliantly to help me diagnose an issue with my cable modem.

Janelle: “Do you see some lights on the front of your modem?”
Me: “Yes.”
Janelle: “What does the top light look like?”
Me: “It appears to be the power light. It’s solid green.”
Janelle: “Great. What about the next light?”

Janelle guided me like this until the issue was fully resolved. It seemed a bit slow in the moment, but I realized by the end of the call that it was really pretty fast. Janelle’s visual communication saved a lot of confusion and gave me confidence.

Visual communication works well for email and chat in two situations:

1. Quickly explain simple concepts

2. No other visuals are easily available

Customers often contact me for help downloading the exercise files that come with my LinkedIn Learning courses. Many ask for help on the course's Q&A page, where I don't have the option of attaching a screenshot.

I try to guide them with visual words since I can't share visuals. Here's how it works:

1. Identify a visual reference

2. Use that reference to guide the customer

I used visual words to guide the learner to the exercise files:

The way my response is formatted is outside of my control. All the text gets squished together in one paragraph, so I kept my answer short to make it easy to read.

This technique works really well when you and your customer can both look at the same thing, such as a website or a document. Here's a short video that provides a demonstration, including a good and a bad example.

Use advanced communication techniques from Phone-Based Customer Service by Jeff Toister

Share a picture

Pictures and graphics can quickly put you and your customer on the same page. There are many situations where this is helpful:

• Troubleshooting software

• Diagnosing a product quality issue

• Generating a price estimate

Customers can often access photos on their phone or email while they talk to you.

When my car got a minor scratch on the rear bumper, the salesperson at the bumper company asked me to text a few photos of the damage. I snapped some photos with my phone and got an instant quote. Happy with the price, we scheduled the service for the next day.

Email and chat is perfect for sharing photos.

LinkedIn Learning customers sometimes contact me via email or LinkedIn messaging to ask for help downloading exercise files. Those channels allow me to attach an image, so I can share this screenshot:

Share a video

Video can take visual communication to the next level. It works especially well for a multi-step process. Your customers can also use it to review what you shared with them.

My mechanic calls me to walk me through the vehicle inspection whenever I drop off my car for service. He then sends a video that provides a detailed walk-through of everything he shared.

Video is great for email and chat, too.

Osprey makes awesome backpacks for hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts. They post really helpful product walk-through videos that customer service reps can reference when assisting customers.

Writing this post gave me an idea for helping people find the exercise files for my LinkedIn Learning courses. A short video shows people exactly how to access them. I can share a video link in situations where I can’t attach a picture or a video.

Additional Resources

There are software tools that can make it even easier for you and your customers to share visuals via phone, email, or chat.

Technical support teams can use Birdie to enable customers to share a screen capture video when they submit a ticket. Customers don't need any special software, which makes it easier for them to share.

Birdie integrates with a lot of customer service platforms, such as Zendesk:

Another option is Gryyp. It allows screen sharing and even co-browsing, so you and your customers can literally be on the same page while you talk on the phone.

Here's an example:

Take Action

Try experimenting with these techniques. Use visual words, share pictures, and find opportunities to share short videos.

Visual communication doesn't need to be slick to be helpful. The video I created to help people find the exercise files in my courses is pretty low-quality. I could spend more time making it pretty, but it gets the job done.

The goal is to use visuals to establish a common frame of reference so you can help customers faster.

Five Ways to Deliver a Better Experience on the Phone

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A recent blog post outlined the increasing demand for phone skills.

Automation and self-service have ensured that the calls agents get are more complicated than ever. Meanwhile, the phone is still the most popular channel for customers who wish to reach a live agent.

All this means the phone is definitely not dead.

So what are you going to do about it? Here are five steps you can take to improve the customer experience for people who call your company.

Solution #1: Reduce Wait Times

Customers hate to wait. Nothing makes our call feel less important than listening to a recorded voice on loop tell us that our call is important.

When customers call, it's likely because their issue is urgent, complex, or both.

The obvious solution is to add additional staffing, but companies worry about costs. Contact center expert, Brad Cleveland, has some great suggestions for making extra staff pay for themselves.

You can also add a callback option, where customers can opt to receive a callback when an agent is ready rather than waiting on hold.

Solution #2: Make the Wait Seem Shorter

There are times when you can't reduce the actual wait time. Perhaps it's an unexpected spike in calls, or a storm has prevented half your team from coming in.

You can still make the wait seem shorter. Here are a few ideas:

• Avoid looping hold messages.

• Let people know the approximate wait time.

• Make button pushing count.

That last one is critical. If your interactive voice response (IVR) system asks a customer to punch in information like an account number, they had better not have to repeat it when they get a live agent on the phone. 

Solution #3: Answer with a Live Person

Raise your hand if you've ever yelled, "Human! Human! Human!" into a phone. 

Customers find it extremely frustrating to have a clumsy IVR act as a roadblock between them and service. They're likely calling because they already tried self-service and it didn't work, or they feel their issue is so urgent or complicated that it needs a live agent.

Some companies have skipped the IVR altogether and have a live human answer their phones. It costs a little more on the front end, but it's a breath of fresh air for your customers.

Solution #4: Improve First Contact Resolution

Customers really get aggravated when they think their issue is resolved, only to realize they have to call back again a short while later.

This is where first contact resolution (FCR) comes in. Focusing your agents on FCR delivers two big wins:

• Customers don't have to call back.

• Reducing repeat contacts reduces your contact volume.

Don't get hung up on measurement. It’s very hard to come up with an accurate way to measure FCR. Frankly, it doesn’t matter that much. 

It's the idea of preventing the next call that counts. Work with your agents to identify the reasons customers might have to call a second time and brainstorm ways to prevent that from happening. If you want to measure something, including “call prevention” as an item in your monitoring process.

For example, let’s say a customer calls with a question about setting up the voicemail on her new phone. Is there a reason that the customer might have to call back? Perhaps the follow-up is the show the customer how to set an out of office message.

Ready for the really good news? Average handle time tends to stay the same when you focus on FCR.

Solution #5: Reduce Transfers

It can be frustrating to call a company, tell the agent your story, and then get transferred to another agent where you have to tell your story all over again.

Some transfers are necessary, but many can be prevented.

Identify the top reasons calls must be transferred to another department, team, or tier level. See if there are ways the initial agent can handle more of those issues with just a little more training, resources, or authority.

This empowers your frontline agents to provide better service, and frees up your experienced agents to spend more time on the really complicated stuff.

Take Action

The phone is not new or exciting, so it might be tempting to short-change this channel. Yet the phone is still the most critical channel for most contact centers.

Customers don't want to call you. They feel they have to because:

• Their issue is urgent.

• The problem seems complex.

• Another channel didn't work.

This makes the case for providing the very best experience over the phone.

For even more ways to improve the phone experience, I recommend The Effortless Experience by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi. It's chock-full of activities you can use to engage your agents and make things easier for your customers.

Report: Companies Have the Tech to Ease Phone Pain

Calling customer service is a pain. 

Most of us don't want to call customer service. Three things in particular make the call miserable:

The first is Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems that try to deflect calls by repeatedly offering self-service. It's the reason why we repeatedly press "0" or yell "Live Person!" into the phone.

The second is being put on hold. This feels like a waste of time because it is. Anxiety and frustration increase the longer we wait.

The third is repetition. It's annoying to repeat information the company should already know, such as our name and contact information..

There is some good news. A new report from cloud-based contact center platform NewVoiceMedia reveals that most companies already have the technology to avoid this mess.

Source: NewVoiceMedia

About the Report

NewVoiceMedia partnered with the market research firm, Opinion Matters, to survey 1,018 people who work in contact centers.

The report is called Contact Center Technology Survey: Why businesses are failing their customers. As the title suggests, there are opportunities for contact centers to improve their technological infrastructure. 

I also see a glimmer of hope.

Many companies already have technology to deliver better service.You can download the full report or read a summary of key findings below.

IVR Self-Service is Unnecessary

Companies primarily offer IVR self-service to deflect callers away from live agents. 

This was a customer benefit prior to the age of online self-service. IVR self-service suddenly made it easier to handle a simple request such as checking your account balance with a few touchtone commands. 

The NewVoiceMedia report shows 85 percent of respondents now offer online self-service. My research indicates customers today tend to call customer service only if online self-service doesn't work or they believe their issue is so complicated a live agent is needed. 

This means customers may perceive IVR self-service as an annoying obstacle to live help rather than a customer benefit. The simple solution is to shut it off.

Customers Don't Need to Be on Hold

Nobody likes to wait on hold.

The NewVoiceMedia report shows that 42 percent of contact centers regularly make customers wait longer than five minutes. This understandably irritates customers.

The good news is there are many ways to reduce hold times without hiring more agents. Here are just a few:

• Adjust schedules to better meet demand

• Improve online self-service (which deflects calls)

• Respond to email faster & better

• Focus agents on first contact resolution (prevents future calls)

• Offer a callback option such as Fonolo

In my interview with Fonolo's CEO and co-founder, Shai Berger, he explained that a callback feature can actually smooth out spikes in call volume. 

"Demand spikes tend to have a cascading effect. Hold times stretch longer, so you have to juggle around your agent lunch and break schedules, which means there might be fewer agents available later in the day when you need them. It sometimes feels like you can never catch up."

Many contact centers use multiple approaches to reduce demand spikes and prevent this chain-reaction from occurring.

Eliminate Repetitive Repetition

Imagine you're upset about an unresolved billing issue that you emailed about last week. You call, enter your account number into the IVR, deflect a series of useless self-service offers, and then hold for ten minutes. 

You finally get a live agent and face a barrage of annoying questions:

• May I have your account number, please?

• Will you please confirm your first and last name?

• Will you please confirm your phone number?

You eventually get to the help phase of the call only to have to repeat everything you wrote in your email. By now, you're fuming.

The NewVoiceMedia report suggests this is often unnecessary:

• 89 percent of agents can identify a caller before answering the call

• 82 percent of agents can access information about previous interactions

• 79 percent of agents can follow customers across multiple channels

Contact centers would serve their customers much better by humanizing the service approach. This means leveraging existing technology to allow agents to skip the repetitive questions and quickly getting to the heart of the issue.