{"id":17492,"date":"2021-03-26T08:32:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T08:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=17492"},"modified":"2021-07-22T13:38:46","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T12:38:46","slug":"regaining-cx-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Regaining Your CX Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is hard to argue that 2020 was the most disruptive year to business that any of us have ever known. It was a year when many <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/business-plan\/\">business plans<\/a> were scrapped and the ability to pivot and be agile was challenged, due to the COVID pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As with any business disruption, customers were also severely impacted. Many are the stories of customers having to wait in a queue longer than expected due to contact centres having to be run from our homes. Orders were backlogged due to delays in the shipping supply chain and order fulfilment was impacted due to a manufacturing backlog.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While many of these inconveniences were unavoidable and unexpected, the majority of customers were understanding as we truly were all in this together. However, as we pass the anniversary of this impact, customers have shifted their mindset and have less patience with COVID being used as an excuse for a poor <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/definitive-guide-customer-experience\/\">customer experience<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If 2020 was the year that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/contact-centre\/overview.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">customer experience (CX)<\/a> was to supplant price and product as the number one brand differentiator, let 2021 be the year where organisations regain their customer experience edge. Here are a few suggestions on how that can be done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Develop a strategy<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Customer experience is not a new trend that just popped on the scene this year. CX has been at the forefront of business thinking for some time, yet despite this mainstay, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingcharts.com\/customer-centric\/customer-experience-115587?mc_cid=62e82c2511&amp;mc_eid=9c6b5a1526\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">almost half of companies have yet to have a defined CX strategy according to Gartner<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You cannot just expect CX to happen, as hope is not a strategy. If organisations truly desire to delight their customers with an incredible experience, they must define, document, and implement the strategy. Doing anything less is simply wishful thinking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<style>\r\n\t\t\t@media (min-width: 768px) {\r\n\t\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-img {\r\n\t\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\r\n\t\t\t\t\twidth: 50%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-img img {\r\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta {\r\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #001138;\r\n\t\t\t\tpadding: 30px;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-copy {\r\n\t\t\t\tpadding: 0 30px;\r\n\t\t\t\toverflow: hidden;\r\n\t\t\t\tcolor: #fff;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-copy .btn-primary {\r\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t<\/style>\r\n\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta  CID-cta-2FdM5dTp IID-cta-6a091794e3e28\"\r\n\t\t\tdata-dl-custom-type=\"cta\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta-img\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/female-contact-centre-agent-working-from-home-on-the-floor-with-her-baby-daughter-is-on-the-sofa-laptop-headset-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Call to action banner\">\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta-copy\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<span style=\"font-size: 24px; line-height: 30px;\">New research: Leading UK contact centres through change. Learn from the experiences of your peers.<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-center\" style=\"display: block;\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"rc-cta-shortcode btn btn-primary btn-lg\" data-dl-element=\"button\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg\" style=\"margin-top: 16px; font-weight: bold;\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Read the report\" href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/leading-contact-centre-teams-through-change-report\/\" target=\"_blank\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\trel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-dl-additional-info=\"New research: Leading UK contact centres through change. Learn from the experiences of your peers.\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-name=\"New research: Leading UK contact centres through change. Learn from the experiences of your peers. | Read the report\">Read the report<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\n<p><b>Be authentic\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most admired brands in the world are those that are authentic. If there was ever a time for authenticity, it is now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brands that have been limited in their ability to provide an excellent experience for their customers should let their customers know they are aware of it. Simply ignoring it, acting as if all is business as usual, and hoping it goes away is not addressing the problem&#8230;and we all know how poorly that can turn out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be proactive and communicate with your customers. Let them know that you appreciate their patience and support through these trying times and provide details on what you will be doing to address any issues that have arisen from the disruption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is not a one-time communication, but should be consistent as letting your customers know of the progress you are making to remediate issues is essential.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both you and your customers know if their experience has been lacking. Owning it and letting your customers know you are aware can go along way to building trust in your brand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Be empathetic<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was on the phone with a customer service representative not long ago and unfortunately was not getting the help that I needed.\u00a0 After expressing a bit of my frustration with the agent, I was told \u201csir, I need you to be patient as the pandemic has impacted us greatly!\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What the agent displayed for me in very clear language was he was more concerned about his job, his company and the impact the pandemic has had on them than he was in how it impacted me, the paying customer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brands need to understand the impact that empathy makes in the delivery of service and experience, and that exhibiting empathy can be one of the most powerful tools they have. Simply listening, affirming, and then helping can be the difference between a great and a poor experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we head into 2021 we have learned that truly anything can be expected and that includes the expectations of your customers on receiving a world-class experience.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<div class=\"uc-expo-cta-2 style-4  CID-cta-2FdM5dTp\"\r\n\t\t\tdata-dl-custom-type=\"ctaButton\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"inner-container\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"text\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Expert advice on how to meet customer expectations, manage remote employees and set agents up for success.<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"button\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"rc-cta-shortcode btn btn-primary btn-lg\" data-dl-element=\"button\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg\" href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/leading-contact-centre-teams-through-change-report\/\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-additional-info=\"Expert advice on how to meet customer expectations, manage remote employees and set agents up for success.\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-name=\"Expert advice on how to meet customer expectations, manage remote employees and set agents up for success. | Read the report\" target=\"_blank\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\trel=\"noopener\" title=\"Read the report\">Read the report<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is hard to argue that 2020 was the most disruptive year to business that any of us have ever known. It was a year when many business plans were &hellip; <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Regaining Your CX Edge&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":17495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[33,157],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Regaining Your CX Edge | RingCentral UK Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As CX supplants price and product as the number one brand differentiator, follow these suggestions on how to deliver a superior experience for your customers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos Hidalgo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Regaining Your CX Edge | RingCentral UK Blog","description":"As CX supplants price and product as the number one brand differentiator, follow these suggestions on how to deliver a superior experience for your customers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos Hidalgo","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos Hidalgo","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13a40a87ed33436ac05ba1963642a7ee"},"headline":"Regaining Your CX Edge","datePublished":"2021-03-26T08:32:30+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-22T12:38:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/"},"wordCount":726,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["customer engagement","customer experience"],"articleSection":["Business Trends - CX"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/","name":"Regaining Your CX Edge | RingCentral UK Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-03-26T08:32:30+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-22T12:38:46+00:00","description":"As CX supplants price and product as the number one brand differentiator, follow these suggestions on how to deliver a superior experience for your customers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/regaining-cx-edge\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"RingCentral Blog","item":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Business Trends - CX"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#website","url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/","name":"RingCentral UK Blog","description":"RingCentral News and Tips","publisher":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization","name":"RingCentral UK","url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ringcentral-logo.png","contentUrl":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ringcentral-logo.png","width":1921,"height":416,"caption":"RingCentral UK"},"image":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13a40a87ed33436ac05ba1963642a7ee","name":"Carlos Hidalgo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.co.uk\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mf-profile-pic-01-150x150.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.co.uk\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mf-profile-pic-01-150x150.jpeg","caption":"Carlos Hidalgo"},"description":"Carlos Hidalgo is a 25-year business veteran. Over the span of the last two plus decades, Hidalgo has held corporate roles, started his own entrepreneurial ventures and served in non-profits. In addition to his various roles and business pursuits, Hidalgo is the author of two books Driving Demand, one of the Top 5 Marketing Books of all time according to Book Authority which was published in 2015 and The UnAmerican Dream which was published in 2019.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cahidalgo_","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/carlos-hidalgo-4a805a1\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/cahidalgo"],"url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/author\/carlos-hidalgo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17492"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}