Lighten up your CX

During the last TSIA conference, Dan Gingiss of The Experience Maker shared some excellent tips for improving the customer experience, which I thought could be useful to all of you who are planning upgrades to your support website nest year. He uses the mnemonic WISER to capture his recommendations.

W is for witty. We’re not talking hilarious humor here, but many support websites are drab and serious and lack personality entirely. How about a clever approach to support?

I is for immersive, which means unified across silos and centered on the user. The best way to achieve this is through a group effort–and everyone can contribute, including newer employees who are usually much less attached to the silos than long-tenured team members.

S is for shareable. On the surface, this may apply more to marketing sites, but think again. If your knowledge base is awesome, if you do provide seamless access to everything a user may need, don’t you think they will encourage others around them to use your support site? And don’t make it hard to access the site either. Signing up should be a cinch.

E is for extraordinary. That’s a big goal. Start by looking for every opportunity to make the experience frictionless. (Hint: if you need instructions to use any part of the site, you have friction!) And make sure the next step is always understood if there is a wait. When will I get a response on my case? What happens to the feature request I just entered?

R is for responsive. No, it’s not about the website itself being responsive, it’s about entering into conversations with our customers through online platforms.

Does your website feel WISE or WISER? Tell us about it in the comments–or ask for help to move there.