Companies face a difficult challenge with a tight economy and increasing customer expectations. How can they get their message out to constituents without spending more money on live agents, direct mailings, and face-to-face interactions? Unfortunately, the answer for many comes in the form of myriad automated calls pushed out to individuals at all hours of the day, with no sense of intimacy or personalization.

I can personally attest to the fact that whenever I pick up my phone and there’s a slight hesitation, or silent pause on the other end of the line, I wish RoboCop was there to deliver justice to these robocalls, a sexy term for unsolicited automated interactions.

This couldn’t have been personified more in this past presidential election. (You voted, right?) Robocalls from political candidates throughout the country flooded phone lines, leaving many people annoyed and second-guessing picking up the phone. It was so bad that the Boston Globe even reported on an anti-robocall site President-elect Barack Obama had set up so the populace could sound off.

While many of these calls can just waste time, there are some essential calls — from a healthcare provider, collections agency, or financial institution — that may have some very important information that you may ignore based on prior experience. To try and counteract this, Seattle-based on-demand communication provider Varolii Corporation dished seven ways for people to tell the difference between robocalls and legitimate automated information. According to the company, an automated call with vital information will always be:

• relationship-based, meaning the caller will immediately recognize the caller as someone they do business with already;
• courteous, the calling organization will identify itself immediately, using a natural sounding voice in a conversational tone;
• personalized, the message asks for the recipient by name (which is pronounced correctly);
• relevant, the information is specific and applicable only to the individual receiving the call;
• valuable, the reason for the call is essential, like a fraud alert, flight delay, or prescription pick-up reminder;
• private, the recipient is asked to authenticate herself before receiving confidential information; and
• interactive, there is an opportunity to have a conversation by answering questions and confirming selections, such as confirming a credit card purchase.

According to Steve Zirkel, vice president and general manager of business continuity at Varolii, the first tip, relationship-based, is the macro factor for most everything else listed. “We’re trying to be the highest value for the dollar spent,” he says. “So if we did telemarketing work it would be really hard for us to distinguish that high-dollar return for the dollar spent with us because there’s no relationship we’re leveraging communication on.”

Many clients understand that forging a relationship is important, especially in automated notifications, but Zirkel goes on to explain that many do not understand privacy and interactive. Speaking more specifically about the latter, he says people do not truly know what interactive means in this particular field.

“It’s not about asking a question and getting an answer,” he stresses. “Interactive is where the client and consumer get all the value. A lot of people use this service as just a cheap talking letter, and that’s absolutely the wrong thing to do with this service.” The fear is — while maybe not as extreme as RoboCop coming to the rescue — people just won’t buy in. “No one will want to sign up for the service if that’s all it’s going to be,” he concludes.

In the ramp up for Bozeman, Mont.-based on-demand customer experience management provider RightNow Technologies’ Summit 2008 here in Colorado Springs, you can expect many of the attendees to yearn for — and ask about — ways to continue to improve their companies’ customer experiences amidst an economy that has taken the country for a roller-coaster ride in the past several weeks.

Expect some more “on-the-scene” blog posts after some conversations with key executives and customers as the summit officially kicks off in a couple of hours with a keynote speech from RightNow Chief Executive Officer Greg Gianforte.

Nevertheless, there was a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive (and in the pursuit of transparency, sponsored by RightNow) on the impact of customer experience. In its third year, the study finds that the experience is becoming more important as consumers continue to demand the service bar to be raised.

Here are some highlights drawn from the poll of 2,112 United States consumers (age 18 and older):

• 87 percent will discontinue business with a company after a negative customer experience, an increase of 7 percentage points from 2007;
• 58 percent will “always or often” pay more for a better experience during a down economy;
• 84 percent of those polled will tell others about a bad customer experience, up 10 percentage points since last year; and
• 51 percent of consumers want the option of a live Web chat session.

What was particularly interesting was the way in which consumers react to poor service. According to the study:

• 26 percent have sworn;
• 17 percent have shouted;
• 9 percent have felt sick;
• 5 percent of males say they hit or break something; and
• 9 percent of females cry.

With customer service hubs becoming the first interaction touchpoint for many consumers, the study finds it is imperative for companies to ensure they are doling out the goods for both instant and future business success. Fifty-eight percent of respondents are “at least somewhat likely” to make a purchase during a service engagement. Additionally, outstanding service is the top reason respondents would recommend a company to someone else–coming in at 58 percent. Low prices and product/service quality came in second and third, respectively.

Now for the call to action. For the companies out there waging the war of customer service every single day, are these stats surprising to you? CRM magazine and other media publications have been writing about the customer experience for some time now, but is it really hitting home or is it just another nice-to-have for you at this time?