Hi Israel, tell us about yourself and your background.
I graduated with a business/international relations degree in 2018, and was offered a CX position from my current employer, a telecommunications company, however, I have been working in this company for over 7 years. During the whole time working in Algar Telecom, I always worked in areas related to customer relations. I loved working with customers and managing and growing together.
Since 2018, I have done great accomplishments, like studies and planning journey mapping to improve customer satisfaction at a high level. Some of the metrics that I have implemented in the area of customer IT support were NPS (Net Promoter Score), CES (Customer effort Score), and CSAT (Customer Satisfaction). What we learned is that the most important thing is not just the figures results, but the real opportunity to know more about our customers to improve the experience on a daily basis.
How did you first start working in the CX space?
I was invited by my regional manager, it was a great chance and opportunity to prove to myself that I was able to handle that new challenge. Everything was new and completely different from how we used to perform in our company. The great news is we made it successful in my sector supporting IT, then we spread to the whole company.
What are some of the common misunderstandings related to customer experience?
Well, in my opinion, customer service is completely different from customer experience, nowadays there are many companies in the market that misunderstand that difference. I say that customer experience is the whole package with many deep actions thinking strategically in customer success. On the other hand, customer service is just a little piece of the iceberg.
Have you seen any interesting new trends in eCommerce this year?
Considering my country Brazil, which is also a big country. I have seen lots of efforts to reduce delivery time, which means a lot for Brazilian people. In the past, we had to wait for many days or weeks depending on where you are located as a consumer or where you are purchasing from the seller/supplier. Therefore this picture has been changing very quickly. Logistically today you can buy from a website and can get delivery within a very short time or you can also pick an item from a business partner within a few hours. The good thing is you are able to give a score regarding this experience, for a huge country like brazil this is very good, it’s a trend that happens more frequently in e-commerce business in the country.
eCommerce boomed in 2020, and consumers started leaving more product reviews online. How can we make the most out of this momentum?
I definitely think that the world changed during the pandemic, so we compare two scenarios, before and after the pandemic. People are now much more conscientious about their needs, purposes and everything that you offer to a customer must have great value. In my opinion, customers will be much more demanding for good quality of products and experience. Being able to leave reviews is part of a new era of doing business.
What are some CX companies/solutions you’re keeping your eyes on right now?
A good reference and model in the Brazilian business today is Track Sale and Solucx.
So many things changed in 2020. While some things are going to return to “normal,” what are new trends and habits you think will stay with us in the long term?
I think, the way how we understand nowadays what is a really good experience, opportunity to receive back feedback from a business market, in summary, is to agree that you are now been listened by the market, that your opinion and voice as a customer is very appreciated and valued for their business, otherwise they will lose you as a customer.
Do you believe focus groups are still relevant in the era of eCommerce? Why?
I think it depends on how it is conducted, how the focus group base is genuinely selected, are they the real representatives? Therefore some cases are still able to support some needs.
Last but not least, what is your favorite CX metric?
CSAT, because we have the chance to implement actions straight away that could be not working for a customer without having to have to wait longer until addressing a new survey that is not intended to ask the customer just after his or her experience.
