Harnessing speech automation enables organisations to increase convenience for customers, improve service levels, and boost efficiency. However, previous speech automation solutions, such as voice IVRs, had significant drawbacks. They were expensive and time-consuming to implement and run. This limited their use to the largest organisations. Performance and understanding were also unpredictable, frustrating customers who gave up and spoke to an…
Providing service in a customer’s preferred language is key to a great experience, that’s why embracing real-time chat translation makes this easier to achieve. Today, customers may not be confident or comfortable in the main language used within your contact centre. This could be because you are providing service to multiple countries from a single location, or to local customers…
This year, Mothering Sunday falls on 19th March, meaning contact centres still have time to focus on getting Mother’s Day customer service right. The event isn’t just a chance to celebrate the importance of our mothers, but is also a major sales peak for retailers, florists and more. Demand is growing, particularly online, with ecommerce retailers seeing revenues increase by…
With 14.6 million disabled people in the UK, it is vital that businesses provide them with accessible customer service. As well as being the right thing to do, ensuring it is easy for those with disabilities to engage with your organisation increases revenues and improves corporate reputation. Importantly, ensuring your contact centre environment is accessible to agents with disabilities provides…
IT teams face a growing range of challenges, especially when it comes to implementing and managing contact centre technology. As with every department their budgets are under pressure. At the same time, they face. It takes 44 days to fill tech roles, according to LinkedIn, compared to 34 for a customer service employee. BCS research found that vacant IT positions…
The challenges impacting customer service 2022 was a year of upheaval, with major disruption to economies, businesses, and individual lives. Coming on top of Covid, the impact of the war in Ukraine, rising prices and supply chain interruptions all affected consumer confidence. This changed customer behaviour, adding to the pressure on customer service teams. With economic headwinds continuing into 2023…
Thanks to advances in technology, we now live in an increasingly interconnected world. Consumers and companies are now happy to work with or buy from businesses based anywhere in the world. At the same time companies themselves can benefit from technology to optimise their customer service operations and provide 24×7 support through “follow the sun” models. This sees contact centres…
When people contact your customer service team, they want fast answers to their queries. They don’t want to be waiting in queue to get through to an agent. Failing to value customers’ time or making the IVR process too complex when they call will cause them to abandon their calls, irritate them, and potentially lead them to move their business…
While the range and use of digital channels is growing, the telephone remains the most common way for consumers to get in contact with businesses. According to the Guide to Self-Service by ContactBabel, voice calls still account for over 63% of consumers’ interactions with businesses. On the telephone channel, companies have three main priorities when it comes to managing interactions:…
Putting in place a strategy that encourages customers to make more use of digital channels is increasingly important. Carried out effectively channel shift has the potential to boost efficiency while at same time helping to improve the overall customer experience. However, for your strategy to be successful and effective over time, you need to ensure that it closely addresses customer…