Over two-thirds of companies now compete primarily based on customer experience, up from 36 percent just ten years ago. Companies that want to drive growth and stand out from the competition should invest in a culture of upskilling and digital automation. Innovative CX leaders at these companies have the opportunity to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction by upskilling their teams through intelligent solutions.

Barriers to upskilling

According to Acquia, 51 percent of respondents in its customer experience trends report struggle with the speed needed to bring customer experiences to the market. Some organizations are better at anticipating their skill sets to succeed and actively invest in training programs to support their goals. But while some forge ahead, most leaders say they are not ready.

In our latest ebook, Hacking CX: The New Standard for Customer Communication, we explore the different challenges facing customer experience teams today and how CX leaders can get ahead of the curve. Download now.

Sixty-four percent of executives in the U.S. believe it is up to them to take the lead in closing skill gaps and preparing their teams. A new State of Upskilling report by technology skills platform, Pluralsight, found that although leaders understand the importance of continuous learning and upskilling, core challenges can slow skills development.

• Time. The number one barrier to upskilling is lack of time—38 percent of respondents claimed other demands prevent their learning efforts. Thirty-one percent said that leaders could enable tech skill development by allocating more work hours for learning.
• Lack of tailored programs. Only 23 percent of leaders report that their upskilling practices are tailored to the needs of each individual. Workers want digital, self-paced programs.
• Money. Upskilling is seen as expensive. However, most companies already provide these opportunities to employees—94 percent reported that their employer offers upskilling programs. However, professional development stipends and tuition programs exist for workers to reach personal growth. In fact, The Wall Street Journal reported that employers spend an average of $1,300 on education per employee each year. This is great for employees, but what if that money was allocated toward building capabilities in strategic, priority areas for the company?
• High expectations. Transforming your workforce doesn’t mean your call center staff need to become software developers. Leaders should set realistic expectations that workers can learn to work with technology and automate their work with capabilities such as natural language processing.

What CX teams need is a practical, low-barrier approach to upskilling. One that won’t take time away from core tasks and presents opportunities to learn while doing the core work. The good news is that many companies already have the budget and the team to do the job. They don’t need to go out and hire entirely new teams.

Upskilling for CX teams

For customer experience teams, soft skills such as leadership and communication are arguably more important than hard skills. Our hyper-connected world has exacerbated the need for effective communication across a variety of channels. Forty-six percent of consumers will abandon a brand if the employees are not knowledgeable. In an economy fueled by customer experience, there is little room for poor communication.

Better customer communication

Your CX team interacts with your customers across multiple channels—email, live chat, and social media. To build brand credibility and customer loyalty, you need to engage your customers in a consistent and authentic way. To achieve that, you need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively.

AI-powered tools like Grammarly can eliminate grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. A global customer experience firm using Grammarly Business saw an 82 percent reduction in chat error rate. Another enterprise team was able to cut down on writing mistakes by 74 percent. Once your customer messages are mistake-free, you can incorporate suggestions to improve readability, word choice, and tone. Most people struggle to write concisely, and tools that can teach your CX staff to write more concisely, will save them time in the long run.

Customers gravitate towards experiences that make them feel heard and appreciated. The tone of our customer communication is incredibly important in increasing customer satisfaction and converting customers into loyal fans. According to Salesforce research, 84 percent of customers say being treated like a person rather than a number is paramount to winning their business. Upskilling these soft skills through intuitive, smart tools can ensure your customer communication stays engaging and friendly.

Higher productivity

Research shows when CX teams have access to tools that improve their ability to handle customer issues and simply their work, productivity increases by up to 20 percent. Customer satisfaction also increases by 11 percent, and the customer’s effort decreases by 9 percent.

Grammarly Business helps new and tenured CX agents write better and faster everywhere they work by seamlessly integrating across customer-facing channels and platforms. Individuals have access to features that transform sentences with just one click and enhances their writing productivity as they onboard or improve their skills.

Teams that use Grammarly Business for customer-facing functions report a 12 percent reduction in contact for customer resolution and a 50 percent reduction in writing time per task.

More Collaboration

Better communication fosters teamwork. Clear and consistent writing not only ensures that ideas are more likely to be understood—they’re more likely to be understood similarly across a team. This shared context helps break down silos between individuals and teams, reduces unnecessary back-and-forth, and increases buy-in for decision-making.

Grammarly Business can also align your team with customizable style guides. Company-wide style guides can ensure that teams representing your brand are using company-specific language and following brand guidelines. An enterprise customer-support team caught over 300 errors per day using the Grammarly style guide feature. As a CX leader, you can’t coach or edit everyone, but you can set up processes that automate the basics.

Learn More

Learn more about how Grammarly Business addresses core customer experience challenges and helps upskill CX teams with scalable communication. Download now! Hacking CX: The New Standard for Customer Communication, or reach out to our sales team to request a demo for your team.