In today’s time-poor world, consumers increasingly pick who they buy from, and what channel they use, based on ease of use. This can be seen in the growth of local shopping at the expense of out of town supermarkets, as well as the rise of techniques such as Click and Collect that make it simple to pick up online purchases at a convenient location.
Social media has radically changed the relationship between brands and consumers. Today customers increasingly expect companies to quickly answer questions and queries via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, they are accustomed to leaving feedback through reviews sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp. In fact, a J.D. Power study found that two thirds of customers who contacted...
If you ask consumers to list their main issues with poor customer service then receiving inaccurate, incomplete or plain wrong answers are normally at or near the top. Whatever channel they contact you through; consumers want a response that shows you understand their query and an answer that solves their problem. However, contacting a company can often resemble a lucky dip, with consumers re...
In a world that continues to get busier, customers increasingly value convenience and speed when interacting with companies. Whether it is buying from a local shop because it is easier than getting in the car and driving to an out of town supermarket, or banking via a smartphone or tablet, people want a seamless experience that minimizes the time they need to spend on activities.
Digital channels bring new opportunities and challenges to retail businesses. Unlike in a physical shop it can be difficult to predict demand, making it more complex to ensure that you can scale to meet customer needs. Fail to deliver the right experience and consumers will simply move elsewhere, reducing sales and impacting profits.This is particularly true at Christmas. It may be the busiest tim...
The Institute of Customer Service’s latest six monthly UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) reveals the lowest figures since 2010 – and marks the fourth consecutive fall in customer satisfaction levels.The overall Index fell from 76.3 in July 2014 to 76.0 in January 2015 – in January 2013 it was 78.2. No fewer than 58% of the organisations (113 brands) in UKCSI have seen their ...
Delivering superior customer service is an increasing challenge for all. Companies need to cover more and more channels while meeting continually growing demands from consumers, often with no corresponding increase in budgets. No wonder that the temptation can be to re-allocate scarce resources away from traditional channels such as email in order to focus more heavily on the likes of social media...
As we’ve discussed in previous Eptica blog posts, companies need to be constantly innovating to meet the changing needs of consumers. Advanced technology, such as systems built on linguistics, which enable organisations to better understand the content and tone of digital interactions such as email, tweets and web chats, are therefore central to delivering a better experience and consequentl...
Organisations today understand that customer service is everyone’s job and cannot be solely left to agents in the contact centre. However, in a multichannel world consumer expectations are high – they want to receive consistent, personalised service no matter how they make contact and certainly don’t want to have to repeat themselves when they move between channels. Customers don...
2014 was an extremely busy year in the customer experience market. The combination of more demanding consumers, new contact channels and increased regulation drove innovation and increased investment in customer service departments as organisations aimed to differentiate themselves from competitors and boost revenues. This increased focus translated into record numbers of visitors to the Epti...