Allegiance Web-based customer feedback system allows customers to voice concerns without feeling like a grinch; helps turn unhappy shoppers into loyal customers
SALT LAKE CITY €” December 7, 2006 €” During the holidays, the mad rush for the right gift and the pursuit for best deal can often lead to irritated consumers and frustrated customer service representatives. While many will try to vent their frustrations at the retail counter, many customers will be left wondering where they can go to have their concerns and comments addressed. Allegiance, Inc.€™s Web-based feedback management solution, CustomerVoice, provides customers with a convenient way to communicate with companies without the long lines, and for companies to quickly resolve problems and create loyal customers who will return again and again.
CustomerVoice is one component of the Allegiance Active Listening System, a suite of Web-based enterprise feedback management tools. CustomerVoice provides a system for customers and companies to communicate and resolve concerns before they become bigger problems. Customers can submit feedback anytime from any Internet-ready computer, and once captured, the information is categorized, analyzed and then assigned to a responsible manager, executive or board member who must respond in an appropriate and timely manner. CustomerVoice maintains a historical record of customer feedback and complaints, serving as a case management system and tracking any issues from submission to resolution. Management can then use the collective feedback to produce reports that provide qualitative and quantitative support for making strategic business decisions and process improvements.
€Many companies don€™t have the systems in place to quickly address customer complaints, and customers really don€™t know where to go to resolve concerns, where to report a run-in with an inattentive staffer or offer a suggestion on how to improve,€ said Adam Edmunds, president and chief executive officer of Allegiance, Inc. €Our system is designed to resolve both time and convenience issues, by allowing customers to report problems from the convenience of their desktops, and then driving accountability by routing the complaint or question to the right person who is directly responsible for a timely response. Holiday sales account for a large portion of many companies€™ annual business, making quick responses and quick resolutions to complaints that much more important.€
Many companies use post-holiday surveys to try to improve next year€™s holiday season. While the survey results will help to identify areas of concern, for many consumers, any improvements made based on the surveys may come a year too late. Without a way for consumers to quickly resolve their concerns or complaints, customers will share their bad experiences and magnify the original problem. According to studies, one customer with a serious unresolved complaint will tell as many as 10 other people, and for every one person that does complain, there are roughly 26 unhappy people that don€™t voice their concerns.(i) While 55% of consumers will take their business elsewhere if they have a bad customer experience(ii), 95% of people will do business with a company again if their complaints are resolved quickly.(iii)
€Several studies have found that effective communications with customers have a direct and dramatic impact on the bottom line,€ said Dr. Gary Rhoads, co-founder of Allegiance and the academic director of Brigham Young University€™s Entrepreneur Center. €The holiday rush is certainly no time for companies to let down their guard and put off communications with customers in the interest of short-term sales volumes. Listening to and responding to feedback especially during this time of the year will benefit companies by creating loyal customers who will share their positive experiences and return for years to come.€
Edmunds added, €All of the functionality and benefits of CustomerVoice combine to ensure that companies and their customers have a much happier holiday season this year and next.€
About Allegiance, Inc.
Allegiance is a leading provider of enterprise feedback management solutions. The company€™s Active Listening System operates as a CRM accelerator, providing a suite of centrally managed feedback tools proven to help organizations capture, manage, analyze and respond to real-time feedback from multiple sources, ultimately impacting growth, profits and lasting value. The suite includes CustomerVoice, EmployeeVoice, and PartnerVoice, advanced Web-based feedback solutions proven to help organizations better understand and react to the needs of employees, customers and partners; and SilentWhistle, an anonymous ethics reporting and whistle-blower solution proven to mitigate risk and fulfill compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley section 301. The Allegiance solutions help organizations establish an ethical culture, build loyal relationships, and make more informed business decisions. For more information, please visit http://www.allegiance.com.
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i€Retailers Should Prevent Many Unhappy Returns this Holiday Season,€ http://retailindustry.about.com/library/holiday/bl_sw1220.htm
ii Gonsalves, Antone, €Want to Lose Business? Ignore Customer Emails,€ InformationWeek, March 21, 2006, http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=183701701&subSection=Breaking+News
iii €Retailers Should Prevent Many Unhappy Returns this Holiday Season,€ http://retailindustry.about.com/library/holiday/bl_sw1220.htm
Kevin Wilson
Director, Public Relations
Allegiance, Inc.
513.898.1008 (Office)
513.885.5520 (Cell)
[email protected]
www.allegiance.com
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