CRM interaction management overview

It is widely recognised that customer relationships are a continuum, and that the customer lifecycle is about maintaining, invigorating and constantly improving that continuum, thus nurturing customer advocates of services provided by the housing organisation. Achieving customer satisfaction depends greatly on employee customer service behaviour, and therefore the systems by which that service is underpinned. For a housing organisation to differentiate itself from others, in a competitive service environment, it needs to provide excellent customer service, whether that be in a telephone situation, face-to-face or via digital media. Civica Cx Housing ensures that, once strategies have been defined for dealing with all anticipated customer interaction scenarios, they can be implemented and, most crucially, replicated, irrespective of operator, ensuring a consistent and high standard of service. This planned approach to all customer interaction is an important differentiator in delivering a successful and positive customer experience.

The ability to create and activate well-structured scripts for any number of scenarios, these being activated through the launch of CRM cases and tasks, provides the framework for upholding a number of key customer service principles:

Customer Acknowledgement: After assessing the customer's problem or query, relevant scripts can be structured in order to affirm the operator's understanding. This approach affords the customer the opportunity to add information that might have been initially overlooked, ensuring the resulting case proceeds in an informed manner.
Active Listening: The user element of the script can incorporate any amount of help guidance to reinforce key elements of the process, such as to listen to the customer's complaint without interrupting, even if the operator is already familiar with the case.
Customer Empathy: All customers want to know that they are appreciated and that their continued business is valued. When raising a problem relating to a service provided by the housing organisation, operator script text can be employed, assuring the customer that their problem has been fully understand and that there is an agreed plan to take appropriate action.
Positive Approach: In all aspects of case and task progression, it is important to convey a 'can do' approach to the customer through the use of scripts i.e. to avoid conversations starting with a negative response. At the end of each interaction, included in the script should be a prompt to thank the customer, or simply a verbal message of appreciation for their call.

The activation and progression of cases and linked tasks is therefore no longer a mechanical process, but increasingly more customer-centric through the implementation of carefully structured scripts.

Separate help articles have been created for each key aspect of CRM interaction management, including: