Customer feedback is important. Collecting this information, analyzing and responding where necessary is equally important to ensure the demanding needs of today's consumers are met.
The traditional channels still exist, but add to it the social media networks and we now have a wealth of useful information to help us make strategic decisions. The challenge is making a conscious effort of managing these well. An article in the E-Commerce Times outlines some best practices for companies to manage customer feedback:
1. Create clear objectives and garner company support. Objectives for the management of customer feedback should be aligned with the company's overall goals.
2. Actively encourage and promote customer feedback. The more feedback companies receive from customers, the more insights they will have about their business.
3. Offer customers multiple feedback channels. People vary greatly in the way they prefer to communicate, so be sure to give your customers several options in communicating with you.
4. Centrally collect, store, manage and analyze customer feedback. By consolidating all feedback and survey data into a single centralized system and using that system across the organization, feedback managers are able to gain valuable insights into what customers need, want and value most, as well as identify important trends and patterns in the data.
5. Use and take action on customer feedback. Many organizations collect customer feedback, but tend to fall short when it comes to actually using and acting on that data..
6. Resolve outstanding customer issues promptly. Nearly all businesses have some customers who complain about something at one point or another. What's most important is how your organization handles those complaints.
7. Close the feedback loop with customers. Inform your customers whenever your company initiates change as a result of their suggestions or feedback, and let them know what changes you made.
8. Create a company culture that is committed to using customer feedback. To maximize awareness, build an employee rewards program around the positive feedback that your company receives from customers.
Just released, the National Retail Federation's 2009 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey announces a decline in spending for US shoppers this 2009 Holiday Season. According to the report, U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $682.74 on holiday-related shopping, a 3% drop from last year’s $705.01.
This does not mean less gifts from a quantity perspective, but will definitely be looking for better deals to spend less overall.
MultiChannel Merchant reports, "According to the survey, conducted by BIGresearch, 66% of U.S. Shoppers say the economy will affect their holiday plans this year, with 84% of respondents say they’re adjusting by simply spending less. To ensure that they will spend less, 55% say they'll be shopping for sales more often, 42% will be using more coupons and 34% are putting up last year’s decorations."
Retailers will have to look for ways to gain new customers or repeat customers, not focusing only on discounting. This is the season where the customer experience is key to ensure companies bring in decent numbers for end of year results.
With Thanksgiving weekend only 5 weeks away, Retailers must act now to get what they can out of their customer's tight budgets this year.
Twitter has emerged as a dominant form of communication online. It connects with your Facebook status, it can be updated by various different platforms on a cell phone, desktop or through a good-old web browser.
I was reading the paper this morning and was somewhat surprised to see that even the Berlin Wall has made it onto Twitter – quite literally. The Berlin Twitter Wall went online Tuesday, inviting anyone to share their memories of the wall and its collapse on November 9, 1989. This struck me as interesting – and really hit home how significantly Twitter and other social media impact our every day lives.
In reality though, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. We are no longer in a world where we must seek out the news – with RSS feeds, following specific people on Twitter, Facebook Communities and the like – the news is coming to us.
So how are businesses using it? How has Twitter changed the way we do business? Businesses have begun to adopt live chat as a means of communicating with customers, however this cuts out the IVR greeting used to welcome customers when they call for help – the automatic greeting that could, for example, inform customers of new promotions or current problems with service. I think that there is great potential for Twitter to pick up the slack here, and work simultaneously with live chat and email customer service.
The question is, have businesses really caught on to this idea yet? And since it is in the realm of good customer service – how is this going to affect the contact center industry?
Microsoft OneApp has been in development for a while. The biggest thing that stood out to me was in the first sentence of an article I just read, "Microsoft on Monday announced plans for mobile software that aims to allow people in emerging markets to access various Internet programs using lower-end feature phones."
The article goes on to talk about how OneApp will let users with older cell phones access the same popular social apps being used today, such as Facebook, Twitter, and MSN Messenger. OneApp makes things virtual, or follows the "cloud" concept - meaning apps aren't stored on the phone but accessed virtually.
I talked about it briefly before, "Cloud Telephony". From a user standpoint, it makes it easier for people's everyday needs (shop, socialize, etc). From a service standpoint, businesses and companies can take advantage and have another channel to effectively serve their customers. Especially with a market and demographic that can be predominantly found in the virtual world.
1-800-Flowers.com is staying well ahead of its competition by launching a store within the Facebook community, allowing visitors to make complete purchases without leaving the page. It'll be intersting to see how many retailers will soon follow, as 1-800-Flower's track record of helping pioneer Internet and telephone retailing proves they know what they're doing.
I personally think that this will be the spark plug and tipping point for others sitting on the fence, to make the decision to move forward with their social media strategies. The longer retailers wait, the more likely they'll be playing catch up down the road.
Read more about this story in the following article.
Apparently Microsoft will opening up a couple of retail stores in Arizona and California this fall, which will be their first ones. Their corporate communications director stated in an article: "Microsoft's stores are a way for the company to introduce consumers to its products in person, but they are not meant as a product showcase or a replacement for big electronics stores ... However, Microsoft does want the stores to turn a profit".
It'll be interesting to see how this turns out, especially considering economic timing. Dell's model of having kiosks seems to be successful in communicating it's products in person with distribution still remaining in tact. On the other hand, the obvious trend of consumer shopping and researching online still makes me think about the move to bricks and mortar.
Time will tell.
I was reading an article based on a report by Forrester Research and the National Retail Federation titled, "State of Online Retailing 2009". So far, there I've heard many tips being offered on how to survive the recession, make more out of less, etc. They all ususally overlap and sound the same, obviously with an added advantage which coincidently a product/service provider offers. One recent quote I came across, did stick out though:
“In today’s economy, retailers need to be one step ahead, especially when it comes to attracting shoppers who have money to spend,” says Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org. “Companies are investing in their web site to set them apart from their competition and make the shopping experience informative, efficient and fun.”
INFORMATIVE. EFFICIENT. FUN. These are all aligned to grab attention because of the state of the economy, but is also a reflection oftoday's audience. You'll probably notice more and more intelligent channels of customer support (ie:self-service, proactive chat). More information and interaction seem like the way to go, giving the option to keep people engaged and find the information they want if they choose to do so. It's not just website design that needs to be improved, but also strategy and thought process on how to present information, and providing the appropriate tools and channels to address any inquiries. Conversions will come - keep it fun!
With sales plateauing and margins shrinking, online retailers must optimize the use of their contact center, whether in-house or outsourced. One way to do this is to make sure that your agent staff is the best it can be. At the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Boson this past June, Greg Fettes from 24-7 INtouch and client Leslie Agerland from ShopNBC.com discussed how to select, identify, and motivate agent stars to ensure program goals are being met. Here are some of the main tips from their presentation that are somewhat simple in nature, and yet sometimes the first to be overlooked.
Establish a Culture of Excellence - Expect excellence throughout your organization. Lay out clear goals and tie them into your overall contact center culture. Empower your employees to add value at all levels, and accountability will come naturally.
Communicate & Share Information - Communicate what is happening within your company. Communicate program goals and where each person is doing well or needs improvement. Allow for networking to build a close culture.
Be Flexible - Contact centers have a bad reputation for being rigid in scheduling. Flexibility will result in higher retention and increased productivity in the long run.
Recognize. Recognize. Recognize - Everyone likes a pat on the back for a job well done. This is especially true for the typical younger demographic that works in the contact center. Remember to be creative – it’s not only about money! Have other incentives and perks that tie into your program goals.
Use Mentors to Build Teams - Your own employees are usually the best knowledge experts to help develop lower performing agents. Foster a mentorship atmosphere to develop tomorrow’s leaders and maintain your culture of excellence.
Don’t Forget to Have Fun - Improve morale by providing recreational facilities and break areas where employees at all levels of the company can socialize. Invite top-performing agents to company functions such as awards dinners and by reward them with perks.
Incorporate these tips into your recognition and reward strategy. The value-added ROI will be a more motivated workforce, enhanced brand, empowered agent group and higher retention of your top subject matter experts.