Multilingual Call Centres

Close your eyes and imagine a world where 30% of people around you don’t speak English in the home…and now imagine that you’re an executive at a company eager to acquire and retain new customers. You need look no further than cities like Sydney or Melbourne, where almost a third of residents prefer to communicate….

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How to derive customer insights through text analytics

As business people, we’re often trying to figure out: what do customers want? How do they perceive what we deliver them? We typically answer these questions by collecting customer feedback. But collecting the feedback is just the first step towards finding the answers. The second is to analyse the data. In this article, you will….

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Winning customers on TV and online, at Danoz Direct

Since this interview, Liz Diles has moved to a new role. Please consult LinkedIn for up-to-date information. Danoz Direct is a market leader in home shopping in Australia and New Zealand. In an exclusive interview with Matchboard, CEO Liz Diles explains how she is keeping Danoz at the forefront with great customer experience and an ever….

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Tabcorp: betting on an unbeatable Customer Experience

Since this interview, Paul Cahill has moved to a new role. Please consult LinkedIn for up-to-date information. In our exclusive series of interviews with Australia’s Customer Leaders, Matchboard spoke with Paul Cahill, Head of Customer Experience at Tabcorp.  Tabcorp is an ASX100 company, and one of the largest publicly listed gambling companies in the world…..

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8 SMS use cases to send customer engagement rocketing

It’s widely known that SMS open rates are a sky-high 98% within 6 minutes of being sent. But there’s a difference between having a message read and truly engaging customers. Nearly everyone has a mobile phone and, unlike app notifications, SMS won’t get turned off. But more than being omni-present, SMS is how customers want to interact. Digital marketing magazine reports that….

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Matchboard’s Sharon Melamed interviewed on Procurement Uncovered

Kris Wozniak interviewed Matchboard’s Sharon Melamed for Procurement Uncovered. We’ve transcribed the interview for those of you who prefer skimming through text to listening to a Podcast!    KW:      G’day and welcome to Procurement Uncovered episode 002.  My name is Kris Wozniak, Managing Director of Procurement & Contracts Division and today I’m joined by Sharon….

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The importance of writing a BCP

BCP: one of the most dreaded three letter acronyms for contact centre and IT executives around the world. BCP stands for business continuity plan and is a document which proactively addresses conceivable disruptions to a business, from minor, such as a call centre system outage, to major disasters such as a fire, pandemic or hurricane…..

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Personalising the customer experience with dynamic videos

If you’re like most Australians, you’re overwhelmed with boring bills, statements, and welcome letters from providers of products such as banking, insurance, superannuation and utilities.  Many of these emails or printed statements make it no further than the junk folder or trash. Now there’s a way to actually engage customers in these often time-sensitive, important communications, and….

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UK market entry – first impressions count

In theory, the world is getting smaller, and we can now reach out to customers around the globe from the comfort of our desk.  So it’s sometimes tempting to think that going global should be easier than ever.  But in our experience, whether a big or small company, the market entry issues that companies face….

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8 reasons to keep an eye on Sri Lanka for Finance & Accounting Services

Australian businesses have an increasing array of choice when it comes to low-cost locations for business process outsourcing. Each country has its unique focus and strengths. For finance and accounting outsourcing, Sri Lanka has emerged as a very compelling option, and here are eight reasons why.   1. Global rankings  Sri Lanka is ranked 23rd on….

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3 Problems You Can Solve With Activity-Based Selling

The ability for modern sales leaders to manage their team’s performance has never been greater. While old school sales leaders obsessed over managing their teams around revenue, modern sales leaders realize that revenue is a result of sales activities. They understand that to achieve specific business results, they must have reps perform specific activities. This….

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Taking calls and saving lives at NSW Ambulance

Since this interview, Deborah Barndon has moved to a new role. Please consult LinkedIn for up-to-date information. The Sydney Control Centre of NSW Ambulance is one of the largest emergency call centres in the Asia-Pacific.  In this exclusive interview with Matchboard, Deborah Barndon (Director, Strategic Initiatives, NSW Ambulance) speaks about the critical role of the….

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10 green approaches to Lead Generation

Once upon a time, direct mail, letterbox drop and print advertising were the primary forms of marketing. While companies have not abandoned these paper-based approaches altogether, there has been a steady shift towards more environmentally friendly marketing options. Here we review 10 “green” approaches to lead generation which don’t involve paper! Proactive web chat If….

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Customer experience innovation at Smartsalary, with Michael Ellies

Since this interview, Michael Ellies has moved to a new role. Please consult LinkedIn for up-to-date information. When you think of companies consistently delivering customer service excellence, innovation and employee engagement, it’s hard to go past Smartgroup Corporation (ASX: SIQ). In fact the company has won multiple awards in all these areas. Smartgroup’s core brand,….

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Ditching drop-off: virtual queue solutions for contact centres

Virtual queuing services take the fuss out of call queue management and raise customer satisfaction. Australia has only recently started to embrace this powerful technology – already “the standard” in contact centres in the U.S. What is Virtual Queuing? Virtual queuing is a contact centre application that keeps a person’s place in the call queue and….

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High-tech headsets for contact centres: the hidden ROI

A high-tech headset is a wearable technology device which uses a tiny computer to optimise sound quality and communicate wirelessly with the contact centre platform. Being purpose-built for extended use, high-tech headsets increase agent satisfaction and are capable of integration with many other parts of the business to boost efficiency. Businesses face many challenges in….

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Cloud contact centre solutions: benefits and considerations

Cloud based call centre software is an unstoppable trend in Australia which presents buyers with fresh financial and delivery options compared with on-premise and legacy solutions. Let’s take a look at what to consider when looking at cloud versus premise for your customer service centre. What is a cloud based contact centre? A cloud based….

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20 quick wins to enhance your customer experience

Customer experience (CX) remains the biggest differentiator in business in 2020. The good news is that there are many quick wins to make your customers’ experience “juicier” and more satisfying than ever before. Some of our tips are so simple and obvious you’ll be kicking yourself you’re not doing them already.   Ask customers for feedback,….

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Conversation analytics – a beginner’s guide

Forrester has identified emotion as having a bigger influence on customer loyalty than “effectiveness” or “ease” of dealing with a company.  Ironically, companies have neglected programs to uncover customer emotion or sentiment, despite the technology being available. Conversation analytics, also known as speech analytics, is slowly taking off in Australia as a way for companies….

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Alan Kohler interviews Matchboard’s Sharon Melamed on Qantas

Alan Kohler interviewed Matchboard’s Sharon Melamed for Qantas Talking Business. We’ve transcribed the interview for those of you who prefer skimming through text to listening to a Podcast!  AK:       Joining me now is Sharon Melamed who runs a business called Matchboard.  Thanks for joining us, Sharon. SM:      Thank you for inviting me. AK:       And you’ve….

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Debt collections outsourcing: a no-risk solution to unpaid client invoices

Virtually no business is immune to unpaid invoices and the stressful and time-consuming task of debt collection. For many, it becomes just too hard to chase down debtors, and the fear of a legal process is equally daunting. Savvy businesses know that there is another option: outsourcing to a collections consultancy and recovery service, which….

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Customer Experience Measurement: what’s next?

NPS® (Net Promoter Score) and CES (Customer Effort Score) are amongst the most popular indicators for measuring the customer experience.   Many organisations have embraced these scores, implemented an ongoing survey mechanism and seen some great initial results. However, often comes a time, perhaps two years into the program, when the initial customer feedback enthusiasm wears off….

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How silos damage Customer Experience

Silos may be a great way to store grain, but can cause problems when silo mentality runs unchecked in a company.  We have all seen functional silos at work in individual departments, regional offices, different channels and even in different management levels within an organisation. Silos are not necessarily a bad thing; they can be….

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How to transform your recruitment – via social media

Social media has revolutionised so many aspects of business, and the recruitment function is no exception. Just ask the Australian Defence Force, which has the world’s most popular YouTube recruitment channel, with over 5 million hits!(*)  Or consider the fact that 70% of people look on social media when looking for employment (**). But what is “Social recruitment”,….

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NAB on Outsourcing, with Michelle Redfern

Since this interview, Michelle Redfern has left NAB. Please consult LinkedIn for up-to-date information. As Head of the Supplier Relationship Management program for National Australia Bank (NAB), Michelle Redfern is one of Australia’s foremost experts in outsourcing, offshoring and supplier management. She leads a high-performance, highly engaged team which thrives on diversity, in a complex and sensitive….

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Best practice Learning & Development

“We’ve invested in, and trained our people, so why aren’t we seeing a significant lift in (KPI) scores?”  This was a question put to us by leaders at one of Australia’s largest companies. The context was a roll-out of a major new customer-first methodology, as well as a proposed multi-million dollar sales training program –….

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Converting online shoppers to sales

It’s only just gone July, but savvy online retail executives have already begun planning for Xmas.  And one of their highest priorities is ensuring they have the right customer experience mechanisms in place to convert the swell of consumer interest into sales.  Customer experience is often a tug-of-war between marketing, operations and IT silos, resulting in a fragmented, disorganised….

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10 B2B Lead Generation Tips to Smash Your Targets This Quarter

B2B lead generation has come a long way since the days of cold calling, and the constantly-evolving digital realm is really hotting up. We are surrounded by a wealth of new opportunities; however, too many options can be confusing both for marketers and the clients they are vying to reach. The secret to smashing your sales….

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Customer feedback solutions: what to look for

Customer feedback software platforms measure key customer experience metrics – such as customer effort, customer satisfaction and Net Promoter Score (NPS). The technology can be implemented across multiple channels in contact centres and online. “Please rate the performance of your customer service representative,” or so the message goes at the end of a call to….

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Get proactive with outbound, multi-channel customer interaction

Proactive outbound is a platform for outbound customer engagement which goes beyond telephone-based cold calling to encompass “warm calling”, email, SMS, web chat, mobile app, instant messaging, and social media communications. Organisations that contact their customers proactively benefit from reduced churn, greater share of wallet and revenue growth. Further, customer experience improves when customers receive….

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