Use of cloud contact center results in low cost, increased efficiency and greater flexibility but cost centers need to consider a good cloud connectivity. Businesses generally use public internet to access cloud services which is not reliable. Fast and secure service can be enjoyed with good cloud connectivity and customers will be loyal because complexity will be reduced with a single point of contact for all services. Read more at:
Paul Mandeville, Chief Product Officer, QuickPivot, in his article at cmswire.com has given 3 C’s of modern retail marketing. They are:
Combining these three with big data, can do wonders for retailers. All they need to do is to clean up their organization’s database and find a common thread between these three C’s of retail marketing.
The retailers need to realize the power of these C’s for capturing their customers’ hearts. To know more, please visit the following link:
http://cmswire.com/digital-marketing/the-3-cs-of-modern-retail-marketing/
According to James Heskett, Predictive analytics have the potential power to produce remarkable services and longer lives. Now, predictive analytics is also applied on humans. Recently, companies are sending information to target customers about products of their interest. With the advancements in big data and cloud computing, the accuracy of this science is improving now. Predictive analysis is also essential for organizations focusing on customer satisfaction in delivery time. Read More at:http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7527.html
Live chat is the best way to boost overall satisfaction with your customer service
- Zendesk Benchmark Report
Live Chat has emerged as one of the most satisfying customer service channels. This is because of the following reasons:
But, customer service providers should not forget the fact that customers want an accurate, relevant, and complete answer to their question upon first contact. Live chat agents sometimes fail to satisfy customers because of the following issues:
According to the Zendesk Report, “To optimize customer interactions, companies should monitor the ebb and flow of their live chat request volume by day and hour”.
To know more about the results of the Zendesk Benchmark Report on Live Chats, please read the following article by Noreen Seebacher, Chief Editor, at cmswire.com:
http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/we-should-talk-how-live-chat-improves-cx-029235.php
“Predictive analytics have the potential power to produce remarkable services and longer lives”
-James Heskett
All of us must have heard of uses of predictive analytics in marketing i.e. it helps to understand the needs of the customer. But, have you ever wondered that the scope of predictive analytics can be much more than that.
“Predictive analysis applied to humans is now one of the hottest concepts to come along.” It can now be used in the following situations:
These situations seem to be amazing but turning them into reality is what that needs to be done. To know more, please read the following article by James Heskett at HBS Working Knowledge:
The latest trend in e-commerce industry is the use of usage-based billing. Digital service businesses should be looking to integrate at least one method of usage-based billing in their business model in order to tap into new revenue streams and maintain customer satisfaction in this competitive environment. James Gagliardi (Vice President of Product and Innovation at Digital River) writes in his article link about two models businesses should consider – subscription and freemium: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/e-commerce-digital-marketing/the-recurring-revenue-revolution/1413
It is generally said that “happy agents=happy customers”. But it is found that organizations generally make little effort to drive happiness and also less effort is taken to allow the agents who are happy to properly transfer that satisfaction to the customers. So, ultimately the result is that the interaction between agents and customers are inefficient and ineffective and instead customers impose their own frustration on the agents. Organizations must make an effort to attract more customers and this must begin with an investigation of the 5 Ws. To know more about 5Ws, follow article link of Brian Cantor (Contributor) at: http://www.callcenter-iq.com/agent-engagement/articles/5-ws-of-contact-center-agent-engagement/
According to David Bannister (editor at Banking Technology magazine), there has been a change in retail banking in the UK in recent years. A steady change has been noticed in the type of organizations that provide banking services and the way that both these new and incumbent providers transact with customers. However, change may be driven by the non-financial organizations as well. In many cases, these organizations are well known consumer brands with collections of customer loyalty. One such category is UK supermarkets which enjoy positive perceptions among their customers, thus suggesting that they are providing better customer satisfaction than banks. So, banks must retain focus on improving customer sentiment and make sure that people do not switch. Read more at: http://www.bankingtech.com/248682/the-rise-of-the-challenger-banks/
Organizations should keep their marketing strategy flexible. Goals and strategy should be different. Caroline Melberg (Chief Engagement Officer, Small Business Mavericks) writes in her article about some ideas of different goals and strategies that a company should follow. Read more at: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/your-marketing-strategy-flexible-0
According to Brian Cantor (Managing Editor and community Director of IQPC's Customer Management IQ), businesses develop and put into operation strategies without truly trying to understand who their customers are and what they want, thus producing suboptimal customer experiences. The question is does a customer actually want to engage in long, personalized calls to identify and resolve a business issue? A customer may not be supportive in all cases. But a business that ignores the desires of their customers cannot be called customer-centric. Being alert of this problem, the author discussed this situation and was exposed to some of the factors that "normal people" value when it comes to customer service. They are as follows: availability of full service 24/7 and quick resolution-because time is money and effort is money. Read more at: http://www.callcenter-iq.com/customer-experience/articles/what-normal-people-think-about-customer-service/
A European Telecommunications company wanted to lower its customer service operation costs but worried from the loss of revenue by doing so. In investigating its options, the company learned that 70 percent of existing customer-service contacts could be delivered through digital solutions that had proved effective in other industries. E-care involves the delivery of customer service via web-based user accounts, social networks, mobile phone, and the Internet rather than call centers or facilities open to the public. Such digital services are increasingly demanded by customers, who are already using digital platforms to research and review products, as well as broadcast their service frustrations. And it makes sense from a financial perspective, too. It has the potential to significantly lower the cost of customer service operations while increasing customer satisfaction. Not only this, but e-care also brings a company closer to its customers. Adopting e-care is worth the effort and that virtually every consumer-facing industry that has high customer-relationship needs can benefit from it. Read more at: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/why_companies_should_care_about_ecare
Customer satisfaction is important in any organization but the main criteria is to achieve and maintain it. Customer satisfaction can be achieved when any organization gives importance to service. But, the key question is how to retain quality service? To know more about quality service, please follow John Tschohl (Founder and President, Service Quality Institute, Minneapolis)’s article link: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/828/Default.aspx
According to Tracey E. Schelmetic (TMCnet Contributor), many small organizations with contact centers that could have improved their services to customers by using analytics were earlier forced out of competition. They were unable to bear the high capital costs of instigating such solutions unlike big companies with greater access to large amounts of data resources that have been able to use analytics solutions to run their businesses more efficiently. However today, cloud-based analytics solutions are helping even the smallest contact centers by turning all the communications with customers into useful data that can be used to provide better analytical solutions in the customer support operations thereby, leading to superior customer satisfaction ratings. Read more at: http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/workforce-optimization/articles/383244-smaller-companies-reaping-large-rewards-from-contact-center.htm
Mostly all customer service providers offer there service through phone calls. It is time consuming and customers have to wait long before they can have a conversation personally. Optus is an Australian Provider in integrated communications and a subsidiary of SingTel, brings in effective action its [24]7's mobile chat capability in Optus mobile app. This application will allow customers to chat with Optus customer care from a mobile phone. It is a very smart choice and it will give personalized service to all consumers. The same user friendly service which they accessed from their laptops and PC's is now available on their phones. It is a brilliant experience for the customers and increases customer satisfaction as it saves a lot of time. The same service should be adapted by other service providers also so that they do not lose their market share. Read more at: www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-news/optus-makes-customer-service-brilliant-with-247s-chat-in-the-optus-mobile-app.aspx
Companies take efforts to develop all-encompassing voice of the customer (VOC) programs. The success of these programs is dependent on the quality and variety of data gathered from customers. Increasingly, companies are gathering customer feedback from structured as well as unstructured data. For companies establishing a VOC program, unstructured data seems overwhelming. Because of this, companies may avoid analyzing it. Capturing and analyzing unstructured data can be daunting to VOC program managers. Automation is an important step in successfully optimizing the value of unstructured data in a VOC program. Unstructured data creates excellent insight into the underlying drivers of loyalty, and it's vital that organizations make use of their available information. The companies that listen in the right places, using unstructured data to destroy structured, solicited feedback, and taking action accordingly, will have a huge advantage over their competitors. Unlocking the capacity of unstructured data is manageable if taken one step at a time, and the results will be well worth the effort. Read more at:
Craig Borowski (Research Associate at Software Advice, that offers call center software comparisons) in his survey data outlines the reasons why should a company offer callback instead of making customers wait on phone impatiently. 63% of respondents prefer call back instead of waiting on phone. 43% of them expect a callback within half hour whereas 25% said it does not matter when the call was returned. Thus three measures to eradicate the problems are: Introducing an intelligent call back system such as Virtual Hold Technology (VHT). Allowing the use of applications like FastCustomer and help it to navigate the IVR. The best solution possibly would be to launch a new phone system altogether. If callback emerges as a growing technology it will eliminate the frustration among the customers of waiting long and increase customer satisfaction and call center productivity. Read more at : http://inovasolutions.com/blog/post/contact-center-callback-services-are-improving-customer-service.
One must think like a customer to make them happy. Happy customers recommend you to others and increase sales. Speedy service is a solution for perfect CRM. However recent studies show that opposite happens. Customers value their time above anything else. Your effort at listening and understanding the customer's problems is what is necessary. They appreciate the personal interest that you take. Having a personal connection is the very best way to get customers on your side. To bring the personal touch one should get rid of the automated recordings and get people to talk to customers. Adding an online video conferencing element too your online service department is helpful. Employees should be trained to take time and personal interest for dealing with customers. Customer's loyalty should be rewarded by offering them coupons and special offers. It is important to take such lessons from psychology into CRM strategies as they help improve customer experience as a whole. A positive experience makes customers feel hear and appreciated. Read more at:
http://www.trackvia.com/blog/technology/how-to-use-behavioral-psychology-to-improve-your-crm
Customer satisfaction is an important necessity for any organization to retain customers. Few basic rules of customer service includes firstly, integrity, the service provider should be honest and commit to the mistakes and also communicate ideas to correct such follies and such mistakes in future. Secondly, there is response time. It is essential that the customer service provider is able to explain the mistakes of the company through one to one communication or through e-mails in case of large customer circle in an effective way. Thirdly, there is realistic expectation. It is necessary that the consumers are satisfied with company's promises and delivery to retain customers in the long run. Thus, under promise and over deliver is the best policy. Fourthly we have respect. For customer satisfaction it is very important to respect and appreciate them and uphold their point of view. Hence these basic rules should be followed by any business house. Read more at :http://managementhelp.org/blogs/customer-service/2010/04/12/customer-service-basics/
Giving constant connectivity to customers and ensuring customer satisfaction are two most important things for telecom companies. As an owner of telecom company, you have to ensure that customers lose their call to as minimum as possible to prevent business loss and inconvenience to them.
For this, you have to analyze every moment and take preventive actions whenever any faults occur. It is necessary that you must have analytics tools for it. But, unlike in most business cases, you will not able to use traditional machine data analytics. It is of no doubt that you will get patterns and trends, and will be able to evaluate program performance and pinpoint defects – but all these after the fact. By that time, you may lose your customers and revenues costing millions!
What you should do is do a real time monitoring and real time analysis as well. Using ‘streaming big data analytics’, you will be able to collect and correlate streaming data at a customer’s specific location, cell site performance, call failure rates and event prevent momentary glitch before they turn up into a large scale event. Not only this, based on profile of your customers, you can prioritize their issues. All these will increase one of your important parameters – customer satisfaction.
Read more at: http://smartdatacollective.com/dale-skeen/199716/why-telcos-can-no-longer-rely-traditional-machine-data-analytics-deliver-high-qual to know how streaming data analytics help telecom companies to monitor calls in real time and increase customer satisfaction.
An article by Brian Honigman, Digital Marketing Executive at Marc Ecko Enterprises and a social media specialist, conveys that while big data is a challenge for many organizations, it is one of the key factors that drive the evolution of the travel industry. Travel companies can make better decisions based on the data aggregated from their customers to personalize services like travel booking for an easier navigation. Big data can help travel companies understand the ongoing requests of their customer base and identify patterns in consumer behavior to determine offerings they may want in future.
To know more visit http://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2014/04/30/how-big-data-is-transforming-the-travel-industry/
