This is a guest post by Corey Mull of the Marketing Leadership Council, our sister program for heads of Marketing and their teams.

It’s officially 2012, and, again this year, we’re hearing “2012 is the year of mobile commerce“. We heard it in 2011 too. Did we hear it in 2010? Yep. In fact, as far back as 2007, pundits and observers have been prophesizing that the days of whipping out our phones to pay for all sorts of retail sundries are just around the corner.

First, I think it’s probably important to get some definitions right. As the Forbes link above says, I think it’s fair to say that mobile-enabled e-commerce does not equal mobile commerce, at least strictly speaking. When you buy a book from Amazon on your iPad, you’re not engaging in mobile commerce per se – you’re using an e-commerce portal adapted for your mobile device. “Mobile commerce” is probably best described as shopping that takes advantage of unique properties of mobile devices.

So, why doesn’t it ever seem to happen – and when it does, why does the development in the space seem to happen so slowly? Read More »

Back in November, we blogged about the advent of Siri—and what she might mean for the future customer acceptance of natural language IVR systems.  And while that connection has yet to be revealed, Siri is continuing to pop up in other contexts.

For example, a recent New York Times article positioned Siri as the latest public nuisance in the cell phone revolution.  It outlined several scenarios of people using Siri in less than desirable situations (e.g., public transportation) for things as mundane as sending an SMS message wishing a friend a happy birthday. 

One of the particular sticking points that many raise when complaining about Siri’s public presence is that users must speak punctuation and emoticons—along the lines of “happy birthday smiley face” or “how are you doing question mark.”  Certainly not what we are used to hearing on the street corner or subway.

What caught my eye, however, was this part of the article (emphasis is mine): Read More »

Nearly all of my recent conversations and interactions of late have started with the same framing: The world has changed.

Admittedly, this is a relatively generic framing, but supplement it with data around rapidly increasing contact complexity, far more nuanced products and solutions, and complicated technology—not to mention customer expectations that now are dramatically heightened—and it quickly becomes apparent at how drastically different the service and support function of today is from that of even a year or two ago.

In fact, in some recent research, CCC highlights the function’s shift to what we call the “Quality 2.0 Era,” which is characterized by both complex issues and heightened customer expectations.  This is a long way from the “Productivity Era” of the late 1990s, early 2000s, when fast resolution of simple issues was sufficient.  As is it distant from the “Quality 1.0 Era” of the mid-2000s, where customers increasingly wanted successful resolution of more complicated issues.

Yet these changes have largely happened under the noses of most service and support organizations, many of which have not transformed their organizations to align to the changes in issue complexity and customer expectations.  In reality, many organizations have been caught offguard by how quickly customer demands and expectations changed.

Which begs the question: What does the next era of service and support hold?  And how should we prepare for it?

Read More »

If you own a smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer (okay, that should cover just about everybody), then you’re likely familiar with the slick video-recording capabilities that now come standard on these gadgets. And if you’re like me, you’ve been wowed at the ability of face-to-face video conferencing to bridge physical limitations, seemingly bringing people much closer together, even if only in a ‘virtual’ sense.

With technology enabling the world to better capture, store, and share video content, we’ve certainly seen a rise in the number of organizations wondering how they can use video to serve their customers—we’ve even blogged previously about the idea of using self-service ‘how-to’ videos and customer-generated content.

Indeed, the recent and rapid rise of services like Apple’s FaceTime, Google Hangouts, and Skype naturally leads us to think about the potential for service organizations to leverage this technology, and while it’s certainly too early to say for sure, here’s my take on the future of video calling for service:

Employee-to-Employee
Companies looking to at least experiment with the benefits (and limitations) of video calling are likely to first pilot the service internally, using their employees to prove (or disprove) the value in offering video calling to customers. This pilot phase needn’t be restricted to just the call center, though; in fact, the biggest benefits may be found in enabling better communication and collaboration between service and other areas of the organization.  For example, we have heard from a few financial services organizations considering video capabilities between branch employees and call center staff.  In addition, video conferencing often comes up in the context of coaching and engaging with remote reps. Read More »

While watching your favorite TV shows, do you ever find yourself admiring that leather briefcase or those trendy ballet flats you see on the screen? Well, now thanks to a latest feature by eBay, you not only can find out exactly what those hot items are, but buy them online for yourself.

Aptly titled “Watch with eBay,” this new iPad app allows users to combine their television viewing and shopping experience into one. Users simply enter their program information (zip code, cable provider, and channel), and out comes all relevant program-related products in eBay’s current inventory. Want to look like a certain cast member? Just search their name and receive star-specific recommendations.

What this Means for Customer Service and Support

More than just efficient multitasking, this feature serves as an example of extremely smart segmentation. Instead of advertising all product lines to all customers, eBay provides highly personalized recommendations to customers based on their precise interests. The same strategy can be applied to the world of service—similar to differentiated tastes and values, customer service preferences now come in a variety of flavors. As a result, service industries can design segmentation schemes that target the needs of different customer groups and provide personalized service in a scalable fashion. From our research on segmentation, here are some steps to consider:

• Evaluate potential benefits of segmentation for your organization. Segmenting to customer needs can certainly provide a multitude of benefits, but before you jump into a strategy, it’s important to first do the necessary prep work. Understand your customers and products, and really assess if segmentation if right for your organization. Once determined, evaluate why you are segmentation and what you hope to gain. Use CCC’s goal-setting tool to choose SMART goals for your segmentation scheme.

Read More »

It is January 10, 2012, and hopefully by now you’ve been able to dig out of your inboxes.

To help you prepare for the year ahead, CCC’s research and advisory team is putting its heads together to give you some additional perspective on areas of opportunity we see across a variety of companies—fresh ideas on how to enhance the customer experience and improve operational performance.

The intent here is not to increase your workload, of course, but to give you additional perspective on continuing to improve your service and support operations in the year ahead.

So let me start here with the recommendation of a relatively simple tweak: Ensure that all staff know how to navigate your company’s website.

It is a basic idea, but conversations with numerous service and support organizations reveal that most companies—both B2C and B2B—have not properly taught staff to use their own websites.

Read More »

For those of you who read this blog consistently, you already know that we were hard at work in the fourth quarter of 2011 compiling new research on measuring the customer experience.  And with a no-nonsense title like the one I’ve chosen here (“what you need to know”), I’ll cut to the chase. 

Our research is finished, resulting in a number of new tools and resources for CCC members.  And while surveys are not the most glamorous of research topics, there were a few interesting points that are, indeed, “need to know.”  So without further delay:

Read More »

If you’ve walked into any mall around the holiday season, you know that there’s nothing worse than crowded stores and long lines. Now, the UK fashion retailer Oasis is offering shoppers a more convenient, streamlined shopping experience with tablet technology.

In its flagship store, shop assistants are armed with iPads to help customers with all product inquiries from anywhere in the stores. In addition, shoppers can bypass the long cash register lines, and simply make their purchases directly from the iPads for home delivery. This service, only introduced a week ago, has made up 20% of all sales in that time. As a result, shoppers are able to avoid much of the stress that come with in-store shopping.

In the customer service world, we’re unfortunately no strangers to long queues. Peak times and holiday seasons indicate spikes in call volume and demand, and while call center reps can do much to enhance the customer experience, customer effort can begin much before they are even connected. So, what are some creative ways for organizations to manage lengthy queues and mitigate the ensuing customer effort?

Read More »

I can’t believe 2011 is almost over.  Seems like just yesterday Lauren was blogging her predictions for 2011 customer service trends…and here we are again.

So, I polled the research team and chatted with a few members to get their perspective on what 2012 has in store for us.  I noticed a few topics that came up several times – some of which are ongoing over the past few years – and others that are newer, including:

• Investment in Technology (especially knowledge management, CRM, and workforce management (WFM))
• Organizational structure changes (primarily from B2B companies as they move from a service organization to center of excellence model)
• Expanding into new service channels (including mobile apps, Facebook, web chat, Twitter, and discussion boards)
• Sales (focused either on increasing cross/up-sell in the service organization or having a closer partnership with the sales team)

As I thought more about these things that service organizations are doing, I wondered to myself what could be driving all of these initiatives.  And I began to see some trends emerge that I think will be crucial in 2012.

So, in 2012 – I think that: Read More »

CCC has partnered with Iconoculture to bring you the latest in global consumer trends.  Below is our bi-weekly update featuring the latest Iconoculture insights available now on the CCC site.

Mobile apps reach a new level of convenience for users, as Commonwealth bank now launches an app to allow customers to pay “anyone, anytime, anywhere.”

Named Kaching (like the sound of money), this app makes peer-to-peer payments instantly and remotely. Customers of the bank can send money to anyone’s email address, mobile number, or even Facebook account. The recipient then has to get a unique code to complete the transfer, and unclaimed funds will be refunded to the payer after two weeks.

This app is just the latest innovation in mobile, and as this technology evolves, consumers are looking to it more than ever for ways to save time and hassle. So of course we wonder– what does this mean for customer service? What implications will mobile technology have on for customer and companies? Here are some of our guesses:

For the customer:

Customers likely will rely on mobile for even more instant service. Instead of waiting to speak with a reps or logging onto a web’s chat service, customers might want to be able to use their mobile device to text and receive instant support. With companies like ChaCha responding to customer texts with live agents, the future of customer service might mean getting immediate support and assistance—all with a simple text.

Read More »