The role of the digital channel is changing in order to meet rising customer expectations, moving away from simple information gateway to focus more on complex, transactional based interactions. A leading Australian operator realized that any transformation of its digital strategy would need a strong customer focus. It wanted to create the optimal customer experience and leverage chat as a pillar to better engage customers online. It enlisted our help to identify best practices in chat programs and to design a world-class chat program to enhance sales, service, and improve the overall customer experience.

The team examined the client’s current digital strategy and customer experience based on customer accessibility, convenience, enjoyability, and consistency. The team also studied elements of the operator’s current organization, process, information, and technology. The assessment uncovered five critical issues.

First, the operator’s digital strategy to that point was product-focused. A chat strategy was created to shift to a customer-centric platform. Second, the team created an associate selection model to ensure the right people are in place to serve the company’s most valuable asset: the customer. In addition, training, learning and development, data, and performance management matrices were created to ensure the chat program is staffed with capable associates and has the proper data and performance guidelines to track and exceed expectations. Third, chat tools were positioned to differentiate customer experiences across customer segments and life cycle stages, from sales, service and tech support where knowledgeable chat resources deliver consistent, branded chat experiences under an integrated chat experience across multiple channels. Fourth, a critical path was created to bridge the gap between the operator’s existing capabilities and its goal capabilities. Finally, we recommended that the operator prioritize and create a long-term roadmap to operationalize the new initiatives.

The actionable strategy will be executed to increase online adoption of digital channels, and customer conversion via proactive and reactive chat. All of these steps mitigate the cost to serve while achieving the business objectives of uplifting sales, enhancing service, and encouraging migration to the digital channels.