We recently asked our members if they thought their customers were more demanding of customer service today than they were a few years ago. A whopping 80% said ‘Yes’.

So while there are many implications for these skyrocketing expectations, one opportunity as we see it includes moving beyond reactive-only contact.  But…our research on Proactive Contact and Alerts found that only 60% of companies offer proactive service to customers.

So, what are some of the barriers that prevent companies from offering proactive contact?

• Strategic barriers: Building the business case for proactive customer service can be challenging since returns appear ambiguous or delayed. Moreover, faced with innumerable options at which companies could send proactive information, they struggle to identify meaningful opportunities at which they should send proactive messages.   Read More »

Recently, a pizzeria in Dubai released a refrigerator magnet for VIP customers that can place an order with the touch of a button. The pizzeria has the customer’s preferences and payment options saved in the computer, and the magnet is connected to the user’s cell phone via Bluetooth technology. With one simple push, the order is placed and confirmation text message is sent to the user’s cell phone.

This pizzeria has set up a simple and effective self- service channel for their top customers to use. Now, this may just be a fun and entertaining way to place a dinner order, but the general idea of offering customers an easy-to-use self-service channel is an important one.  Customer service preferences have been trending towards self service for a while. CCC research shows that customers prefer to use self service channels such as web increasingly over the phone.  Surprisingly though, a significant number of customers who do call, tried resolving their issue on the web prior to calling.

Read More »

This post was originally published on the MLC Wide Angle blog.  MLC is our sister program for heads of marketing.

In the last few months, Facebook, Tumblr, and other social media sites of the likes have all taken a back seat in popularity to the new kid on the block: Pinterest.  In fact, not only does the site attract an average of 11 million visits per week, but in January of this year, it officially became the fastest standalone site to reach 10 million unique visitors—not too shabby considering it launched its beta version in March 2010 (by comparison, the same feat took Facebook 852 days!)

What is Pinterest, exactly?  According to the company’s website, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that “let’s you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web.” With options built into the site that let you “repin” others’ items, subscribe to peoples’ or companies’ boards, and comment on specific pins, it is no wonder why the interactive site is attracting so many people.   It’s also attracting companies at an alarming rate, putting to rest the notion that this site is just another Internet fad. Read More »

In the context of online self-service, companies will often tell us “our customers like to do research online, but when they actually decide to fix their problem/transfer funds/purchase a product, they prefer to call.”  The big question in our minds, however, is this:

How do you KNOW that customers PRERER to call you?

The fact that customers still call (indeed, even that they call after having visited the website) should not be seen as proof that the live phone is the preferred channel.  In all likelihood, the reason why many of your customers still call is because your website has failed them in some way.

The key, then, to understanding how customers prefer to interact with your company—online or in another channel—is to ask the customer directly rather than making assumptions based on customer behavior.  This sounds like an in-depth survey process (and certainly it could be), but there are shortcut ways that companies are unearthing channel switching root cause drivers in a low-cost way.

Specifically, Fidelity Investments discovered a low-tech, customer-friendly method to capture customers’ reasons for abandoning Web self-service for live channels.  They use inbound calls as opportunities to conduct two-question surveys to gather in-the-moment customer feedback about the company’s online self-service and customers’ reasons for switching to the phone.

In addition, Fidelity is very careful about phrasing the questions so that the survey does not come across as an attempt to push self-service but rather a learning exercise.  We believe this is a big part of the strategy’s success—customers are not made to feel as though the company doesn’t want them to call.  Instead, the company simply wants to know more about what customers want from them.

CCC members, learn more about Fidelity’s two-question framework in a new summary here.

Related CCC Resources:

1. Improving Web Self-Service with Customer Voice (Event Replay)
2. Full Case Study: Fidelity’s Channel-Switching VOC
3. Diagnosing Online Failures (Study Chapter)

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 »

In a clever April Fool’s post earlier this year, a colleague joked about the rise of DIY (do it yourself) call centers.

As it turns out, the prophecy has somewhat come true.

In this case, though, it’s not people setting up their own DIY call centers, but instead service and support organizations increasingly catering to DIYers.

In an interesting recent Wall Street Journal article, vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, and snow blower companies all report that they have seen an uptick in call volume from customers who increasingly are self-troubleshooting but getting stuck mid-way and calling for help.

Read More »

A few weeks ago, I blogged about a few general trends for 2012 that I saw in our annual agenda poll of the CCC

membership.  After a bit more data analysis and conversations with a host of members, we’ve uncovered a core area of focus for service organizations in 2012: understanding—and then keeping up with—customer expectations  (especially in today’s multi-channel environment).

The Current State
It turns out that today’s customers seem to be more demanding about service – savvier than ever and wanting a personalized, tailored interaction.  We hear everything from “the customer wants us to do everything for them – including calling a third party on their behalf – to resolve their problem” to “customers ask for escalation even before they interact with a frontline rep.”

That feels like a very difficult place to be – customers are selectively using outlier service experiences with other companies to define their expectations of service with your company. Read More »

“What is the future of the customer experience?”

Seems like the $64,000 question, right?

Well, I had the pleasure of attending a summit on this topic a couple of weeks ago.  Sitting in with customer service executives from around the globe and across many industries – like financial services, retail, and telecommunications – it was a great couple of days away from the office to give me time to think about the answer to that question.

We talked about everything from big data to integrating service into the customer’s more mobile lifestyle to expanding into new channels to using VOC to, of course, social media.  We discussed customer expectations today, and how to drive change throughout the organization.

And at the end of the day, after having a chance to reflect on all the rich conversations – I had a few takeaway thoughts I wanted to share with you: Read More »

“Your wish is its command.”

That’s Apple’s new tagline for its natural language application, Siri, which is available on its new iOS.  If you haven’t heard of Siri yet a quick Google search will reveal that early reviews are a mixed bag: some find it useful, others find it frustrating (mostly because of recent outages), and still others just find it comical!

My question is this: will this fun app resurrect customers’ willingness to use natural voice IVRs to resolve issues?

Read More »

We’ve been blogging a lot about the IVR lately …a “by the numbers” look at the IVR customer experience, tips on using customer feedback to script the IVR, and more.  One thing we haven’t discussed, however, is an IVR-related topic that is sure to spark some debate:

Is the IVR channel worth investing in for the future? 

In other words, should companies invest in additional IVR functionality and enhanced technology moving forward?  Or should we leave it alone, assuming that it is not a “channel of the future”…that our customers will NEVER want to use the IVR en masse (as much as we’d like them to)?

It’s an interesting question.  The CCC research team discussed it recently and it sparked a really good conversation.  To share some of the debate, I’ve asked Matt Lind to spar with me here.  Read More »