The current wintry conditions are leading to treacherous driving conditions, travel disruption and the closure of thousands of schools across the UK. It is also having a major impact on customer service. Contact centres are receiving an increased volume of calls, emails and tweets from consumers looking for information, complaining about delays and seeking help.The weather doesn’t just impac...
Insurance is a sector that has seen dramatic change over the past five years. The rise of the internet and price comparison sites has transformed the landscape. Insurers are now having to live with diminishing margins and customers that shop around as a matter of course when their policies come to an end. Add to this that many insurers are struggling with inefficient technology and processes and y...
Train operators are often the target of complaints of poor customer service. Indeed, the Eptica Social Customer Service Study found that 14% of those in the South East had taken to social media to criticise train companies. Add in recent, above inflation, fare rises and record numbers of passengers leading to overcrowding on some routes and you can see why many commuters are unhappy with the servi...
As we enter 2013, it is a good time for companies (as well as individuals) to take stock of where they are and come up with New Year’s Resolutions. Commentators and analysts all agree that the customer experience is a vital part of business success, so what resolutions do you need to make to achieve it for your organisation?To help Eptica has come up with three key areas where you can focus ...
Guest post by Dominic Tavassoli, VP Product Management, Eptica Picture the scene: you wake up one morning to find that your lovingly crafted company Facebook page is covered – horrors – in questions. Not the sort you wanted, such as “I love your brand, where can I buy more stuff?” but actual customer service questions and complaints! What do you do? Try to answer them yours...
Today, the customer really is king. The combination of ever increasing competition and greater customer expectation mean you need to deliver higher and higher levels of service, whatever sector you operate in.And, to be fair, most organisations understand the importance of customer service but many are failing to deliver what consumers actually want. This could be down to a lack of budget, not lis...
It is fair to say that the rise of social media worries many organisations. It provides a very public way for customers to communicate with you and to complain. And unlike traditional channels such as email and phone, what customers say (and how you respond) is visible to the entire world. This, and the widespread belief that social media is solely used for negative comments mean some companies ha...
Eptica today announced that it has acquired multilingual semantic search engine and sentiment analysis software developer Lingway. The addition of Lingway’s advanced search technology will further strengthen Eptica’s multichannel customer service suite, improving the experience for consumers. Following on from its successful fund raising round earlier in 2012, the new acquisition demon...
When it comes to customer service, consumer expectations only move in one direction – upwards. The combination of excellent service from market leading companies and increasingly high standards are continually raising the bar. This means companies need to be continually investing in improving their service to delight customers and match their peers.The perfect example of these increased expe...
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...