5 ms·

They should still expose the emotion level to the call center operator, just in a different way. Have something on the UI that indicates the level of emotion. I

by afro88 2y ago

They should still expose the emotion level to the call center operator, just in a different way. Have something on the UI that indicates the level of emotion. It's still an important metric to take into account when resolving the customer enquiry.

wvenable 2y ago
This makes the assumption that the emotional level of the caller matches the severity of the issue but I don't think that is often the case.
- guntars 2y ago
  Perhaps not in reality, but it's the customer perception that matters.
  - t-writescode 2y ago
    The whole point of this tool is to help relax the employee. The customer perception doesn’t matter here.
    - dotnet00 2y ago
      1. Customer is mad about problem 2. Support person does not know this and speaks as if the other side is happy and casual 3. Customer gets even more mad because they feel their problem isn't being taken seriously, leading to some sort of escalation Customer perception does matter.
      - lupire 2y ago
        Obviously the AI needs to adjust the support person's voice to match the customer's, so the customer gets back what they give. Prior art from art: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=naleynXS7yo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=naleynXS7yo
      - t-writescode 2y ago
        And how does the script-reading, process-following, zero-power custech employee change what they can do based on customer rage?
        dotnet00 2y ago
        They aren't robots, they can put on a more genuine tone explaining to the customer that they can't do much, or escalate to someone more powerful without the customer having to argue with them to do it. A family member had a banking problem last year (they got locked out of their account due to accidentally tripping account theft protection). Of course initially they weren't all that mad, it was their own fault. But customer support staff just had them running around in circles, gradually getting more and more infuriated until one support person finally empathized with their months of daily struggle and bothered to escalate them to someone who was able to force through a fix. I had a similar experience with my university last year, the support employees were constantly tone deaf about the serious trouble they were causing me by asking me to drop all my other obligations immediately to deal with the consequences of their mistakes. Every "sorry for the inconvenience" just rubbed salt into the wound because it just further emphasized that they didn't give a shit and that I had no recourse. Especially because the employees did have ways of making things better, by being proactive in providing information and making the accommodation adjustments that were within their power without my having to ask about them.
        t-writescode 2y ago
        This sounds like a much broader and uglier problem in the system than empathy between custech and the customer - namely, empathy between the broader company and the customer. I am not convinced that the kinds of companies that will be using these services are the kind of company that even listens to their customer support agents, and would rather sell them out to the lowest bidder and the only reason they have any customer support agents at all is so they don't get in legal trouble because their automated system doesn't have all edge cases supported.
        dotnet00 2y ago
      - wvenable 2y ago
        I would think calm and casual support is probably the best way to deescalate.
        dotnet00 2y ago
        Surely all of us have experienced having to talk to someone who is angry, and even if we can't do anything about it, adjusting the way we speak to show that we understand their anger? Eg letting them (to an extent) rant about the trouble being caused to them, phrasing things to not come off as confrontational or blaming, anticipating things that might trigger another outburst (eg being asked to try restarting the router when they've already claimed to have called in several times and thus may have been asked to do so several times).
jrmg 2y ago
The article addresses this: …if an operator cannot tell if a customer is angry, the operator may not be able to react properly, which could just upset the customer further. Therefore, the developers made sure that a slight element of anger remains audible.
- afro88 2y ago
  That doesn't address it. That tones it all the way down to a "slight element of anger"

by afro88 2y ago

wvenable 2y ago

This makes the assumption that the emotional level of the caller matches the severity of the issue but I don't think that is often the case.

guntars 2y ago
Perhaps not in reality, but it's the customer perception that matters.
- t-writescode 2y ago
  The whole point of this tool is to help relax the employee. The customer perception doesn’t matter here.
  - dotnet00 2y ago
    1. Customer is mad about problem 2. Support person does not know this and speaks as if the other side is happy and casual 3. Customer gets even more mad because they feel their problem isn't being taken seriously, leading to some sort of escalation Customer perception does matter.
    - lupire 2y ago
      Obviously the AI needs to adjust the support person's voice to match the customer's, so the customer gets back what they give. Prior art from art: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=naleynXS7yo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=naleynXS7yo
    - t-writescode 2y ago
      And how does the script-reading, process-following, zero-power custech employee change what they can do based on customer rage?
      - dotnet00 2y ago
        They aren't robots, they can put on a more genuine tone explaining to the customer that they can't do much, or escalate to someone more powerful without the customer having to argue with them to do it. A family member had a banking problem last year (they got locked out of their account due to accidentally tripping account theft protection). Of course initially they weren't all that mad, it was their own fault. But customer support staff just had them running around in circles, gradually getting more and more infuriated until one support person finally empathized with their months of daily struggle and bothered to escalate them to someone who was able to force through a fix. I had a similar experience with my university last year, the support employees were constantly tone deaf about the serious trouble they were causing me by asking me to drop all my other obligations immediately to deal with the consequences of their mistakes. Every "sorry for the inconvenience" just rubbed salt into the wound because it just further emphasized that they didn't give a shit and that I had no recourse. Especially because the employees did have ways of making things better, by being proactive in providing information and making the accommodation adjustments that were within their power without my having to ask about them.
        t-writescode 2y ago
        This sounds like a much broader and uglier problem in the system than empathy between custech and the customer - namely, empathy between the broader company and the customer. I am not convinced that the kinds of companies that will be using these services are the kind of company that even listens to their customer support agents, and would rather sell them out to the lowest bidder and the only reason they have any customer support agents at all is so they don't get in legal trouble because their automated system doesn't have all edge cases supported.
        dotnet00 2y ago
    - wvenable 2y ago
      I would think calm and casual support is probably the best way to deescalate.
      - dotnet00 2y ago
        Surely all of us have experienced having to talk to someone who is angry, and even if we can't do anything about it, adjusting the way we speak to show that we understand their anger? Eg letting them (to an extent) rant about the trouble being caused to them, phrasing things to not come off as confrontational or blaming, anticipating things that might trigger another outburst (eg being asked to try restarting the router when they've already claimed to have called in several times and thus may have been asked to do so several times).

jrmg 2y ago

The article addresses this: …if an operator cannot tell if a customer is angry, the operator may not be able to react properly, which could just upset the customer further. Therefore, the developers made sure that a slight element of anger remains audible.

afro88 2y ago
That doesn't address it. That tones it all the way down to a "slight element of anger"