“Contact Us” is an Antiquated Customer Conversation Strategy

On every website and in every company’s mobile app, there’s a Contact Us page. On every Facebook company fan page there’s a Contact Info area. These locations contain lists of phone numbers that customers are expected to use when they wish to speak with a real person who can help them.  However, this approach is reactive and represents an antiquated customer service strategy. If service is truly your company’s differentiator, then you need to start thinking differently about your conversation strategy that spans multiple channels and portals of customer communication. To get some deeper insights into why lists of phone numbers on “Contact Us” pages are so annoying, please refer to my blog entitled,  “5 Reasons Why You Roll Your Eyes Before Calling Customer Service.” But to sum up the situation, your customers are mentally exhausted from all of the dialing, listening, pressing, waiting, wondering, entering and selecting.  This business process represents an old-fashioned, linear style of customer engagement that risks alienating and dissatisfying them.

As power and control shifts to the customer, offering “Contact Us” is simply no longer adequate.  In fact, it is quickly becoming irrelevant.  Rather, a responsive and dynamic process is required that does not inhibit your customer’s ability to achieve their goals with your organization, but rather, removes all obstacles and promotes it.  Instead of the status quo, try a “Contact You” approach where customers are empowered to request a callback as soon as possible or at a more convenient time. With the click of a link or the tap of a screen, customers can seamlessly bridge the gap to a highly skilled representative who knows who they are and precisely how to help.

When self-service works, it’s a brilliant innovation. However, when it fails to satisfy your customer’s in-the-moment needs, it can be extremely frustrating. Upon reaching a self-service dead end, most customers reach for their phone, but do so begrudgingly because they know what’s next:  starting all over, repeating account information and waiting on hold.   An intelligent callback integrated with virtual queuing solutions, routing, CTI and enterprise reporting will improve your customer’s time to task completion, help them achieve their goals with your organization and increase your likelihood of earning their loyalty. It’s a new approach that combines the use of technology, processes and people in order to help customers.