ISO 18295-1 Customer relationship requirements

ISO 18295-1 Clause 4 Customer relationship requirements

ISO 18295-1 Clause 4.1 General

Customers who interact with a CCC have a variety of needs. The CCC shall, on behalf of the client, deliver positive customer experiences which meet their customers’ needs. The CCC shall ensure that it is accessible, reliable and responsive to customer needs and that it handles all customer interactions consistently across its available communication channels.

Customer needs

Customers contact customer care centers to due to the needs that often arise as part of purchasing or using a product or service.  It is an important touch point for companies that interact with their customers. Understanding why people call customer support is important in identifying problems in the user experience. In general, the reason people call can be summed up into four broad categories:

• Wanting more information to make a purchase
• Being dissatisfied with a product or service
• Experiencing troubles
• Seeking an exception

In order to meet customer expectations, it is important to know what their expectations are. Mostly when customers call a support contact center, their priorities are to talk with a skilled agent and to have their problems solved quickly. Some of the expectations are:

1. Problems solved quickly
2. Speak with a skilled agent
3. Personal interaction with an agent
4. Agent based in the same location
5. Get treated with respect
6. Agent having access to contacting person’s information

CCCs shall have an action plan to meet the needs and expectations of the customers. Example

Knowing the customers is the key to good customer service interactions. A customer service agent interacts with many customers during work hours. Every interaction comes with unique challenges. This is mainly because each customer has a different personality, although there will be similarities among some. Call center agents must therefore know how to identify each customer and adapt accordingly to ensure a smooth interaction. It’s important for call center reps to know how to handle customers with varying personalities in order to ensure that interactions will go smoothly. There are the five different types of customers an agent have to encounter.

1. The irate customer
2. The talkative customer
3. The mistaken customer
4. The elitist customer
5. The positive customer

1 The irate customer

Known for their anger that explodes, irate customers are among the most common callers agents encounter. Some of them may be fuming even before they begin their interaction with call center. Others, on the other hand, were only annoyed at the start of the call but got increasingly aggravated with every unanswered inquiry, unnecessarily long hold times, and call transfers. The key to interacting with this kind of customer is to be calm throughout the call. The trouble will only escalate if the agent let his or her own irritation and impatience take over the conversation. Instead, assure the customer that the problem can be solved, and then provide a solution as soon as possible.

2 The talkative customer

Talkative customers are the bane of a call center’s productivity, as they can slow transactions down. These customers tend to drone on about topics unrelated to the issue they’re discussing with agents. Because conversations with them take too long, agent may have to put other queued customers on hold. This means losing the opportunity to help other customers. To maintain control over the conversation, agent shall focus on the reason why the customer called. Should the conversation digress from the topic, politely redirect the discussion back to the main issue.

3 The mistaken customer

This type of customer insists that they know more than the agents do, but in fact, they may be misinformed. So when given a solution, they might not believe the agent immediately. This makes it hard for agents to deal with them. Rather than telling the customers that they are wrong, politely explaining to customers how the solutions recommended can help them better will be the right way to handle them.

4 The elitist customer

Elitist customers don’t like dealing with frontline agents, as they think that the problem they’re facing are too special or too complex for employees to handle. Thus, after explaining things to them, the agent may hear them say, “I want to talk to your supervisor” instead of trying the recommended solutions. When handling this type of customer, agent has to politely assert that they are qualified to fix their issues. If the problem can be solved without a manager’s intervention, inform them that it’s not advisable to escalate the call to a supervisor.

5 The positive customer

This type of customer is the best one there is. They are friendly customers who just want to get their problems fixed. Customers with a positive mindset can be beneficial for the company. They can provide insights regarding products, services, or business, which can help company grow. They can be brand’s promoters as well. Just continue giving the best service to them and they’ll likely to stick to the brand.

Communication channels

Companies offer customers as many contact channels as they can effectively manage. It’ll ensure customers are able to contact the organisation in the most convenient way for them. Some of the prominent customer contact channels are explained below. The requirements of ISO 18295 can be applied to the services provided through any of these channels. The limitations of each of the channels adopted in the CCC shall be identified so that the customers can be directed to an alternative channel when any of these channels fails to meet the customer needs. Some of the communication channels are:

A Chat bots

Chat bots provide an efficient alternative to human-powered live chat. They can deal with multiple queries at once. They provide customers with immediate responses.  The main downside of chat bots as customer contact channel is that they struggle with unusual requests or messages. They might be experts at fielding basic queries and FAQs, but they’ll get thrown by complicated issues. As a result, the best way to employ chat bots as a contact channel is alongside human-powered live chat. That way, chat bots can deal with simple queries before handing over to an agent when issues are more complicated. ‍

B Live web chat

Human-powered live chat is an incredibly popular contact channel for most demographics. In particular, the 18-34 age group is most likely to favour web chat over any other channel. Live chat agents can provide instant and in-depth responses. It has a greatly reduced hold time compared to phone support. It allows customers to interact with agents on site, offering ease and convenience.‍

C Messenger apps

Messenger apps like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp have always been popular contact channels amongst the public. This is because they’re quick, convenient, and cost effective.

D Social media

As such, social media is a great contact channel for engaging with younger audiences. Social media networks are a public-facing contact channels. Agents needs to be extremely careful while interacting with customers on social media as the comments can be publicly viewed.

E Web forms

Web forms operate in a similar way to email. Web forms are a good method of capturing customer data, as customers need to fill out a number of fields to submit the form. CCCs need to make sure that the forms and data-storage methods are complying to regulatory requirements. Web forms can provide confirmation of receipt. ‍

F Email

Email is a versatile website engagement tool and contact channel which can be used for customer support. It’s one of the best options for formal communication when an immediate response isn’t necessarily required. One of the most efficient ways to offer email support is to answer emails in between real-time interactions on other contact channels. For example, if a contact agent is in between two live chat conversations, they can respond to email requests in the meantime. In terms of drawbacks, one main compliant customers have about email is that it takes too long to get a response. In fact, the average response time for email customer service requests is 12 hours and 10 minutes.

G Traditional phone calls

A telephone based contact centre is one of the most conventional choices for customer services teams. Most customers are extremely familiar with the concept. The downside is that customers often have to wait in long queues before they can speak with an advisor. This can prove extremely tedious and inconvenient.

H Web calling

Web calling is a great way to offer customers over-the-phone advice. It offers free support to customers, regardless of their geographic location. ‍

ISO 18295-1 Clause 4.2 Communication of information to customers

The CCC shall ensure that all information it provides to customers is accurate, relevant and easily understood. When communicating with customers, the CCC shall take into account and act appropriately in response to customers’ communication needs, for example language, literacy and impairments. The CCC should consider where and in what format it presents information. When the CCC cannot immediately resolve a query it shall provide the customer with appropriate information, for example:

1. The estimated time-frame for a response/resolution;
2. The department/role/function that will be responsible for response/resolution;
3. Regular status updates;
4. An amended time-frame and action plan when delays are incurred.

ISO 18295-1 Clause 4.3 Measuring and monitoring of customer experience

The CCC shall take action to understand the experience customers have when interacting with the CCC. This should include overall customer satisfaction and satisfaction with how the agent handled their interaction. The CCC should ensure it understands the key reasons for these results. The CCC can use a variety of methods to understand and monitor this, including:

1. The CCC’s quality evaluation;
2. Employee feedback;
3. Customer feedback;
4. Speech analytics;
5. Complaints analysis;
6. Social networks feedback;
7. Customer recommendations.

The CCC shall agree with the client before undertaking any direct customer contact to gather their feedback.

ISO 18295-1 Clause 4.4 Complaints handling

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction (whether oral or written and whether justified or not). The CCC shall establish an effective and efficient process for handling complaints about the CCC and about client-related product(s)/service(s).

Staff Training

Training should be provided by the organisation for its entire customer-facing staff on the organisation’s complaints handling procedure in line with written policies and, at a minimum, the following training should be covered:

• Complaint identification
• Complaints recording – accuracy of this recording
• Complaints resolution / handling difficult customers
• Regular organisation briefings and updates
• Overcoming ‘the right to call’ – where data came from
• Complaints procedure
• Complaint recording
• Escalation process

Complaints resolution and handling difficult customers

All customer-facing staff should attend training on complaint resolution before having conversations with customers in order that they can recognise dissatisfaction and have the ability to resolve the complaint through a polite and respectful dialogue. Empathy should be stressed as part of any agents’ training programme. Without the right attitude and tone, there is a danger that the customer’s dissatisfaction will not be recognised, managed or escalated. To do this, the agent is required to have the knowledge and the confidence not only to recognise a complaint but also to acknowledge this in a proactive manner. A complaint is sometimes ignored as the agent continues with their own objective, for example ‘I am sorry to hear you feel that way’, instead of acknowledging and responding appropriately to the customers concern. If an appropriate response is given to the complaint, then the agent and the customer will be in a better position to relax and move on through the call. Pre prepared Q & A’s with precise scripting can diffuse any potential heated conversations and give factual responses. The CCC and the client shall agree the conditions under which the complaints handling process are to be applied. The CCC shall provide customers with clear and readily available information about where and how to complain, and about how complaints are handled. The CCC shall acknowledge all complaints. The CCC shall ensure that all complaints, as defined by the CCC and the client, are:

1. Logged and categorized correctly;
2. Investigated and acted on within the set resolution time-frames, which are communicated at regular intervals;
3. Escalated, when necessary, within the set time-frames;
4. Closed with appropriate feedback provided to the customer on the resolution and outcome achieved.

Each agent should receive information on when, how and to whom to escalate a complaint, together with a clear expectation on how long complaints will take to resolve. As a minimum, complaints should be logged and conversations recorded on this log, so that all communications are tracked and followed up in accordance with agreed organisation procedures. Regular communication with the call handling teams is essential. If there is a backlog of complaints, agents can assist in meeting the customer’s expectations by providing them with timeline information at the point of the call. The escalation process needs to be in line with the organisation’s complaints policies. Each agent should be shown where complaints are stored and what information is required for analysis purposes. In circumstances where a large group of customers may call, it may be advisable to set up a dedicated hotline, using live agents, that can classify the nature of the complaint and if unable to resolve it themselves are able to connect the caller to the most relevant person or department and ensure someone is always available to take the call.

Complaint reporting

CCCs are required to manage and analyse complaints in order to identify systemic issues and not only remedy them but to take a root cause analysis on the reasons for the complaints and change processes and procedures to minimise customer dissatisfaction. As a minimum the following information should be collected:

• Date of complaint
• Date complaint settled
• Reason for complaint
• Outcome
• Was complaint escalated?
• Tracking back to agent
• Handled within SLA

Each complaint should be categorised as follows:

• Complaints that can be answered and resolved immediately on the call by the agent
• Complaints that require further investigation

Those complainants whose issues need further investigation should receive an acknowledgement communication and details of the organisation’s complaints procedure with a timeline to manage the customer’s expectations. Those complainants, whose issues cannot be settled within the initial deadline (E.g.: seven-day period) should be contacted to advise the reason for the delay with a timeline of expected conclusion. The minimum information each complainant should receive is:

• Name of Contact
• Contact details such as email, phone number etc to contact the person handling complaint
• Details of when the investigation should be completed
• Organisation complaints procedure
• Opening hours

In the event of a customer remaining dissatisfied, they should be advised of the organisation’s escalation procedure. The CCC shall use information from complaints to improve service delivery.

ISO 18295-1 Clause 4.5 Customer protection

The CCC shall ensure that the identity of the client is made clear in each interaction (unless the identity of the client could influence the purpose of the interaction e.g. market research). Agents should use their first name to introduce themselves. If the activity is being outsourced the client should be provided with a regularly updated list of agents names. The call opening should at least contain the following information briefly but clearly:

1. Who is calling
2. Where they are calling from or on whose behalf they are calling
3. The reason for the call
4. The caller should ask, “Is this a convenient time to speak?”, perhaps adding that the call will take just X minutes and be sure it takes no longer
5. The caller completes any relevant security checks quickly where appropriate

The CCC shall ensure that agents only share confidential information with the correct customer. The CCC shall proactively provide customers with clear information about any increased charges they could incur when interacting with the CCC. The CCC shall not conceal any charges. The CCC shall ensure it deals with all customers ethically. It shall provide clear information about any financial, legal and contractual implications of decisions customers make related to interactions with the CCC. The CCC shall not use pressure selling tactics and shall not exploit customers. It shall not disguise sales/marketing interactions as market research. The CCC shall protect the privacy of customers, their information and data. The CCC shall ensure that for outbound interactions:

• It follows national or local ‘do not contact’ rules and legislation and any opt-out requests;
• It advises the client to remove the customer details from the database when a customer requests to be removed from the database;
• It minimizes abandoned contacts by a dialer;
• The correct customer has been contacted and gives them an option to continue the interaction;
• It gives the purpose of the contact at the beginning of the interaction;
• It terminates a contact the customer does not want, and does not contact the customer again;
• It makes telephone contacts within nationally accepted time-frames, except where the customer has requested a different contact time (within agreed operating hours). Waiting times/queuing should be free of charge for the customer.

Regulation, compliance and standards

There are many regulations and standards available to contact centers. They can be split into four groups:

1. Legislative requirements such as the data protection act in various regions
2. Regulatory requirements at various regions
3. Industry standards provided by professional bodies. Although these are not law, contact centers are required to comply with them if they are members of these organisations. Industry bodies monitor compliance with their codes of practice and can impose sanctions if they are not met.
4. Best practice guidelines and management system standards aim to raise standards and retain confidence in the medium. They aim to ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry.

List of data protection and privacy protection from few countries are given below

Customer contact centers need to decide the standards with which they will comply, (in addition to those that are a legal requirement) and put in place quality assurance processes that verify they are being met. Regulatory requirements and industry standards usually require verification to those bodies responsible for them. A level of transparency is necessary to comply. It is also worth considering transparency internally for management and agents. This will drive standards as objectives are set and improvements are considered by all involved.