Customer Service

Getting it right first time

Published on: August 24, 2012
Author: Epticablog

First Contact Resolution is a key metric for customer service teams. After all if you can satisfactorily deal with an incoming query or complaint quickly, without needing to follow up then it benefits everyone. The customer is happy as they have their answer and don’t need to escalate their query while the contact centre can close the file without needing to call back, delivering an efficien...

Retail washout hits shopper numbers

Published on: August 22, 2012
Author: Epticablog

The recent outbreak of sunshine might have driven it from our minds, but the UK suffered from truly awful weather at the start of the Summer. The constant rain has had a real impact on consumers visiting physical shops, according to a report from the British Retail Consortium and data company Springboard.They report a decline of 2.3% in the number of shoppers visiting high streets, shopping centre...

Learning from your customers

Published on: August 17, 2012
Author: Epticablog

Good customer service should have two aims. Obviously the first is to satisfy customer questions and solve any problems that they may have. Failing to do this means you will lose customers and revenue as well as negatively impacting your brand.The second, and ultimately even more important, objective should be to use customer service information to improve your products and services. Customer serv...

Minding the gap on railway customer service

Published on: August 15, 2012
Author: Epticablog

English: London Midland 350117 arrives at Tamworth with the stopping train to London Euston. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) While it has come a long way in the last twenty years rail customer service is a perennial source of complaint. High prices, the sheer complexity of ticket types and fares combined with delays or cancellations make it a major target of customer complaints. The 2012 Eptica So...

Chat converts into cash for charities

Published on: August 10, 2012
Author: Epticablog

Web chat has been around for a while. However, despite this it has yet to really achieve mass market uptake. This is due to a number of factors. As it uses real agents to answer queries cost is perceived as high, while there has been confusion between live chat and over hyped pre-programmed chatbots. Finally, companies have worried that customers will be annoyed by pop-up chat windows appearing wh...

Would you leave a telephone ringing?

Published on: August 08, 2012
Author: Epticablog

Anyone looking to convince their company of the importance of social customer service can point to a growing library of case studies. Whether it is how O2 has used social media to turn a customer service negative into a positive or on the flipside how Australian retailer Gasp failed to engage with a disgruntled customer, there are more and more stories that can be used to justify the necessary inv...

Sherlock gets shortlisted for two CCA Excellence Awards

Published on: August 03, 2012
Author: Epticablog

Eptica’s work with the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) has been shortlisted for two categories in the prestigious Customer Contact Association (CCA) Excellence Awards - The Technology Partner and Best Use of Self Service.The nominations to the shortlist recognise the improved service levels and cost savings achieved by the NHS BSA since implementing  its Sherlock project which...

Could voice-controlled mobile customer service be the future?

Published on: August 01, 2012
Author: Epticablog

News is emerging that Nuance, which supplies speech recognition technology to the Apple iPhone’s Siri voice activated personal assistant, is introducing a voice-controlled mobile helpdesk assistant. Full details have not yet been released, but it’s thought this will be a natural speech recognition system for companies looking to automate their customer service departments.While Nuance&...

Is utility customer service powerful enough?

Published on: July 27, 2012
Author: Epticablog

electricity (Photo credit: Terry Freedman) The utility sector has often struggled with customer service but new figures seem to show that performance is improving. The latest quarterly statistics from Consumer Focus found that overall complaints about the six major energy companies fell by 7% in the first quarter of 2012. This meant that the average number of complaints was 77 per 100,000 cu...

London 2012 and customer service

Published on: July 20, 2012
Author: Epticablog

With the Olympic Games nearly upon us, there’s going to be a significant impact on customer service teams, not just in London, but across the UK.Essentially the Olympics will affect customer service in three major areas:Games venues themselves The world (and media) will be watching closely for any issues with the games themselves – whether that is overlong queues to get into venues or ...

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