Knowledge base

How to prevent utility customer service delivering a shock

Published on: October 06, 2015
Author: Eptica

Recent research from charity Citizens Advice found major differences between how UK utilities handle customer service. The top performing utility (SSE) received just 47 complaints per 100,000 customers, yet another had 944 – over 20 times more. A further four companies had over 400 complaints per 100,000, within the three months between April and June 2015.

The evolution of contact center performance

Published on: September 28, 2015
Author: Pauline Ashenden - Demand Generation Manager

In the past contact centers were often viewed as a cost center, meaning that the primary goal of companies was to run them as efficiently as possible while still responding to customers competently. As companies are becoming more customer-centric, this is approach is changing. Now businesses realize that they need to use the customer experience as a differentiating factor if they want...

Why customer service is still vital in the supermarket price war

Published on: September 23, 2015
Author: Dharmesh Ghedia

The supermarket sector is one of the most competitive sectors in the UK. A combination of new entrants, aggressive price cutting and changing shopping habits is affecting all food and drink retailers, from the largest to the smallest. As well as moving to discounters, consumers are increasingly looking for convenience alongside price, choice and quality by choosing to shop...

The six ways web self-service improves your customer experience

Published on: September 18, 2015
Author: Pauline Ashenden - Demand Generation Manager

Customer service teams are currently faced with multiple challenges. Consumers are asking an increasing number of questions and are demanding faster service, across more and more channels. At the same time budgets for coping with this growing volume of interactions are often flat or even shrinking. So how can companies deliver faster service to more queries, while improving efficiency?

Why your CEO should work a shift in the contact center

Published on: September 04, 2015
Author: Anne-Merete Jensen - Senior Business Consultant

In competitive markets, customer service is often the most important differentiator. This is especially true if companies are selling similar products, at similar prices – and for service businesses such as utilities and financial services where there is no physical product to create a differentiation. When customer service is the main source of competitive advantage, it’s essential to...

Dealing with the rising number of customer complaints

Published on: August 26, 2015
Author: Pauline Ashenden - Demand Generation Manager

Over the last ten years, customers have become increasingly more demanding in terms of the service that they expect from companies. At the same time, and as part of the same trend, governments have acted to make it easier and more straightforward to complain, particularly in industries such as telecoms, utilities and finance. They have set up new regulators and ombudsmen...

Reducing the cost of telephone customer service

Published on: July 15, 2015
Author: Pauline Ashenden - Demand Generation Manager

Despite the rise of digital channels and the growth of multichannel customer service, the telephone remains vital for businesses and consumers. In fact, while customers are certainly increasing their use of online self-service resources, web chat and social, research from Forrester indicates that 73% still use the phone for customer service. However, one of the biggest issues...

5 ways of improving your customer service knowledge base

Published on: June 03, 2015
Author: Steve Nattress

Fast access to the right information, in the right form, is an essential part of delivering excellent customer service. Whether it is through self-service systems on the web, or providing agents on the phone, email, social media or chat channels with consistent and accurate information, knowledge is the cornerstone of a successful customer experience.A company’s knowledge base...

5 ways of spring cleaning your customer service

Published on: April 01, 2015
Author: Anne-Merete Jensen - Senior Business Consultant

Now that the clocks have gone forward, the weather is improving and the Easter break is nearly upon us, many people are setting to work on de-cluttering their houses and sprucing up their gardens. For those of us working in customer service, it is a good time to apply the same spring clean mentality to our contact centers, blowing away the cobwebs and ensuring that everything is performing smoothl...

5 ways knowledge management can transform your customer service

Published on: February 10, 2015
Author: Steve Nattress

If you ask consumers to list their main issues with poor customer service then receiving inaccurate, incomplete or plain wrong answers are normally at or near the top. Whatever channel they contact you through; consumers want a response that shows you understand their query and an answer that solves their problem. However, contacting a company can often resemble a lucky dip, with consumers re...

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