Corporate reputation is a key component of the customer experience. That’s one of the key findings of the latest Nunwood research into the experience and service offered by UK businesses. The study, which is based on ratings by 7,500 customers on over 250 brands, aims to record customer satisfaction and its influence on future behaviour, such as loyalty and advocacy.Businesses that have suff...
What is good service worth? For US Mercedes-Benz dealers it’ll be a share of a cool $60m in 2014. The automotive giant is rewarding dealers that earn high customer service ratings as part of a number of initiatives to ensure that the experience for buyers matches or goes beyond their expectations.And the focus on the customer experience isn’t solely being driven by Mercedes. In a move ...
The African contact centre sector is growing fast. Both local and international businesses are now benefiting from its skilled workforce with multiple languages and strong ties to Europe. Demonstrating its expansion, Morocco now has 50,000 agents working in the industry, up from zero just a decade ago.One trend that is particularly driving customer service in the continent is the explosion in the ...
We live in an ever more complex world. Driven by the internet, consumers face an explosion in choice, both when it comes to the range of products out there and who to buy them from. Add in the growth in the number of devices and channels used to interact with businesses and you can see why customers are less forgiving of brands that do not deliver straightforward, fast service through their channe...
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...
Attempting to predict the future provides some fascinating insights and can help planning, whatever industry you are in. This is especially true when it comes to customer service, as it often feels that we’re in the midst of constant change. Thinking further ahead gives the chance to add perspective and to make more gradual, planned steps on the road to the future.So I read with interest a r...
With large hikes in energy prices being announced by major UK utilities the spotlight is currently firmly on the sector. Politicians have condemned the rises, with Labour leader Ed Miliband threatening to impose a price freeze and ex-Prime Minister John Major calling for a windfall tax on utility profits. At the same time utilities have received major fines for past misselling and misleading custo...
Organisations understand that every interaction with a consumer is something that they’ve got to get right if they want to win and retain customers. And many strive to excel at each one of these touchpoints, measuring performance and changing operations to improve satisfaction.However, according to a new article from consultants at McKinsey in the Harvard Business Review, by focusing on indi...
Last week the post in our series about effective knowledge management for customer service shared five top tips for successfully deploying and reaping the benefits of knowledge management in your organisation.Here we complete the series with a best practice example from Domestic & General, the UK’s leading warranty specialist. The company has transformed its customer service operat...
Customers want to interact with companies on an ever-widening number of channels. And while newer channels such as mobile and social media may currently be hitting the headlines, it is vital that customer service teams don’t neglect traditional communication methods such as email, the web and phone.In fact, the total number of contacts, across every channel, is increasing. A recent study by ...