Businesses and individuals send and receive millions of emails every day. Yet when it comes to email customer service, companies seem to see it as a low priority in terms of speed and quality of service, either failing to answer queries or taking an age to respond.That’s what Eptica’s research into email customer service with 100 top UK companies found. The 2011 Eptica UK Multichannel ...
Recent figures on Facebook usage seem to suggest that user growth is slowing – or even declining – in some Western countries. While this may be true, the percentage of the UK online population that are still signed up to the site is an enormous 58 per cent – hardly small. Therefore as a channel for consumer interaction it still needs to be part of every organisation’s...
A large number of UK companies are still failing badly when it comes to online customer service. That’s the headline finding of a major new report – The 2011 Eptica UK Multichannel Customer Service Study, which found a chasm between the best and worst performers in delivering service to consumers.The study surveyed 100 leading UK organisations in multiple sectors, analysing their abili...
New research has found that more than three times as many Indians use social media for customer service compared to the UK and US. In the study, by analysts Ovum, nearly four in ten Indian consumers had embraced social media to raise customer service queries – in contrast, only 12 per cent of UK and US consumers have done so. Indian consumers both used it positively (to promote good se...
Understanding what your customers want is critical to company success. If you don’t offer the right products or services they will obviously head off elsewhere, hitting sales and ultimately hurting your company. But ensuring that the feedback you get is accurate and usable can be difficult. Just look at the fiasco when Coca Cola tried to change its formula – while customers liked the f...
While channels such as social media are rapidly increasing in importance, for the majority of organisations email is still the communication channel of choice for customer service. It has the advantages of being quick for the customer, has an audit trail and is available outside normal office hours.Yet judging by customer complaints and even the views of industry figures many companies still...
It has been a year since a cloud of volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland spread across Europe, causing unprecedented disruption to flights. The bad news is that a new cloud, this time from the Grimsvotn volcano, is heading to the UK as we speak.The worry for both passengers and the aviation industry is that last year’s widespread disruption could be repeated. In 20...
It is an obvious thing to say, but companies need to make it as simple as possible for potential customers to buy their products or services. For example retailers with limited or confusing opening hours wouldn’t survive long nor would travel agents that didn’t give a clear price.The same is true when it comes to customer service – providing a clear, straightforward and consisten...
Crowdsourcing is one of today’s big buzz words with more and more companies turning to their customers or the general public for input on everything from new products to marketing campaigns. The latest blue chip company to embrace the crowd is food retailer Waitrose, which is about to launch Seriously Chocolatey Rose-Infused Chocolate Ganache, a new dessert based on a recipe submitted by one...
Following a slump in March, UK retail sales rebounded in April, helped by sunny weather and glut of bank holidays. According to figures from the British Retail Consortium not only did overall retail sales jump by 5.2 per cent, but internet sales increased by 14 per cent.Obviously this is good news for the sector, but as always there are winners and losers. Most companies selling Easter eggs did we...