Delivering a compelling customer experience to people paying income tax is always going to be difficult. The combination of complex forms and cost mean that many consumers rate the experience as marginally better, but financially more painful, than having a tooth removed.For HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK, the scale of its operations also provides a logistical challenge. In the 2011/12 fi...
Insurers today are facing growing challenges. The rise of the internet, greater competition, diminished customer loyalty and increased claim costs all require a radical shift in approach if insurers are to survive. It is no exaggeration to compare the sector to retail – where the damage caused by changing consumer behaviour has decimated traditional high street players.Efficiently delivering...
Whether through advertising, search engine optimisation or simply building brand recognition companies invest significant resources in driving traffic to their websites. Then the customer journey begins in earnest, as organisations aim to move website visitors from browsers to buyers. Whatever you are selling, from books to insurance, it is vital that customers are guided through the process and p...
With the English weather remaining drab and grey and Easter coming up, many people are looking to book their summer holidays. But how they do it has changed dramatically over the last ten years due to the internet. The traditional trip to the High Street travel agent has been replaced by the web, which provides virtually unlimited choice of countries, flights, destinations and places to stay.Accor...
Eptica has been named in Gartner’s February 2013 Magic Quadrant for CRM Web Customer Service (WCS) Applications, marking the third consecutive year that the company has been included in the Magic Quadrant which contains just 13 companies worldwide.This continued inclusion follows a year of accelerating growth for Eptica. In 2012 the company raised £5.7m in a new funding round from new ...
With the discovery of horse meat within a number of processed foods, it is no exaggeration to say that the European food industry is facing one of its biggest challenges since the BSE epidemic. While horse meat itself is safe to eat (unless the horse had been treated with particular drugs), consumers believed they were buying beef-based ready meals and burgers from reputable suppliers and supermar...
When contact centres first opened they focused overwhelmingly on the telephone channel – indeed most were referred to as call centres for that very reason. As customer service has developed and become multichannel, email, web, chat and now social media have been added to the customer service mix, all normally handled by the same contact centre.However, the growth of multichannel service does...
There are many similarities between banks and retailers. Both sectors have large, geographically spread branch/shop networks, and in many cases are facing the same challenge of balancing online and offline channels to meet changing consumer needs.As part of their strategy retailers have aggressively been moving into new markets – offering everything from insurance, bank accounts and telecoms...
The UK banking industry has often been criticised for complexity, high charges and poor choice for consumers. From misselling Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) to IT problems at RBS/NatWest there have been a steady stream of issues that have weakened consumer confidence in the banking sector.Many have pointed to a lack of choice and the perceived difficulty of switching accounts as being responsi...
As we’re now well into January, commentators are releasing a growing number of predictions for the customer service market in 2013.The latest is from industry analysts Forrester. While its full trend report will be published later in the month, it has released a sneak preview of where it sees the customer service industry going this year.Essentially it revolves around three areas:The need to...