Blogs

Today's customers have more technology available to them than ever before and expect to be able to access information quickly. This is why more and more businesses are turning to customer self service portals and why more and more customers are coming to expect a self-service option. Having a self-service portal allows customers to check...

You offer an incredible product or service. You've worked hard to build your company's reputation and gain new customers, while keeping operational costs reasonable. Unfortunately, a customer just had an awful experience during an interaction with your company, and they have no intention of using your product or service again. Even worse, your current methods...

A customer engagement strategy is about more than bells and whistles. It's about creating an interaction between your brand and your customers. This increased interaction allows your business to become more than a product or service; it becomes a part of your customer's social channels, their peer groups and your brand will get integrated into...

Ashley Furness, a CRM Market Analyst at Software Advice, points out that Zappos founder Tony Hsieh's book, Delivering Happiness, offers great examples of modern day customer service that few companies have heeded. “Take a look at your performance metrics. Is time-to-resolution an important indicator? What about call time?” There are three main performance metrics that your business...

A customer calls your company. They’re deflected or handled or even converted. But are they satisfied? According to a February 2012 International Customer Management Institute article, “Call Center Metrics vs. Customer Experience Metrics: The Critical Difference,” customer relationship expert and CEO Mary Murcott suggests that customer service and customer experience are worlds apart. And so...

Businesses that use call center software are able to interact better with customers. This will include being more engaging and responsive to improve customer satisfaction. A business is better able to grow and maintain their customer base using good customer engagement. You will need to measure customer engagement for your business to see if an...

Think of your typical day. How has it changed from five years ago… even from one year ago? Think of how many hours you spend actually sitting at your desk in front of your computer versus how many you spend traveling, attending meetings, seeing customers, or working at home. The evolution of how most of...

What does the acronym FCR mean to you? Is it known in your organization as “First Call Resolution” or “First Contact Resolution?” Lately, some might even refer to FCR as “Frenzied Customer Report.” Why? Because as new communication channels have emerged, customers’ entry and exit points into your organization have become more difficult to predict. ...

Do you have a smartphone?  So do your customers.  The latest numbers show 116.5 million smartphone users in the United States. That’s a 6% increase since May, and these numbers don’t include the introduction of the iPhone 5 or the Galaxy S III.  We already know that the exploding smartphone market is changing how consumers...

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”—Bill Gates. Successful businesses know that hearing and responding to the voice of the customer is imperative in today’s globally competitive marketplace.  Yet while hearing the voice of the customer has never been more important, it has also never been more challenging.  Customers will talk to you, but...

Customer call center technology has continued to evolve in many different directions. As a result, it can vary from the small and simplistic operation to larger, more complex centers that utilize the latest technological applications and systems. The challenge for all of today’s call centers is selecting technologies that work for them. There are some...

This article appeared under the title "Sigmund Freud and Contact Center Monitoring" in the September issue of Contact Center Pipeline. Let’s do a “free association” exercise.  What pops into mind when you consider the phrase “Call Center Monitoring Technologies?”  Just think for a moment.  Depending on how successful the technology monitoring initiatives have been in your center,...

  (Note: This article was also featured in the February edition of Contact Center Professional) Social media is transforming the contact center landscape.  When your company gets social media right, it can be very good:  engaged customers, a data gold mine, and the opportunity to let your best customers become your best advocates.  When you get social...

IVR sales leveraging is using your IVR system to cross-sell and upsell to current customers who call your customer service department. By automating targeted offers through the IVR system, sales leveraging enables you to increase sales and increase the return on investment of your IVR system. Use this scorecard to rate your IVR sales leveraging effort....

IVR best practices include proper implementation of IVR sales leveraging techniques, as described in this article by hosted IVR services provider USAN. Implementing IVR sales leveraging techniques may seem like a complicated endeavor. You have multiple offers, a plethora of customers to offer them to and several IVR sales leveraging techniques to choose from. Here...

Take this IVR quiz to find out how much you know about using IVR sales leveraging to increase your sales. Then read our IVR white paper to learn more. How much do you know about using IVR sales leveraging techniques to increase your sales? Take our IVR quiz to find out. Read the questions carefully...

Is there a task that you automatically send to the call center agents because you think your IVR system can’t handle it? If so, you’re missing an opportunity to increase your IVR system utilization and ROI. This is the final in a series of articles that breaks down popular myths associated with IVR systems and...

Are you settling for less than 80% utilization of your IVR system? If so, chances are good you’ve bought into one or more common misconceptions about IVR systems that are preventing you from achieving better utilization. This is the second in a series of articles that breaks down popular myths associated with IVR systems and...

Do you know what percentage of calls your IVR system is successfully processing? This data is key to making improvements in IVR system utilization and increasing your return on investment. But few IVR system vendors want you to know your true IVR utilization rate. This is the first in a series of articles that breaks...

I. The customer is our reason for being here. A Small Business Trends article entitled “Sixty Eight Percent is Yours to Keep” explains that “sixty eight percent of clients who leave do so because they feel unappreciated, unimportant, or taken for granted.”  Replacing 68% of your client based is not an option, so the solution...