Social media has radically changed the relationship between customers and companies, tilting the balance of power towards the consumer. Poor experiences can now be transmitted around the world in seconds, hurting brand reputation and potential revenues.US cable company Comcast is the latest business to find itself in the global spotlight, after a simple request from a customer to cancel his i...
Figures released this week by the Energy Ombudsman show that complaints against energy companies in the UK are at their highest ever level. They more than doubled, from 10,598 in the first six months of 2013 to 22,671 in the same period of 2014. 84% of complaints related to billing and this news follows previous large fines for misselling for a number of utilities.Driven by a desire to open up the...
Contact centre agents are at the front line of providing customer service, acting as the public face of an organisation. It is therefore critical to give them the training, tools and information they need to deliver a superior and joined-up customer experience.However, as they have often grown in a channel-based, ad hoc manner, many contact centres struggle to integrate information from different ...
Last month Amazon turned twenty. In 1994 founder Jeff Bezos left his job, drove to Seattle and set up the business in his garage. Originally going to be called Cadabra (as in Abracadabra), the name changed to Amazon after fears that people would mishear it as “cadaver”. It now offers over 230 million separate items for sale in the US alone and had 2013 revenues of $74.5 billion.Amazon ...
In recent years, the consumer insurance market has changed out of all recognition. New channels such as the internet have transformed the landscape. Indeed, according to the Financial Conduct Authority, almost half of all internet users have researched motor insurance on price comparison websites, with 4 out of 5 of them going on to buy policies through them.Customer loyalty is a thing of the past...
Engaging with customers is one of the key challenges facing businesses today. Building and maintaining strong relationships across multiple devices and channels requires a combination of reactive and proactive processes in order to meet the needs of demanding customers.Gartner has talked extensively about the Customer Engagement Center (CEC), the replacement for the Contact Centre that it believes...
Insurers in the UK are under unprecedented pressure. Margins have been slashed by the rise of the internet and price comparison sites, competition is growing, customer loyalty is at an all-time low and claim costs and regulation are both increasing.Against this backdrop,the balance of power is shifting overwhelmingly in favour of consumers. They expect more, for less – and want answers faste...
As part of its latest research into the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) market, Gartner identified the Internet of Things as the latest factor driving the increasing importance of CRM. Cheaper sensors coupled with the prevalence of Wi-Fi and broadband networks opens up new possibilities for customer engagement using previously ‘dumb’ electronics.At this year’s Mobile World...
Today, the public sector currently faces two major challenges. At a time of major pressure on budgets, the need to decrease costs and increase efficiency is paramount, whether your organisation is operating in central or local government or within the health or emergency services.Additionally, citizens and patients now want to contact the public sector through more and more digital channels. Wheth...
It can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Brazil on Thursday. Whatever your interest in football, it is set to dominate the media for the next few weeks (or until England is knocked out).As with any major event, there is a corresponding effect on both businesses and consumers, particularly when it comes to the customer experience. I think the impac...