Staying Customer-Focused in Customer Support
In our ever-changing, high-tech marketplace, companies face more challenges than ever in communicating effectively to customers.  Many large companies are tasked with developing and managing communications that:

• Address the customer lifecycle, from winning new customers to providing customer support to deepening customer relationships.
• Encourage and support use of automation and self-service channels, such as the web and IVR, to save costs.
• Preserve consistent messaging across communication channels and yet are optimized for different channel formats.

In trying to accomplish this huge task, good old-fashioned communication can get lost.  That’s because most companies approach this task only from a technical or system perspective of content management, not communication.    Analysts at Forrester and KnowledgeStorm have noted the problem, saying companies need to focus on how content is used so that it’s effective, not just how to “manage and search” for content.  

However you describe it, the problem comes down to whether the content communicates.  This blog series will describe a few simple examples and some solutions.

Customer Support Example: Voicemail Instructions
Let’s say you’re a wireless customer and want to know how to change your personal greeting.  You tried on your own with no success, so you check your wireless service provider’s website hoping for some quick help. (If you can’t get help quickly, you’re going to call the company.) You get to a voicemail page under a section called “Support.” Unfortunately, most of the page defines voicemail (You already know what voicemail is, you’re trying to use it!) and explains its benefits (Again, you already know! You’d like instructions on how to use the benefits.).  Not the communication you need! Eventually, you find a link for voicemail instructions that opens this, only larger.

First, let’s give points for trying to make the instructions visual.  Unfortunately, you get a crick in your neck from turning your head to the left and trying to read the blue headers.  And as you try to follow the flow chart, the zig-zag lines combined with the scattered boxes give you a slight headache.Formatting aside, these instructions suffer two other communication problems: 

System Focus Instead of Customer Focus
These instructions are system-focused, not customer-focused, so they include the wrong information type.  These “instructions” are actually a diagram of the voicemail system structure.  This may work for the rare customer with some technical understanding of voicemail or IVR systems, but not most customers.  And if you find the personal greeting option in this diagram, then you have to trace your path back to the main menu to figure out which options you have to select and in what order.  A customer focus would lead you to include not structure but process, ideally concise step-by-step instructions written from the customer’s point of view and formatted so they’re easy to read.

Information Overload
The other communication problem is information overload—too much information is presented at once. You’re using these instructions just to find out how to change a personal greeting, not how to do everything in the voicemail system.  You have to sort through much irrelevant information to find the personal greeting option.  What would help?  Breaking the information down into small, manageable units.

At this point, dialing the phone seems much quicker than understanding these instructions.  So you call your wireless service provider for help, adding to their costs for maintaining call centers.  You tell your friends about your experience, damaging the provider’s reputation.  And all this could have been prevented with some good, old-fashioned communication.