Category Archives: Customer Service Experience

4 Reasons Customers Will Dump You for Another Brand

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    A discount, referral from a friend, Facebook, or an online search may have introduced your brand to some of its best customers, but after the thrill of the first transaction is gone, it’s the emotional connection that will keep your customers loyal and telling the world how much they love you.  And emotions run high, especially when it comes to customer service. According to Accenture’s 2012 Global Consumer Pulse Research:

    • 63% of consumers point to service as the most important factor in their choice of a brand.
    • 44% have higher customer service expectations than they had a year ago.
    • 65% report that one of their top service frustrations is unfriendly or impolite agents.
    • 70% say they are likely to switch brands if they deal with agents who are unable to answer their questions.
    • 62% have actually switched brands in the past year due to poor customer service.

    Just like in personal relationships, keeping a customer relationship going for years takes a lot of work. And the cost of losing customers can take a heavy toll: Read More

    Millennial Customers: A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action

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      In a recent TIME Magazine cover story, Joel Stein gave his take on Millennials as the “Me, Me, Me Generation,” hyper-connected, with a strong sense of entitlement, known for constantly lifting their smartphones into the air to take pictures of themselves to post online. Whether or not that’s the case for an entire generation, at more than 80 million strong, Millennials are the biggest age grouping in American history, and by growing up in parallel with rapid innovations in technology, they are by far the most connected generation on a global, social and real-time scale.

      According to Forbes, Millennials “take technology for granted. They live through social media. They want the world their way, and they want it now.”

      Yet for being so social and connected online, many Millennials seek to avoid face-to-face or telephone conversations at all costs, creating an evolutionary game-changer for customer service. Texting, social media and other online communication have all given this talk-without-really-talking generation the ability to communicate on their own terms: at their convenience, without having to make eye contact, without judgment, and with some degree of anonymity. They are also able to control the conversation, determining the length, the direction, and if and when they will respond (and via what channel).

      Says psychologist Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other, of this collective behavioral change, “we are together, but each of us in in our own bubble, furiously connected to keyboards and tiny touch screens.” Read More

      Are You Born for Customer Service?

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        Is the delivery of exceptional customer service a skill that can be learned, or are those who excel in customer service simply born for the job? I posed the question recently to a LinkedIn group of customer service professionals, and overwhelmingly they said they were born for customer service…

        Said Lizzie Taylor, a CSR for a UK pharmaceutical group, “It certainly has come natural to me.  I’ve always felt as though this was my only real skill. I’ve never needed training on how to deal with difficult customers, how to feel and come across as empathetic, friendly and yet professional.

        “However, we’ve all come across those, that sometimes despite feeling like they want to be in customer services, are unsympathetic and unable to place themselves in the customer’s position, and end up several weeks or months later, copying and parroting those who have this natural sense of service.” Read More

        Video is Worth a Thousand Words in Customer Service

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          As the average human attention span and level of patience grows shorter, video has become an attractive alternative to wading through the written word. Spend a day or two reading 100+ pages of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s luxurious writing in The Great Gatsby? Most people today would say no way. Watch the whole story in a little over two hours? A $51 million opening weekend doesn’t lie….

          In long or short form, video presents a viable alternative to reading, writing and searching through manuals, instructions and lengthy online content. There’s a magic to the medium that makes even the most mundane subjects bearable – and sometimes, even interesting, helpful and entertaining. Read More

          The Genius Behind Apple Customer Service

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            Setting the bar for customer service excellence has never been more challenging, but a few brands continue to rise above the rest, including Apple, which recently topped the ClickFox Brand Loyalty Survey for the second year in a row as the brand consumers can’t live without and was ranked Best PC Tech Support by Consumer Reports. While the development of Apple’s technology may be complex and secretive, the development of its customer service delivery is anything but. It all comes down to human emotions and basic psychology.

            E for Empathy, Emotions and Empowerment

            Just like with its product and packaging design and development, nothing is taken for granted when it comes to the Apple customer experience. Every touchpoint is meticulously engineered based on tried and true customer service traits, including empathy. Read More

            INFOGRAPHIC: Connecting with Mobile Customers

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              Mobile isn’t just another customer service channel; for the majority of consumers, the use of mobile devices is a part of everyday life. According to Morgan Stanley, 91% of smartphone users continuously keep their mobile phone within arm’s reach.

              Because of its pervasive use and convenience, customer service on mobile devices including smartphones and tablets has quickly come of age. Customers expect both personalized and self-service options when seeking real-time support, communication or information from businesses and organizations, and doing this via a smaller screen, or across social media on smartphones and tables, is proving to be a new challenge that organizations large and small must quickly adapt to. Read More

              4 Best Practices for Better Government Customer Service Delivery

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                Government agencies are adopting customer service best practices that have been tested and honed over the past several years by commercial brands and are utilizing them to quickly level up to even the most demanding customers’ service and support expectations. Improved information delivery and better communication across more and new channels are finally loosening the grip on the public’s perception that they have to fight through red tape to get service. Here are four commercial best practices that are increasingly being used by government agencies to deliver more effective and efficient engagement:

                1.  Using a knowledgebase to deliver consistent self-serve information across channels. For the second year in a row, American satisfaction with services provided by the federal government has increased, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, spurred by more and better information available online. Read More

                NEW SURVEY: First Customer Service Interaction is Pivotal to Brand Loyalty

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                  According to a new ClickFox brand loyalty survey, the old saying that “you never get a second chance to make a good first impression” has never been truer. Fifty-six percent (56%) of consumers in the April 2013 survey say that their first purchase or first customer service interaction with a brand is the deciding factor in long-term brand loyalty.

                  Although the research does indicate that messaging and advertising are factors in influencing brand loyalty, it’s the service experience and brand quality that matter most. Forty-eight percent (48%) say that poor customer service is the biggest deterrent to brand loyalty, while a problem with quality is the brand loyalty deterrent for 35%. In addition, the ClickFox survey revealed that consumers are increasingly more selective in where their loyalties lie, with the majority saying they are only loyal to about three brands despite engaging with many on a regular basis. Read More

                  Practice Random Acts of Customer Service Kindness

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                    Have you ever received a handwritten note; had an old friend reach out just to say hello or that they’re thinking about you; had a co-worker leave a post-it note on your desk with a hand-drawn smile when you’re having a bad day?

                    Even though these acts cost next-to-nothing, there’s a priceless quality to them. According to the firm TrendWatching.com, practicing random acts of customer kindness represents an emerging consumer trend that runs in parallel with customers becoming more frugal in their spending over the past few years. Read More

                    FCR: Hitting a Home Run for Your Customer Service Team

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                      It may be the best customer service metric your organization isn’t yet measuring: first contact resolution. And stats show FCR is a game changer:

                      • 12% of customers leave if it takes two or more calls to resolve their issue. (International Customer Management Institute)
                      • For every 1% improvement in FCR, you get a 1% improvement in customer satisfaction. (Service Quality Management Group)
                      • If a customer’s inquiry or problem is resolved in the first call, only 3% of those customers are at risk of going to a competitor, while 34% of customers who don’t get their inquiry or problem resolved say they’re likely to switch to a competing brand. (Service Quality Management Group)
                      • Almost two-thirds of consumers say they would be willing to spend more with a company following an excellent customer service experience.  One in four (26%) cite being shuffled from representative to representative with no resolution of their issue as the top reason for switching brands. (2012 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer)

                      Benchmarking Against the Pros

                      A recent Aberdeen multichannel customer service trends report sponsored by Parature shows the spread between best-in-class service providers and the rest when it comes to FCR, and the numbers are pretty significant: Read More