Steve Sullivan is the founder of Channel Doctors. He is based in Bournemouth in the UK.

Channel Doctors is a specialist advisory company focused on CX, contact centers, and especially issues such as data protection and GDPR.

Peter Ryan called Steve after seeing a LinkedIn post on managing customer rage. Are customers more angry today and how are companies dealing with it? How can it be managed in the contact center and how is it managed for customer service advisers who need to interact directly with customers - for example in retail?

Is the increased rage linked to social media and what can companies do to serve customers more effectively when they are more and more angry?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-sullivan-3275391/

https://channeldoctors.co.uk/cx/

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the growing phenomenon of customer rage, particularly post-pandemic, with Steve Sullivan from Channel Doctors. They highlight the impact of social media on customer behavior, the rise of anonymous abuse, and the need for better training and support for customer service agents. Sullivan notes that customer frustration has increased due to self-service failures and cultural disconnects. He emphasizes the importance of organizations addressing these issues to prevent attrition and improve customer experience. They also discuss the potential negative effects of AI-driven automation on customer interactions and the need for personalized AI assistants to mitigate customer rage.

Melanie Disse is the Principal Consultant and Tech Adviser to Melanie Disse Consulting. Melanie Disse Consulting is a CX & VoC consulting firm helping businesses leverage CX as a key competitive differentiator to drive business performance through understanding customer experiences. Melanie is based in Auckland, New Zealand.

In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Melanie outlines how companies can more effectively obtain feedback from customers and how to make use of this feedback. Most companies struggle to turn customer feedback into action and many are still relying on the surveys that customers hate completing.

Is there a better way to engage customers and get productive feedback?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-disse/

https://www.melaniedisseconsulting.com/

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the importance of leveraging customer insights to drive great customer experience (CX) with Melanie Disse, a consultant from New Zealand. Melanie highlights the need for organizations to move beyond just collecting feedback to actually acting on it. She identifies three stages: listen, analyze, and act, emphasizing the challenges in breaking down silos and using technology to unify data from various sources. Melanie also notes the global phenomenon of poor customer service and the necessity for organizations to implement feedback to improve CX.

They conclude by promoting the CX Outsourcers event in Ottawa, where Melanie will be speaking.

Gareth Bray is Business Development Director and WhatsApp Guru at Premier CX. He is based in Odiham, Hampshire, UK.

Over 100 billion WhatsApp messages are sent daily by users - that's more than a million messages on the platform every second. Between 1 to 3 billion of these daily messages is a customer talking to a business.

Gareth was on the Meta team when they launched WhatsApp in Europe so he has a long background using this asynchronous messaging tool. In many global markets WhatsApp has entirely redefined customer service. In Brazil and India it can be used to locate local businesses and almost all businesses engage with customers using WhatsApp.

It's not so prevalent in the US (although still over 100m users) or Europe, but should more companies be looking at this tool?

After all, as so many CX directors look to AI for a quick win, they could be exploring a tool that is used billions of times daily and offers a way to engage with customers that is much more convenient than webchat. It's also free for the customer and very low cost for the business.

Mark Hillary called Gareth to explore WhatsApp and why more companies should be considering this messaging app.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gareth-bray-207105a/

https://www.premiercx.co.uk/

---

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the rise of WhatsApp as a customer service channel, particularly in Brazil and India, with Gareth Bray from Premier CX. WhatsApp's asynchronous support allows for convenient customer interactions, improving efficiency and reducing costs by 85%. Bray highlights that 1 billion people weekly message businesses on WhatsApp, and the platform's user base in the US is growing rapidly. WhatsApp offers features like decision trees, video clips, and integration with CRM systems, enhancing customer experience and agent efficiency. The platform's automation and AI capabilities are also emphasized, with a focus on agentic AI that allows customers to accomplish tasks within a flow.