We’re currently part way through National Customer Service Week (1-7 October), which acts as a focus for the importance of customer service to UK businesses. Led by the Institute of Customer Service, each day during the week has a separate theme - from Bringing your Strategy to Life to Improving Processes and The Future.The sheer breadth of subjects covered and the enormous number of o...
In the current economic climate, the public sector, like all industries, needs to increase efficiency so that it can operate within tighter budgets. But what is vital is that all citizens still receive a high quality customer service that meets their specific needs.The positive news is that technology has the power to deliver this combination of efficiency and good service. As the population switc...
According to recent figures from the General Medical Council (GMC), complaints against doctors in the UK have risen by nearly 23% in just a year, while written complaints across the whole of the NHS increased by 8%. However, at the same time overall customer satisfaction surveys and performance ratings of doctors have improved. And of the 8,781 complaints made in 2011, nearly 5,000 were taken no f...
Paris Exposition: Eiffel Tower, Paris, France, 1900 (Photo credit: Brooklyn Museum) As the clock ticks down towards Christmas, there is still time for retailers to make final changes to their websites in time for their busiest period. Continuing economic woes around the world mean that customers are demanding the highest levels of online service – if not, they will simply click across ...
Organisations today operate in a multi-channel world. Consumers want the freedom to be able to contact them through a whole variety of channels – the web, email, phone, social media, chat and letter. And they want to be able to use different channels for different interactions – so they might ask a general question on a company website and call or email with a specific enquiry about th...
The majority of companies are aiming to deliver good customer service. After all, it is a well-proven fact that poor service loses customers, costs more in putting things right and damages your brand. So give people a good service that exceeds their expectations and it will directly improve your bottom line.It all sounds very simple, but where it gets complicated is making customer service consist...
The financial services industry is currently facing major issues when it comes to customer service. Following scandals such as the misselling of products such as Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) and major technology problems at RBS, consumer confidence is at an all time low. No wonder that an increasing number of customers are looking to take their business elsewhere.As part of its remit to prot...
With the Paralympics now upon us, the UK’s exciting Summer of world-class sport is continuing to grip the nation. Looking back to the Olympics, a huge part of the event’s success were the Gamesmakers, the 70,000 volunteers who made sure that everything ran smoothly. Spectators, athletes and officials all praised their energy, enthusiasm and willingness to go the extra mile – desp...
First Contact Resolution is a key metric for customer service teams. After all if you can satisfactorily deal with an incoming query or complaint quickly, without needing to follow up then it benefits everyone. The customer is happy as they have their answer and don’t need to escalate their query while the contact centre can close the file without needing to call back, delivering an efficien...
The recent outbreak of sunshine might have driven it from our minds, but the UK suffered from truly awful weather at the start of the Summer. The constant rain has had a real impact on consumers visiting physical shops, according to a report from the British Retail Consortium and data company Springboard.They report a decline of 2.3% in the number of shoppers visiting high streets, shopping centre...