Multichannel 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...

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...

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&...

Never forget email!

Published on: July 25, 2012
Author: Epticablog

In an era where new channels such as social media and mobile are receiving huge attention, email customer service can sometimes feel a little last century. After all as a channel that has been around for a while, companies must surely have implemented a strategy to successfully cope with email – and nowadays people are all migrating to other channels aren’t they?Unfortunately for anyon...

Segmenting the digital shopper

Published on: July 13, 2012
Author: Epticablog

Successful retailers understand that knowing your customer is a key part of delivering a tailored experience. In the offline world that can be quite straightforward – you can see the people coming into your shop, ask them questions about their needs and provide the right answers and products.Online it is more difficult – while you can look at the customer journey, it can be hard to bui...

Why cutting customer service is a false economy

Published on: July 06, 2012
Author: Epticablog

In an era where organisations are looking to reduce expenditures wherever they can, it is vital that they don’t make cuts that actually lead to increased costs – or cause valuable customers to take their business elsewhere.This is particularly true when it comes to customer service – after all it is easy to believe that cutting corners in the contact centre won’t affect how...

Jingle bells sound for retail customer service

Published on: July 04, 2012
Author: Epticablog

christmas 2007 (Photo credit: paparutzi) It seems strange to be talking about Christmas in mid-summer, but plans for the festive season are well under way at most retailers. Decisions about key products are being currently made and programmes of store refurbishments are happening now as companies seek to be ready for their busiest time of the year. Current poor economic conditions really do ...

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