{"id":17625,"date":"2021-04-13T06:45:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T05:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=17625"},"modified":"2023-01-16T16:52:03","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T16:52:03","slug":"10-common-customer-service-mistakes-to-avoid-in-a-remote-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/10-common-customer-service-mistakes-to-avoid-in-a-remote-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"10 common customer service mistakes to avoid in a remote workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since 2020 and the pandemic first hit, almost every organisation from every industry has had to go from working in physical spaces to working remotely. The massive transition to a remote workforce during the pandemic was out of the need to maintain operations and keep business going.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrdive.com\/news\/gartner-over-80-of-company-leaders-plan-to-permit-remote-work-after-pande\/581744\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gartner survey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of company leaders found that 80% have the plan to allow employees to work remotely part of the time going forward, and 47% express the willingness to go full work-from-home. With regards to implementing remote work as a strategy, 78% of CEOs agree, in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwc.com\/gx\/en\/ceo-agenda\/ceo-panel-survey-emerge-stronger.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PwC survey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, that remote workforce and collaboration as the new form of work are here to stay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The above trends and mindset apply to the field of customer service (as well as any other departments and functions), as <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/definitive-guide-customer-experience\/\">customer experience<\/a> is more important than ever. However, is your team or organisation well-prepared for the transition to a remote workforce? Here are ten customer service mistakes to avoid in shifting to a remote workforce. We will be exploring this topic from three different angles:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The technologies required to run and streamline operations<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The knowledge and collaboration to make things efficient as an organisation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, the mindset needed to make the transition as smooth as possible<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>1.<\/b> <b>Not equipping the team with proper technologies and tools<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17626\" src=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-4.png\" alt=\"Airdroid (4)-578\" width=\"415\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-4.png 415w, \/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-4-300x158.png 300w, \/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-4-376x198.png 376w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Source:<a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/what-do-your-employees-need-to-keep-customers-happy\/\"> RingCentral<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before we talk about the many things that <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/collaboration-tools-for-customer-service-teams\/\">customer service teams<\/a> need to pay attention to when managing a remote workforce, the number one criteria is having the necessary equipment and tools to actually allow agents to provide services remotely. To make remote service work (this applies to other types of remote work as well), you would need at least the following items for each agent:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A cloud-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/office\/features\/voip\/overview.html\">VoIP<\/a>\/communication software solution<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Laptop (business-grade recommended for durability and security)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Headset with good sound and voice quality<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A stable internet connection (wired or Wi-Fi)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having a reliable, easy-to-use, and scalable communication platform for your service teams is crucial in every aspect, as<\/span><a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/what-do-your-employees-need-to-keep-customers-happy\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">failure to keep customers happy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will directly impact the relationship you have with your customers, which in turn could hurt your brand in unexpected ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For organisations that provide customer service teams with mobile devices to enhance mobility and enable quicker access to resources, it\u2019s important to monitor and manage them well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s why in addition to the traditional communication software, mobile device management is also vital to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.airdroid.com\/en\/bizHome.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">monitor and provide support for your own team<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. When the number of devices grows, the need to organise, push updates, and remotely support them efficiently quickly becomes a necessity for maximising your investment for the remote workforce.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>2.<\/b> <b>Not having omnichannel support<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your team or organisation is not focused on omnichannel support, now is the time to adapt. PWC, in their<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwc.com\/us\/en\/retail-consumer\/publications\/assets\/pwc-retailing-2020.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2020 report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, found that companies investing in omnichannel support have jumped from 20% to 80%. In today\u2019s business and commerce landscape, customers, whether it is consumer or commercial, expect your customer service to be present at all times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The common <\/span><a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/cloud-omnichannel-contact-centre\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">omnichannel integration<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and cross-platform support avenues include email, phone, SMS, live chat, and social media. Here are four benefits of having omnichannel support:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More options for customers to choose from<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Better customer retention and general experience<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improves the quality of customer data for future support<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reinforces customer trust with more brand accountability<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/blog\/customer-service-stats\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salesforce research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the average consumer says they use ten different channels to communicate with companies. When comparing the channels that organisations have and the channels that consumers prefer to use, we can see that there are still big gaps for channels like mobile apps and voice-activated services:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17630\" src=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-3.png\" alt=\"Airdroid (3)-372\" width=\"415\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-3.png 415w, \/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-3-300x256.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Source:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/blog\/customer-service-stats\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salesforce Research<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to the communication aspect of omnichannel support, the ability to support multi-platform \u2013 another aspect of omnichannel \u2013 is also becoming an integral part of customer service, especially when it comes to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.airdroid.com\/en\/remotesupport.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">supporting mobile apps or mobile customers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When customers need guidance or tutorial on a mobile device, your customer service team needs to be able to walk them through the procedures of navigating an app or service directly. This usually includes being able to see the device screen, marking the screen or performing gestures to show directions, as well as having voice chat so the agent can communicate and see the screen in action simultaneously.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>3.<\/b> <b>Not taking advantage of intelligent automation<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17628\" src=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-1.png\" alt=\"Airdroid (1)-519\" width=\"415\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-1.png 415w, \/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-1-300x158.png 300w, \/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-1-376x198.png 376w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Source:<\/span><a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/customer-service-automation-remote-work\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RingCentral<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even before the pandemic, customer service demand has become the focal point for both sellers and buyers. As we go full-blown virtual, the economic, health, and societal crises are pushing this trend even further. Companies need to navigate the influx of demands, the complexity of omnichannel, and the difficulty educating service agents, while keeping the customers happy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One thing that every customer service team should avoid is neglecting the<\/span><a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/customer-service-automation-remote-work\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">power of self-service support<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the form of AI, automation, and chatbots.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-build-a-chatbot-the-definitive-guide\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chatbots<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can offload customer service workload by dealing with simple queries, collecting information, and redirecting customers to different responsible stakeholders depending on their needs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning are becoming more sophisticated in interpreting complex language, remembering the context of an entire conversation, and replying to customers with natural responses.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Automation is the key to reducing costs and improving your overall efficiency, even when you are under-staffed. Setting up the right flow and checkpoints can help you serve the basic needs of customers and deliver those who require real human interaction to the right agent seamlessly.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>4.<\/b> <b>Not empowering agents to have accessible and relevant customer information<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to getting the necessary technologies and tools, having access to relevant customer information and history with your brand is one of the cores of having a good customer experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Customers today expect an agent via any touchpoint to be able to instantly pull out his or her history so that whatever issue or questions can be answered in a timely fashion. By now you should start to see that having just omnichannel availability is not enough; you also need to enable your agents to have access to a central database.<\/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-6a0919d81491a\"\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<h2><b>5.<\/b> <b>Not having communication and collaboration with team members<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To provide quick and easy access to customer service, one of the most important things every customer service team should look at is the ability to collaborate, especially in a remote workforce environment.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accenture.com\/us-en\/insights\/digital\/connecting-collaborating-crushing-it\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accenture.com\/us-en\/insights\/digital\/connecting-collaborating-crushing-it\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Accenture<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 95% of collaboration leaders agree that their company is aligned around shared customer experience. Not having shared knowledge and information of customers will be detrimental to the customer experience. Here are some of the best practices to help you improve communication and collaboration:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Aligning the team\u2019s goals towards customer experience and satisfaction.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Avoid creating silos within an organisation, such as having different metrics or goals that are not aligned with the overall interest of customer experience.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Structure for collaborative, self-managing teams that focus on customer experience.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Avoid using the traditional top-down structure. Give your team clear directions and goals and allow room for developing ownership and self-discipline. Make sure that everyone, regardless of the team or division that he or she is in, places customer experience above all.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Invest in technology solutions that enhance easier collaboration.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Using cloud-based collaboration tools for sharing information, progress, and feedback will help make transition and adoption that much smoother. The last thing you want is your staff having the will to collaborate, but legacy technologies or lack of any worthwhile tech hindering their efforts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>6.<\/b> <b>Not training and educating your agents for remote work<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your customer service teams need to be well prepared to deal with all kinds of challenges. According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/form\/service-cloud\/3rd-state-of-service\/?d=7010M0000025d6jQAA&amp;nc=7010M000000jBM5QAM\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salesforce Research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, over 70% of service decision-makers agree that investment in training the team is a high priority, while high performers, too, think that training is integral to helping them succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17629\" src=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-2.png\" alt=\"Airdroid (2)-733\" width=\"866\" height=\"377\" srcset=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-2.png 866w, \/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-2-300x131.png 300w, \/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-2-640x279.png 640w, \/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-2-768x334.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Source:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/form\/service-cloud\/3rd-state-of-service\/?d=7010M0000025d6jQAA&amp;nc=7010M000000jBM5QAM\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salesforce Research (state of service), 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For those who are starting out or who are still in the process of optimising the training for your remote workforce, here is a list of things to keep in mind and avoid:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Respect your employees and team members\u2019 time by drawing a clear line between work and off-work time, even though it may seem \u201ceasier\u201d for people to do work at home.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leverage technologies like video conferencing and work communication platforms always to keep content and resources available.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Develop quick bites of information, so it\u2019s easier for team members to learn instead of implementing a traditional training lesson course.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focus on practical goals as the purpose of training, not the time in front of the screen. The goal here is for your remote workforce to maintain operational excellence even when things are all virtual.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><b>7.<\/b> <b>Prioritising solely individual performance over the customer experience<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When managing a customer service remote workforce, it\u2019s tempting to just focus on the traditional performance metrics, such as tickets closed, time spent on each session, the number of customers served, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While these conventional metrics are still important when evaluating the performance of each service agent, it might be time to shift some of the emphasis over to measuring the overall customer experience. There are some metrics that have been on the scene for quite some time now, but deserve to get another look:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Net Promoter Score (NPS):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by asking a customer the willingness to recommend your service or product to another person, the NPS is a great and easy way to measure how effective your overall brand or service is. Using a simple 1-10 scale and open text feedback to get quick feedback.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Customer satisfaction (CSAT):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> usually used for one-time interaction, CSAT is another easy way to track customer\u2019s satisfaction level. Using a scale of one to five, like the Google Play app ratings, your team can easily get the result without asking the customer to do too much.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>8.<\/b> <b>Underestimating the impact of customer reviews<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The workforce may be remote and that could give your team a false impression that it\u2019s easier to do customer service during a turbulent time in a virtual setting. Customer expectations are higher than ever precisely because things are always changing and emotions are volatile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given how easily anyone can write a review on different review sites, platforms, or social media, customer service becomes one of the most direct touchpoints that trigger negative reviews. If you are a small company, your customer service teams<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freshdesk.com\/customer-support-software\/customer-reviews-facts-blog\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">play a big role in responding to customer reviews<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is an important channel nowadays.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta style-3 mid  CID-cta-2FdM5dTp\"\r\n\t\t\tdata-dl-custom-type=\"ctaButton\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta-copy text-center\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"h2\">How to meet customer expectations, manage remote agents and set staff up for success.<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<p><\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div>\r\n\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\tclass=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg\" style=\"margin-top: 16px; font-weight: bold;\"\r\n\t\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\t\trel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-dl-additional-info=\"How to meet customer expectations, manage remote agents and set staff up for success.\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-name=\"How to meet customer expectations, manage remote agents and set staff up for success. | Read the report\">Read the report<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\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<h2><b>9.<\/b> <b>Not embracing the power of personalisation<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17627\" src=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-1.jpg\" alt=\"Airdroid (1)-224\" width=\"480\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-1.jpg 480w, \/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Airdroid-1-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20191112005425\/en\/Personalize-or-Else-Report-Shows-Customers-Demand-Convenience-Recognition\">BusinessWire<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today\u2019s consumers (both personal and commercial) have a high expectation of receiving personalised services and see this as a criteria to choose between brands. Even in today\u2019s remote and virtual environment, the expectations won\u2019t be any less.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Personalisation can come in different forms, such as having the right customer information when making contact or tailoring the responses based on different needs. According to a report<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/home.kpmg\/xx\/en\/home\/insights\/2020\/01\/customer-first-insights-home.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from KPMG<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, personalisation has become the strongest pillar in driving customer loyalty in 19 of 27 markets surveyed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are looking for personalisation tactics and to improve customer satisfaction, here are some tips for you:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have the correct and relevant customer information when making contact. Make sure you have the infrastructure, platform, and technologies to empower your service agents.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tailor your responses to the customer\u2019s different needs instead of using a standardised reply every time. This requires the agents to have the right and relevant customer information (without breaching privacy) and the training needed to give sound and personalised responses.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using a preferred channel of the customers (linking back to the necessity of having omnichannel support).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10. Not recognising that remote workforce is here to stay<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, with all the technologies, tools, directions, and training in place, the last thing that all the customer service teams need to continuously remind everyone of is the fact that providing support remotely is going to be the norm going forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means that the old ways of doing things will eventually get fazed out. Having the mindset that aligns with the transformation will help organisations to maintain operational excellence and really take advantage of the benefits of running a remote support workforce. Here are some of the critical mindset tips for making the transformation as seamless as possible:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expect your teams to take time in making the transition. Be patient and persistent in helping your team to adapt. Empower your agents with the right technologies and training, then trust them to give you expected results.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Put customer experience as the number one priority for your customer service teams. Try to translate performance metrics into something that will benefit the customers, for they will, in turn, reward you and your brand with positive feedback and long-term loyalty.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Communicate with the leadership team regularly, so the entire organisation is on the same page in driving customer experience excellence. The transformation relies as much on the culture as the willingness to change. This really goes beyond just customer service alone. Align with sales, marketing, engineering, operations, finance, and every other department to make sure customer experience is baked into everyone\u2019s everyday work.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last but not least, know that the state of remote workforce, customer service, and just about everything else is probably going to change at any given time. Be prepared to change with the world and have an open mind to embrace and adapt.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Managing a remote workforce within your customer service team doesn\u2019t have to be a hassle. With the right technology, professional knowledge, and an open-minded mindset, you are enabling your customer service agents to continue providing satisfying customer support while staying productive at the same time.\u00a0<\/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>Since 2020 and the pandemic first hit, almost every organisation from every industry has had to go from working in physical spaces to working remotely. The massive transition to a &hellip; <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/10-common-customer-service-mistakes-to-avoid-in-a-remote-workforce\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;10 common customer service mistakes to avoid in a remote workforce&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":17690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>10 common customer service mistakes to avoid in a remote workforce | RingCentral UK Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ince 2020 and the pandemic first hit, almost every organisation from every industry has had to go from working in physical spaces to working remotely.\" \/>\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\/10-common-customer-service-mistakes-to-avoid-in-a-remote-workforce\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 common customer service mistakes to avoid in a remote workforce | RingCentral UK Blog","description":"ince 2020 and the pandemic first hit, almost every organisation from every industry has had to go from working in physical spaces to working remotely.","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\/10-common-customer-service-mistakes-to-avoid-in-a-remote-workforce\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RingCentral Team","Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":":\/gb\/en\/blog\/10-common-customer-service-mistakes-to-avoid-in-a-remote-workforce\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/10-common-customer-service-mistakes-to-avoid-in-a-remote-workforce\/"},"author":{"name":"RingCentral Team","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cc4f043d2b478862a8622c28b0ebd08c"},"headline":"10 common customer service mistakes to avoid in a remote workforce","datePublished":"2021-04-13T05:45:38+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-16T16:52:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/10-common-customer-service-mistakes-to-avoid-in-a-remote-workforce\/"},"wordCount":2393,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["UC - 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