Poor Communication Is Bad Customer Experience

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Top Takeaways:

• Communication is part of the experience. If you don’t communicate well with your customers and employees, you are giving them a bad experience.
• The Harris Poll research estimates that US businesses are losing $1.2 trillion annually due to poor communication.
• Dorian Stone shares what organizations can do to improve communication and experience for employees and customers.

1. Do the math on how much time employees spend on written communication. Most knowledge workers, such as chat agents and email support agents, spend about half of their workweek writing into a system (chat, email, CRM, etc.). Reduce the time they spend writing by helping them eliminate errors, reduce rework, and maintain the appropriate tone through a writing assistant.
2. Look at the English as a Second Language (ESL) versus English First Language mix of your business and then understand the dynamics. Examine the makeup of your workforce and see what your employees are working on. Evaluate how natural and consistent that communication flow is across all teams.
3. Look at where you’ve made your recent investments. Ask yourself how much safety valve investments are there to avoid errors versus how many are really about throughput. Invest in systems that make things efficient and easy for your employees.

Quotes:

“Poor communication is a frustrating productivity issue. Tasks have to be done twice when communication is ineffective.”

“Ineffective communication deteriorates the customer experience and business performance.”

“Poor communication frustrates employees just like it frustrates customers. Providing tools that will help employees communicate effectively will help make their jobs easier.”

“Organizations need to be thoughtful about the increasing demands on managers and employees in remote work and hybrid work models to maintain effective communication.”

About:

Dorian Stone is Head of Organizations Revenue of Grammarly Business, overseeing all operations for the integrated business solution. Previously, Dorian was VP of customer experience strategy and marketing at Medallia. He was also a co-founder and leader of McKinsey & Company’s Global Customer Experience practice and a program director and volunteer in the Peace Corps.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

1. What are the effects of poor communication in a workplace?
2. How can communication be improved in customer service?
3. How can you reduce rework and increase productivity in client-facing communication?
4. Why is communication important to the customer experience?
5. How do you equip teams to have effective and consistent communication?