Eptica customer L’Occitane has been recognised for the strength of its customer service, ranking first in the prominent 2014 Qualiweb/Stratégies index for email and fourth in the category for social media. It is the only brand to feature in both categories, demonstrating the strength of its multichannel service and consistency of its approach. Running since 1998 and organised by independent...
This month, Facebook is ten years old and has celebrated its birthday by hitting 1.23 billion active users and delivering 2013 revenues of $7.87 billion. While it was no means the first social network (and won’t be the last) it has radically changed not just how people interact with each other, but more importantly how they engage with brands, particularly when it comes to customer service.B...
2014 promises to be a pivotal year for the UK insurance sector. Competition has never been greater, particularly when it comes to motor, household and travel insurance. More and more people are buying their policies through price comparison sites, rather than direct or via brokers, bringing down margins. Loyalty is at an all time low – 38% of UK motor insurance customers switched provider at...
We’re currently celebrating National Customer Service Week (NCSW). Organised in the UK by the Institute of Customer Service, it aims to raise awareness of customer service and the vital role it plays in the economy. Similar events are taking place around the globe.While it has been going for a few years, NCSW has never felt more relevant and necessary. Customer service has moved centre stage...
This week saw the re-emergence of a new name in British banking, with the creation of TSB. Formed from 600 branches of Lloyds Group, it has 5 million customers and promises to focus on local customers and businesses.The divestment of the branches was mandated by the EU as part of the state bailout of Lloyds during the banking crisis. Originally due to be sold to Co-Operative Bank, when that deal f...
Guest post by Dominic Tavassoli, VP Product Management, Eptica Customer service teams should look to leverage cutting edge linguistic technology to address challenges of scalability and efficiency, as well as customer satisfaction.Great hospital emergency rooms excel at what is known as triage, being able to rapidly determine the priority of the treatment of patients, based on the severity of thei...
At long last the UK economy seems to be improving. Figures from the Office of National Statistics show growth of 0.6% in Q1 2013 and the CBI is forecasting an increase of 1.2% over the whole year. Other recent surveys have shown positive results in manufacturing, housing, services and construction.Obviously this is all good news, but how does it affect customer service teams? After a prolonged per...
New research from Social Bakers seems to point to a major step forward in social customer service, with more and more companies answering questions posed to them on Facebook and Twitter. Brands have more than doubled their response rates between Q2 2012 and Q2 2013, up from answering 30% of questions to 62%. Back in 2011 the figure was just 5%.Airlines led the way, answering 79% of queries, follow...
Despite the explosion of new channels, email is still the first choice for many customers when they want to make contact. Showing the scale of the channel over 2.8 million emails are sent every second and it is predicted that there will be over 4 billion email accounts by the end of 2015.Consumers like the built-in audit trail that email provides, along with the fact that it is simple and straight...
The internet has transformed the travel sector, as holidaymakers can now book the separate components of their break online, rather than having to go through high street travel agencies. But in such a competitive market, customer service and fast responses to consumer enquiries across multiple channels are vital if travel companies are going to thrive.However research carried out as part of the Ep...