Amidst all the talk of multichannel customer service, companies can overlook one key fact – customers want any interaction to be simple, seamless and involve minimal effort from them. That’s why if they are forced to change channel and call a contact centre, rather than finding answers online they are already frustrated – even if their query is then solved. Adding faster channels such as self-service and chat can help reduce effort and make the whole process easier for customers – more in this Eptica blog post on Customer Effort Scores http://www.eptica.com/blog/making-it-easy-customers
Paul, the Amazon Dash Buttons remind me of something that electrical chain Darty is doing in France – it is providing similar wifi-connected buttons. When pressed an agent calls back to solve any issues you have with your electrical and electronic equipment – whether it was bought from Darty or not. More on this at http://www.eptica.com/blog/customer-service-%E2%80%93-touch-button
These are all key trends for 2015, and many of them chime with what customers are already discussing with us. One I’d add is the rise of the Internet of Things – this will help deliver proactive service in many sectors, but will need to be integrated within existing customer experience operations if companies are going to gain real benefits and differentiate themselves through innovation. More predictions in this Eptica blog https://eptica.wordpress.com/2015/01/07/what-does-2015-hold-for-the-cust...
There are some good points here Luke – as you say, anyone that predicts the imminent end of the phone channel is going to be proved wrong. I’d add that you need to ensure that agents are armed with the right information to deliver the same, consistent service that they have come to expect online. This essentially means centralising knowledge and making it available across every channel – there’s more in this Eptica blog https://eptica.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/getting-started-with-knowledge-management-in-customer-service/ .
There are some really powerful statistics here Chris, and demonstrate the importance of customer service to the bottom line. It is a fact of life that unfortunately sometimes things do go wrong, but in these cases apologising and fixing the problem quickly can actually reinforce customer retention as they feel they have been heard and helped. How O2 dealt with a network outage a few years ago is the perfect example – more in this Eptica blog post on the topic at http://eptica.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/dealing-with-rude-customers-lesso...
There are some useful metrics here Neil. As well as improved customer satisfaction and greater efficiency, web self-service also gives insight into what customers are asking for, allowing you to improve processes and launch new products. More on this in this recent Eptica blog on self-service http://eptica.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/top-benefits-of-natural-language-...
What is also interesting about the Forrester research is that very few UK companies are scoring highly, with none ranked as ‘excellent’. This echoes our own findings in the Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study, which found that most companies still have a long way to go if they are to meet customer expectations. More in our blog on the research at http://eptica.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/are-businesses-delivering-the-right-experience/
My answers
Amidst all the talk of multichannel customer service, companies can overlook one key fact – customers want any interaction to be simple, seamless and involve minimal effort from them. That’s why if they are forced to change channel and call a contact centre, rather than finding answers online they are already frustrated – even if their query is then solved. Adding faster channels such as self-service and chat can help reduce effort and make the whole process easier for customers – more in this Eptica blog post on Customer Effort Scores http://www.eptica.com/blog/making-it-easy-customers
Paul, the Amazon Dash Buttons remind me of something that electrical chain Darty is doing in France – it is providing similar wifi-connected buttons. When pressed an agent calls back to solve any issues you have with your electrical and electronic equipment – whether it was bought from Darty or not. More on this at http://www.eptica.com/blog/customer-service-%E2%80%93-touch-button
These are all key trends for 2015, and many of them chime with what customers are already discussing with us. One I’d add is the rise of the Internet of Things – this will help deliver proactive service in many sectors, but will need to be integrated within existing customer experience operations if companies are going to gain real benefits and differentiate themselves through innovation. More predictions in this Eptica blog https://eptica.wordpress.com/2015/01/07/what-does-2015-hold-for-the-cust...
There are some good points here Luke – as you say, anyone that predicts the imminent end of the phone channel is going to be proved wrong. I’d add that you need to ensure that agents are armed with the right information to deliver the same, consistent service that they have come to expect online. This essentially means centralising knowledge and making it available across every channel – there’s more in this Eptica blog https://eptica.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/getting-started-with-knowledge-management-in-customer-service/ .
There are some really powerful statistics here Chris, and demonstrate the importance of customer service to the bottom line. It is a fact of life that unfortunately sometimes things do go wrong, but in these cases apologising and fixing the problem quickly can actually reinforce customer retention as they feel they have been heard and helped. How O2 dealt with a network outage a few years ago is the perfect example – more in this Eptica blog post on the topic at http://eptica.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/dealing-with-rude-customers-lesso...
There are some useful metrics here Neil. As well as improved customer satisfaction and greater efficiency, web self-service also gives insight into what customers are asking for, allowing you to improve processes and launch new products. More on this in this recent Eptica blog on self-service http://eptica.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/top-benefits-of-natural-language-...
What is also interesting about the Forrester research is that very few UK companies are scoring highly, with none ranked as ‘excellent’. This echoes our own findings in the Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study, which found that most companies still have a long way to go if they are to meet customer expectations. More in our blog on the research at http://eptica.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/are-businesses-delivering-the-right-experience/