In the past contact centers were often viewed as a cost center, meaning that the primary goal of companies was to run them as efficiently as possible while still responding to customers competently. As companies are becoming more customer-centric, this is approach is changing. Now businesses realize that they need to use the customer experience as a differentiating factor if they want...
Customer service teams are currently faced with multiple challenges. Consumers are asking an increasing number of questions and are demanding faster service, across more and more channels. At the same time budgets for coping with this growing volume of interactions are often flat or even shrinking. So how can companies deliver faster service to more queries, while improving efficiency?
The spread of digital customer service channels, from email and chat to social media, can provide organizations with significant benefits. According to McKinsey, if done well it boosts customer satisfaction by 33% while reducing contact center call volume, and generating savings of 25-30%. However, the complexity of multiple digital channels and increasingly...
This week’s launch of the Apple iPhone 6S, iPad Pro and new Apple TV has focused attention on the consumer electronics market, and shows the importance of technology and gadgets to all our lives. The upcoming Christmas season is bound to see billions spent on the latest products, including smartphones, tablets and Ultra HD TVs.
The immediacy and reach of Twitter means it has become a vital channel for customer service. According to Nielsen, nearly half of US consumers use social media to ask questions and Twitter’s own analysis shows that tweets to major brands have increased 2.5 times over the past two years. That makes over 4.5 million tweets every month sent to B2C companies.Consumers value...
In competitive markets, customer service is often the most important differentiator. This is especially true if companies are selling similar products, at similar prices – and for service businesses such as utilities and financial services where there is no physical product to create a differentiation. When customer service is the main source of competitive advantage, it’s essential to...
The rise of the millennial generation (those born between the 1980s and 2000) is being felt around the world. As the spending power of millennials (also known as Generation Y) grows, companies are having to evolve in order to meet their particular needs. This is particularly true in Asia Pacific – by 2020 the region will be home to 60% of the world’s millennial population...
When customer service first rose to prominence within organisations it was straightforward to define. It was a physical department, normally including a call centre, that dealt with all incoming customer communications (mainly via telephone and letter), and provided help and support. As the number of channels used by customers began to expand, the web, email...
Over the last ten years, customers have become increasingly more demanding in terms of the service that they expect from companies. At the same time, and as part of the same trend, governments have acted to make it easier and more straightforward to complain, particularly in industries such as telecoms, utilities and finance. They have set up new regulators and ombudsmen...
Across the globe, companies are under increasing pressure to deliver a superior customer experience if they want to win and retain consumer loyalty. This is especially true in Asia-Pacific, with customers demanding better and faster service, across more and more channels, than ever before. Customer experience links directly to sales – according to Frost & Sullivan, over 6 in 10 consumers...