Water is a constant topic of conversation across the UK. We complain about having either too much or too little rain and currently seem to have the worst of both worlds, with the wettest drought on record.Leaving the weather aside, utilities in the water sector are now facing tougher sanctions if they don’t deliver excellent customer service. Industry regulator Ofwat has introduced the Servi...
New research from American Express demonstrates the growing importance of social media to customer service. The US survey found that companies that resolve queries and complaints through Facebook and Twitter saw 21% more sales than those that just relied on the phone or via email. 17% of consumers are now using social media for customer service, with 20% of them turning to social media first befor...
This is a guest blog post from Jo Causon, chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service, the professional body for customer service.We live in an age of ‘austerity spending’, where businesses have to work harder than ever to hang on to their customers.Last year we commissioned research that concluded that the average cost to replace a lost customer is around £6,500 and 56 ...
When Facebook launched its e-commerce platform, a huge number of high profile retailers opened virtual stores on the social media network. Since then many of these have closed amidst poor customer take-up – for example recent research found that just 2% of French consumers would buy through Facebook. However new retailers are still opening F-commerce stores and niche boutiques are recording ...
The technology behind better managing customer interactions is now a top 10 priority for CIOs, according to a new survey from Gartner. This rise up the rankings is being driven by a focus on improving the customer experience, particularly in the current recession, as well as the growing need to factor social media into company strategies. There’s also a major growth in the deployment of cust...
Competition in retail has never been harder – and the pace of change is ever accelerating. Just as traditional bricks and mortar shops have evolved to have a web presence, they are now faced with the challenge of integrating other new channels, such as social commerce and mobile into their strategies.While social commerce is still in its infancy, customers are increasingly looking to interac...
In a difficult economic climate, raising new investment is notoriously hard, even for successful companies. So the news that Eptica has raised £5.7 million in a new funding round is a strong endorsement of the market need for our solutions and ability to grow. The funding comes from new shareholder Auriga Partners, alongside existing investor Omnes Capital (formerly Crédit Agricole Private ...
Whatever sector you are in successfully managing customer service across multiple channels is a key differentiator in today’s competitive business environment. Customers want the ability to contact you – and get answers to their questions – whether they are using the web, email, phone or social media. And they want these answers to be delivered quickly or they will simply go else...
As they operate in a highly regulated environment, many banks and financial services companies have been wary of becoming involved in social media. There has been a real fear that a throwaway tweet could be seen as endorsing a product when it isn’t the right fit for a particular customer, leading to potential misselling claims and action by regulators.However when handled properly the benefi...
In the past the UK utility industry has had a poor reputation for customer service. This has led to tough action from regulator Ofgem, for example fining npower £2 million and British Gas £2.5m for mishandling customer complaints in 2011.This week the government launched a new raft of planned measures that will tighten protection for consumers even further. These include direct compens...