Nationwide Improved the Customer Experience Without Money
Nationwide insurance has a lot to live up to with its slogan, "Nationwide is on your side." Business Solutions Services Officer Doug Stafford says that it's a challenge to live that brand promise. Yesterday at the Frost and Sullivan's Customer Contact Executive MindXhchange, Stafford shared how a simple change toward the customer perspective made a huge impact in the customer experience.
Nationwide provides home, auto, and life insurance. So it stands to reason that customers calling into the contact center to file a claim have just had something bad happen to them -- an accident, a fire, a death in the family, etc. The contact center agents had been trained to handle the claim in a courteous and business-like fashion, but no one had thought to ask the customers how they were doing.
Stafford says that now the first question an agent asks a caller is, "are you ok?" Sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes it's no. It's an open-ended question that may take a long story for the customer to answer. If agents were more interested in short call time, this policy wouldn't be in place. But Stafford says the company realized that the personal connection with customers is much more important than efficiency metrics like average call handle time. This process change cost no money, but customers say it means a lot that they feel they have "someone on their side" during a difficult time.
This strategy shift validates the findings of recent research (http://www.aspectindex.com/index_na/)
that shows customers really want empathy and advocacy from the companies with whom them conduct business.
By simply asking if customers are ok, Nationwide is communicating to the customer that they understand their situation, they care and want to help. Making inexpensive improvements in these areas and providing efficient follow-on service allows companies to elevate customer experiences from average to exceptional and earn customer loyalty.