Beyond Philosophy
DECEMBER 19, 2016
On Black Friday, American retailers kicked off the holiday shopping season by opening their doors in the middle of the night, offering steep discounts, and giving away 100 percent of the money they took in. Wait – what was that last one? This year, outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia announced that it would give 100 percent of its Black Friday retail and online sales to grassroots environmental organizations.
ShepHyken
DECEMBER 21, 2016
The holiday season is almost over. Christmas and Chanukah overlap and are just a few days away. Kwanzaa starts the day after Christmas. And, for those who enjoy Seinfeld humor, Festivus , the “airing of grievances and feats of strength” is on December 23. (And by the way, if you haven’t seen the hilarious Seinfeld episode with the holiday dinner at George’s home, put it on your must-see list.
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Contact Center Pipeline
DECEMBER 23, 2016
Our Quick Tips posts are just that—brief posts providing advice or actionable items from industry experts. These are tried-and-true practices that have proven successful for the provider, and which can be implemented across a large variety of operations. The following were the 5 most-read Quick Tips in 2016. Quick Tip: Promote Agents with the Right […].
CustomerGauge
DECEMBER 22, 2016
The “Internet of Things” (IoT) is easily the biggest buzzword in the tech sphere to break out into the mainstream in 2016. Just check out the search volume in that Google Trends data! We’ve seen smart home devices, one-button product purchases, and even the prospect of an employee-less supermarket (Amazon, take a bow). Rather than questioning whether […].
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Beyond Philosophy
DECEMBER 22, 2016
What happens when you take the people out of an experience that was traditionally a human-based interaction? Does it make it better or worse? And what does this mean to the future of Customer Experience? Amazon and Uber might soon have answers for us on these questions. Amazon and Uber have been making headlines by eliminating the humans from areas of the Customer Experience where a person is usually involved.
Customer Contact Central brings together the best content for Contact Center and Customer Service professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Contact Center Pipeline
DECEMBER 22, 2016
As we approach the close of another year on the Pipeline blog, we wanted to take a quick look back to see which posts were most popular among contact center professionals. The topics ranged from a debate on the value of NPS in the contact center, to how to proactively welcome callers, to omnichannel strategies […].
Kayako
DECEMBER 22, 2016
The term ‘customer service’ evokes nostalgia for sales clerks in long aprons in country town emporiums. Some see it as the old-fashioned version of customer support. Many people can’t distinguish between terms ‘customer support’ and ‘customer service’. It’s confusing! Some businesses have rejected the term ‘customer service’ – in a bid to modernize an existing department – in favor of ‘customer support’ which sounds contemporary or even call it ‘customer success’.
Beyond Philosophy
DECEMBER 20, 2016
Michael Lowenstein, Ph.D., CMC Thought Leadership Principal, Beyond Philosophy. In the consumer world, satisfaction has only incidental proven connection to customer experience and behavior, and engagement has similar challenges for employees (and customers). Many companies are still measuring customer sat in hopes that learning about its drivers will help build customer loyalty, but satisfaction isn’t contemporary regarding decision-making or reflective of what is going on in the customer’s rea
ShepHyken
DECEMBER 23, 2016
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post my colleague, Dianna Booher, shares 10 lessons learned from a poor customer service experience. As Dianna says, changing any of these dynamics can help elevate your customer service. – Shep Hyken. A recent renovation in our home due to a water leak became almost a 4-month, full-time job for my husband.
Speaker: Nicholas Zeisler, CX Strategist & Fractional CXO
The first step in a successful Customer Experience endeavor (or for that matter, any business proposition) is to find out what’s wrong. If you can’t identify it, you can’t fix it! 💡 That’s where the Voice of the Customer (VoC) comes in. Today, far too many brands do VoC simply because that’s what they think they’re supposed to do; that’s what all their competitors do.
Contact Center Pipeline
DECEMBER 20, 2016
Experiences matter. Experiences are journeys. Journeys are designed. So say Thomas A. Stewart and Patricia O’Connell, authors of the new book, Woo, Wow and Win: Service Design, Strategy and the Art of Customer Delight (Harper Business). “Service should be designed with as much care as products, but most companies are not designed for service,” they […].
CustomerGauge
DECEMBER 20, 2016
How often do you keep your New Year’s resolution? Come on, be honest! Did you really exercise four times a week this year? Or skip the desserts and that end of day cigarette? Shh, I won’t tell. Get on with your bad self.
aircall
DECEMBER 23, 2016
Some companies consider customer service to be mere damage-control at best, and a cost center at worst. However, providing poor customer service is no longer an option, regardless of the quality and price of your product or service. The perils of poor customer service. Due to a shift in power dynamics and the rise of customer expectations, that simply isn’t the case.
Up Your Service
DECEMBER 21, 2016
Watch Ron Kaufman speak about overcoming these five roadblocks (6 minutes). Leaders often make mistakes when building a service culture throughout an organization. It’s not an easy task. To develop a culture that demonstrates true service leadership in your field, you must avoid these five common mistakes: 1. The frontline lacks top-down support. Often when organizations seek to improve their service performance, they rush to train employees on the front line.
Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions
💢 Do you find yourself stuck in never-ending review cycles? Are you wondering if your Subject Matter Expert actually got that last review request? Are you having trouble trying to decipher impractical or conflicting feedback? 💢 If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you may benefit from a crash course on managing SME relationships!
ijgolding
DECEMBER 19, 2016
Having been involved in the world of Customer Experience for many years, nothing should really surprise me – I have very much witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly of business behaviour. However (there is usually one of those in my posts!!), every now and then, something happens to me or someone in my network that doesn’t just surprise… it shocks.
Influitive
DECEMBER 21, 2016
Making your customers feel special is necessary for building stronger relationships and increasing advocacy. And that doesn’t come just from building moments of delight into your product (although that’s important). We’re talking about taking time out of your day to make the real people behind your “logos” feel known and appreciated—which we did this holiday.
aircall
DECEMBER 21, 2016
Why are solid customer satisfaction skills conducive to success? When asked why they feel they would make a good customer service representative, aspiring hires can find themselves at a loss for an answer. Nevertheless, there are certain crucial customer satisfaction skills which every hire must demonstrate. Customers won’t walk away from an experience with a conscious appreciation of the customer satisfaction skills of the rep they spoke to.
Amity
DECEMBER 19, 2016
This year, we had a great time collaborating with Customer Success experts from all corners of the industry to bring you thought-provoking, fun, and helpful pieces. We know there's a lot out there, so we decided to put together a list of some of our favorite posts from 2016. Now you know where to start when looking for some holiday readings and new year resolutions!
Uncover the complexity behind call labeling and blocking with this infographic. Discover the intricate factors and entities that shape the fate of a call, from illegal activity to user feedback, and understand why numbers get labeled and blocked.
GetFeedback
DECEMBER 20, 2016
If your company has customers, then it has a reputation. Here are 3 simple tips for online reputation management, plus some brands that are doing it right.
NICE inContact
DECEMBER 19, 2016
For many years I have been a practitioner of both customer experience (CX) and Six Sigma , so I can personally speak to the unmatched advantages of bringing these two disciplines together. Independently, both Six Sigma and CX are powerhouses at driving business results, and when combined correctly, they provide a strong one-two punch for your organization.
aircall
DECEMBER 19, 2016
This year on the Aircall blog, we’ve looked at quite a few ways how to improve your business’ customer service. We’ve cherry-picked the very best apps to empower your team. We’ve looked at which skills your team should cultivate. Now let’s take a look at and draw inspiration from the best customer service companies this year. With every customer service champion, we’ll look at what they can teach us about improving our own customer service, and cultivating our own customers’ happiness.
Provide Support
DECEMBER 20, 2016
How to Become an Expert in Customer Service. As a customer service manager or representative, you know first hand just how important it is to provide quality, effective customer service – especially in today’s world where social media dominates. Though these media platforms have undoubtedly played a monumental role in the changing landscape of customer service communication, customer’s wants and needs remain relatively unchanged.
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Topdown
DECEMBER 21, 2016
The Gartner report, “ Content Management for the Digital Era: Rethinking Strategies Beyond 2016 ,” is a strategy planning guide for IT leaders who are responsible for defining content strategies and selecting tools for customer experience management and delivery. Let’s take a look at the recommendations Gartner analysts Karen M. Shegda, Karen A. Hobert and Hanns Koehler-Kruener make in this report.
Interaction Metrics
DECEMBER 20, 2016
Jerry Sokol writes for Biz Meets Tech and he recently wrote about something that’s always top of mind at Interaction Metrics—good customer experience metrics. Numbers are only useful insofar as they help you improve—simply tracking outcome metrics or just collecting data is never the answer.
CX Journey
DECEMBER 21, 2016
Image courtesy of miserablespice I originally wrote today's post for Intradiem; it appeared on their blog on December 16, 2014. Two years later, it's still relevant! 'Tis the season. Santa's making his lists and checking them twice. Oh no! Your company shows up on his CX Naughty List! What did you do wrong this year? In short, a lot. There are (at least) five categories in which companies continue to fall down when it comes to the customer experience.
Avaya
DECEMBER 21, 2016
Illustrating the true magic of Christmas, this will be the 61 st consecutive year that eager and anxious little boys and girls call the NORAD hotline (1- 877-HI-NORAD) to pepper operators with vital questions covering everything from Santa’s arrival time, to the speed of his sleigh, to the amount of cookie weight he gains throughout the night. Last year, the NORAD Tracks Santa Program received a record number of calls, more than 141,000 over a 23-hour period, and the 1,500+ volunteers who will b
Speaker: Dave Seaton, CEO of Seaton CX
Is Customer Journey Mapping a tired fad from 2013? Or a critical tool for sparking customer-centric change? 💥 The answer lies not in the map itself, but in the mapping process. When crafted with precision and insight, journey maps emerge as powerful catalysts, transforming customer experiences and steering businesses towards profitable growth.
Eptica
DECEMBER 23, 2016
Date: Friday, December 23, 2016 The cost of ecommerce delivery problems to the customer experience. Published on: December 23, 2016. Author: Pauline Ashenden This Christmas over £24 billion will be spent online on presents and gifts. And while some of these packages will be picked up instore through Click and Collect services, the vast majority will be delivered by the post and couriers.
CafeX
DECEMBER 23, 2016
2016 has been an exciting year for CafeX and our customers. We accelerated our pace of innovation with the launch of Chime, Supervisor Assist, Live Assist for Dynamics 365, as well as Kickstart and Live Assist Short Code. We also forged new partnerships across geographies as part of our go-to-market expansion. And the success of our growing customer base continues to be our top priority.
Topdown
DECEMBER 23, 2016
“ Content Management for the Digital Era: Rethinking Strategies Beyond 2016 ,” a report by Gartner, is a strategy planning guide for IT leaders who are responsible for defining content strategies and selecting tools for customer experience management and delivery. We’ve been taking a look at the recommendations Gartner analysts Karen M. Shegda, Karen A.
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