When we trumpet adages like “customers are always right about how they feel,” “treat customers as one in a million rather than one of a million,” and “view customers as people, not numbers,” we are ultimately underscoring the importance of sentiment. We are arguing that “feeling” and “emotion” are pivotal components of customer centricity. We are advocating for an empathy-driven approach the experience. Appealing in principle, an wholehearted emphasis on sentiment and empathy is rare to find in practice.

Many organisations continue to view the customer experience from an inside-out, business-minded perspective. Others may claim they view the experience through their customers’ eyes, but they only consider service-level concerns like resolutions and accuracy. They do not truly consider how their customer experience is making customers feel.

As 2019 wraps up and we rapidly move into the new decade, it is time to position empathy where it belongs: at the heart of your customer experience strategy.

The upcoming Customer Contact Week Australia & NZ will provide a plethora of tips, strategies and best practices for uncovering, assessing and leveraging customer sentiment within your contact center strategy. Ahead of the event, the CCW team have prepared five quick tips to help you become a more empathetic, sentiment-driven organisation.