1. Creating the Low-Effort
Customer Support Experience

2.  Desired Business Outcome
 Connecting Profits, Loyalty & Low Effort
 The Science Behind Low Effort
 Applying the Science to Create the
Low-Effort Customer Support
Conversation
 Formula for the Low-Effort Customer
Support Conversation
 Applying Pretium’s Formula to Achieve
Desired Business Outcome
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3. Desired Business Outcome
Create a front-line customer support
experience that:
lowers the customers’ perception of
the effort they must expend to resolve
their problem or isue
boosts the low-effort component of
external customer surveys; and
increases Net Promoter Score or other
relevant customer loyalty metric
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4. Connecting Profits, Loyalty & Low Effort
Results from Comprehensive Research Study
conducted by the Customer Contact Council1
 The greatest predictor of a company’s financial
profitability is a loyal customer base
 The greatest predictor of loyalty is creating a
low-effort experience, either real or perceived,
for the company’s customers
1
The Customer Contact Council®, a division of the Corporate Executive Board Company, is a global
leader in research on loyalty in the service channel. The CCC’s June 2010 study included a survey
of over 75,000 B2B and B2C customers during a 3-year period about their recent service interactions
in major non-face-to-face channels (live phone calls, voice prompts, web, chat and e-mail). The
companies represented dozens of industries throughout North America, Europe, South Africa,
Australia and New Zealand.
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5. The Science Behind Low Effort
Creating a Low-Effort Perception
 Setting the right expectations for the customer
based on the customer’s practical and
emotional needs
 Crafting and building a positive connection
with the customer using engagement
communication skills and methods grounded
in the following two theories:
• Uncertainty Reduction Theory
• Return Trip Effect Theory
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6. The Science Behind Low Effort (cont.)
Uncertainty Reduction Theory2
As uncertainty between strangers is reduced:
• verbal communication increases
• interpersonal comfort levels increase
• liking levels increase
• feelings of similarity increase
Return Trip Effect3
Confirms the existence of the feeling that a return
trip takes less time to complete, despite identical
distance traveled and time spent
Caused by “violation” of expectations for the initial
trip and an adjustment of expectations for the return
trip
2
Berger, Charles R. and Richard J. Calabrese. “Some Explorations in Initial Interaction and Beyond:
Toward a Developmental Theory of Interpersonal Communication.” Human Communications
Research 1 (1975): 99-112. Print.
3
van de Ven, Niels, Leon Rijswijk, and Michael M. Roy. “The Return Trip Effect: Why the Return Trip
Often Seems to Take Less Time.” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 18 (2011): 827-832. Print. 6

7. Applying Low-Effort Science to Create
Low-Effort Customer Conversations
 When a customer contacts a call center with a
technical support problem/issue, he has inherent
uncertainties and expectations based on a variety
of factors, including:
• prior experiences
• complexity of the problem
• context in which the problem has arisen
• emotional need(s) tied to the problem
• conditions immediately preceding the contact
 Aside from their technical competencies, in order
to reduce customer effort, agents must know and
apply skills, methods and techniques engineered
to set the right customer expectations throughout
the interaction, increase the customer’s certainty
and create a comfortable interaction
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8. Formula for the Low-Effort Customer
Support Conversation
Practical + Emotional + Low-Effort = Value/Loyalty
 Identify the customer’s practical problem or issue
 Engage the customer in a way that eliminates emotional
barriers and creates emotional buy-in related to the
product- or service-related issue (loyalty is driven primarily
by the emotional dynamic of the touchpoint)
 Set expectations for resolution and reduce the customer’s
uncertainty by setting an agenda, which positions the
entire interaction for low-effort perception
 Solve the customer’s practical problem/issue by:
• intentionally and proactively blending product, system
and behavioral skills
• putting the customer at the center of the interaction,
not the company’s systems and processes
 Close the interaction by tying value back to the company
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9. Applying Pretium’s Formula to Achieve
Desired Business Outcome
Company’s Primary Need Pretium’s Core Competency
Creating low effort customer Engraining front-line agent
experiences and boosting the skills, methods and behaviors
low-effort component of required to create low-effort
external customer surveys customer experiences
Low-Effort Variables
Within Scope of Agent’s Control Outside Scope of Agent’s Control
Technical Competency Product Quality
Creation of Satisfied Customer IVR Experience
Use of Jargon Call Queue Wait Time
Proficiency at Identifying, Connecting With Expectations Based on Social Media
& Addressing Customer Needs Comments & Reviews
Engineering Optimal Customer Experience Any Self-Help Option Customer Has
Using Special Skills, Methods & Techniques, Attempted
Including:
Non-Company-Related Software Difficulties
•Engaging in the right listening skills
•Setting the right expectations Company’s Rules, Policies & Procedures
•Communicating in a manner that reduces
customer uncertainty Agent Has Some Control
•Leading the interaction with value Expectations Based on Previous Interactions
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St. Louis, Missouri 63146
636.481.5100
pretiumsolutions.com
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