you must now more than ever before focus
on your employee. Set up a crisis team to
manage the customer experience but first
ensure that your team is psychologically
aware of the pandemic risks and your
overt concern for them and their families.
Safety should be a key driver of the
process because you need buy-in from
those serving the customers.
Who will be involved and what role will
they play. Who needs to be in the office
and who needs to work from home? Do
you have the tools or the resources to
deliver services to your customers? What
is the plan and what are the mitigation
plans as the pandemic rises?
Once you establish the crisis team, let them
explore the processes; which ones need to
be discarded or remodeled e.g. if you are
running retail stores, it’s imperative that
as the pandemic rises, you would not want
to expose both staff and customers so you
have to put parameters which can ensure
customers can have home deliveries.
If you are running contact centers which
can become breeding grounds for the
disease, then you have to ensure that
you are working with lean shifts while
ensuring that you educate your staff on
prevention. Take stricter measures than
you regularly do e.g. self-distancing,
taking of temperatures before entrance to
the building to eliminate obvious attacks
etc.
As you serve the customers, be empathetic
to note that their behavior has drastically
changed. Most customers now are heavily
stressed as they are scared stiff and have a
strong desire to stock up for their families
as the future is unknown. This is why you
must be able to understand the new needs
and requirements and be able to give
correct information.
The trust they had with your brand
has diminished as their demands are
immediate and selfish for survival
purposes. At this point you may want to
reach out to customers to assure them that
your brand cares and by way of gesture
you may waive a fee or offer discounts
to them to show them that you are not
just with them for profits. This must be
authentic and relating to a need during
the crisis period e.g. offering lower rates
for electricity units particularly for low
end users.
Leverage on technology to deliver service
36 MAL35/20 ISSUE
and create experiences that are relevant.
Imagine running a grocery or a pharmacy
which is highly required during this
pandemic curve. Do you want people
flocking your store or do you imagine you
can be more innovative while establishing
the most important thing in the pandemic
which is safety? This is the ideal time to
apply technology to ensure that your
customers access your products in a
convenient but safe way.
Given that you cannot create new channels
overnight at the time the world trade
has technically gone on stop mode, it’s
imperative that you seek strategic alliances
to complete your last mile. I had a good
experience with the latest collaboration
between the Tuskys Supermarket Chain
with the logistics and transport outfit,
Sendy. By using the commonly used
In the face of the
unknown and bare-
ly understanding the
grueling facts of the
Coronavirus menace,
the key word in busi-
nesses today is based
on survival before
delivering any form
of customer experi-
ence. How will busi-
nesses whether big,
medium or small en-
terprises deliver ser-
vice while the whole
world is geared to-
wards a lock down?
WhatsApp platform, all you have to do is
send a shopping list from the comfort of
your home and all your deliveries are done
within a short time.
This is how to create experiences that last
as they touch on the basic needs of the
customer and especially in this challenging
times. In customer experience we talk
of creating relationships and with this
experience I am a happy customer who is
telling all and sundry that they do not have
to go and get infected queuing in malls
as these two companies are delivering on
customer expectations.
Technology bridges the gaps. If you
are a trainer, you can reach out to your
customers through platforms where your
content is e.g. Udemy. Your world does not
have to stop as you must find ways to reach
out and make your business continue.
Meetings can be held through all manner
of platforms e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp,
Skype, Zoom etc.
Invest in a good WiFi so that you are online
and can work virtually from anywhere.
If you have the financial muscle, invest
in technology that gives the customers
the ability to do self-care. This is not just
empowering to the customers but it also
points out to great cost cutting measures
during the unpredictable times. You may
invest further on bots, robots to carry out
and answer queries that could jam your
contact lines or centers.
Today, virtual working is very common.
Change the way you apply technology
and you could even use virtual agents or
with non-sensitive information, have
your customer experience officers work
from the safety of their homes. If demand
grows, you could hire the people who are
losing their jobs, train them online and
have them work shorter shifts to create
more employment for everyone.