On Nov. 7, 2021, this article about the CustomerFirst Congress appeared on Customer First. It was written by BBP media.
On November 11, 2021, the CustomerFirst Congress and Social Service Congress will take place at Mereveld in Utrecht. Cynthia Mak, Director Customer Care at Talpa Network is one of the speakers. A brief introduction.
‘As Director of Customer Care at Talpa Network, I make sure we help customers of various Talpa brands -and languages!-‘ says keynote Cynthia Mak. ‘For example Linda subscribers, VakantieVeilingen winners, and Kijk-users. With innovative, clear and efficient processes that are pleasant for the customer, work better for the team and can also deliver (considerable) efficiency gains. Essential in this is my own experience as an agent, manager and consumer. I switch easily between data, processes and the human measure, and like to test in practice which actions are inefficient for my team and for the customer, so that I can implement improvements that lead to what is important: a fast, good and friendly answer for every customer.
The title of Mak’s presentation is “Inextricably connected: customer contact and emotions,” “Connection. Contact. The human touch. In the past two years in particular, it has become clearer than ever that we miss it when it is no longer taken for granted, why it is important to us and what the effect is when we don’t give that business the space and attention it needs. The pandemic changed the way we buy, the customers, expectations and services, as well as how we behave online and offline. How have these changes affected the role of customer contact? I’d love to take you through my story.
What do you think is the biggest customer contact issue right now?
In the desire to deploy as much self-service as possible, we also focus on less contact. Are we paying enough attention to the value of (customer) contact, do we still have the human dimension in mind, and are we staying connected in the right way?
What are the major players currently influencing CX the most?
The pandemic has accelerated the shift from offline to online. This not only affects what we expect and what we want, but it also exposes what we miss when we no longer have it at our fingertips.
What have you missed most about physical meetings?
The interaction between speaker and audience, getting to know people spontaneously at the closing drinks.
Can you give a hint of what your story is about?
Actually a very current theme, namely: connection, contact, and the human touch. Just in the past two years it has become clearer than ever that we miss when it is no longer obvious, why it is important to us, and what the effect is when we don’t give those things the space and attention it needs.
