20 years ago customer service existed in a world dominated by voice, hence the widespread reliance on call centers to manage customer service interactions. Things have obviously moved on since then as email, and more recently digital channels such as social media and chat, have become a regular part of managing customer service delivery. Call centers have now evolved into...
As a sector, insurance has already been heavily disrupted by the internet, with the vast majority of policies now researched, bought and renewed online, either directly or through third party aggregator sites. This has dramatically changed how insurers operate and increased the focus on the customer experience as companies look to engage with consumers and retain their business. According...
While the peak season for retailers isn’t yet over, many companies are already taking stock and looking at their performance, as well as studying the wider trends that emerged in the run up to Christmas 2015.The positive news is that overall spending in the US was up by nearly 8%, according to figures from MasterCard. However, not every retailer will have felt the benefit...
As we enter 2016, I’m already seeing plenty of predictions about what the year will bring for the customer experience and customer service markets. However, before exploring some of these trends in future blog posts, I’d like to take the opportunity to review 2015 – specifically some of the most popular topics covered by the Eptica blog.Looking through the posts that had the most...
Telecoms has always been important at Christmas, with families and friends keeping in touch by telephone for many years. However, the rise of superfast broadband, social media, IP telephony and on-demand/pay-TV services mean that it is now an essential part of the Christmas experience for the majority of families. Whether it is watching sport on satellite TV, downloading the latest music...
Delivering outstanding customer service is central to every business, but is especially important to midsize organizations, which may not have the brand recognition or marketing budgets of their larger competitors. These companies, who typically have between 100-999 employees, tend to have fewer resources to dedicate to implementing new systems and may not have the experience of deploying...
When it comes to customer service, consumers want the ability to contact you through their channel of choice and get the same positive experience - receiving fast, accurate and consistent answers - however they get in touch.Delivering consistency is therefore important to both customers and the organization itself. Inconsistency frustrates consumers as they cannot be sure that they’ve...
Thanks to the internet, retail is a global industry, with companies now facing competition from peers around the world. As we’ve discussed before, this means that a focus on the customer is vital – with businesses needing to understand what consumers want and provide them with a tailored experience that meets their exact requirements. At the same time as the internet has...
It’s less than a month from Black Friday, which is now seen as the first milestone holiday shopping day on both sides of the Atlantic. Retailers have therefore spent the past months ensuring that everything is in place for the festive period. From making decisions on stock levels to fine-tuning marketing campaigns, websites and stores, companies have been working hard to prepare...
In previous decades an organization’s brand was something it controlled, with how it was perceived in the market driven by expensive advertising and marketing campaigns. The rise of social media and increasingly demanding customers has changed all of this. In highly competitive markets brand reputation and values are built on the experience that consumers receive and share on social media.