This isn’t just a moral obligation – the UK regulatory landscape is increasingly focusing on the customer experience. In fact, the new Consumer Duty put forward by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is testament of the organisations ongoing commitment to improve the customer experience
The FCA’s Consumer Duty is asking firms to analyse how consumer support and communications with customers plays into how they deliver good outcomes to their target market.
Of particular note:
- Principle 6 – A firm must pay due regard to the interests of the customer and treat them fairly
- Principle 7 – A firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its clients and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair, and not misleading
- Principle 12 – A firm must act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers
Over the past three years, multiple calls to action and Dear CEO letters have been published by the FCA, demanding they support their customers. The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has published similar articles and research into the matter, including the 2022 list of best and worst telecoms customer service, where they revealed that call waiting times are still above pre-pandemic levels and that only half of customers are satisfied with how their complaint was handled. Ofgem, is also calling on energy suppliers to improve their customer service standards, all of which highlight the importance of providing the service for the customer, and the importance of being able to demonstrate due diligence.
It’s no longer enough to prevent risk of harm – the reality is that regulators are expecting firms to deliver good outcomes to customers. They expect complaints to be handled fairly and promptly, they want consumers to not be punished for their loyalty or, on the other hand, for leaving a provider and they want firms to demonstrate how they are providing value to customers and enabling them to pursue their financial goals.
Many firms may be aware of all these facts, yet a question remains: how can they rise to the challenge?
To deliver the best possible customer outcomes, businesses need to develop a better understanding of customer behaviours.
In other words, it’s not just about having good interactions with customers – it’s looking into the target market, it’s using analytics to understand consumer behaviour, it’s about using technology to innovate the way firms interact with their consumers. If you understand your customers, you can leverage that understanding to provide what they need, when they need it, wherever they need it.
What does this mean in practice?
In practice, this means optimising the customer journey based on learnings about customer behaviours, and ensuring the journey supports these learnings.
At FoundeverUK, we achieve this through the use of:
Omni-channel CX
A personalised omni-channel CX offering enables customers to interact with brands in their channel of choice, improving the overall experience, also empowering agents to follow a customer through their journey, regardless of where they started their conversation.
Analytics
Using data analytics can provide invaluable insights into the customer journey, facilitating impactful change that will lead to the best possible outcome. Analytics can also be used to demonstrability and explainability should a need arise, it can also be used to identify weaknesses in agent behaviour and provide targeted training to address them.
CX Learning
Effective CX learning for agents ensures they know how to offer the best customer outcomes and when to intervene for maximum impact.
Ensuring compliance is demonstrable
Of course, it’s not just about saying you’re compliant, you also need to be able to demonstrate that you are fully compliant with the necessary legislation.
If there is no evidence, it never happened – this is the principle that guides how we operate in relation to compliance in the modern world. All regulators nowadays have rules and guidance around record management, evidence-based action plans and data driven and informed decision making.
To find out more about how we can help you better understand customer behaviours, deliver better customer outcomes, and ensure that can demonstrate compliance, get in touch with our team.