Articles

Articles

The Power of Wellness

Looking after our health and well-being should be our first priority in life. Yet we forget how important and vital it is to be well. We think we have no other choice but to keep going, or that we’ll be all right if we push through. There are so many external demands placed on ourselves,….

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Multimodal Customer Service

It was just a few years ago that “multi-channel” became the buzzword of customer service executives around the world.  They proudly boasted of introducing a range of new channel options to customers, from social media service and web chat to two-way SMS, video and mobile self-service.  Customers could now pick and choose their “preferred channel”…..

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KPIs & metrics for Social Media Service

While social media is still a relatively small channel for customer care (versus telephone or online self-service), it’s growing by double digits in many organisations. Its importance as a service channel is further amplified because (a) it’s public rather than private, which means a post can instantly reach a massive audience as opposed to a….

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The Advent of the Pop-up Contact Centre

Everyone’s heard of pop-up kiosks and stores, even pop-up cafes and pop-up exhibitions.  Most of us have been annoyed at some point by pop-up ads online.  But how about pop-up contact centres?  We believe it’s about time this term came into our lingo, as it’s a phenomenon happening more and more in this age of….

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Kiosks as a Sales & Service Channel

The humble kiosk is an often neglected consumer sales and marketing channel, which can complement a call centre or online strategy with a face-to-face offering.  In person sales is the purest and oldest form of sales, and while costs are often higher than other channels, so are conversion rates higher, and customer intimacy is easier….

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Remove the P plates and let Agents drive.

Becoming a contact centre agent is a similar process to getting a driver’s licence. First you get your ‘L’ plates and spend time learning in induction training. The next step is you get your ‘P’ plates and can join the customer contact highway. Once you have passed the final driving tests, you get your full….

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A New Solution to PCI Compliance

The number of customers who still choose to pay by phone rather than the Internet is often underestimated. In Australia, 112 million Mail Order Telephone Order (MOTO) transactions are made every year, representing 16% of all Card Not Present (CNP) transactions.  Three quarters of these are telephone payments.  Furthermore, the average value of post and telephone….

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5 Easy Steps to Boost Staff Morale

Experiencing low staff morale happens to every business at some point. The challenge is to ensure it doesn’t get out of hand. Poor morale is like the sniffles. It might not seem like much at the start however if you don’t deal with it straight away, it can leave you flat on your back! Some….

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16 Key Customer Experience Stats

If a company’s customer service is excellent, 78% of consumers will do business with them again after a mistake. (Salesforce Research) A 5% improvement in customer retention could increase profitability by 25%. (Forrester) Nearly 3 out of 5 consumers report that good customer service is vital for them to feel loyalty toward a brand. (Zendesk)….

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Mobile Customer Service Trends

There is one word that captivates the agenda of today’s customer service, marketing and IT executives alike: MOBILE.  Mobile devices are outstripping PCs (in Australia, for example, more than two thirds of people own a smartphone), and in many markets, more customers interact with contact centres from a mobile phone than a landline.  Perhaps surprisingly….

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Office Ergonomics: top 10 tips

One of the biggest productivity killers, whether at home or in an office or call centre, is poor ergonomics. The good news is that this driver of absenteeism, injury and cost is largely preventable. Here are 10 prevention tips, provided by Matchboard’s O.T. consultant: 1. Chair height adjusted so the elbows are slightly higher than….

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Virtual agents, chatbots and the future of customer engagement

An increasingly significant portion of customer service operations integrate some form of virtual assistant software – otherwise known as chatbots or virtual agents – across customer channels.. Analysts such as Gartner agree that automated conversations will be a defining technology in the future of customer engagement. This white paper* demystifies the applications, benefits and use….

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An analysis of Fiji as a contact centre hub

Fiji is probably not the first country that would come to mind when considering options to outsource your contact centre, but this white paper* presents the case for considering it.   The cost of a contact centre in Fiji is less than half Australia, Sydney is closer to Fiji than Perth, and English is almost….

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Taking customer surveys to the next level

All customer survey platforms are not equal. This white paper* looks at some of the distinguishing features of the modern survey platform used to optimise response rates in a customer service environment.  Generational differences often impact channel choice – for example, senior citizens may prefer voice to SMS, while millenials may respond better to an….

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