Amazon’s Mayday Button Sets a New Standard

Just when you thought customer support was going the way of self-service, Amazon introduces a new level. The Kindle Fire Mayday button offers customers the best that service and technology can provide – instantaneous live customer support. The Mayday button, winner of the 2013 Laptop Game Changer Award (and that’s just for starters), combines “old world” personal customer service with “new world” mobility, instant access and interactive support.

Obviously the idea of personalized support is not new, but the delivery is. When a customer accesses an agent via the Mayday button, they see a friendly face that provides troubleshooting and support, education and when needed, can even write on the display of a Kindle Fire HDX. It literally takes the idea of Apple’s Genius bar and brings it home to the consumer.

This idea will catch on quickly, and changes the landscape of customer engagement. Plus, it brings home a central truth about customer interactions – you can add all the technology you want, but in the end, you still need people to provide that personal, engaging touch.

What does this mean to the contact center industry? For starters, customer engagement is a defining differentiator for many organizations. This creates a need to invest in developing a strong contact center that includes good agents a necessity. The new contact center era will develop somewhat differently from the past. In the beginning, troubleshooting was the primary goal. Getting the customer the best answer quickly was the most important goal. While that still resonates today, other aspects of contact centers and agent interaction will surface. These include:

• Embracing new technology – forward-thinking companies will quickly embrace the technology driving the Mayday button, giving their customers the same opportunities for this focused and informative interaction with an agent. This on-demand style will drive a deeper need for 24x7x365 coverage with rapid ramp-up capabilities.
• Finding the right agents – agents will no longer be able to provide just troubleshooting. The knowledge is important, but so are the soft skills, particularly friendly communication. Agents who have the “stage presence” for interacting via this technology will be in high demand.
• Committing to customer engagement – the companies that adopt this customer contact model will want to make a solid commitment, understanding there are costs associated with this model that customers will expect the company to absorb. While there may be some room to pass on associated costs, the majority of customers will want to purchase from a brand that is committed to them, ensuring every customer feels appreciated.

The caliber of agent increases in this environment, as does the need to quickly handle unexpected increases in transaction volume. Finding a partner with skilled agents who can represent your brand as effectively as you do will help organizations committed to this level of customer engagement reach solid ground more quickly. How?  By providing a strong set of experienced, educated remote agents that are ready for “prime time.”

The remote agent that can be successful in this environment will be dedicated to excellent customer interactions, easily communicate features, benefits and educational information, and even more important than ever before, show up in a professional, buttoned-up manner.

The truth is that remote agents who believe in professionalism will thrive in this environment, simply because appearance will matter almost as much as providing good information. Remote agents are the key to the success of the instant video access customer interactions. With customers’ expectations so high, it makes sense to align with an outsourcing partner who can provide these high-caliber agents practically on-demand, ensuring strong execution of this new interactive customer transaction.