Customer Care News 2015

CustomerCare News The Promenade at Coconut Creek

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2015

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Channel Customer Experience

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Smithson linkes to knock off early, going on expensive golf junkets paid for by corporate lobbyists.

A Strong Foundation rutrum, velit et portaofblandit, tortor Service eros Customer = Loyal Customers and ultrices eros, in sagittis felis tellus in Brand Ambassadors 14 purus. Suspendisse non tortor sapien. page In

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It Takes A Lot More Than Just Cash-

saving Points To Get Consumers To Sign Up For Loyalty Schemes page 24

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The Orlans Group is Investing in Key Strategies and Positively Impacting Its Culture page 6

A Celebration Media Publication

Table of Contents 03 3 Ways to Enhance the Omni-

Channel Customer Experience

How to provide an effective, efficient and

16 Five Ways to Profit From Personality

satisfying experience for customers across

It’s the fundamental drive of your

multiple channels

organization’s Customer Experience.

Ignore it at your peril. Embrace it and

06 The Orlans Group is Investing

in Key Strategies and Positively Impacting Its Culture Company’s new multipurpose center

you’ll prosper.

18 SoLoMo Marketing: How to

supports its business, customers and employees

09 Custom Solutions Construction, Your “One Stop Real Estate Shop” in the

Fort Worth area received the Pulse of the City News Customer Satisfaction Award

right CRM system for your company’s needs

in improving customer support in multiple ways

22 Case Study: Lesley University Uses Cloud-based Support Platform to Boost Student Satisfaction

12 Global Survey Shows Involving

Customers Still an Afterthought — With a Big Payoff For Those Who Do Involving customers is a critical

component to achieving world-class quality and customer experience

University finds success by implementing a cloud-based IT support platform with student agents

24 It Takes A Lot More Than Just Cash-saving Points To Get Consumers To Sign Up For Loyalty Schemes

14 A Strong Foundation of Customer Service = Loyal Customers and Brand Ambassadors

Loyalty schemes can provide essential data for establishing meaningful relationships

Survey shows that if you take care of your customers, they can take care of your business

with consumers, if used properly

26 Learning Ticklers™: A New

Generation Retained Learning System

Electronic flash card decks ensure training participants receive the most benefit from attending training courses

27

Associate Publisher Keith Levick, Ph.D.

klevick@customercarenews.com

cschramm@customercarenews.com

Knowledge automation can be a key factor

Five tips to help ensure you are using the

djaslove@customercarenews.com

well, but only if used correctly

Knowledge Automation is a Game Changer

Customer Care

Publisher Dale Jaslove

jrawcliffe@customercarenews.com

20 The Future of CRM: Why

10 Choosing CRM Software: Beyond

2015

Combine the Powers of Social Media, Local Targeting and Mobile Technology to Engage Customers

SoLoMo marketing can benefit businesses

Inc.

CustomerCare News

Glossary of Terms

Editor-in-Chief Jamie Rawcliffe

Production Manager Chris Schramm

Editorial & Materials Coordinator Anne Seebaldt aseebaldt@customercarenews.com

Editors/Writers Amy Pagett

apagett@customercarenews.com

Operations Manager Jennifer Barth

jbarth@customercarenews.com

Website Design Melissa Sherwood Contributing Writers Mark J. Albrecht, Seenu Banda, Alan Berkson, John Goodman, Bernard Louvat, Mike Richardson, Jason Wesbecher, Andy Wood Website Consultant www.sherwoodandblack.com Customer Care News 32000 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 128 Farmington Hills, MI 48334

(888) 438-9528 www.customercarenews.com Customer Care News is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. The publishers have taken all reasonable steps to verify the accuracy and completeness of information contained in Customer Care News. The publishers may not, however, be held responsible for any inaccuracies or omission of information in any article appearing in the Customer Care News.

2015

Entire contents copyright 2015 by Customer Care News. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial content in any manner without written permission is strictly prohibited.

2

Customer Care News

3 Ways to Enhance the Omni-Channel Customer Experience

T

he most important aspect

to have the same smooth experience

Online Engagement in Contact Centers

brand is customer experi-

environments.

technology, your brand is only as good as

ers having switched service providers in

business provides that consistency in cus-

experience is only as good as your contact

(Accenture). With such high demand

Consider the following: if you provide

customers look for in a

ence, with 51 percent of U.S. consum2013 due to poor customer experiences to make it all about the customer, how

can you ensure that you meet customer

expectations? How can you enhance your business’s online customer experience in

order to increase satisfaction, loyalty and revenue?

Mobile Chat

We all know it: mobile is where your

customers are. Look around you — how

many people are engaged on their smart-

phone or tablet? What do you think they

are doing besides texting or checking social media? They are probably browsing for a product or service. A 2014 Nielsen

study says that 7 out of 10 Americans

wherever they are, across omni-channel So, how do you ensure that your

tomer experience across all channels? live assistance through chat on your website, your customers appreciate that fea-

ture in your customer service. In fact, an eDigitalResearch Customer Service Benchmark found that live chat has the

highest satisfaction level above all other

ple prefer to shop or do business on their

smartphone or tablet over a laptop). It is no surprise, then, that a Google research survey found that 50 percent of customers look for mobile-friendly websites and would visit a site less often if it weren’t

mobile-friendly — even if they liked

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from proper training and management alongside the technology it takes to create a seamless and efficient omni-channel engagement program.

will be? Allow them to engage live with a customer agent while they are looking

contact center. Lately, that’s been the

make contact with your brand through

at your site on their mobile device. This

would bridge two mediums of e-commerce that people ask for: a mobilefriendly website and live assistance.

The effortless user experience on

satisfaction. When chat is being used on chat window to be transparent so the user can see the website behind it. When the

screen real estate is limited, this transpar-

ency keeps customers mentally connected

to the website they are browsing. Also, TouchCommerce best practices show

that when the chat window is minimized, it is key for the customer to see the message indicator and scrolling chat — simi-

lar to a chat that the customer might have with a friend.

Bernard Louvat

2015

the business. Obviously, customers expect

tact. Excellence in your agent staff comes

buzzword — omni-channel. Customers

the mobile device, it is optimal for the

Mobile Benchmark, which says that peo-

good as the agents your customers con-

devices — where most of your customers

that same form of service on mobile

ers are increasingly likely to shop or do 2013 Adobe Corporation’s The State of

center, and your contact center is only as

• Omni-channel technology in the

mobile devices is critical for customer

business that way (demonstrated by the

your customer experience, your customer

channels. Knowing that, why not provide

own a smartphone. With mobile device

in hand wherever they are, your custom-

No matter how sophisticated your

3

multiple avenues, browsing your site

all the power. It’s essential to empower

ping in your brick-and-mortar store,

that allows them to quickly and effec-

on their PC or mobile device, shop-

your agents, as well, with technology

calling customer service on the phone,

tively manage multiple concurrent chats;

managing their own account through

to see custom scripts for a faster, more

self-service, or chatting with your

effective chat experience; and to use

agents online, whether it is on the

tools such as co-browsing to guide the

desktop or a smartphone or tablet. The

customer through the buying process.

options keep growing as your custom-

ers’ demand for convenience gets larger.

Finally, boost your power team with

Omni-channel capabilities can make

atmosphere of reward. Establishing a

motivation to perform well: create an

your contact center more efficient. For

performance-based workforce produces

example, an agent who is speaking with

results and even a little excitement as

a lower-risk customer on the phone

should be able to gracefully guide that

customer to using the self-serve options

• Help guide customers to self-service.

• Training within the contact center.

freeing your call agents up for higher-

erate customer adoption of self-service

methodologies that create a powerful

on your site and away from the phone, priority calls. This is only possible if the

call agent can see what the customer is seeing on the website, bringing the two channels together.

• Serve your customers the way they prefer to engage. Your customer acquisition and customer care solutions should

be growing with demand, so take down the dividing walls among automated

through online engagement tools for an

effortless omni-channel experience. For any customer service program, the goal

is to reduce costs of the contact center

while improving customer satisfaction.

Enabling and accelerating customer adoption of self-service is an important

requirement of the contact centers in the digital age of the customer.

• Management of the contact center.

engagement history across all chan-

sive, you need the right tools to moni-

nels. If a customer decides to switch from using your automated guides to engaging in a chat, your agents need to

know that customer’s journey without

the customer having to repeat himself or herself.

Establishing a performancebased workforce produces results and even a little excitement as agents compete for the next big prize.

2015

Contact centers can significantly accel-

guides, mobile, voice call and chat by

enabling the agent to see the customer’s

4

agents compete for the next big prize.

Whether your team is small or expan-

tor all online engagements efficiently.

Your supervisors need a real-time view

of program and agents’ performance as well as access to key performance indi-

cators (KPIs) to quickly diagnose issues and fix them on an ongoing basis. This

“omniscient” aspect enables supervisors to reach out to agents when coaching is

required. Workforce management also

Daily hands-on exposure to tools and and effective team is an essential ele-

ment in developing your agent staff.

Teach them the psychology of a customer and how to recognize the signs of

frustration. Teach them how to relate to

various personalities or demographics, practicing “chat-speak,” or knowing the proper words to use when chatting with a customer. For example, avoid negative words, use power words, get to the

point without jargon and see from the

customer’s perspective. Train with the

intention of forming in your agents the “service” mentality. You may also wish to equip certain agents with special-

ized knowledge of different products or

services. With use of automated guides, your customers can be routed to agents

who will help them with their specific needs, creating a more efficient and productive experience for all involved.

involves knowing what time of day to

Customer Analytics for the Digital Age

is able to handle multiple chat inter-

component in customer care. By utilizing

staff more agents so that your team

actions in a timely, efficient manner.

But don’t stop at giving your supervisors

Understanding customers is a critical

tools and programs designed for analyz-

ing data about your customers’ journey, you can learn their search behavior, study

Customer Care News

their demographics, and compare their

While voice is still the core commu-

with a vision to assist online shoppers to

today, digital channels and resources are

retail and online experience, he embarked

likes and dislikes. Mining the data and

nication channel used in customer service

every interaction can help you develop a

quickly gaining ground. Solution provid-

providing analytic insights into each and customized plan and optimize your customer experience programs.

Always ask — are we providing a

customer experience that is personalized

and meaningful, productive and efficient, effective, effortless, and lasting? Make

ers that focus on progressive approaches

to enhancing the omni-channel customer experience are well positioned to succeed

in addressing customer demand and providing better customer experience. CCN

sure you study the data that tells your

Bernard Louvat is the President and

and the quality of service and products

TouchCommerce, the innovative leader

customers’ story and that of your business you provide. Analyze the data to begin writing your own story — to be in

control of the plot. Proactively engage with your customers by personalizing

each individual experience. Enhance the customer experience with verbiage that

is befitting their personality, and guide them toward the products that fit their search behavior or offers that only they would be interested in seeing. And make

sure that you select an online engagement

partner that will help you mine the data and translate the right information into

www.customercarenews.com

in omni-channel engagement solutions for market-leading brands. Driven to transcend the in-store customer service

experience in an omni-channel world, TouchCommerce has perfected a proven approach fusing sophisticated technology with deep human expertise in an innovative,

results-focused

business

model, accelerating incremental revenue

for some of the largest multi-national

companies, such as Comcast, T-Mobile, Virgin Media and many others (see www. touchcommerce.com/clients). Louvat came

to TouchCommerce (then inQ) in 2005

on creating a set of innovative technology solutions to target, engage and assist online

shoppers and returning customers and create a more personalized online shopping

experience. Prior to TouchCommerce, Louvat was Co-Founder & CEO of

Evolution Robotics, an idealab! company (sold to iRobot), CEO & Founder of

Bizbuyer.com (sold to GE), GM at

CitySearch, an idealab! company (sold

to IAC), CEO & Founder of Office Depot

France,

President

and

Founder of The Disney Store France, and

a consultant with

Bain

&

Company. Bernard holds an MBA with

Distinctions

from

Harvard

Business School and a BA in Business

Administration from HEC, Paris, France.

For more information on TouchCommerce, please com

or

visit

www.touchcommerce.

contact

the

company

at

www.touchcommerce.com/contact-us.

Follow Louvat at twitter.com/blouvat or at www.linkedin.com/in/blouvat.

2015

actionable insights.

Chief Executive Off icer (CEO) of

buy online. Drawing upon his specialty

5

The Orlans Group is Investing in Key Strategies and Positively Impacting Its Culture

T

he Orlans Group is a women-owned company

soft colors, artwork, huddle rooms, a mix of offices and co-

serving seven states and the District of Columbia,

tions throughout, and TV monitors to communicate company

made up of 500 employees in three law firms

along with five companies serving clients and customers nation-

wide all focused on real estate. The company’s core purpose is:

But something was missing, and it took the company’s

founder Linda Orlans to identify an opportunity to better

land matters.”

a multipurpose meeting area. When asked for her inspiration

Based in Troy, Mich., The Orlans

Group owns a two-story office loca-

tion there that serves as home to more than 300 employees. Additionally, the

company has employees in various

states including Virginia, Delaware, Mark J. Albrecht

Maryland and Massachusetts. Its

renovated building in Troy was professionally redesigned with

2015

information.

“We are passionate about the right to own, use and invest in

real property. You can trust us, because

environmentally green principles in mind and decorated with

6

mingled work stations, kitchens and eating areas, recycle sta-

market the company and improve employee morale by creating

for this area, she said, “One cold winter day our building manager moved our lunch tables away from the building foyer into

vacated office space. In spite of the tables crowded into a small area surrounded by boxes and discarded desk parts, more people were sitting together for breaks and lunches. I thought ‘how good is this?’ With some paint, imagination and effort were we able to convert this newly found space into a place where every-

one could enjoy time together not only for breaks and lunch but for meetings, community gatherings and after-work events.

Customer Care News

“As part of the company’s focus to positively impact our cul-

ture and invest in our key strategies to ‘Create and maintain the right brand image,’ ‘Invest in employee excellence,’ and ‘Promote

and maintain a winning team environment,’ this space would be

more than 60 women from current and potential clients and customers attended classes and working lunches to learn personal and business ideas and tips from successful women.

As part of our company values, Orlans also likes to give

used to market our business, conduct training sessions, support

back to the community through charitable contributions and

place for our employees to relax.”

events in the Orlans Room, bringing in diverse thought leaders

our charitable efforts, and create a comfortable and inviting Like most companies, this discretionary spending was

unbudgeted and some on the executive team questioned the

need for such a room and expense. However, with Linda’s vision, persistence and guidance managing a tight budget, she executed

volunteerism. We have hosted several fundraisers and planning

from the community. This room was also recognized as one of the finalists in the Troy Chamber of Commerce Building of The Year competition for 2014.

a plan to turn this room into a modern, urban-type setting, pay-

Invest in employee excellence

city of Detroit.

management with 32 hours of on-site soft skills training and

polished, unfinished floors. The room has new orange ergo-

personnel. The 5,000 available square feet, along with breakout

ing homage to the company values, its lines of business, and the

The Orlans Center is painted vibrant orange and features

nomical and functional chairs offset by bright white lunch

and training tables. A wall was painted so that it can be used as a giant white board, while another wall serves as a giant chalkboard where employees can

In 2015, The Orlans Group committed to provide all

eight hours of on-site soft skills training to non-management

sitting areas, the smart TV and the giant white board, provide

employees with ample room to engage with one another while learning new skills.

call out positive work to honor their coworkers. A full kitchen

and long serving table are used

for catered events, and a 90-inch, high-definition Smart TV is avail-

able for employees to watch the

news or sporting events, and of course for business and training presentations.

Six months later, has the

Orlans Center achieved its goal to support the company’s key strate-

gies? The data is very encouraging, and additions and enhancements are likely in the near future.

Create and maintain the right brand image

The Orlans Group now has a

dynamic meeting space where it can invite clients and customers to come see the facility and meet the

team. To showcase this new room, Orlans hosted and funded in col-

laboration with the Community

House in Birmingham the “2014

2015

Emerging Leaders Seminars for

Women.” For several months,

www.customercarenews.com

7

Dr. Keith Levick, a training facilitator, recently led three

have been with the company for 10-plus years were invited with

formance team. His sessions included highly interactive learning

celebration featuring a 14-piece band and a fully catered dinner

classes of 75 employees each on the topic of building a high-perusing a hula-hoop, tennis balls and other group activities. When

asked about this training space, Dr. Levick remarked, “This is one of the most functional, modern and interactive spaces I’ve

used for training. It provides a warm, open area for employees to engage and get to know one another better.”

their significant others to a Saturday night dinner and dancing in a room that was decorated to resemble a modern nightclub for the evening.

Other activities the room has played host to include the

employee holiday party in December, and breakfasts and lunches

where senior management serves employees. Additionally, the

company now has ample space to get all 300 employees in two

Promote and maintain a winning team environment

As the company works to promote and main-

tain a winning team environment through training, communication and interaction, President Alison Orlans sum-

groups of 150 to sit together for its twice-a-year “town hall” meetings, using the Smart TV and white board to communicate relevant company information.

“We need the best from everyone who comes to work and

marizes the importance of this area, “The Orlans Center’s

we work hard to give them our best,” said Linda Orlans. “If hav-

needed space to collaborate, communicate and celebrate while

to relax, make friends and feel valued is important, then we have

multifunctional

design

has

provided

us

with

much

also providing our team members with space to relax, study or mingle with each other. It serves as a common gathering

ing a comfortable place where people can enjoy a few minutes succeeded.”

To have an area like the Orlans Center allows the company

place where we can all come together and build relation-

to positively affect the culture, market and generate new busi-

a daily basis. Building relationships with each other fosters com-

abounded on employees’ faces as they engage with one another

ships with people we may not otherwise interact with on munication, collaboration and a winning team environment — all important components of the culture we are creating.”

The Orlans Center has hosted a variety of employee-

focused functions that previously would have been held off

in the new space CCN

Mark J. Albrecht is the Senior Director of Human Resources for The Orlans Group (www.orlans.com). He can be reached at 248-502-1400 or via email at info@orlans.com.

2015

site or conducted in smaller groups. In August, employees that

ness, all while supporting its key strategies. And, smiles have

8

Customer Care News

Choosing CRM Software: Beyond Customer Care

I

n recent years, customer relationship management

ly assigned to the right salesperson. From a marketing perspective,

tomer care specialist looking to deliver excellent service

providing marketers — and management — with a way of mea-

(CRM) platforms have become essential to any cus-

or support. However, not everybody realizes that a correctly

implemented CRM system can do much more than manage customer service for a business. It allows organizations to harness

the power of their customer data to deliver unparalleled service, all while boosting sales and streamlining operations.

time. Compiling reports can also be highly automated, enabling sales, marketing and customer service personnel to devote more time to building genuine relationships with customers.

However, it is not possible to tap into that potential if a CRM

doesn’t closely reflect your business’s type and needs. So, how do

retention targets by facilitating the creation of targeted strategies

choosing a system, or when assessing the performance of a system

that reflect customer behavior, needs and wants. Moreover, in

the age of social media, customers’ electronic footprints are more pronounced than ever before, and as their expectations rise, the previously sufficient level of intimacy between organizations and their client-base is no longer enough.

Thanks to CRM software, customer service professionals

have all the required information at their disposal — a 360-degree view of a customer’s timeline of communications with an orga-

nization, including emails sent, phone calls made, service calls

you choose the right CRM system? Consider the following when already in use:

1. Cliché as it may be, the priority is determining your compa-

ny’s requirements. If you see your CRM primarily as a sales tool, a simple out-of-the-box deployment accessible only by sales, marketing and customer service is likely to be ade-

quate. However, if you might require extensibility to other

business units, check with potential vendors for such options.

logged, etc.

The possibility of integrating with applications already in

also offer organizations a connected marketing and sales

area to investigate in the early stages of your CRM deci-

And this is something often ignored: CRM can

endeavor, increasing lead generation and sales conversion rates via a closed loop of information, one indispensable to the other and both more effective than ever before. The sales

team is provided with an overview of the level of qualification reached before they contact a lead, and prospects are automatical-

2015

suring the return on investment (ROI) of their campaigns in real

Gathering and storing consumer data is a must for any

company wanting to meet and exceed customer acquisition and

10

the entire sales cycle can be tracked through the CRM system,

place, such as email client or accounts software, is another

sion. For example, an investment bank is likely to need a

complex, tailor-made solution with customized forms and connectivity among various external systems. However, a small family business doesn’t require such complexity and associated costs.

Customer Care News

2.

A consideration of how the system is going to be

grate its CRM platform with

next question: whether to plump for a cloud or an on-

tem (GIS) to visualize location

deployed and used will have a direct impact on the premises solution. The latter might be a good option

for companies concerned with data security (e.g. law firms) or those willing to pay more upfront in order to avoid greater total cost of ownership later. For a

start-up without a big budget, a cloud-based solution

a geographic information sysdata. With every business having its specific needs, looking into

which vendors provide exten-

sive customization support is key.

with much lower initial cost might be a better option.

Additional fields and connectiv-

If your company is likely to evolve and require changing

for a CRM to pull information

functionalities, making adjustments is easier in the cloud than on-premises, however, the capacity for integration with other systems is reduced. Some vendors facilitate a

swift move from the cloud to an on-premises solution, so

choosing a CRM system that is flexible to accommodate

both might be a wise step if you’re expecting your business to balloon.

ity through links are required from social media. If tools such

as LinkedIn figure high in your business’s operations, integrating

your system with them might

Mike Richardson

enable you to gain a competitive edge.

Once you’ve chosen the perfect platform, the last thing before

3. Estimate the expected number of users. In a mid-size or

deployment is checking whether your company is ready for it.

a start-up is likely to have a fluctuating employee base.

willing to learn new skills — the system will not deliver if the

large company it will be high, but fairly stable. In contrast, If your team shrinks and grows, according to the market situation or even time of the year, scalability should be

one of the most sought-after features in a CRM system.

Some cloud CRM system providers offer such flexibility with the number of users easily increased or decreased on a monthly basis.

4.

Mobility is the buzzword of today and not without a reason, but it doesn’t mean that every business requires the

same level of mobile access. To assess what will work best, ask yourself these questions:

• Are your organization’s operatives often on the road?

• Do you encourage working from home?

• Will your CRM system need to be updated in real-time?

• Would the company benefit if managers could access the CRM system anytime, anywhere?

In other words, all members need to support the choice and be staff is not excited to work with it. The best way to ensure high

user adoption is to involve the end-users in the decision-making process from the very beginning.

Facilitating the creation and deployment of meaningful com-

munications, CRM can become a tool that enables organizations

to show how much they value their customers’ business and

provides the real foundation for ongoing loyalty and future com-

mercial interactions. Yet, in the times of a continuing economic squeeze, any investment is a big and daunting decision and CRM

systems are no exception. However, studies show that the desire for CRM software has seen stock continually rise, as more and more companies realize the potential benefits.

Amidst the recent hype surrounding CRM systems, it is

crucial to remember that the implementation of any software on

its own is not a magic bullet that will revitalize an organization

and boost profitability. The right decisions have to be made before and after; even the best systems need the best people to make an organization thrive. CCN

5. Last but not least, in order to fully leverage the data in

Mike Richardson is Managing Director of CRM solution firm

other sources of information. Some of these options may

Maximizer in 2000 when he created and headed the Professional

your CRM system, you may need to integrate it with

be available out-of-the-box, as is the case with widely

used software such as marketing or accounting programs. table; a chartered surveyor, for example, will need to inte-

www.customercarenews.com

Services Team. Prior to joining Maximizer, he had a diverse

career spanning the oil and gas exploration industry, the security sector, and business and IT consultancy for SMEs. Richardson

2015

In other cases, a tailored customization might be inevi-

Maximizer Software for the EMEA region. Richardson joined

can be reached at mrichardson@max.co.uk.

11

Global Survey Shows Involving Customers Still an Afterthought — With a Big Payoff For Those Do

A

new

Forbes

Insights/American

Society

likely to have world-class quality. This finding raises three

2014 shows that while many companies

• W hat is the difference between analyzing customer input

for Quality (ASQ) survey conducted in

solicit customer input, few really involve customers aside

from simply receiving their surveys and complaints.

and involving customers?

• Is the payoff worth the investment?

• What do I need to do to get started?

2015

Companies that genuinely involve customers are twice as

questions:

12

Customer Care News

The

difference

between

and involving customers

analyzing

customer

input

How do I get started with customer involvement?

Better a small success than a big disaster. Pick one known

Customer input is usually one directional, mainly via

customer problem and have a two-way discussion with a focus

Involvement is two directional and recurring. The Forbes/ASQ

how and when the problem occurs and what happens just

surveys and complaints, and is often a one-time occurrence.

Global State of Quality Survey of 2,100 companies found that the most successful companies shared quality measures across

the company and with customers and used quality as a competitive edge.

Customer involvement mechanisms include online com-

munities, focus groups, ethnographic studies and regularly

scheduled discussions with the customer. Ron Lear, director of

quality at Booz Allen Hamilton, said frequent discussions with

group or segment of your customer online community. Ask before it occurs. You will find that customers have a much more complex understanding of your product than you think they do. Unpleasant surprises and unmet expectations are often the

source of dissatisfaction because customers seldom read the directions or details of any offer. My research has found that customers generally create 20 to 30 percent of their own problems via mistakes and incorrect expectations.

One approach, suggested by the Forbes/ASQ study, is to

customers include specifying the issues that are identified based

create a small group of involved customers, which they call

them. Periodically, they circle back to the customers to learn if

product design, prototyping, production, delivery and use. While

on customer feedback and how the company plans to address

they actually saw improvement based on the company’s actions.

The key to involvement is continual monitoring, continuous improvement and ongoing, two-way communication.

Only 24 percent of the Forbes/ASQ survey respondents

strongly agree that they actively involve customers in formal quality discussions, rising to 47 percent among world-class busi-

nesses. Only 16 percent overall strongly agree that they use big data to gauge customer sentiment, compared with 41 percent

“Qustomers” — customers who are involved in the quality of the massive customer involvement is expensive, involvement at these

five critical points throughout the customer journey provide great payoff. For instance, the study recounts the guidance of

Airbus quality manager Thomas Joussen that the “the customer

is at the assembly line doing quality checks for all stages from beginning to end.” In other words, the customer must have input opportunities throughout the entire product life cycle.

The most successful companies shared information on

of world-class organizations. Only 12 percent overall strongly

product quality and service with the customer. Sharing the qual-

rising to 30 percent among world-class organizations.

are measuring the right things. If you think quality is at a 97

agree that they use social media to gauge customer sentiment,

Is the payoff worth the investment?

My research, as reported in my recent book, Customer

Experience 3.0, found that companies that provide great quality and customer experience have dramatically lower marketing

costs because their customers do their marketing for them. For

instance, restaurants The Cheesecake Factory and Chick-Fil-A both have marketing expenses totaling one-fourth that of their

competitors because of positive customer word-of-mouth. Also,

ity metrics with your customers allows you to validate that you

and the customer says, “no it is a 67” – you know the metric is inaccurate. Quality metrics should be merged with or congruent with market success metrics, such as the value for price paid and

willingness to recommend. Ask customers to share the prob-

lems, questions, frustrations and surprises (both positive and

negative) they have had with your products and those of your competitors. Educating customers on product capabilities is also critical for ensuring they get the most out of products/services.

Customer involvement is the best investment for enhancing

to the degree that your customers have fewer problems, attrition

the customer experience. The Forbes/ASQ study shows that a

was the original research that demonstrated that it costs five

product design, production and delivery. Those that do are twice

is lower and less needs to be spent to win new customers. Mine times as much to win a new customer as to keep a current one.

Additionally, higher quality begets higher margins.

Encountering a problem generally doubles customers’ sensitivity to price and two problems double it again. Quality is the

significant majority of companies fail at involving customers in as likely to deliver world-class quality and customer experience, saving marketing costs, preventing customer attrition and achieving higher margins than their competitors. CCN

most powerful differentiator for companies that wish to become

John Goodman is Vice Chairman of Customer Care

department is that if you want to charge a premium price, your

Experience 3.0, is available through Amazon. Follow

world class and charge a premium. The message to the finance

www.customercarenews.com

him on Twitter at jgoodman888 or contact him via email at

2015

customers better not encounter problems.

Measurement & Consulting LLC. His latest book, Customer

jgoodman@customercaremc.com.

13

A Strong Foundation Of Customer Service = Loyal Customers and Brand Ambassadors

W

ith the pervasiveness of social media and

results reflected the importance of customer support across

pany to get away with poor customer service

poor or pristine customer service, and those that incorporate best

online review websites, it’s hard for a com-

in today’s culture. No matter how a company is advertising a product or service, customers act as unpaid press agents — treat

them poorly, and they’ll report it with painfully honest reviews to their personal circle of potential customers.

Though daunting, the reverse is true as well: if a com-

pany treats customers well, they’ll win not only their loyalty as a returning customer, but also the opportunity for them to become a brand ambassador. The customer’s positive reviews of the excellent customer service they receive

will end up benefitting the company in both the short and long term. The proof is in the numbers.

Freshdesk

conducted

a

sur-

in

San

vey of 350 participants at the 2014 Dreamforce

conference

Francisco. The survey asked partici-

industries, and highlighted which industries stand out as having

practices for successful customer support. The lessons learned

from these Dreamforce attendees — who are well informed when it comes to customer service — are valuable for companies

and industries across the board, regardless of size, mission or geography.

Customer support: the good, the bad and the bottom line

Among those polled, three out of four professionals have

Seven out of 10 sales professionals reported that their company has lost a customer or a sale due to poor customer support or poor support reputation

pants to discuss their customer service experiences, and the

personally cut ties with a company due to poor customer service. While not surprising, it’s a valuable metric that

proves what savvy business owners already knew: strong customer service is a critical component for retaining customers and must remain a priority.

All customers want to feel impor-

tant, and a misstep can often cause them to feel overlooked. It’s

these customers who can break a company’s bottom line, because

this means not only losing one customer, but also potentially losing friends and followers whom the customer has. One bad

tweet can undo a lot of otherwise stellar customer service. This is

reflected in the Dreamforce data as well — seven out of 10 sales professionals reported that their company has lost a customer or a sale due to poor customer support or poor support reputation.

Alternately, there is another route customer service can take,

and it will affect a company’s bottom line in a positive way. Nine

out of 10 respondents noted that a positive customer support interaction had changed their perception of a brand for the bet-

Winter 2014

ter. So just as a bad experience can mean losing a customer, a great experience can save one.

Beyond the positive experience, customers will likely con-

tinue returning to a company that has treated them well and Alan Berkson

14

become a loyal customer. Even further, after experiencing a par-

Customer Care News

ticularly helpful interaction with a customer service professional,

customer success within their own organizations despite it not

with friends and family. Delivering great customer service can

It is likely that these respondents are part of a company that

customers might go one step beyond and share that experience

being in their primary job description.

spark an opportunity for a customer to turn into a brand ambas-

places significant value on customer service and the customer

brand in the long run.

and customer success ensures every person in the company feels

sador, giving the company a great reputation that can benefit the

Best communication practices for great customer service

The survey also asked participants about the best possible

way for business professionals to engage in customer support.

Research data showed that email, phone and chat continue to dominate the customer support communication channels.

experience. Centering company values and culture on customers responsible to deliver the best possible product and experience to

everyone they encounter. This focus needs to start with the hir-

ing process and also include training employees to be constantly thinking about the customer and strategizing for success from the bottom to the top.

The benefits from taking the time to ingrain these values

Email took the greatest percentage of votes as the preferred

into a company’s foundation can be enormous. As seen in the

outlet for customers to clearly write out what problems they are

resentatives can make or break a person’s opinion of a company.

channel for customer support. It provides an easy-to-access experiencing, and then customer service employees can tend to those problems on a case-by-case basis. Due to its asynchronous

nature, email also provides agents with the ability to collect whatever information they need and get the customer a complete answer in a clearly written format.

previous data, just a single experience with customer service rep-

The extra effort an individual customer service employee delivers

to ensure a positive experience can create a profound effect on the company’s bottom line. If an entire company operates with the same mindset, the benefits can be immense.

Ultimately, the survey demonstrates that it’s in every single

Customer service by phone trailed closely behind email,

company’s best interest to provide the greatest possible experi-

preferred for resolving problems. Having a customer service

no-brainer, but as the survey reflects, not every company gets it

demonstrating that a personal, real-time interaction is still often employee who is available to speak one-on-one makes customers feel important.

Lastly, chat took nearly a quarter of the votes, likely due to

the ease of access. Ultimately, offering a reliable channel with constant and personal customer service is bound to appeal to most customers seeking help.

ence for its customers, regardless of circumstance. It seems like a right every time. Those small missteps can add up and cost the

company valued business. By putting customer experience at the center of their values and providing the best possible support

using the customers’ preferred medium of communication, companies can make bold strides to ensure that customers remain happy — and spread the word. CCN

The root of customer service success? The employees

Alan Berkson is the Director of Community Outreach at

Beyond the medium of communication used, customer ser-

founded with the mission of enabling companies of all sizes to

delivering it

half of survey respondents shared that they feel responsible for

www.customercarenews.com

provide great customer service. For more information, go online

2015

vice is deeply rooted in the employees providing it. More than

Freshdesk, a cloud-based customer support platform that was

to www.freshdesk.com.

15

Five Ways to Profit From Personality It’s the fundamental driver of your organization’s Customer Experience.

Ignore it at your peril. EMBRACE it, and you’ll prosper.

I

n the late 19th century, the legendary American

calling to resolve a billing error or order a product. But in any

retail landscape — and single-handedly invented the

play. This need has nothing to do with product and everything

entrepreneur Marshall Field forever transformed the

concept of customer service — when he famously declared to

the staff of his eponymous Chicago department store, “Give the lady what she wants!” More than 100 years later, Field’s simple formula for business success is still profoundly effective.

It’s also never been more difficult to deliver on.

A constantly expanding universe of choices has made con-

sumers smarter, savvier and far less tolerant of subpar quality and service. And while increased CS automation has added efficien-

accommodate it, you could be risking revenue, retention, reputation and much, much more.

Conversations in call centers are no different than conversa-

tions in any other area of life: they’re better when those involved

have a good connection. And, just as in everyday life, “better” means different things to different people.

In general, people align with one of four major personality

types: Emotions, Opinions, Thoughts and Reactions. Each one

you need to talk to a real person. By the time a customer in

to be treated, including preferences that are communicated to

THE 4 PERSONALITY TYPES 1. EMOTIONS Compassionate | Sensitive | Warm In Service: P refers caring and supportive problem solving In Sales: Is persuaded by emphasizing the benefits to family, friends, people in general 2. THOUGHTS Logical | Responsible | Organized In Service: P refers efficient and accurate problem solving In Sales: Is persuaded by emphasizing facts, logic and analysis 3. REACTIONS Spontaneous | Creative | Playful In Service: P refers hassle-free and supportive problem solving In Sales: Is persuaded by emphasizing the fun/“cool” factor, and by making the buying process easy 4. OPINIONS Dedicated | Observant | Conscientious In Service: P refers commitment and respectful problem solving In Sales: Is persuaded by emphasizing quality and integrity, and by providing high-quality references

2015

to do with personality. And if your call center isn’t equipped to

cies, slashed costs and provided a certain degree of convenience

for customers, there is a downside to self-service. Sometimes,

16

customer/agent conversation, there’s a deeper level of need at

that position has run

through

the

of these types has its own way of expressing itself and of wanting others through things like word choice, tone and syntax.

Most of us aren’t consciously aware of either projecting or

number-

receiving these “advertisements.” We simply know that we click

let and finally

our conversations and relationships accordingly. In the typical

pressing gauntmade with

contact

agent,

a

live

they’re

often exhausted,

confused

and just plain mad.

Even more

s i g n i fi c a n t l y, exactly what a

customer wants

with some people, but not with others, and automatically form

call center, that control is lost. Callers and agents are forced at random into what are really mini relationships, with potentially disastrous consequences.

The good news is it doesn’t have to be this way. In this, as

with so many other things, technology has arrived to save the

day. Highly sophisticated linguistics-based algorithms have been developed to analyze customers’ call data and identify their indi-

vidual personality type. That identification remains attached to a customer’s phone number, following them into call centers that have implemented a software solution to optimize it.

Some of today’s biggest and most service-heavy companies

isn’t always easy

are already deploying this solution. As they’ve discovered, pairing

not

only

beneficial, influencing virtually every critical metric. Here are

for

customers

to identify —

for

agents, but also

personalities in the call center has the potential to be massively five reasons why:

1. You make a great first impression: Every customer goes

themselves. A

into a call hoping for a good experience and outcome. Precisely

ostensibly

personality type. That’s where things can start to come apart.

customer may be

what that means for them, however, depends largely on their

Customer Care News

Even a fairly specific expectation such as “politeness” can vary

of all: lifetime value. With a myriad of other companies vying for

be offensive to another. Imagine the reception you’d get if you

them feel bad, mad or undervalued — and they won’t.

widely at the granular level. What resonates with one type can greeted Warren Buffet with a hearty, “What’s up, bro?!” and you

their business, customers don’t need to stick with one that makes

What’s more, in the age of social media, a single negative

begin to get the picture.

experience can be detailed and broadcast to millions, deal-

stage for the smooth, mutually satisfying interaction everyone

Comcast debacle may be one of the more highly publicized

In those critical first few moments, it’s important to set the

wants. Aligning customers with agents who recognize and respond to their definition of good service — whether that

ing a potentially devastating blow to your business. The 2014 examples of this, but it happens constantly, every single day.

On the other hand, when a customer feels listened to and

means being warm and nurturing, prompt and efficient, or

valued, he or she is much more likely to maintain a positive

up for a successful call.

you’re really doing it right….

respectful and results-oriented — can help to set both of them

2. Your agents get off the phone sooner: Average talk time

impression of you, regardless of the actual call outcome. And, if

5. You create customer evangelists: The flipside of a tweet

(ATT) is a metric near and dear to the heart of every call cen-

or Facebook post that broadcasts disappointment is one that

that metric rises for the simple reason that mismatches create

in — and these days, more and more customers are — can be as

ter’s operations. When agent/customer personalities conflict, a very real language barrier. A customer is using a specific set

of words to communicate his or her needs; the agent is using a completely different set of words to respond. Negotiating that

miscommunication can pile precious minutes onto a call, all while the customer’s blood pressure skyrockets and their satisfaction plummets.

Agents and customers who understand each other’s person-

lavishes praise. A happy customer who is also socially plugged wonderful for your company’s name and numbers as an unhappy

one can be damaging to them. They can put a positive message

about you in front of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, even millions of people — all without you spending a dime of your marketing budget.

Success in business ultimately comes down to satisfying the

ality language have naturally shorter conversations. And when

deep human need to be heard and understood. Organizations

age 300-seat call center, for example, just a one-second decrease

their call centers are innovating and defining CS/CX standards

ATT goes down, the financial benefits are significant. In an averin monthly ATT can translate into a dollars-and-cents savings

equivalent of as much as one full-time agent’s salary. Companies using personality-based call routing have seen monthly ATT reductions of well more than 100 seconds. It adds up — fast.

3. Your agents are also happier: The notoriously high

turnover rate many call centers experience is understandable. It’s

tough to spend hours and hours a day being yelled at and criti-

cized, feeling like you’re not doing your job well. However, agents who primarily serve customers with whom they have a positive

connection feel understood, appreciated, valued and satisfied.

That’s a recipe for a motivated and content employee, while also significantly lowering hiring and training costs.

4. You win the long game (even if you lose a round): Call

center agents are trained to solve the problem a customer presents to them, and rightfully so. But if a customer’s personality

needs aren’t met, chances are they’ll walk away with a negative impression of the conversation, and your organization, even if What’s at stake here is the most important success measure

www.customercarenews.com

for our generation — and scooping up the customers, employees and profits of those that fail to keep pace. CCN

Jason Wesbecher is Executive Vice President and Chief

Marketing Off icer for Mattersight (www.mattersight.

com), which offers a proprietary set of personality-based SaaS applications that help businesses have more effec-

tive, more effortless conversations with their customers.

Wesbecher has spent close to two decades holding sales, marketing and executive positions within the B2B SaaS market. As an entrepreneur, he most recently founded and served as CEO of

Docket, a sales enablement software company backed by Austin Ventures and First Round Capital. Prior to founding Docket, he helped guide Jive Software through an IPO as the leader of the

strategic accounts, federal and LATAM teams. Previously he has held sales leadership positions at eLoyalty, Siebel Systems, TIBCO

Software and Trilogy. Wesbecher holds a BA in Economics from

the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is active within the Austin start-up ecosystem and frequently contributes to Entrepreneur Magazine and Huffington Post. You

2015

their transactional needs are met.

that leverage new technologies to meet that fundamental need in

can reach him at jason.wesbecher@mattersight.com.

17

SoLoMo Marketing: How to Combine the Powers of Social Media, Local Targeting and Mobile Technology to Engage Customers purchasing history, and offer them relevant communications and

offers in real-time. However, companies need to be careful about the amount of contact they have with their customers through this channel.

Traditionally, consumers have been in control of how and

when they receive marketing offers from companies, and making

the assumption that all customers are ready to take the plunge

into SoLoMo marketing is a huge mistake. This is confirmed by research findings from GI Insight, which have highlighted that

this channel needs to be treated with caution as not all custom-

ers are comfortable with the level of data sharing that targeted, location-based mobile marketing entails.

Getting SoLoMo right

GI Insight’s latest whitepaper, Harnessing the Power of

SoLoMo, investigates whether it is worth investing in the SoLoMo trend, analyzing survey responses from 1,000-plus consumers to gauge the levels of communication they are comfort-

able with. The report highlights a key message: a huge majority

of consumers (70%) were only willing to receive location-based mobile marketing messages if they had given a company direct

A

surge in smartphone and Internet use has changed

the way companies connect with consumers in a huge way: businesses can now gather an unprece-

dented amount of data on their customers from a greater number

of sources and at a faster rate than ever before. For marketers, this means that gone are the days of generic marketing communications and offers across disparate channels — consumers now

want, and expect, personalized customer communications. But how much personalization is too much?

Social, Local and Mobile (SoLoMo) marketing is the inevi-

started communicating with them in this manner. Furthermore, 60% of respondents were only willing to receive SoLoMo mar-

keting messages, and be likely to act on them, if they had longstanding ties with the company in question, such as membership of its loyalty scheme — highlighting the importance of strong customer/business bonds in effective SoLoMo marketing. A sig-

nificant 80% said they would not welcome these messages from any company at all without a prior relationship in place.

This illustrates that while consumers are happy to “check-in”

to various locations through social media and search for local

keting, SoLoMo makes targeted marketing more accurate and

The vast majority of customers are unhappy with the prospect of

effective than ever. Fed by big data, SoLoMo can track consumer

2015

diately unsubscribe from a mailing list if an unfamiliar company

table product of this changing landscape. Combining the power of social media and the precision of location-based mobile mar-

behavior based on a customer’s location, social media habits and

18

permission to do so. The same amount said they would imme-

services via mobile, there have to be some boundaries in place. being targeted with unsolicited mobile marketing, so any business that sends out unsolicited location-based marketing mes-

Customer Care News

sages risks both its reputation and its customers. Moreover, the findings indicate that what really matters to customers is having a good relationship with the company beforehand; only then

are many happy to receive and act upon targeted mobile-based marketing offers.

The weak link in SoLoMo

While social media has become an indispensable channel

for personal communications, the research reveals that consumers largely do not welcome receiving location-based marketing through social networks. The consumers questioned were far

more likely to take part in an offer from a company if it came from them directly, rather than via a social network, with less

than one-quarter of respondents (22%) saying they would be more likely to take up location-based mobile offers received through a social networking site.

On the other hand, an impressive 59% of respondents said

they would be more likely to act on a local mobile marketing offer from a company whose loyalty program they belong to —

illustrating the fact that loyalty schemes and SoLoMo marketing can, and should, go hand in hand when it comes to strengthening customer relationships. This is because the information captured

Andy Wood

tomer behavior and spending habits, enabling marketers to create

evant offers, and the company does not waste time and resources

through a loyalty program can reveal telling insights into cus-

tailored and relevant offers that show the customer the company is using their data wisely.

sending the wrong message to its customers.

Using personal data to tailor and time mobile communica-

Trust in the brand is therefore the key link for consumers —

tions to individual customers beyond just getting the locality

this trust in the brand that forms the good relationship between

ing response. Consumers want to see a level of understanding

it is far more important than a social networking platform, as it is customer and company that makes SoLoMo work.

Can SoLoMo work for every business?

There are many aspects of this exciting new marketing

development that businesses should already be adopting, but the

research also highlights some key warning signs. The findings

right plays an enormous role in engaging people and encouragand personalization when it comes to targeted marketing, oth-

erwise it is no better than unsolicited junk mail. The companies

that pick up on the right data and use it thoughtfully to tailor offers and deals to each individual shows a level of customer intelligence that doesn’t go unnoticed by consumers.

So, while SoLoMo can work with large segments of custom-

make clear the pivotal importance of having a good relationship

ers, it is important to bear in mind that there is not a one-size-

activities, as without this companies risk alienating both poten-

vast amount of customers thanks to the fact that many simply

with the customer prior to embarking on SoLoMo marketing tial and existing buyers. One of the most effective ways of laying the groundwork for successful SoLoMo campaigns is through a

loyalty program, which enables a company to collect the neces-

sary data and evaluate it effectively in order to tailor the right communications to the right customer.

fits-all option. To adopt a uniform approach would alienate a aren’t ready for the level of communication that comes with SoLoMo. Start by building strong customer relationships and you’ll find SoLoMo can become a powerful marketing tool. CCN

This allows businesses to use customer intelligence to offer

Andy Wood is the Managing Director for GI Insight (www.

particular customer needs, when he or she needs it. This in turn

helping you understand your customer’s behavior and using this

tailored, targeted and relevant promotions that reflect what a

helps build a deeper bond between company and customer: the customer is pleased that they aren’t being bombarded with irrel-

www.customercarenews.com

gi-solutionsgroup.com/gi-insight), a company that is focused on knowledge to tailor your marketing communications to boost response rates and return on investment.

19

The Future of CRM: Why Knowledge Automation is a Game Changer

I

n the 1980s, when Customer Relationship Management

and efficiently answer their questions the first time they call. But

what it would be like to speak individually to countless

agents can’t find the information they’re looking for and have to

(CRM) was first introduced, it was merely an idea of

sales leads and customers. Since then, it has become an integral

part of any organization seeking to actively improve sales and

Tools and databases used in the call centers provide good

answers if the answer is available in the knowledge base that

organizations correspond with their key constituents.

silo of a knowledge base has only a portion of the total useful

Companies rely on CRM platforms to manage all busi-

ness relationships and the data and information associated with them. These platforms store account details, leads and sales

information, and customer contact information in a central loca-

tion. Now, this information is most often stored in the cloud, making it accessible anywhere. While CRM platforms are useful

across many departments and have helped companies improve many types of relationships during the past three decades, there is still more that companies can do to leverage CRM for cus-

companies use. However, it is typical in enterprises that a

knowledge available in the company, and that portion is usually

old and outdated. Better and more complete knowledge exists, but it is outside the knowledge silos of call centers. Given the time and effort required to bring the right knowledge into call center tools, searching for what they need not only wastes the

representatives’ time and involves more than one employee, but

it also lengthens the call, upsetting customers and limiting the overall amount of customers agents are able to help.

Knowledge automation can predict what information sup-

tomer support.

port representatives will need based on a customer’s history or

companies to leverage all their content, often scattered across

port they will need while they are on the phone with customers

Knowledge automation — enterprise software that enables

multiple repositories and in diverse formats — will be instrumental in helping customer service reps use CRM to its fullest

capacity in 2015. Knowledge automation will improve customer

support in three main areas: call length and volume of calls, training processes, and uniform support.

Decreasing call length and volume of calls

When customers pick up the phone to

call customer service, the last thing they want

is to spend an hour on the phone with a sup-

port representative who fails to answer their questions, only to hang up disappointed and

have to call back again at a later day or time.

According to the 2012 Global Customer

will reduce average call time and lead to improved first-call resolution, which ultimately leads to happier customers.

Accelerating and simplifying training processes

Customer service personnel turn over quickly and come

from a variety of backgrounds with a wide range of skills.

Training new employees can be a challenge when they are unfamiliar with the company’s culture, best practices and exist-

ing training collateral. When new hires ramp up to familiarize

themselves with all the information in an organization, it can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. But if support representatives don’t get the training they need, the results could be detrimental to customer experience.

It’s nearly impossible to share all the information employees

will need to do their jobs from the outset. Brief training sessions

from agent to agent without any resolution of

jump right in.

their problem.

Customers reach out to customer support

Seenu Banda

on documents that other agents are using. Predicting what sup-

Service Barometer, more than one in four

customers have experienced being transferred

2015

pass the query to someone else.

customer service interactions. Now a 35-year-old industry, CRM is no doubt here to stay, drastically affecting the way

20

customer service can easily become a game of tag when support

expecting to talk to agents who can quickly

can’t cover all the materials, leaving new employees to have to CRM tools are no longer limited to use in the customer ser-

vice department. More and more organizations are recognizing

the benefit of CRM tools across various departments. With the

Customer Care News

breadth of these tools, resources

that individuals need to do their jobs and give exceptional support

are often hidden in a number of silos, making it difficult for

new employees to find the documents they need to offer help to customers.

However, knowledge automa-

tion can make it easier for new employees to do their jobs. The

technology can predict what a new employee will need. From training

sheets and company FAQs to social media guidelines and mar-

Connecting customer service representatives through

keting how-tos, knowledge automation can send new employees

knowledge automation will help them collaborate and offer bet-

customized to them. According to BizLibrary, companies that

approach to customer service across all their platforms, they will

the documents they should read in a dashboard that’s uniquely use enterprise technology in their training processes see an 18

percent increase in employee engagement year after year. This

ter customer support. As companies create a unified and global

see results in the efficiency of support and customer satisfaction.

Companies that rely on knowledge automation in the future

may seem unrelated, but having engaged, happy employees leads

will reduce the number of calls they receive from customers and

With knowledge automation, supervisors will know which

to find the training materials they need as it is recommended

to reduced turnover and more satisfied customers.

of their team members are taking time to read their training materials. Ultimately, the use of knowledge automation solu-

tions in the enterprise will alleviate the pressure on customer

support supervisors to be everywhere at once. Less new hires will be raising their hands for help as they use knowledge automation to help themselves find important documents.

Build uniformity across global support representatives

The evolution of CRM and customer service technologies

has allowed companies to offer support from virtually anywhere.

While many companies outsource their support outside of the

United States, others offer on-the-go support through mobile, cloud and social media technologies. These resources allow for

the average length of call times. New employees will be able

for them on their individual dashboards, improving training

processes and freeing up supervisors to help in other areas.

Organizations will also be able to close the loop on support that

occurs remotely — connecting all employees with information and knowledge.

Complete knowledge exists in the enterprise, but employees

don’t know how to access it from information silos. As information spreads through the enterprise, organizations can be proac-

tive about transforming that information into knowledge as it makes its way to the people who need it. As customer service

agents are given the knowledge they need to successfully do their jobs, customers will ultimately be happier. CCN

customer support anytime and anywhere.

Seenu Banda is the CEO and a founder of Kaybus Inc. (www.

difficult to synchronize communications within the enterprise.

in residence at Artiman Ventures. Previously, he was a VP of

But with support agents scattered across the globe, it can be

Getting agents the knowledge they need, when they need it, requires more than just a CRM platform. It requires a system

that can predict relevant information and suggest that content to the user. This will not only simplify content sharing, but it will also unify support teams across the globe.

Knowledge automation allows support agents to view which

materials are popular based on topic, but also by location. Users in Bangalore could view what documents are popular or well peers may be.

www.customercarenews.com

Enterprise solutions at Alcatel-Lucent. He was the CEO and founder of NetDevices, which was acquired by Alcatel-Lucent in

2007. Prior to NetDevices, he was Senior Director of Marketing

at Cisco Systems, where he managed multiple billion-dollar product lines including the 7200 and 7500. Earlier, Banda

worked for six years at Intel Corporation in strategic and product marketing roles. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University, a Masters in Computer Science from Michigan State

University, and a BS in Computer Engineering from Andhra

2015

rated among their peers in the Silicon Valley or wherever their

kaybus.com). Prior to founding Kaybus, he was an entrepreneur

University.

21

Case Study: Lesley University Uses Cloud-based Support Platform to Boost Student Satisfaction

M

any higher education institutions struggle

When students submitted their requests, they received inconsis-

There is frequently a lot of red tape for stu-

various accents, making it confusing for students to know from

to offer the best possible technical support.

dents and professors to cut through, and it’s not uncommon for academic institutions to be hampered by tight budgets — meaning they don’t often spend enough to offer the best possible support. There is a pervasive perception of miscommunication

tent responses. They often spoke to service representatives with where their support was coming. The agents on the other end didn’t really understand the campus culture and nuances, and users were often getting answers late.

Prompted by complaints from students, Charles Cooper,

and bad service, owing to a large chunk of the support process

assistant director of information technology at Lesley University,

The most savvy higher education institutions are finding

support system. Taking customer support in-house with the

being outsourced.

ways to cut through this red tape by embracing new tools and

technologies. By implementing new technologies, these institu-

tions have empowered their own students to support internal

users, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and cost savings.

Transitioning to a cloud-based customer support system

recognized a need in his department for a more comprehensive help of a cloud-based customer support system helped him

solve three pain points: delivering quicker and better support, reaching students no matter where they are, and transforming customer support into an engaging activity for student agents.

may seem overwhelming to small colleges, but it doesn’t need

Offering local and uniform support

Mass., are proving that a small budget and employee base don’t

University’s IT support back in-house to make it more acces-

Lesley University is a private university with approximately

help them own customer support, do it all in house and take

to be. Institutions like Lesley University, based in Cambridge, need to equate to a lower quality of support.

7,000 students and is well known for its education, creative

writing, counseling and fine arts programs. The university had

been using an outsourced company to manage its IT helpdesk.

In 2013, Cooper was tasked with bringing Lesley

sible and user-friendly. He wanted to find a system that would

customer satisfaction to a whole new level. He also realized the

potential he had to teach students the ins and outs of IT support through first-hand experience.

Cooper turned to Freshdesk, the cloud-based customer sup-

port platform, to implement an easy-to-setup and intuitive help

desk that made it possible to put university students on the front

lines of customer service and IT troubleshooting. Ultimately, Cooper hired more student workers, creating more on-campus jobs, and gave his students valuable IT experience they couldn’t find elsewhere at a liberal arts university.

They offered support in a variety of areas from resetting

passwords and establishing .edu email addresses to accessing

the school’s Wi-Fi. Cooper also used Freshdesk to create and

share scripts that answer the most common support questions.

By doing this, he created a uniform approach to service, something that was missing from the previous helpdesk. When new

students came on board as agents, they were able to quickly pick

2015

up troubleshooting knowledge by looking at these scripts.

Alan Berkson

22

By using a local cloud-based help desk and student employ-

ees, universities can ensure the messages they are sending to stu-

Customer Care News

dents are aligned with their brand while making sure students get help when they need it.

Reaching students where they are

At Lesley University, the IT office is on the far end of a two-

mile campus. It can take his agents nearly 30 minutes to walk to work if they are coming from the other end of campus. One

feature Cooper particularly liked about Freshdesk was the plat-

form’s mobile integration. With the Freshdesk mobile app, his

agents can login from their phones and offer support on the go.

Additionally, Cooper found that with Freshdesk, his agents

could communicate with students through the channels that meant the most to them. Although the Lesley University network worked smoothly more often than not, positive feedback

was rarely retweeted. Cooper noticed an increasing number of

complaints rolling in through social media and used Freshdesk to mitigate those complaints.

Freshdesk enabled the IT team to monitor any mention of

leaders would get special recognition among their peers, creat-

When they spotted an issue, the team would pull it into the

also proved beneficial to students as they claimed more talking

Lesley University on social media that was related to IT issues. platform’s ticketing system and assign it to an agent to handle.

Another benefit for Cooper was that he could allow his students

to respond to issues via social media directly from the platform, so he did not have to share the login credentials for the univer-

ing an environment of healthy competition. These challenges points on their resumes. The school found that as more students

participated in gamification, they were happier at work and provided better customer support.

sity’s social accounts.

Better support leads to happier customers

tions to help their students get the on-the-go answers they need.

software, they’ll find they not only save money, but also their

media complaints without sharing login credentials with a high

themselves.

Systems such as Freshdesk enable higher education institu-

This technology also allows multiple users to respond to social volume of individuals. These capabilities make it possible to

offer the best support to students whenever and however they need it.

Making support fun for agents

Customer service support can often be a mundane and

repetitive job, leading to high employee turnover. This is espe-

As institutions implement cloud-based customer support

employees and customers are happier. The numbers speak for After each ticket is resolved, Freshdesk lets Lesley collect

feedback on the service through a customer satisfaction survey.

Lesley University’s old support provider operated on a five-star

system and customer satisfaction teetered around four stars, or about 80 percent. Lesley University now has 95 percent positive customer satisfaction.

Universities can leverage internal teams to help students

cially true for student-based support jobs — college students

find the answers they need by focusing their IT support efforts

cational lives. Cooper needed to implement a system that would

universities save money while providing jobs for students.

can become easily distracted at work by their personal and edumake offering support fun.

Freshdesk’s gamification aspect, which lets support

agents score points with each incoming ticket, allowed Lesley University to make the helpdesk more fun and turn customer

through a cloud-based helpdesk. This new focus will also help Investing in a simplified and intuitive approach to customer

support can help universities make the most of their resources while improving student satisfaction. CCN

support into an attractive job for student representatives. The

Alan Berkson is the Director of Community Outreach at

receiving positive customer reviews.

founded with the mission of enabling companies of all sizes to

system challenged students to earn points for closing tickets and

www.customercarenews.com

provide great customer service. For more information, go online

2015

Cooper established quests, such as “close 10 tickets with

positive customer satisfaction ratings in a week.” The challenge

Freshdesk, a cloud-based customer support platform that was

to www.freshdesk.com.

23

It Takes A Lot More Than Just Cash-saving Points To Get Consumers To Sign Up For Loyalty Schemes

L

oyalty schemes can be an invaluable tool when

ers. It is therefore paramount that companies offer meaningful

consumer experience. Our most recent research

business in the minds of customers as the go-to brand within a

it comes to customer satisfaction and the overall

shows that 94 percent of UK consumers are members of at least

one loyalty program, and many belong to multiple schemes.

benefits that appeal to a range of consumers and establish their specific sector.

To be embraced by consumers, a loyalty scheme has to offer

However, to really get consumers flocking to a brand and form-

benefits that provide value and relevance to the particular cus-

simply have a loyalty scheme in place.

do not see as meaningful, they will quickly abandon the scheme

ing a strong bond with it, a company needs to do more than Loyalty schemes have emerged as a critical customer rela-

tionship platform for businesses of all types. Firms that have jumped on the loyalty scheme bandwagon in just the last couple

of years include John Lewis, Morrisons, Papa John’s, Pets at Home and ASOS. The proliferation of schemes has made the competition tight for place of pride in the wallets of consum-

tomer being targeted. If members are being offered benefits they

and possibly take their business to another brand. Research by Nielsen shows that 50 percent of UK consumers will quit a

loyalty scheme or not join at all if they feel the benefits are not worthwhile.

Once a loyalty scheme has been implemented, then the

hard work begins. Running the scheme successfully is really about using the data to better understand your customers and to

extend your relationship with them. The data on members, both the information they have given you and that which you have gleaned from their transactions, provides you with insight into

their preferences, interests, personal circumstances, needs and buying habits. This has to guide the targeting of certain rewards and benefits such as vouchers and exclusive offers.

This database of knowledge that you will build regarding

your customers is essential to growing long-term relationships with them. The insight yielded by loyalty scheme data is critical to furthering customer relationships and maintaining their

engagement with the brand. Your scheme should be treated as a platform for understanding buyer behavior and interacting more effectively with your consumer base — fostering customer inti-

macy. Achieving a high level of customer intimacy is no simple

task, however, and consumers today have high expectations when it comes to loyalty schemes and what they deliver. People

will not continue using a loyalty program if they feel they are not receiving significant value from the brand.

Research shows that many schemes are in fact failing to

engage a significant portion of members: only 50 percent of

people who are actually registered in a loyalty program are actively participating in them on an on-going basis. This shows that there is plenty of opportunity for companies to get more

2015

from their schemes. So what is it customers are expecting?

According to research, collecting reward points does rank

24

Customer Care News

the highest in the list of factors that push people to take part

audience — might

tors that attract them. While 74 percent of the 1,000-plus UK

to

in a loyalty scheme, however, there is a wide range of other fac-

consumers surveyed said redeemable points are a big incentive, 60 percent said vouchers and coupons offering cash off or a percentage discount are a critical selling point, and 53 percent

cite special offers as a major motivator for scheme membership and use.

The survey revealed that women are particularly drawn to

cost savings that are offered by loyalty schemes. Female consum-

ers are more likely to be motivated by redeemable points with 78 percent (compared to 70 percent of male respondents) of

the women surveyed citing these as a big motivating factor to sign up. But more women are also persuaded by vouchers and

coupons (65 percent versus 56 percent of male respondents) and special offers (55 percent versus 50 percent of men).

Interestingly, research showed a larger portion of older

consumers point to redeemable points as a motivator with 80

percent of respondents 65 years and older choosing this option.

However, for younger consumers it was less of a driver with only

64 percent of those 18-24 years old choosing redeemable points as a key reason for joining and remaining active in a scheme.

For a significant minority of consumers, convenience was a

key motivating factor, with a quarter of respondents choosing

schemes that are easy to sign up to and to continue using. Our

find it beneficial develop

and

promote a loyalty

app in order to differentiate them-

selves in an already crowded

mar-

ket. The research

showed that 10

percent of 18-24 year olds and 14

percent of 25-34 year olds say they have been positively

influenced

by the offer of a

mobile app. But just two percent of

consumers in the 55-64 age group

and one percent of

Andy Wood

those older than 65

saw the availability of an app as an important consideration.

Of critical importance to developing your loyalty scheme

research showed that factors that related to regular habits, fit

and leveraging it to foster stronger customer relationships is

older consumers than their younger counterparts.

resultant insight to improve communications and better target

with lifestyle and were easy to use were far more important to A noteworthy portion of consumers also view free extras

such as coffee or cake, special offers for birthdays or other occasions, and early access to new launches and discounts as impor-

tant reasons for joining and staying active within a scheme: 17 percent of respondents identify complimentary treats as an incentive, 12 percent list event-linked deals, and 12 percent

point to exclusive/first opportunity to buy new products and take advantage of deals.

analyzing data gathered through the scheme and using the

offers. In the age of Big Data, customers expect precisely tailored messages, services and offers. The research clearly indicates that not enough companies are using scheme data to

more effectively communicate with and target their customers.

According to the research, a mere 27 percent of the respondents

felt like companies providing loyalty schemes were successfully analyzing their needs and sending relevant offers.

When a loyalty scheme is set up and managed effectively, it

Many marketers or business owners might think that

can provide a great tool for customer insight and a mechanism

enticing people to sign-up to a scheme; however, this proved not

patterns of customer behavior and segment the database. The

mobile technology would be one of the biggest motivators to be the case. Despite continuing growth in the use of smart-

phones and tablets, having a loyalty scheme that was accessible

through the use of an app did not register as a major enticement for the vast majority of consumers. Only six percent of those

for acting on it. A company can use the data generated to track

result is that you not only cultivate customer loyalty, but you also

encourage more and more frequent spending — which, in turn, leads to more profitable and lasting relationships. CCN

surveyed said this was something that would excite them about

Andy Wood is the Managing Director for GI Insight (www.

Nonetheless, mobile loyalty apps are more of a factor for

helping you understand your customer’s behavior and using this

joining and participating in a scheme.

but some brands — particularly those that have a young target

www.customercarenews.com

knowledge to tailor your marketing communications to boost

2015

younger consumers. The percentages remain relatively small,

gi-solutionsgroup.com/gi-insight), a company that is focused on

response rates and return on investment.

25

Learning Ticklers™

A New Generation Retained Learning System CASH FLOW Cash Flow Cycle Why is it important?

S™ S E N I S BU

01 1 Y T I L REA IBUTION DISTR Learning Ticklers

TM

Flashcards for Business

Balancing all aspects of the business appropriately, including the cash flow cycle, is key to ultimately reaching financial success. Other key areas include operational efficiency, personnel and systems development, supplier relationships, inventory controls, customer service, and quality initiatives.

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His group specifically looked at the elements needed for

sioned to develop a system to prevent learning loss after educational and training sessions in the area of people skills.

As a result, the Learning Ticklers system was estab™

lished and developed. The card deck system highlights

the most important parts of each course, featuring quick

references for easy access and use. With a simple table of

contents and search capabilities, the decks give executives, managers and staff easy access to course highlights at their fingertips via smartphone, iPad or desktop.

The use of flash cards to aid in learning has easily been

the number-one tool for generations. Dr. Levick explored

ic w

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26

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transfer knowledge from the classroom to the workplace. the card in order to create long-term concept retention.

He looked at ease of use and on-demand features that will resonate with all educators, coaches and trainers.

For years companies have been spending millions of

dollars to provide top-notch learning experiences for

their workforce. And outcome study after outcome study has shown that without follow up such as user-friendly

material that is easy to access and reference, the learning

goes to waste. The Learning Ticklers™ provide an easy

and helpful system for post-training participants to get

answers to on-the-job issues by reviewing real solutions discussed in training.

In addition to all the current Learning Ticklers, we

now offer custom decks to support learning in every

organization. For more information, call 888-438-9528.

Customer Care News

6

A

Customer Care Glossary

Abandoned Call: The caller hangs up before reaching an agent. (Also called a lost call.)

Access Provider: An organization that provides access to the Internet. (Also called an Internet Service Provider [ISP].)

ACD: Automatic Call Distributor automatically answers calls, queues calls, distributes calls to agents, plays delay announcements and provides real-time and historical reports on these activities.

ARU: Audio Response Unit; automated attendants that

Business Process Improvement (BPI): Betterment of

ACS: Automatic Call Sequencer automatically answers

route calls based on digits callers enter on touch-tone

an organization’s business practices through the analysis

and sequences calls on a first-in/first-out basis.

phones. It responds to caller-entered digits or speech

of activities to reduce or eliminate non-value-added

ACTUAL VALUE: The net present value of future

recognition in much the same way that a conventional

activities or costs, while maintaining or improving qual-

financial contributions from the designated customer,

computer responds to keystrokes or clicks of a mouse.

ity, productivity, timeliness or other strategic or business

behaving in the way he is expected to behave, knowing

(Also called IVR, VRU)

objectives as evidenced by performance measures.

what we know now, with no significant unanticipated

ASA: Average Speed of Answer

Business Process Re-engineering: A structured

change in the customer’s needs, in the competitive

Average Time to Abandonment: The average time that

approach by all or part of an enterprise to improve

landscape, or in the company’s planned strategy. Same

callers wait in queue before abandoning.

the value of its products and services while reducing

as lifetime value (LTV).

ACW: After-Call Work. Work that is necessitated by and immediately follows an inbound transaction (Also

B

Baseline Market Segmentation Study: The first mar-

resource requirements.

C

ket segmentation study conducted by an organization.

Aggregation: Combining data in a way that creates

BELOW ZEROs (BZs): The customers who cost more

Call Blending: Combining traditionally separate inbound and outbound agent groups into one group

new information. For example, adding the dollar values

to serve than they will ever return in value. Examples: A

of agents responsible for handling both inbound and

of all of a customer’s transactions together to create a

Below Zero might be somebody who takes a lot of free

outbound contacts.

new field that reflects total purchases.

services, but doesn’t return much revenue. It could be

Call by Call Routing: The process of routing each call

AHT: Average Handling Time; the sum of average talk

a complainer whose complaint was never resolved and

to the optimum destination according to real-time

time and average after-call work for a specified time

therefore no longer does business with you. Not only

conditions.

period. OR Average Hold Time.

is that person worth zero on that account, but actually

Call Center: Term used to include reservation cen-

AI: Artificial Intelligence is computers that act in a way

has below-zero value because he or she will tarnish your

ters, help desks, information lines or customer service

analogous to intelligent human behavior.

reputation in speaking to other customers.

centers. The term contact center is being used more

AMIS: Audio Messaging Interchange Specification; a

Blog: A blog is an online journal that’s updated on

frequently, as calls are just one type of transaction tak-

standard that permits networking of voice mail systems

a regular basis with entries that appear in reverse

ing place. It is the part of an organization that handles

from different manufacturers.

chronological order. Blogs can be about any subject.

inbound/outbound communications with customers.

API: An API (a technical term for application pro-

They typically contain comments by other readers, links

Calls in Queue: The number of calls received that the

gramming interface) allows users to get a data feed

to other sites and permalinks. See SOCAP’s blog at

ACD system has received but that haven’t connected

directly into their own sites, providing continually

http://www.socap.org/networking/blogs.aspx

to an agent.

updated, streaming data — text, images, video — for

BOS: Business Operating System — An environment

Channel: An avenue through which products and

display. For example, Flickr’s API might allow you to

that represents the vast warehouses of knowledge of

services are rendered to end-use customers. Car dealers,

display photos from the site on your blog. When sites

an organization-the way a business is run, the way

retailers, computer resellers, grocery wholesalers are all

like Twitter and Facebook “open up” their APIs, it

people and information come together to add value to

examples of channel members.

means that developers can build applications that build

a business process. A BOS is a repository composed of

Churn: A term that describes customer attrition or

new functionality on top of the underlying service.

a common operating environment, a business process

customer defection. A high churn rate implies high

Application Based Routing and Reporting: The ACD

library and enterprise workflow.

customer disloyalty.

capability to route and track transactions by type of call.

Brand Equity: The level of awareness and consumer

Cloud Computing: Cloud computing (also called “the

goodwill generated by a company’s brands and/or

cloud”) refers to the growing phenomenon of users who

products.

can access their data from anywhere rather than being tied to a particular machine.

www.customercarenews.com

27

2015

called Wrap-up and Post Call Processing.)

Customer Care Glossary

D

Data Aggregation Agent (DAA): As the increasing

2015

demands of marketers and service providers for cusConditional Routing: The capability of the ACD to

Customer Differentiation: The second step in the one-

tomer information begin to clash with privacy concerns,

route calls based on current conditions. It is based on

to-one strategy labeled “IDIC” is to differentiate cus-

new entities called Data Aggregation Agents (DAAs)

“if-then” programming statements.

tomers. Customers are different in two ways: they have

emerge. By consolidating and controlling outside access

Consumer Direct: Also known as Direct-to-

different value to the enterprise, and they need different

to a customer’s personal data, DAAs will help busi-

Consumer, it’s the channel that includes all products

things from the enterprise. Customer differentiation is

nesses provide the customer with relevant and timely

and services delivered directly to the home through

vital to pursuing Learning Relationships.

offers while protecting individual privacy. The basic

catalogs, telemarketing, TV shopping, kiosks, web sites,

Customer Experience Development: The process of

function of a DAA would be to act as a central, online

and the newly emerging automatic grocery-replenish-

overseeing and influencing the totality of a customer’s

storehouse for a consumer’s personal information. In a

ment services. Consumer Direct describes the process

experiences with a brand, product or service, spanning

wide-open, wireless world, customers will require their

involved when a manufacturer sends goods directly to a

all interactions and transactions.

DAAs to shield them from mobile “spam,” while send-

consumer via the Internet (such as providing music or

Customer Loyalty: The degree to which customers

ing through messages that truly respond to their needs.

video) with no intermediaries, but the term also refers

are predisposed to stay with your company and resist

Data Mart: A special-purpose, usually smaller, data

to direct-mail and catalog channels.

competitive offers.

warehouse created and managed for specific business

Consumer Unit: All related members of a particular

Customer Portfolio Management: An organization-

units. Almost always, marketing or finance are the first

household.

al structure placing line responsibility for improv-

data mart users in the enterprise. It’s much easier and

Contextual Commerce: When the advertisement on

ing Return on Customer in the hands of portfolio

faster to deploy than a data warehouse.

the web site directly pertains to the kind of information

managers.

Data Mining: Originally a term used to describe the

a person is viewing, and changes with each visitor, and

Customer Relationship Management (CRM): CRM

recognition of previously undiscovered patterns in a

with each drill down

is the same as one-to-one marketing. This customer-

database. Now it’s used to add sales value to almost

Continuous Process Improvement: A policy that

focused business model also goes by the names rela-

any kind of data analysis tool. It’s one of the top 10

encourages, mandates, and/or empowers employees to

tionship marketing, real-time marketing, customer

buzzwords in present language. Data mining is crucial

find ways to improve process and product performance

intimacy, and a variety of other terms. But the idea is

in CRM strategies, particularly in e-commerce.

measures on an ongoing basis.

the same: establish relationships with customers on an

Data Warehouse: A data repository created by extract-

Co-opetition: Partnering with your competition.

individual basis and then use the information you gath-

ing data elements from operational and OLTP systems.

Cost of Poor Quality: The costs associated with pro-

er to treat different customers differently. The exchange

Its main purpose is to provide a dataset that users can

viding poor-quality products or services.

between a customer and a company becomes mutually

access without affecting the performance of the online

Cross Functional Process Improvement: Business

beneficial, as customers give information in return for

systems.

process re-engineering with the goal of eliminating

personalized service that meets their individual needs.

Database Management Software: Computer pro-

stove pipe operations.

Customer Satisfaction Research: Research conducted

grams in which data are captured on the computer,

Cross-Selling: Selling related goods and services to a

to measure overall satisfaction with a product or service

updated, maintained and organized for effective use and

consumer. This process is only one way to increase your

and satisfaction with specific elements of the product

manipulation of data.

Share of Customer.

or service.

Database: Any collection of information — from a

Crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing refers to harnessing

Customer Valuation: The value of a customer to an

simple shopping list to a complex collection of custom-

the skills and enthusiasm of those outside an organiza-

enterprise, composed of two elements. Actual valuation

er information — is technically a customer database.

tion who are prepared to volunteer their time contribut-

is the customer’s current Lifetime Value, and strategic

However, the term is usually applied to computerized

ing content or skills and solving problems.

valuation is the customer’s potential value, if the cus-

records of information.

CSR: Customer Service Representative. ALSO

tomer could be grown to his or her maximum potential.

Design for Manufacturability: Designing or redesign-

Corporate Social Responsibility, a concept whereby

(See also Share of Customer).

ing the production process of a product so that it can

businesses and organizations perform a social good

Customer-Centric: Putting the customer at the center

be manufactured with the least amount of parts in the

or take responsibility for the impact of their activities.

of the marketing effort. For example, measuring cus-

shortest amount of time, using standard as opposed to

Customer Capital: It refers to the value, usually not

tomer value, not product sales.

custom parts. (The concept originated in Japan in the

reflected in accounting systems other than as goodwill,

early 80s.)

which results from the relationships an organization has

Design Interface: The mechanism by which a customer

built with its customers.

specifies exactly what he or she needs. An important aspect of mass customization.

28

Customer Care News

DNIS: Dialed Number Information Service; a string of

Hashtag: A hashtag (or hash tag) is a community-

Lifetime Value: Also known as LTV, Lifetime Value is

digits that the telephone network passes to the ACD,

driven convention for adding additional context and

the “run rate” of a customer’s actual value.

VRU or other device to indicate which number the

metadata to your tweets. Similar to tags on Flickr, you

LTV: see Lifetime Value.

caller dialed.

add them in-line to your Twitter posts by prefixing a

Drip Irrigation: Gathering customer information

word with a hash symbol (or number sign). Twitter

slowly over time, rather than overwhelming customers,

users often use a hashtag like #followfriday to aggre-

prospects and visitors with long surveys they might be

gate, organize and discover relevant posts.

inclined not to fill out, and using each piece to build on every interaction.

I

M

Market Share: The percentage of an industry’s total sales that a company holds.

Marketing Mix: The unique blend of product pricing, promotion, offerings and distribution designed to meet

IDIC: The four-step methodology for implementing

the needs of a specific group of customers.

one-to-one relations with customers. IDIC stands for

Marketing Research: The planning, collection and

Enterprise Application Integration: A generic term

identify customers, differentiate them, interact with

analysis of data relevant to marketing decision making,

for software that integrates legacy and disparate

them and customize.

and the communication of the results of this analysis

systems.

Insourcing: The opposite of outsourcing. A service

to management.

Enterprise Resource Planning: Back-end processes

performed in-house.

Marketing Strategy: Guiding the long-term use of

and systems; i.e., inventory management and billing.

ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network; a set of

the firm’s resources based on its existing and projected

Tying your back-end systems with your front-end or

international standards for telephone transmission.

capabilities and on projected changes in the external

customer facing systems is what allows customers to be

ISO 9000: A series of quality assurance standards com-

environment.

able to check the status of their order, and check stock

piled by the Geneva, Switzerland-based International

Mass Customization: Shorthand for high variability

availability on an item. Without front/back integration,

Standardization Organization. In the United States,

in marketing. It uses the power of the database to vary

customers couldn’t do this.

ISO is represented by the American National Standards

the marketing message — or the actual product — to

Error Rate: Either the number of defective transactions

Institute, based in Washington.

fit the characteristics of an individual customer or pros-

or the number of defective steps in a transaction.

IVR: Interactive Voice Response; automated atten-

pect. It is the cost-efficient mass production of goods

Explicit Bargain: The “deal” that an enterprise makes

dants that route calls based on digits callers enter on

and services in lot sizes of one or just a few at a time.

with an individual in order to secure the individual’s

touch-tone phones. It responds to caller-entered digits

Mass customization is not the same as customization.

time, attention or feedback. See also implicit bargain.

or speech recognition in much the same way that a

Customization involves the production of a product

conventional computer responds to keystrokes or clicks

from scratch to a customized specification, whereas

of a mouse. (Also called ARU, VRU)

mass customization is really the assembly of a product

E

F

Fulfillment: The physical handling of an order, information request, premium or refund.

G

K

or the rendering of a service from pre-configured modules or components.

Knowledge Management: The leveraging of collective

Metadata: Data about data. For example, a table

wisdom to increase responsiveness and innovation.

that tells the system how to translate database codes

Geotagging: Geotagging is the process of adding

Knowledge Mapping: A process that provides an

into words that make a data field easier for users to

location-based metadata to media such as photos, video

organization with a picture of the specific knowledge it

understand.

or online maps. Geotagging can help users find a wide

requires to support its business processes.

Microblogging: Microblogging is the act of broadcast-

variety of businesses and services based on location.

Globalization: The trend in which businesses cross international boundaries.

H

L

ing short messages to other subscribers of a web service. On Twitter, entries are limited to 140 characters,

Legacy System: An older or outdated computer sys-

and applications like Plurk and Jaiku take a similar

tem or application program that continues to be

approach with sharing bite-size media. Probably a more

used because of the exorbitant cost of replacing or

apt term for this activity is “microsharing.”

Handling Time: The time an agent spends in talk time

reengineering it. Often such systems offer little com-

Microsite: A mini-site within a site, usually for a

and after-call work, handling a transaction.

petitiveness and compatibility with modern equivalents.

partner brand.

Legacy systems are frequently large, monolithic and

Middleware: Software that mediates between different

difficult to modify, and scrapping a legacy system often

types of hardware and software on a network so they

requires reengineering a firm’s business processes as

can function together.

well.

2015

www.customercarenews.com

29

Customer Care Glossary

Permission Marketing: Obtaining customers’ permission to market products or services to them. It is a mar-

MIS: Marketing Information Systems create rather than simplify manipulated data, presenting data in

O

keting method whereby companies get their customers’ permission to market products or services to them.

Occupancy: The amount of time agents handle calls

By talking only to volunteers, permission marketing

a form useful to a variety of people within the

as opposed to waiting for calls. (Also called agent

guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the

organization.

utilization.)

marketing message. The term was coined by author

Mobility: The subject of mobile/wireless.

Seth Godin in his book, Permission Marketing. See also

Monitoring: Listening to agents’ phone calls for quality

One-to-One Marketing: Treating each customer in

Explicit Bargain.

control purposes.

the way he or she wants to be treated. Focused on the

Podcast: A podcast is a digital file (usually audio but

Most Growable Customers (MGC): Those customers

individual customer, one-to-one marketing is based on

sometimes video) made available for download to a

for whom the Strategic Value, that is the potential value

the idea of an enterprise knowing its customer. Through

portable device or personal computer for later playback.

of the customer, most exceeds the customer’s current

interactions with that customer the enterprise can learn

A podcast also refers to the show that comprises several

Actual Value. These are the customers who have the

how he or she wants to be treated. The enterprise is

episodes. A podcast uses a feed that lets you subscribe

most growth potential — growth that can be realized

then able to treat this customer differently than other

to it so that when a new audio clip is published online,

through cross selling; through keeping the customer for

customers. However, one-to-one marketing does not

it arrives on your digital doorstep right away.

a longer period; or perhaps by changing a customer’s

mean that every single customer needs to be treated

Portal: A gateway to the Internet that provides not only

behavior and getting them to operate in a way that costs

uniquely; rather, it means that each customer has a

email, calendars, bulletin boards and chatrooms to visi-

the enterprise less money. Most Growable Customers

direct input into the way the enterprise behaves with

tors or customers, but also customer-oriented service. A

are also known as second-tier customers (STCs).

respect to him or her.

good portal solves problems for its visitors or customers.

Most Valuable Customers (MVC): Those customers

OpenID: OpenID is a single sign-on system that

Companies should use them as access points to improve

with the highest actual value to the enterprise — the

allows Internet users to log on to many different sites

customer service.

ones who do the most business, yield the highest mar-

using a single digital identity, eliminating the need for a

Potential Value: The net present value of the maximum

gins, are most willing to collaborate, and tend to be the

different user name and password for each site.

reasonable future financial contributions from the des-

most loyal. MVCs are those with whom the company

Operational Entanglement: Enmeshing the opera-

ignated customer, if the company were to succeed in

probably has the greatest Share of Customer. The objec-

tions of the enterprise with those of the customer.

applying an optimum proactive strategy for changing

tive of an enterprise with respect to its MVCs is reten-

Providing tools so the customer can perform some of

that customer’s otherwise expected behavior.

tion. See also Below Zeros, Most Growable Customers.

the functions that otherwise would have been per-

Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML): A

formed by the enterprise, usually so the customer can

new industry standard created by IBM and Oracle that

N

assume more control over the service being rendered.

allows models to move from system to system.

Natural Language Processing: Allows the computer

Outsourcing: Contracting some or all of a depart-

Product Service Bundle: The services and features that

to understand phrases that are only meaningful in the

ment’s services to an outside company.

surround the core product, such as invoicing, delivery,

context of an ongoing conversation.

Needs-based Differentiation: How customers are dif-

P

financing, packaging and palletization, promotion, and so forth.

Pareto Principle: Named after Vilfredo Pareto, the

Profiling: Using a series of distributions to describe

Two customers may buy the same product or service

19th-century economist and sociologist, the Pareto

customers or prospects in a variety of ways, such as

for two dramatically different reasons. The customer’s

Principle is also known as “the 80:20 rule.” It says that 80

demographically or behaviorally.

needs refer to why the customer buys, not what he buys.

percent of an enterprise’s revenue comes from 20 percent

Niche Marketing: A marketing segmentation strategy

of its customers. In practical terms, though, it might be

in which the firm focuses on serving one segment of the

90 percent of the revenue coming from 5 percent of

market. Niche marketing is very much like segmented

the customers, or 60 percent coming from 30 percent

tionship marketing or CRM. Refers to the utmost level

marketing, only the segments are smaller — a niche is

of customers, depending on the firm’s Valuation Skew

of timeliness regarding the transmission, processing,

a small, distinguishable segment that can be uniquely

of its customer base.

and/or use of information. A firm that collects and uses

served.

Penetration Analysis: Measuring how well a com-

customer data in real time can manage relationships

pany has penetrated its potential market by finding

with individual customers much more effectively. See

and reporting on the number of people who look like

also Zero Latency. The term referred to in his book,

customers, but have not yet bought. (Also called market

Real Time: Preparing for the Age of the Never Satisfied

share analysis.)

Customer.

2015

ferent, based on what they need from the enterprise.

30

R

Real Time Marketing: Regis McKenna’s term for rela-

Customer Care News

Relationship Marketing: see Customer Relationship

Social

Media

Unified Queuing: Combines all incoming traffic

Management.

Optimization (SMO) is a set of practices for generat-

(e-mails, text chat, co-browsing, etc.) into a single

Response Rate: The percentage of responses received

ing publicity through social media, online communities

queue.

from a given promotional effort.

and social networks. The focus is on driving traffic from

Unrealized Potential Value: The difference between

ROI: Return on Investment; a term describing the cal-

sources other than search engines, though improved

Potential Value and Actual Value.

culation of the financial return on a business policy or

search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO.

Up-Selling: Selling upgrades, add-ons or enhance-

initiative that incurs some cost. ROI may be measured

Speech Recognition: The capability of a voice process-

ments to a particular product or service.

in terms of a payback period for the investment, or as a

ing system to decipher spoken words and phrases.

percentage return on a cash outlay, or as the discounted

STC (Second-Tier Customer): See Most Growable

net present value of free cash flows of an investment;

Customer.

there are many different ways to calculate it.

Sticky Application: A portion of a web site designed to

customer base is concentrated in a small percentage

RSS: RSS (Really Simple Syndication) — sometimes

interact with customers, requiring customers to provide

of customers. A steep valuation skew would be one in

called web feeds — is a web standard for the delivery of

input and grow “smarter” over time about how to meet

which a tiny percentage of customers account for the

content — blog entries, news stories, headlines, images,

individual customer needs. The “application” becomes

majority of the value of the customer base. A shallow

video — enabling readers to stay current with favorite

“sticky” as customers gain a stake in the service and

valuation skew would be one where the valuation of

publications or producers without having to browse

grow reluctant to take their business elsewhere. See also

customers is more evenly distributed across the whole

from site to site. All blogs, podcasts and videoblogs

Learning Relationships.

customer base.

contain an RSS feed, which lets users subscribe to

Stove Pipe: Term commonly used to reflect that a

Valuation: What a customer is worth to an enterprise;

content automatically and read or listen to the material

business function operates in a vertically integrated

see Customer Valuation.

on a computer or a portable device. Most people use

manner, but does not interact efficiently or effectively

Value of Future Customer: The net present value of a

an RSS reader, or news aggregator, to monitor updates.

with related functions.

future customer’s lifetime value (LTV).

Socialbrite founder JD Lasica coined the term “news that comes to you” to refer to RSS.

S

Media

Optimization:

Social

T

V

Valuation Skew: The degree to which the value of a

VoIP: Voice over IP; combines voice and data on a single network.

Touch Points: The priority areas for the application of

Vortal: These are targeted vertical portals, sometimes

Knowledge Management, typically: interactions with

called “vortals,” “vertiports,” or “affinity portals.” They

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of

customers, interactions with suppliers and interactions

are aimed at specific interest groups and focus on pro-

improving the visibility of a website or a web page in a

with employees. Each touch point represents an area of

viding consumers with a gateway to unbiased informa-

search engine’s “natural” or unpaid (“organic” or “algo-

potential process or quality improvement and competi-

tion from other sources. A good vortal solves problems

rithmic”) search results.

tive advantage.

for its visitors or customers.

Segment: A group of customers related either by simi-

Triple Bottom Line: The triple bottom line (sometimes

VRU: Voice Response Unit; automated attendants that

lar needs and/or values, or by outward characteristics

abbreviated as “TBL” or “3BL”) is rapidly gaining

route calls based on digits callers enter on touch-tone

(demographics, postal code, etc). Different from a

recognition as a framework for measuring business

phones. It responds to caller-entered digits or speech

portfolio in that customers in a segment are usually not

performance. It captures the values that some organiza-

recognition in much the same way that a conventional

individually identified, and customers can be members

tions embrace: people, planet, profit — that is, social,

computer responds to keystrokes or clicks of a mouse.

of more than one segment.

environmental and economic factors.

(Also called IVR, ARU)

Segmentation: Grouping the individuals in a database

Trusted Agent: An enterprise that treats customers’

into segments based on combinations of demographics,

interests as paramount and speaks on the customer’s

response, purchase behavior or other criteria.

behalf in all its dealings. With most organizations this

Share of Customer: In contrast to Market Share, share

is a very difficult philosophy to implement, because in

mation system in which there is no or little time passing

of customer refers to the percentage of a particular

many cases the interests of the customer and enterprise

between the updating of an information record and its

customer’s business a firm gets over that customer’s

don’t coincide. Only in Collaborative relationships do

availability elsewhere in the system.

lifetime of patronage. The ratio of a customer’s Actual

the true interests of the customer and enterprise match.

Valuation to Strategic Valuation.

U

Z

Zero Latency: A computer term describing an infor-

Glossary of terms provided by SOCAP International.

UCD: Uniform Call Distributor; a simple system that distributes calls to a group of agents and provides some

es a caller’s specific needs with an agent who has the

reports. It is not as sophisticated as an ACD.

2015

Skill-Based Routing: An ACD capability that matchskills to handle that call.

www.customercarenews.com

31

The Stirling Center is a learning and resource center that provides “customer-first” resources such as courses, team training and support, executive coaching, articles, and case studies focused on excellence.

A sampling of courses available through The Stirling Center:

MANAGEMENT & STAFF • • • •

Wowing the Customer Emotional Intelligence Team Communication Dealing with Difficult Customers

LEADERS, MANAGERS & SUPERVISORS

STAFF • •

Adjusting to Stress & Change Communication Skills

• • • •

Managing Multiple Generations Communication Skills for Leaders Winning the Talent War Time Management

For a complete list of courses, visit www.pulseofthecitynews.com/stirling-center/courses/ Interested in customized learning opportunities that will best help your organization? Call us at 866-732-9500.

Founder & Director: Frank Andrews 121 W. Nepessing St., Lapeer, MI 48446 | 866-732-9500 | f.andrews@stirlinginsources.com