We all know what it feels like to receive great customer service. It’s typically fast, streamlined, and deals with your specific issues.
It’s like the agent already knows who you are.
In many situations they actually do. “Know Your Customer” tools help call centers identify callers and then create personalized experiences.
And offering this type of support at your businesses is easier than ever before.
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In this post:
- What we mean when we talk about KYC
- Know Your Customer is easy to set up
- KYC is the first step in personalized service
- How KYC benefits the contact center
- Next steps for better KYC
What we mean when we talk about KYC
There are two kinds of Know Your Customer (KYC), with different meanings.
KYC in the customer service industry generally means the process of automatically identifying incoming callers, and using this data to power personalized experiences.
This could be by delivering personalized self-service options through an IVR. Or, it could mean providing data to call center agents that lets them tailor their support towards each customer.
Both options are focused on meeting customers’ needs more effectively.
What is KYC’s other meaning?
KYC also refers to a set of anti-fraud requirements that financial institutions must follow to ensure they know to whom they are providing financial services.
These requirements aim to reduce the instances of money laundering and fraud.
Know Your Customer sounds complicated, but it’s easy to set up
Setting up your call center to identify incoming callers is relatively easy. You just need to use a Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) system.
This is a system that integrates all the software you use, such as CRM or helpdesk, with your phone lines or VoIP technology.
Once integrated, these tools can share data. You can set up automated processes across multiple tools, whereby a trigger in one system results in an action in another.
CTI powers many different types of call center automation. But it’s especially useful for finding out information about your customer.
Here’s an example of how it works:
The CTI system identifies the phone number of incoming calls. It then runs a real-time search of tools such as your CRM or Help Desk to match this number to a customer account.
If it finds a matching number, the CTI surfaces relevant account information to the agent who receives the call. This tells the agent who they are talking to before they answer, meaning they can jump straight into solving the customer’s issues.
Knowing who’s calling is the first step in personalized support
Know Your Customer is the starting point for almost all kinds of customer service personalization.
We’ll look at some of the most common below.
4 Key benefits of KYC
#1 Better routing
Effective routing means sending callers to the agents who are best placed to provide support. This is impossible without a way to identify customers and to spot potential problems.
A common example of personalized routing is identifying high-value customers (often based on their phone numbers) and putting them straight through to a dedicated VIP team.
#2 Personalized customer support
Fast access to customer data helps support agents to see customer issues and then provide relevant help.
For example, they can see the customer’s recent orders and then provide relevant information without searching through the CRM.
#3 Discovering relevant offers
Sales or retention teams armed with customer data can offer more relevant upsells.
They can see the problems the customer is struggling with and offer solutions that fix these pain points.
#4 Personalized self-service
Not all personalized service happens through an agent. With KYC systems in place, you can provide relevant self-service help, enabling customers to find answers independently.
For example, you could use your IVR to provide order updates to customers with a recent order automatically.
| How KYC impacts call center CX | ||
| Type of Service | Before KYC | After KYC |
| Routing | Non-existent or occurs through frustrating IVR experiences. | Send customers to relevant help based on past interactions with the company. |
| Personalized service | Agent has to identify the customer and then manually look up their information. | Agent knows who they are talking to before answering. They have easy access to all customer data. |
| Offer relevant services | Agent has to discover customer issues. If the customer doesn’t share, they guess at relevant services. | Agent knows the exact problems the customer has. They can offer specific services to fix these issues. |
| Personalized self-service | Customers can access self-service by searching through your resources. | Your system automatically highlights relevant self-service help. |
KYC benefits contact centers in many ways
Knowing more about your customers is advantageous for call centers in an almost immeasurable number of ways.
Some of the most important benefits include:
Cut handle time
Knowing who your customer is has a significant impact on AHT. That’s because agents don’t have to spend time on each call getting to know the customer and then searching for their account in the CRM.
Instead, they have instant access to it when they pick up. Considering agents typically spend 75% of a call on manual research, this can significantly reduce the time it takes to handle calls.
Better routing can also impact handle time. Here’s why:
- Transfers extend handle time significantly
- Relevant agents can solve problems faster than generalists.
Higher rate of First Contact Resolution (FCR)
Better routing also means more callers are put through to the right agent the first time around.
This reduces the need for transfers, so you’ll improve your first contact resolution. Minimizing transfers is important because 68% of customers say they are annoyed by them.
Improve self-service uptake
Customers love self-service, but they don’t like confusing interfaces that make it hard to find the answers they need.
Identifying callers and highlighting relevant self-service resources is an easy way to increase the percentage of customers who use them.
Improve CSat
Faster handle times, better access to self-help, and more calls solved on first contact will inevitably lead to better CSat scores.
And customers that are happier with the service they receive are more likely to stick around for longer and spend more.
Next steps for better KYC
To improve how you recognize your customers, you need to choose a CTI that will help you integrate your tools with your telephony.
You can then connect your telephony with the places you store your customer data, such as your CRM or helpdesk.
Remember that good CTI provides benefits far beyond just knowing your customer better. You implement a whole host of call center automation.
This blog post details some of the most important benefits of No-Code automation.
