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...
Housing demographics are changing across the world, driven by longer lives and the increasing cost of getting onto the property ladder. In the United States 4 out of 5 households don’t fit the traditional mold of two parents and pre-college kids, with a growing number containing multiple generations, such as grandparents or boomerang children that have left, then returned home...
As every retailer knows, a good Christmas can make the difference between success and failure. This is particularly true in the UK, with research from ING finding that Britons are the most generous present purchasers in the world, and expect to spend an average of £294 (US$446) on gifts this Christmas. By contrast American shoppers are aiming to spend £250 ($38...
We’re now into the busiest time of year for retail, with contact centers facing huge volumes of incoming queries from consumers on the phone, email, Twitter, Facebook and chat channels. This means that even if companies deploy effective web self-service systems to provide consumers with fast, consistent answers to their most commonly asked questions...
With so much money spent at this time of year, the Holiday period is crucial for retailers. In today’s competitive industry, a good Christmas can literally mean the difference between survival and going bankrupt. But getting it right isn’t easy – the internet has greatly increased competition, putting pressure on prices, while consumer demands are ever increasing. They ...
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...
According to new academic research people check their smartphones 85 times a day and use them for a daily average of 5 hours. The study, from Nottingham Trent University, also found that much of the time most users don’t even realize they are doing it, with consumers spending twice as much time on their phones as they think.For many, their phone is the first thing they...
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...
Earlier in the year I moved house and needed to change the existing energy supplier for the property. By the time all the paperwork was completed, I owed the old utility for a week’s energy. The bill arrived, and when I opened it I had a real shock. It was enormous – the company wanted to charge me $73,295.44 for just 7 days service! Clearly, there was some mistake...
In an era where social media, self-service and chat are being increasingly used for customer service, it is easy for organisations to overlook email or to not provide the channel with sufficient resources. Yet new research from analysts Contact Babel in The 2015 UK Contact Centre Decision-Maker’s Guide emphasise its importance while evaluating cost and time taken to answer...