Forget Fearing Change; Embrace it!

It’s a fairly common assumption that people do not like change but as a rather simplistic view, it fails to recognise that people will typically respond well to positive change. People make changes every day, new jobs, children, marriages, travelling and on the whole these are made voluntarily. It shows that even massive changes aren’t resisted by people – as long as it’s positive and will improve their lives.

Negative change on the other hand is naturally resisted, for instance, having to reduce the size of the workforce without changing the workload is a negative change, one that could well be caused by a crisis.

Change, regardless of whether it is positive or negative requires careful consideration for businesses, not only for the reasons such change is being initiated but also in the way it is presented and managed.

What causes change?

Market forces

Marketplaces are in a constant state of flux, and as such it is vital that businesses commit to changes to innovate, to maintain a competitive edge or to continue providing the right level of service to their customers.

Technology

In similar vein businesses must also react to technological developments, to ensure that they stay ahead of the curve and do not miss out on a potential advancement that could improve productivity and enhance services they deliver.

Customer needs

As the world evolves, customer needs change and grow, creating demand for new types of products and services. Reacting to these changes can open up opportunities for companies to meet these evolving needs.

The economy

The economy plays a huge role in organisational change. A strong economy increases demand for products and services meaning companies must expand operations to cope with this demand. A weak economy will result in a business making difficult decisions that will have an impact on employees and stakeholders.
Managing the business through good and bad times is important to maintain a strong brand and strong relationships, although this should be achieved without jeopardising the business’ ability to react to change in the future.

Why agility is essential

In order to respond to these causes in a successful and timely way, it’s important to be agile. Agility can be gained in a number of ways, including the utilisation of outsourcing where possible, which limits the financial and logistical restraints of enacting rapid change, particularly as they take the financial and operational weight of staffing and technological investment. The right outsourcer can actually be an instigator of change, and in a successful outsourcing partnership you would expect to see a two way discourse of ideas on ways to change operations, identify new markets and maximise the service delivered to customers.

Why it’s important to change

Change is important for growth within a business; it can enable the exploration of opportunities, facilitate creativity and increase security. Businesses benefit especially from change that results in new ways of looking at customer needs, new ways of delivering customer service and new ways of strengthening customer interactions.

In today’s world of disruptive, 24/7 change, responding well is critical to success. Being unprepared for change could quickly lead to becoming a victim to shifting socioeconomic conditions. Change is always a risk, but in many instances it is a necessary risk to develop new avenues for revenue generation. Outsourcing this risk is sensible, as it minimises the implications to your business whilst allowing you to diversify revenue streams and become more robust in the future.

Avoiding the Dangers of Social Media to Your Customer Relationships

The ways in which customers engage with brands has changed. No longer is it a one-way relationship interspersed with the occasional interactions, today it is two-way discourse, carried out through multiple channels. Of these channels, one that has had a growing effect on engagement is social media.

In most business sectors and in both B2B and B2C contexts, social media has permeated marketing and communications. But whilst the importance of social media has been widely acknowledged, there is still a large number of businesses out there that don’t understand social media, do not know how it should be measured, or aren’t fully equipped to utilise social media for marketing to, or communicating with, customers.
This lack of understanding can have detrimental consequences, resulting in misleading expectations as to what social media should be achieving.  In the wake of failing unrealistic goals, it can also lead to the abandonment of social media as a channel in favour of more pressing, instantly rewarding marketing such as PPC or advertising.

The issue here is that running social media poorly, or half-heartedly following a failed attempt can have a disastrous impact on a business, its customer relationships and its reputation. Equally damaging can be a willingness to use social media, but a reluctance to dedicate sufficient budget to running a campaign, or investing in the time to integrate social media within the existing mix of channels and communication strategy – both are key in building customer relationships and enhancing retention.

These issues are prevalent across business, with companies jumping head first into social media without understanding how to leverage the best results, or deliver a level of customer care commensurate with other communications channels. In one recent study conducted by Forrester Research, a survey of 7,000 consumers found that majority of brands were only achieving an “okay” or “very poor” ranking for their social media management. Ratings demonstrating that whilst brands are happy to jump on the bandwagon, few are delivering an outstanding customer experience through the channel.

So what can businesses do if they want to realise the opportunity that social media offers whilst avoiding these pitfalls? 

One option is to recruit an internal resource to conduct social media activities, but with a wealth of experts, evangelists and gurus out there, it can be difficult to realise precisely what skills you are looking for. Proficiency with the various social media platforms is essential, but you may also want to consider looking for a more rounded marketing skill set; one that includes strategy, analytics, reporting, customer services and communications.

Another option is to outsource social media to a customer relationship agency. This provides access to experts in the field that know how to deliver exceptional customer service across multiple channels. It also ensures that customers are receiving a consistent level of care and offers the assurance that your brand reputation is in safe and capable hands.

Clearly social media is becoming an increasingly important part of the marketing mix and vital to the way that customer relationships are managed and maintained. Ignore it and your business risks being left behind. Fail to invest in and implement it effectively however and you could be risking much more.

Why Integrating Your Data Systems is Key to Positive Customer Experiences

Working within the customer contact industry does make me particularly critical of the experiences and communications I receive in my everyday life and whilst I try to leave my professional hat in the office, I frequently find myself critiquing the service and communications I receive from companies.

Recently I used the Odeon website to book my tickets for the latest film in the Bond franchise, Skyfall. As a regular cinema-goer I have a profile on their website which lists Chelmsford as my local cinema; using this profile I booked my tickets, before anybody has the chance of ruining Skyfall for me.

The Odeon online booking system is straightforward and easy to use and as you would expect, I received a confirmation email from them after completing my purchase. However, two days later I received a marketing email from Odeon saying “we can see you haven’t booked tickets for Skyfall yet at your local cinema. It’s not too late as there are still tickets available ... just click here.” 

Receiving this email brought two thoughts to mind. My initial reaction was whether my ticket booking has been successfully completed. The second thought was why their two systems (booking and marketing) aren’t integrated, preventing me from receiving emails that are misleading and misinformed. Fortunately my booking was successful so I will be able to see Skyfall unimpeded. I did however email Odeon to question the marketing message and as of yet, have not received a response.

There are important lessons to be learnt from this experience for customer contact and service professionals.

1. The data that you collect should be used to shape your customer communications; ensuring that if you are going to use marketing emails, that the messaging is accurate and relevant to the recipient.
2.  If you are going to request information from your customers it is important that you use it effectively to deliver personalised marketing and communications.
3. There is significant value in linking up your data systems, not only does this allow you to avoid such mistakes, but creates additional opportunities to cross and up-sell.
4. Companies need to be prepared for responses from customers, particularly if they get it wrong, answering their queries quickly and efficiently can minimise the negative impact.
5.  Ignoring the value of integrating data systems and communications can be detrimental to brand image.

Whilst this may only be a relatively minor mistake in delivering an integrated marketing experience to customers, it does highlight to companies the confusion and negative impact a mistimed or misinformed communication can have. It will not however limit my enjoyment of the film, even if the booking experience was compromised.

How to Support eCommerce with Additional Communication Channels

The eCommerce platform has grown massively in recent years and has made purchasing products easier and more convenient than ever (if executed effectively).  Unlike the high street, the internet enables businesses of all sizes to compete directly. As long as companies think rationally about their pricing and user experience, there is significant opportunity out there to generate revenue through eCommerce.

eCommerce also provides customer insight, a constantly open shop-front and global reach. If implemented correctly, it also allows customers to seamlessly move from researching to purchasing. That is not to say there aren’t problems with eCommerce platforms however; and whilst online retail sales are expected to grow to $250bn by 2014 (Forrester Research), around a third of UK online shoppers still report problems when they shop online (Aspect Online Shopping Service Experiences 2012 Survey).

The reasons behind these poor experiences are myriad and range from failing to deal with the growth of online business, or as we have experienced with one client, website navigation that was hampering the order process and leading to abandoned baskets. Whatever the reason however, the outcome is the same, poor customer experiences and the loss of a customer to a competitor.

This doesn’t have to be the case. Whilst the online space makes it easier than ever for customers to choose an alternative, by embracing additional communication channels it is possible to deliver an integrated customer experience that helps to achieve sales whilst building trust and loyalty. This could be as simple, (as we did with the example above) as offering a contact number so that customer issues were resolved in minutes by specialist agents. Alternatively, it could involve a more advanced cart recovery email marketing campaign that picks up abandoned baskets and guides the customer back to a purchase.

But what is the right communication channel?

Understanding which communication channel is right for your eCommerce business can be a challenge, with options that include live help (voice and web chat) and contact centre facilities, (email, phone and SMS). The equation is fairly simple, look at the channels that meet your customers’ needs, understand the limitations of your eCommerce platform and look at the products you are selling.

The Aspect survey highlights that 77% of online shoppers prefer to be contacted through email, whilst 14% prefer the phone and 8% web chat. This indicates that email is consistently the better option, but this may not always be the case:

For example, if you are an e-tailer of CDs, then an abandoned basket may warrant an email or SMS as a method of cart recovery.  Larger items however, such as white goods or technology may require an outbound telephone call, to better understand the reasons behind the abandonment and to encourage the customer back to purchasing.

On the other hand if you are regularly seeing basket abandonment, then web chat or social media may be the perfect way to provide real time assistance to customers, reducing the number of abandoned shopping baskets and subsequently, the number of inbound calls that could be resolved easily online.

With 97% of shoppers reporting that they had abandoned a shopping basket at some point (Aspect) the priority for e-tailers is clear: use an integrated blend of outbound and inbound customer contact to support and assist the user journey. Achieve this and your eCommerce platform has the potential to be highly successful, profitable asset to your business and will hopefully bring those customers back to order again.

8 Training Tips to Improve Your Customer Service

Every business today needs to stand by their customer service and the actions of their frontline staff. Getting this right however is about more than polite telephone manner, but is about creating a company-wide culture that emphasises the importance of building trusting and loyal relationships with customers.

Delivering outstanding customer service means creating memorable and extraordinary experiences for customers. It goes beyond having a friendly telephone call – customer service should be woven into your entire business and emphasized with every employee. There are two fundamental factors in achieving this, first is selecting the right employees and second is training them so that they possess the skills and expertise to leave customers happy after every interaction.

Training that encompasses skills provision, role play and post programme support can be highly beneficial to employees, enabling them to transfer what they have learnt in a meaningful and effective way. Training programmes such an NVQ qualification for employees are a huge benefit for employees and the company. The NVQ confirms a person’s competence in a certain field and therefore demonstrates confidence and self-assurance in performing crucial work, increasing their value as an employee and improving their career opportunities. Find out more about NVQs here.

But if you are going to achieve a first class customer service culture, what can you do in terms of training and development?

1. Recruit the right candidates – Recruitment is about finding people with the attributes that cannot be taught; motivation, attitude and personality. The right people make training much easier.

2. Educate new starters quickly – Every new employee should understand the service objectives and culture from the outset, helping them to appreciate and work towards the wider company goals.

3. Create internal training procedures – Your existing employees are a valuable training asset and can share their experiences and skills with the entire workforce. Subsequently, regular internal workshops and the structure in place for employees to put into practice what they have learnt should be encouraged.

4. Do not script – With wholesale recruitment (sometimes present in contact centres) it can be tempting to give new employees a script to handle customer interactions. This does little to enhance customer service and rarely motivates staff. Training instead gives them the freedom to be human and create positive interactions, whilst following guiding principles. (Read more about scripting - Frontline Service Employees Building Rapport – To script or not to script?).

5. Effective monitoring – Just because your employees have completed induction training does not mean their development journey has ended. You should be taking the time to interview them, monitoring their progress with the initial training and finding out what their next steps might be.

6. Giving Best Practices – By ensuring your employees understand the best practices of their job role you are setting the standard. This is particularly important in a data input situation where data entered incorrectly can be disastrous to effective usage and insight.

7. Don’t forget the management – Your customer service culture must permeate every facet of your business. The management may be busy but if they choose not to undertake the training, they are limiting their effectiveness in a management role and are also setting a poor example to rest of the workforce.

8. Train staff as they are promoted – When contact personnel are promoted to team leaders and then managers it is important to understand that each job role requires a different skill set. As a result it should be procedure that anyone who is promoted is trained effectively for their new role.

Development and training, taken seriously, is evidence that you care for your employees and their future. People care to the extent that they are cared for and have a yearning to grow, to develop, to understand and be all that they can be.  If you develop your carefully selected candidates properly, their desire for career development becomes evident. Do this at every stage of their professional career and you are one step closer to creating a customer service culture that is understood at every level at the business and by every employee – leading to outstanding customer experiences.

Getting the Most from Loyalty Scheme Data

As the economic climate drives customers to hunt better and better deals, loyalty schemes have become an increasingly popular way to gain discounts and special offers. But while loyalty card schemes offer a wealth of data about customers, using this data to its greatest potential remains a challenge for many companies, as does building true loyalty and brand commitment.

 These challenges have been highlighted in recent research pieces. A Forrester report found that 40% of chief marketing officers are disappointed with the “erratic” performance of their brand loyalty schemes. Similarly, a report conducted by The Logic Group and Ipsos MORI argued that while over two thirds (68%) of consumers are members of supermarket loyalty schemes, less than half (47%) actually feel loyal to their supermarket.

Successful Loyalty Schemes

That is not to say that loyalty schemes are wholly unsuccessful, many companies aspire to replicate the two most dominant schemes today; Tesco’s Clubcard and the Nectar points system. These stand out not only because of their size and reach but because they have permanently influenced the way customers behave and built long standing brand/customer relationships. Achieving a scheme as popular as either of these is unrealistic for most businesses, but through intelligent use of data, it is possible to run a loyalty scheme that drives significant revenue and profits.

What should a loyalty scheme do?

Ultimately a loyalty scheme must offer strong financial rewards and a clear value exchange for the customer. It must also differentiate itself from the myriad schemes out there and ideally provide customers with targeted offers relevant to their behaviour and interests. Naturally the ways you manage your data are key to achieving this.

Research from LinkShare states that 41% of customers have purchased something online that they would never have bought directly because of a voucher or special offer, showing the value of communicating the right deal, at the right time. Such results can be accomplished through effective data management, which can also help to improve customer retention, increase customer engagement and brand commitment through relevant communication. (Read more about The Value of Data Management).

What it shouldn’t do?

Loyalty schemes are not an excuse to bombard customers with offers and are not an extension of your mailing database. Customers join schemes because they want to be rewarded for their purchases and repeat custom, not because they are interested in every sale or offer you are running. As such, a different approach to communication is required, motivating loyal customers to purchase more regularly by clearly stating the rewards they can expect as they collects points, interspersed with offers directly relevant to their data profile.

 

Intelligently using loyalty data

A loyalty scheme has the potential to gain detailed information about your customers and can help you to engage, build trust and loyalty. This is only possible however through effective data management and responsible, intelligent use of data.

In order to get the best out of your loyalty scheme it is important to make sure your data is kept up-to-date and relevant, as this can help gain your company valuable customer insight. Insight that is crucial for understanding which customers to target, when to target them, what rewards are relevant, as well as their behaviour patterns and interests. Do this effectively and you will see an increase of customer loyalty through building a successful loyalty scheme.

If you are interested in the role data has to play in understanding your customers, why not take a look at our Why Data Management is Vital to Customer Insight blog?

How Volunteer Games Makers Revealed the True Meaning of Customer Service

Amidst the accolades being given to the athletes at the recent Olympics it is fair to say that the volunteer Games Makers deserve just as much recognition. Before the Games started many people did not realise how pivotal these volunteers would be to the overall success of the event. But with their enthusiasm, commitment and outstanding service they not only pulled off what has been considered a major accomplishment for the nation, but gave visitors and competitors alike a world class customer experience.

Lessons can certainly be gained from the success of the Games Makers. Just as the athletes trained to ensure peak performance, the volunteers underwent training and development programmes. These programmes gave them the tools of communication, empathy and problem solving so key to achieving great customer service.

But while the technical abilities of the volunteers to solve customer issues were demonstrably important, the culture of enthusiasm and motivation created by the organisers also played a vital role. This culture was at the heart of everything the volunteers did, and it clearly shone through in their dealings with members of the public.

So what lessons can be learned for businesses?

If the volunteer Games Maker programme has taught us anything it is that making people feel part of something special is crucial in achieving a first class service culture. When staff have a sense of pride and are enthusiastic about their role, it will be evident during their engagements with customer, leading to fantastic service.

It also shows us that putting customers at the heart of everything and radiating a positive attitude around the working environment are both fundamental in motivating employees and injecting enthusiasm into the way they deliver customer services and go that extra mile. Such a customer centric approach transcends industries, sectors, products and services; it is relevant for all businesses.

The Games Makers were aptly named; for many they made the Games. They showed the rest of the world that Great Britain can deliver a first class customer service culture and that we have the people, skills and motivation to do it. The next step is for businesses to take up the torch, set up effective training programmes and create company cultures that put customers at the core of every activity, motivating staff to provide outstanding customer service in every interaction.