Jitender Mohan of WNS On The 5 Ways To Create a Wow! Customer Experience
Digital Empathy occurs when companies actively listen to their customer’s voice across all channels, learn from it and apply that knowledge to improve the customer experience. Striving to be empathetic will give CX providers a proactive and deep understanding of customer needs and desires, drive customer focused interventions and orchestrate near-human experiences.
As part of our series about the five things a business should do to create a Wow! customer experience, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jitender Mohan, Head, Customer Interaction Services, WNS.
As the Executive Vice President and Global Head of the Customer Interaction Services (CIS) Practice at WNS, I’m responsible for driving CIS business growth and strengthening our focus on Digital Customer Experience (CX). I am accountable for CIS revenue growth, capability building and the overall Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy to improve brand positioning and wallet share in the CX space.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
This reminds me of an interesting book called “Connect the Dots,” which bears an uncanny resemblance to my journey. My professional career kicked-off immediately after I completed my MBA in sales and marketing. I took a liking to concept selling, service selling and product selling through channel distribution. This went on for almost 8–9 years at which point I took an interest in Six Sigma. I think my love for mathematics during my school days fuelled my liking for Six Sigma.
Subsequently, I completed my Black Belt and switched from sales to Business Process Management or BPM. After having worked with IBM for a few years, I joined WNS and what followed was an association that has lasted for more than 16 years and growing stronger by the day. Despite serving the company in various capacities across Operations, Quality, Workforce Management (WFM), Transformation and now heading a business unit — I feel l have just reached the midpoint and there is so much more to learn and accomplish.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can `you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?
I recall going on an official trip to London and those days, the mobile roaming charges used to be immense. I incurred a charge that was twice as much as my salary back then. While this episode was funny, it also taught me an important lesson — that of leadership.
The leader I reported to those days was calm and saw my mistake as an exception. He was aware that I was embarrassed but said absolutely nothing. I still vividly remember that act of empathy and I feel proud to have been associated with that leader.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
There have been a few individuals who have helped me shape my career. Their unstinted faith in my ability helped me become the leader that I am today.
If I have to share any two instances, the first one would be from my GE days when I was one of the top-performing sales managers. The fact that my leader in GE allowed me to participate in a Black Belt program, which required 18 months of dedicated time and effort, speaks volumes about his conviction and ability to make tough decisions.
In WNS, my 16-year tenure has seen me perform various important roles — none of which would have been possible had my leaders not spotted the talent in me and provided a conducive environment to nurture the talent.
In your words, can you share a few reasons why great customer service and a great customer experience is essential for success in business?
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” — Warren Buffett”
I’m always conscious of this simple, harsh truth. Brand value depends entirely on customer perception. Happy customers are the best salespeople.
Let me share an example of one of our clients. As you are aware, Online Travel Agencies (OTA) operate in a crowded marketplace where they go toe-to-toe with other intermediaries, home-sharing platforms and direct booking channels of hotels. In such an environment, the OTA can achieve enhanced business value and differentiation only if they focus on delivering great service and customer experience across all touchpoints.
This is exactly what we helped our client with. When we first started servicing the OTA, beyond introduction of new channels, we focused on interaction analytics-led insights. Sentiment and data analysis revealed drivers for various customer interactions and root causes for dissatisfaction. This not only positively impacted the overall customer experience but helped the client achieve sizable business gains.
Today, the client has successfully expanded its footprint to newer markets while deploying smart digital operations. Not only has the client grown but so have we through the collaboration.
So yes, I firmly believe that businesses that strive to improve service and the overall customer experiences across all touchpoints are destined for profitable and successful business growth.
We have all had times either in a store, or online, when we’ve had a very poor experience as a customer or user. If the importance of a good customer experience is so intuitive, and apparent, where is the disconnect? How is it that so many companies do not make this a priority?
Too many organizations regard the development of their CX proposition as a cost center. The risk of this approach is that when there is a downward pressure on costs, some business leaders might be tempted to cut budgets.
Similarly, most organizations believe that driving CX is the responsibility of one small department. However, CX in todays’ world has reached the boardroom. I passionately believe that CX needs a buy-in from the very top of the organization combined with effective cross-functional collaboration. The organizations that deliver the best CX — and reap the benefits as a result — are those that break down silos to bring together data across various departments within the organization and turn it into actionable information to help customers.
The proliferation of disruptive technologies is offering businesses new and exciting opportunities to transform their CX. Many organizations struggle to decide whether to buy, build or partner. The danger here is that while they delay the implementation of these transformative new technologies, their competitors get a head start over them. Having engaged with businesses across industries, we believe that a modular approach is the best option. That’s why WNS EXPIRIUS — our digitally integrated CX model — has been designed with its unique modular technology stack to deliver industry-relevant, simplified and digital solutions.
Do you think that more competition helps force companies to improve the customer experience they offer? Are there other external pressures that can force a company to improve the customer experience?
Every business exists to deliver value as perceived by the customer in meeting their needs and wants. But these needs and wants are constantly evolving and expectations are rising. This means that a product, service or experience that wows and delights today can easily become the least that a customer expects tomorrow. This should drive businesses to innovate with new and better products, and design impressive customer experiences. I believe that if the right strategies are followed, a brand can effectively deal with any inadvertent situations that may come its way. Nokia and Kodak offer salutary warnings of what happens to brands that don’t evolve in this way.
Improvements in CX are not entirely driven by competition but, more importantly, by customer themselves.
That doesn’t mean that competition has no role to play. It definitely does!
As prices rise, inflation surges and concerns about cost of living grow, brands are under greater pressure than they have been for many years. They face rising competition for share of wallet and these external economic pressures will drive them to improve the customer experience.
We at WNS constantly strive to re-think and re-design our CX service strategies to support and cater to any progressive shift in customer demand. We have evolved our strategy from pure-play labor-cost arbitrage to domain centricity to currently an end-to-end integrated digital CX solutions approach that leverages digital, domain and delivery expertise to positively influence business objectives of our clients.
Can you share with us a story from your experience about a customer who was “Wowed” by the experience you provided?
One recent example I can think of is that of a major utility company that we support across multiple geographies. Our team manages a significant chunk of the client’s CX operations across traditional and digital channels. Apart from leading digital initiatives to optimize and improve their business processes, we have transformed their entire operations leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities. This has resulted in enhanced customer insights for the client, higher revenues and reduced cost of operations.
This also delivered excellent customer experiences with Net Promoter Scores (NPS) improving by a whopping 140 percent as a result of smart contact strategies that guided consumers to non-voice and self-serve platforms. Along with exceptional feedback from the client, we also won the most recent GSA UK award for “Service Provider of the Year.”
Did that Wow! experience have any long-term ripple effects? Can you share the story?
Yes, absolutely! Over the years, we have helped the utility client transform its customer operations in line with changing customer expectations and market trends. Consequently, the client entrusted us with multiple lines of their business, helping WNS to more than double its revenue from this client.
This was just one example. However, I’m very proud to say that the majority of our active clients have at some point been inspired by clients who received a “Wow” experience from us.
Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience? Please share a story or an example for each.
Take a customer-centric approach
Too many brands are product-centric instead of being customer-centric. This means that they look from the inside out, focusing on products that fit their capability rather than thinking about what a customer would want.
Digital native insurers, for example, are already leveraging data sciences and analytics to identify gaps and offer personalized products along with advisory services to their customers. Forward-looking auto insurance companies are beginning to offer pay-per-mile car insurance while a growing number of digitally savvy insurers are leveraging underwriting and claims solutions backed by AI and ML to offer accurate premiums and swift resolutions.
Integrate “Bricks and Clicks” for better CX
Despite the rapid expansion of e-commerce, rather than reducing in-person customer touchpoints, many companies are expanding them beyond pre-pandemic levels. Effective integration of online and in-person operations drives seamless experience, and, in turn, greater customer satisfaction leading to increased revenues. Brands need to leverage AI, ML, and predictive and data analytics to produce insights that can support in-person staff.
One UK retailer, for instance, is ensuring that its website and social channels are fully integrated to offer on-the-move CX. Here, customers can use the online channels to book appointments with stylists at the retailer’s physical stores after checking their profiles. Store assistants are equipped with tablets that give them relevant insights into a customer visiting the store. In case a product is out of stock, the assistant can quickly offer to have the product shipped directly to the customer’s home.
Design a seamless omni-channel approach
CX is key to ensuring loyalty and retention. Today’s customers expect to have access to multiple touchpoints such as web, mobile, chat, e-mail and voice calls. A global sales promotions company, was looking for a scalable and flexible solution to provide uninterrupted end-customer support across diverse industries.
We leveraged WNS EXPIRIUS, our proprietary digitally integrated CX service model, to deploy a cloud contact center solution underpinned by omni-channel support, analytics and intelligent automation. We utilized intelligent automation to reduce the effort required by customer, and built and integrated complex workflows and routing to support multiple mailboxes, toll-free numbers and languages through a shared services setup. We also enabled each agent to offer quick and complete resolution through a single omni-channel interface. The result: consistent Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores in the range of 95 percent.
Embrace “Digital Empathy”
CX today should showcase interpersonal values that consumers crave consciously and subconsciously such as kindness, understanding, knowledge of past interactions and, most importantly, respect for consumers’ time and money. In today’s world, the same experience and values should also be extended to mobile and desktop interactions. Every consumer touchpoint, be it website, mobile or apps, should feel human-centric. This means that it provides easier access for service agents as well as consumers, and understands intent, constraints and sentiments. This is part of the umbrella term Digital Empathy — and it represents the new imperative of CX today.
Digital Empathy occurs when companies actively listen to their customer’s voice across all channels, learn from it and apply that knowledge to improve the customer experience. Striving to be empathetic will give CX providers a proactive and deep understanding of customer needs and desires, drive customer focused interventions and orchestrate near-human experiences.
A large national health benefits provider, for instance, discovered that a large percentage of its callers, many of whom were over 50 years of age, were having trouble finding the “make appointment” button on the company’s website. We partnered with them to analyze the customer interaction history via our EXPIRIUS point solution. They were able to spot this phenomenon quickly and take action to re-design their website. This resulted in an increase in appointment bookings and decrease in call center operations.
Use AI-led predictive analytics to drive hyper-personalization
Predictive analytics enables companies to get ahead of the customer — anticipating their needs and optimizing production and supply chains around these evolving demands. Leveraging real-time data, AI and ML in conjunction with advanced analytics can help enterprises determine the future demands of customers based on existing and past data patterns.
Predictive analytics can help enterprises empower agents and adopt a unified omni-channel voice. For instance, a digital native company was losing the opportunity to effectively cross-sell and upsell due to lack of customer insights. It deployed a ML-led predictive analytics model to intelligently streamline its lead conversion process. More importantly, the model helped establish a sales and service culture, wherein agents could drive meaning and context into customer conversations.
Are there a few things that can be done so that when a customer or client has a Wow! experience, they inspire others to reach out to you as well?
One of the most powerful ways of showcasing customer advocacy is ensuring your clients partner with you in sharing their stories at key industry conferences and webinars.
In addition, their success stories and testimonials can reach maximum prospects and existing clients when promoted on company websites and other social channels.
My particular expertise is in retail, so I’d like to ask a question about that. Amazon is going to exert pressure on all of retail for the foreseeable future. New Direct-To-Consumer companies based in China are emerging that offer prices that are much cheaper than US and European brands. What would you advise retail companies and eCommerce companies, for them to be successful in the face of such strong competition?
From what we’re seeing and from what customers are telling us, I believe that the focus needs to be on convenience. This is the business imperative of the future for retail, especially as technology and social transformation accelerate. Outstanding CX will increasingly hinge on how convenience can be embedded into speed of transaction, value to customer and, for retailers, the cost of operations.
Growing competition and an increasing customer focus on who they spend their money with means that brands need to think more carefully about their cost to acquire customers. This involves leveraging sales strategies, using digitally enabled solutions to empower agents and reducing the effort required by the customer in any transaction. They will also have to focus on the cost-to-serve. Leveraging the right digital assets will help here. Finally, they will need more accurate and timely data on their yield per customer. The challenge here is to increase upselling and cross-selling. These are the three key metrics that any truly customer focused organization should focus on.
In addition, I strongly believe there are five key business imperatives for retailers and e-commerce companies that will help them face fierce competition:
Acquire and retain customers to generate more revenue with the right sales strategies and solutions
Manage hypergrowth and demand variability. Businesses need to scale their e-commerce capabilities and manage volatility of online demand and volumes
Increase affinity to digital. This means adopting an omni-channel approach with a seamless interface with the customer and the introduction of more digital-first customer experiences
Enhance loyalty. Businesses should consider how they’re going to retain customers to ensure lower customer churn and improve revenue
Delight customers with skilled digital associates. Increasingly, businesses will need to provide a one-stop shop approach to support through empowered, next-gen domain specialists
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Similar to what globalization did for trade and commerce, I think it would be interesting if we could somehow transcend political barriers. Globalization broke the walls to such an extent that in the world of trade and commerce, boundaries today are merely additional paperwork. Businesses view this world as a single unit. So why the same can’t be replicated in the world of politics? The enormous amount of money and resources that governments expend towards defending their borders can surely be re-directed and better used to serve humanity.
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
