A few weeks ago, my colleague shared some data we collected on customers and social media. From that, we learned customers DO NOT like using social media for customer service (88% of the customers we surveyed, to be exact.)

However, it’s interesting to note that this data looks slightly different for developing countries. The market analyst firm Ovum reported that consumers from developing countries like India (as opposed to the developed countries included in CCC’s study) are more likely to use social media for service issues. Specifically, 32% of consumers in India, China, and Brazil use social media for tasks such as asking questions in communities, complaining about products, or promoting services.

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With Facebook set to go public in the coming weeks, recent buzz about newcomer Pinterest, and continued momentum on Twitter, it’s pretty clear that social media isn’t going away anytime soon.

To answer some frequently asked social media questions, we recently revealed some surprising findings about customers’ actual service expectations on social media, and wrote about how to differentiate service strategies for social media and mobile apps.

So, now you know what customers expect on social media and you have a better strategy for serving them, but how do you know if it’s working? How do you measure success in social media? Read More »

With President Obama’s health care law being challenged in the Supreme Court just this month, health care is an issue that is top-of-mind. Everyone, ranging from college grads to retired senior citizens, will interact with a health care provider at least once in their lives.

So what is the general opinion that Americans have about today’s health insurers? According to Peppers and Rogers healthcare webinar series, most customers described them as “uncaring” or “impersonal,” while all say their ideal insurer would be someone who is “understanding,” “sympathetic,” and “trustworthy.”

This can be bad news for any industry, but it can be devastating for healthcare. More than just good for business, established trust between customers and insurers means that customers will be more likely to follow advice from doctors, which leads to better health outcomes.

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The latest trend in management?  Giving staff the tools to optimize their own productivity.

A number of companies are now investing in self-monitoring applications and tools to help staff gauge exactly how much time they spend perusing Facebook while on the clock, how much pesky chats from chatty colleagues interrupt their workflow, and identify what the most productive time of the day is for an individual.  (Read The Wall Street Journal article to learn more about the specific technologies and tactics like gamification and knowledge workload tracking.)

These efforts are another tactic to help staff optimize their own productivity.  No longer are companies simply relying on supervisors to manage, but really giving staff greater ownership to figure out ways to increase their own performance.

The new emphasis follows an interesting logic path: Staff want to take ownership and improve themselves but lack the ability (and tools) to do so today.

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The past few weeks here at CCC have been rather busy – we’ve been heads down putting the finishing touches on our 2012 study, due out at the end of the month. Roughly speaking, we are looking at steps companies can take to keep up with changing customer expectations and growing customer demands.

One concern we’ve heard from our conversations with companies over the past few months is that customers contact companies in a number of new ways – namely, through social media and mobile apps.

Lara recently blogged about customer expectations in social media (hint: they’re not as high as you might think!). And while we know that very few people use emerging channels, what exactly are those people using them for? Read More »

This guest post was written by Corey Mull of the Marketing Leadership Council, our sister program for heads of Marketing and their teams. The post first appeared on the MLC Wide Angle blog.  As customer service organizations are often curators of corporate-hosted customer forums, the CCC team felt the topic was relevant for our audience as well.

As marketers, we tend to get damn near messianic about the web. We eagerly consume books by Clay Shirky, Seth Godin and others about the great things connectedness is doing for humankind, we (if we’re honest) spend a lot more time thinking about social than we do our other channels, and we generally have an optimistic view of the kinds of things this technology enables.

I’m generally in line with those views, to be honest, although I’m a lot more skeptical than most. And so it’s interesting to be reminded every now and then that not all connectedness is good, and that sometimes people who do destructive things are aided and abetted by the internet. For instance, after grappling with a community of pro-anorexia, pro-”cutting” (self-mutilation) users on the site, Tumblr recently decided to change its terms of service to prohibit “self-harm”-oriented Tumblrs. Read More »

Here at CCC, we have written many a blog post on social media.  (and, no…we aren’t alone.  Just Google ‘customer service and social media’ if you have some time to kill).

We’ve wondered if the VOC from social media channels represents true customer sentiment or a ‘squeaky wheel’.  We’ve talked about your social media game plan.  And we’ve discussed ways to more effectively listen in social media channels.

But, what do customers think?  Do they expect you to provide customer service via Twitter and Facebook?

The answer is:

Not really. Read More »

• Barnes and Noble gains J.D. Power Customer Service Champion title for outstanding product [Market Watch]
• How cloud technology can impact customer service and boost satisfaction [ZDNet]
• Social media plays a bigger role in customer service, study finds [WebProNews]

A candidate’s job search is fairly straight-forward: send a resume, attend an interview, and provide references. In today’s digital age, however, employers are relying on new and creative methods to gauge candidate fit.

In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, some companies have completely stopped asking candidates for their resumes. Instead, they rely on social networks such as LinkedIn, video profiles, and online tests to better understand employees’ skills and measure cultural fit. For example, Union Square Ventures, a New York-based venture capital firm, asks candidates to submit videos demonstrating interest in an open role. Colorado-based StickerGiant.com makes resume submission optional, and instead uses online tests to determine whether an applicant would be a good fit.

Companies that have embraced these new hiring processes claim that resumes are not a good way to identify best-fit candidates.

Contact centers are not immune to the challenge of finding best-fit applicants for frontline roles. In fact, as rep jobs have become more complex in recent years, identifying “best-fits” has become more difficult than ever.  Customers are demanding more personalized interactions, and agents have much more to learn thanks to new channels and more complex offerings. As a result, new hires must be able to adapt easily to evolving job demands. Read More »

How Skullcandy augments its in-house service center team with “brand experts”—customers hired part time to handle chat lines [Computer World]

Companies are failing to manage an increasing number of social media accounts – running the risk of inconsistent customer experience and untrained employees [My Customer]

Successful customer service is not just about handling complaints but also about handling different types of people [Customer Think]

Customer service emerges as a top priority for retailers in 2012 [SFGate]

UK Retail giant Tesco will create 20,000 extra jobs to increase focus on higher level of customer service. At the same time, Strategic Five Marketing’s increased focus on customer service led to sales increase of 13% [Digital Journal]