The one constant in customer experience is that consumer expectations are continually rising. This means that even the most respected brands and their customer service teams need to be always alert in order to innovate and respond to changing market conditions. At the heart of delivering the right customer experience is understanding what makes consumers tick, now and in the future. After all...
Poor service costs UK brands £116 billion every year. That’s the headline figure from new research from Accenture, which found that over half (53%) of British consumers had switched provider in at least one industry in the last twelve months. To put this in context, the equivalent of 12 per cent of UK consumers’ annual disposable income is being switched due to bad service.Accord...
In an era of increased competition and more demanding consumers, engaging with customers is critical to driving a long term, loyal relationship. Engagement moves beyond transactional, potentially cost-based, interactions to build deeper ties between a brand and its customers. This makes companies more successful in two ways. Firstly, happy, engaged customers are likely to remain loyal and potentia...
Everyone understands the importance of the customer experience to increasing loyalty and attracting new business, but how do UK brands fare in practice? Not that well, according to the first Forrester UK Customer Experience Index (CXi). Most of the 2,000 UK consumers it researched rated their experiences with 28 leading brands between ‘very poor’ and ‘OK’ – and no bra...
Over the years the importance of celebrating Mother’s Day has grown, and it is now one of the busiest periods for sending flowers outside Valentine’s Day. Britons spend an average of £12 each on gifts for their mothers, although research shows that this rises to £53 in Liverpool.However, there is one major difference with other celebrations such as Christmas. Mother’s...
In an increasingly competitive economy, delivering the best customer experience is crucial for organisations looking to win new business and retain existing customers. However it has never been more difficult. Customers are demanding more, across an increasing range of channels and are swift to punish those that don’t deliver – either via social media or by moving their business elsewh...
A generation ago, financial services products were primarily sold face to face, either in branches or door to door, with documents manually filled in and posted to their destination. Customer service was dealt with through the same, physical, channels. This has changed radically, with the introduction of first the phone, then the web, and now social media, as sales and support channels. Managing t...
Wearable technology is increasingly blurring the lines between the real and virtual worlds. Existing augmented reality apps add extra layers of information, such as descriptions, when you point your smartphone at particular buildings or objects. Wearables take this a step further, removing the need to use a phone or tablet as you can automatically receive information or access services through sma...
The explosive growth of smartphones and tablets has had an enormous impact on customer service and the customer experience. Mobile devices allow consumers to find information or interact with companies wherever they are. They make it simple to get in touch across multiple channels (from email and social media to voice and text), driving increased contact volumes. Always-on mobile consumers expect ...
Despite the growth of new channels, email is still a vital part of the customer service mix. Consumers like the fact that email provides an audit trail, is convenient and allows them to send emails in their own time, rather than having to respond instantly as on the phone or social media.With the growth in smartphones and tablets, you don’t even need to be in front of your computer to send o...