Poor customer service from airlines is frequently in the press. Take the infamous ‘United breaks guitars’ incident back in 2008 or the more recent case when Hasan Syed, a BA passenger, invested in sponsored tweets to show his anger at his father having his luggage lost. EasyJet also fell foul of the Twittersphere earlier this year when it initially refused to allow a passenger who&rsqu...
The internet has transformed the travel sector, as holidaymakers can now book the separate components of their break online, rather than having to go through high street travel agencies. But in such a competitive market, customer service and fast responses to consumer enquiries across multiple channels are vital if travel companies are going to thrive.However research carried out as part of the Ep...
This month we’re celebrating two years of publishing the Eptica Customer Experience blog, which began back in April 2011.From the start the aim has been to provide updates and opinions on the customer service market, highlight best practice and show how customer needs are changing. And the market has definitely been transformed. We’ve moved from multichannel to omnichannel and new (at ...
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 The traditional trip to the High Street travel agent has been replaced by the web, which provides virtually unlimited choice of countries, flights, destinations and places to stay.Accor...
The current wintry conditions are leading to treacherous driving conditions, travel disruption and the closure of thousands of schools across the UK. It is also having a major impact on customer service. Contact centres are receiving an increased volume of calls, emails and tweets from consumers looking for information, complaining about delays and seeking help.The weather doesn’t just impac...
Train operators are often the target of complaints of poor customer service. Indeed, the Eptica Social Customer Service Study found that 14% of those in the South East had taken to social media to criticise train companies. Add in recent, above inflation, fare rises and record numbers of passengers leading to overcrowding on some routes and you can see why many commuters are unhappy with the servi...
There are lots of ways of measuring the customer experience, from First Contact Resolution rates to Net Promoter Scores. While these deliver useful data, companies also need to step into their customers’ shoes and see for themselves how good service is. Visit your own website and ask the same basic questions that customers do – is it easy to find the right information and do your onlin...
The devastation brought by Superstorm Sandy to the North East United States has impacted huge numbers of people. As well as loss of life, millions have been without power and hundreds of thousands more have had to evacuate their homes and abandon their possessions. And as previous natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, have shown, cleaning up the aftermath and getting life back to norm...
Our last post talked about the strains facing companies as consumers demand faster and faster responses to their queries. However it isn’t just speed that customers value – they want to be able to get an answer through whatever channel they choose, whether online or offline. And if you don’t provide the right experience they’ll simply take their custom elsewhere.To help Asi...
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...