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Research
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Multichannel
service and support
| 2010 State of Multichannel
Customer Service |
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How are North American enterprises performing
in single-channel and multichannel customer
service today? What do the latest research
studies from Forrester and eGain indicate?
How does it compare to 2009? What are the
hot trends for 2010 and how can you ride them
to out-innovate your competition, while controlling
costs. Industry sectors evaluated in the research
include Communications, Consumer Goods, Financial
Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Pharmaceutical
and Retail sectors, among others.
| State of Customer Service
in the Communications Sector |
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The communications sector has seen a rapid
explosion of technologies with convergence
and “multiple play” reconfiguring
the industry and the competitive landscape.
Products and services are getting commoditized
at a breakneck pace, while Average Revenue
Per User (ARPU) and operating margins continue
to erode. Macroeconomic volatility makes these
challenges even more daunting. Furthermore,
the balance of power has shifted to consumers
with information ubiquity and reduced switching
barriers, and communications companies are
struggling to manage business consolidation
and customer service quality in an environment
of increasing M&A’s.
| State of Customer Service
in the Retail Sector |
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Online commerce around the world continues
to grow at a fast clip. In the US alone, Forrester
Research projects that online commerce will
grow 21% to $204B in 2008, compared to 2007.
European online retail sales increased 58%
in 2007, compared to 2006, and the trend is
expected to continue in 2008. However, the
retail industry is also one of the most competitive
sectors, affected by economic cycles and cut-throat
competition.
State of Customer Service in North America
60% of North American businesses get "below
average" or "poor" scores
in assessment of single-channel, cross-channel,
and cross-agent customer service, as measured
by a new holistic metric, Service Quotient™
(SQ)
An Aberdeen
Group report: Industry Best Practices
in Service Contact Centers and Support
Desks
As manufacturers in a variety of industries
vie for competitive edge, they are placing
increasing importance on service and
support. The front line of service and
support for most |
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organizations is a call center that provides
technical support to end users. Support is
often provided by phone, but organizations
are increasingly using technology solutions,
including web based capabilities, to automate
the first line of support. This report examines
the strategies and approaches businesses in
multiple industries are taking to successfully
diagnose and resolve issues in the call center.
Multichannel Service and Support Executive
Survey Report
| Supportindustry.com and CRMindustry.com
recently conducted a survey focusing
on multichannel customer service and
support—its importance, the current
state of the industry, and challenges
in implementing and managing it. |
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State of Customer Service Research in the
United Kingdom
Customer emails continue to increase, but
44% of major UK companies simply ignore email
customer service and 80% fail to answer questions
within 24 hours. Performance shows worsening
trend over the last two years.
Email Customer Service
Email Customer Service in North American
Small and Medium Businesses
Based on the State of eService Benchmarking
Series™ study conducted by BenchmarkPortal,
sponsored by eGain.
Email Customer Service in the United Kingdom
Email Customer Service in the United Kingdom
eGain put the email management of 250 of the
UK's largest retail, financial services, travel
and automotive organizations to the test.
| Key report
findings: |
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Only 48% of
companies tested responded to an email
within 24 hours |
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8% - responded
to emails within 1 hour |
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Less than
20% of companies sent any form of acknowledgement,
a very simple tool used to set customer
expectations and maintain interest |
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Retailers
take an average of 10 hours longer to
respond than the other sectors tested
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Travel companies
were least likely to offer any form
of email contact (11% provided no email
address or web form) |
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Automotive
companies have the worst record for
dealing with emails |
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Travel and
financial services are the most likely
to reply within 24 hours, with retail
most likely to respond overall (only
26% failing to respond) |
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"Many
companies underestimate the need to treat
emails seriously. When we look at customer
satisfaction and the volume of contacts our
agents deal with, we recognise that email
is fast becoming the preferred channel of
communication. eGain's study shows that UK
companies really need advice and support on
dealing with their emails: this is a growing
problem that seems to be spiralling out of
control."
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-
Gary Coller
E-Commerce Development
Manager, HMV |
Virtual agents
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eGain's Virtual
Assistant Wins High Marks in Usability Study
Customers of Large European Bank Prefer
Internet "Bot" to Live Customer
Service Representatives.
The usability study was commissioned jointly
by eGain Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:
EGAN), a global provider of eService software,
and a large European bank. It was conducted
by The Usability Company, an independent research
firm, with the primary goal of determining
how the bank's customers would react to eGain's
virtual assistant.
The participants in the study, all but one
of whom had been using the Internet for at
least three years, not only liked the experience,
they overwhelmingly preferred the eGain virtual
assistant to telephone-based customer service.
In contrast to the long periods of time spent
waiting on hold and the uneven quality of
service the participants associated with call
centers, the virtual assistant's responses
were perceived as quick, accurate and
Read
ten tips for success that emerged from the
study
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