We’re now less than six months from Christmas, and the majority of retailers are well-advanced in planning how they will handle their busiest time. And with economic conditions little better than in 2012, competition is expected to be intense as shoppers demand more for their money.So what do retailers need to focus on to ensure that Christmas 2013 is a happy one?New research by L2 into spec...
What will the customers of the future demand? That was one of the topics discussed at the latest Eptica UK Customer Day, held in London on Tuesday 25th June. As well as an update on Eptica’s future roadmap, attendees heard first hand from customer Easyroommate on how it has transformed service in 37 countries, reducing inbound calls by 75% and increasing First Call Resolution to over 90%. Th...
Channels, such as email and social media, have increased the pressure on organisations to deliver a fast, accurate response. Whereas consumers would have happily waited at least for a week for a reply to a letter, expectations for email are that queries will be answered with 48 hours (although our own Eptica Multichannel Customer Service Study found that many companies are much slower than this.)S...
Customer service at banks is again in the spotlight. Firstly, an undercover reporter from The Times found shortcomings at one of Lloyds Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) complaints handling centres. Staff were allegedly being taught to reject potential complaints and ignore potential fraud by Lloyds salesmen. The bank has said that it identified shortcomings independently and has retrained staff ...
Staff turnover has always been a problem in a lot of customer service teams. While the UK average employee turnover rate is approximately 15%, in contact centres it averages around 25%. That means one in four agents leaves every year - although for some contact centres turnover can be as much as 60%.One of the key impacts of staff turnover is increased training costs. On average, new agents receiv...
Navigating phone menus when you call a contact centre is a source of much frustration for consumers. Done well, the concept of phone menus should help improve the customer experience. You’ll be directed to the best agent to deal with your enquiry and they will be able to use the information you’ve typed in to give a head start on solving your problem, without needing to transfer you ar...
Efficiently delivering the right customer experience is the number one priority for every organisation. But in today’s complex, fast-moving world this can be challenging. The number of contact channels is constantly increasing, competition has never been fiercer and the growth of mobile devices means customer service has to operate 24x7, providing the perfect experience quickly and efficient...
Businesses today operate globally, but need to provide a local service if they are to deliver the customer experience that consumers rightly demand. That means providing information, answers and support in local languages, at the time that customers want it, and of course through their channel of choice.Managing global customer service is therefore a challenge, particularly for web-based businesse...
Insurers have traditionally been slower than other industries when it comes to establishing themselves on social media. Worries about breaking regulations mean that they have been wary about launching onto Twitter and Facebook. Backing this up, own 2012 Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study found that just one insurer out of the UK’s top 10 had clear links displayed to Twitter and Fa...
The customer experience has never been more important to businesses. Channels such as social media enable customers to instantly share their views on brands with the world while advances in web and mobile technology mean that consumers now demand instant answers and a superior experience whatever device or channel they are using.Being able to balance these pressures while operating efficiently and...