Roxanne Abercrombie
Are chat transfers bad CX?
Chat transfers let your agents help each other out with difficult chats. They’re how your chatting customers move from first-line to second-line support. They’re the last step to get a lost customer back on track and talking to the right person for...
Customer service trends in 2021: the post-COVID contact centre
Customer service trends in 2021 will be driven by COVID-19 and its lasting ramifications.Contact centre managers have had to radically rethink their business models, continuity plans and infrastructure. And these changes have accelerated a transition into a new way of working. A...
The problem with a sales-centric approach to live chat
Live chat software is commonly deployed with a sales-centric approach – intended to nurture web leads and drive online conversions. And there’s no denying how effective this can be. Indeed, chatters are 2.8x more likely to convert than visitors who don’t chat.
The risks of live chat outsourcing
Live chat outsourcing seems gloriously convenient. On the surface, it promises that golden offering of extended support hours, without extra employee strain. By assigning your live chat customer service to an external vendor, you can take a step back and give your...
The altered nature of telephone customer service
As one of the longest standing channels, telephone customer service has undergone quite some evolution. In its heyday, telephone customer service reigned supreme. It was the uncontested real-time support option. Email offered no immediacy, and face to face support meant leaving...
Chatbots vs webforms
You land on a website. You like the service on offer, and want to find out more. Unfortunately, the page directs you to a lengthy contact form requiring your name, job title, email address, telephone number, organisation name, and a whole host...
Courting the emotionally intelligent customer
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”Maya Angelou We’ve all seen those TV ads showing a starving child looking wretchedly into the camera while...
Why your standalone chatbot is failing
Part of incorporating a chatbot into your offering is deciding how you want to deploy it. And a popular method is to deploy it as standalone. A standalone chatbot is one that exists in an app or space of its own. It’s separate from your...
The customer service stats defining 2018
We’re in the ‘experience era’ of marketing. The traditional four Ps (Price, Product, Place, and Promotion) just don’t cut it anymore when it comes to attracting and keeping customers. Customers are empowered by contemporary technology, and they can compare offers, products, delivery options and costs...
Sliding doors: your customer’s journey
Despite the elegant technology companies have at their fingertips, the customer journeys they offer are often far from slick. The common complaints of today are the common complaints of a decade ago: waiting on hold, being transferred around, a lack of knowledge, a lack...
What do older generations want from customer service?
It may surprise you that one in five Twitter users are aged over 50, over 59 per cent of seniors have made an online purchase in the past three months, and a colossal 28 million seniors have a Facebook account. Clearly, digital tools are...
Chatbots: the good, the bad, and the ugly [ infographic ]
Chatbots are over fifty years old. Over many years and many formats, AI chat technology has evolved into the customer service bots we recognise today. For all their recent advancements, however, chatbots still leave much room for refinement. The history of chatbots hasn’t been plain...
[Infographic ] The customer service graveyard
An inscribed clay tablet, kept in the British Museum, is widely believed to be the world’s first recorded customer service complaint. Inscribed are the frustrations of a disgruntled customer, demanding a refund for the delivery of the wrong grade of copper. While there is...
5 customer service figures defining 2017
Ten years ago, customer service was usually relegated to an outsourced contact centre. Today’s proliferation of “Customer Heroes”, “Customer Success Managers”, “Customer Experience Consultants” and the like, however, reflects the growing demand for service experts. Permeating businesses from the base to the boardroom, customer...
5 ways you’re absolutely infuriating your customers
Everyone thinks theirs is great, but the majority disappoint. (Customer service, that is.) The truth is, in the age of the empowered consumer, customer service is struggling. Some 80% of companies assert that they deliver "superior" customer service… only 8% of their patrons agree....