Customer service at the UK’s water companies is improving dramatically, according to new figures released by the Consumer Council for Water. Consumer complaints in 2010-11 fell by 4.5%, part of a trend which has seen a reduction of a third over the last three years. Overall there were 185,140 complaints to companies in England and Wales, compared to 193,824 in the previous 12 months.While th...
In an increasingly multichannel world it is easy for organisations to think they know how customers want to be contacted and to force them to use certain channels for reasons of convenience or cost.The problems behind this approach are highlighted in some new research from data specialist Acxiom, which compared actual consumer contact preferences with how marketers thought they’d like to be ...
In a recession companies look to cut costs wherever they can – and unfortunately customer service is often a target. After all, if there are fewer customers to service then surely you don’t need to invest as much in looking after them?The folly of this attitude is shown by some recent international research from American Express, neatly summarised in this infographic on the Get Satisfa...
The continuing bad news from the UK retail sector, with sales growth slowing and more than one in ten high street shops vacant means retailers need to focus clearly on customer service if they are to successfully compete in a challenging market.Nowhere is this competition more intense than in the fashion sector, with sales of clothing and footwear actually declining in July. However one brig...
The internet has fundamentally changed how humans operate. The fact that we can access information and services at the click of our mouse has reduced our willingness to be patient or to wait for responses. If consumers can’t immediately find the information they are looking for on your web page they are likely to surf over to the competition – so ensuring you can combat this growing im...
When you think how many personal and business emails you receive every day, the number can be daunting.But multiply that by a factor of one hundred or more and you get an insight into how many emails the average contact centre receives. The sheer ease of writing and sending emails, whether via PCs or increasingly through smartphones or tablet computers means that, for many, they have replaced lett...
UK banks are currently announcing their financial results for the first six months of the year, and lower profits caused by continued economic uncertainty are seeing further job cuts across the sector.Given this backdrop, it is a good time to look at how banks rate for customer service. The last ten years has seen a move away from branch based banking to people accessing their accounts and buying ...
Given the current budget pressures on the public sector, there is a major move to outsource services to try to deliver better value for citizens. Whether for central or local government, areas such as IT, payroll, cleaning and waste collection are now being provided by private companies with this trend set to intensify.This affects customer service in two ways – firstly, customer contact is ...
The growth of social media over the past few years has been phenomenal, providing completely new ways of communicating for both consumers and brands. By giving everyone a voice it opens up a fresh customer service channel that companies need to embrace.Whether you like it or not consumers will be talking about your company and its products –and you need to join the conversation. So how are t...
Last weekend the British arm of banking giant Santander became the latest company to announce plans to return its international contact centres to the UK. The aim is to improve customer service, after previous poor performance was highlighted by the industry ombudsman.This is obviously good news for the 500 new UK staff taken on to handle the estimated 1.5 million calls that will now be &lsq...