A quick brain teaser for you on this late Summer morning; Aside from their initials, what do Cheryl Cole and Contact Centres have in common? They have both returned to the UK after failing to make it overseas. But all joking aside, the latter and somewhat less entertaining acronym has made the headlines recently, for after an era of overseas outsourcing it seems a trend is emerging towards brands bringing their contact centres back to the UK.
During this economic ‘winter of discontent’, opting for a domestic contact centre is becoming a way of aligning your brand and business with local values and, as our ever changing world spins dizzyingly on its axis and global economies morph in its wake, it appears that such hitherto money-spinning relocations could become a thing of the past.
This year Santander is moving operations back to the UK after receiving a high level of complaints, 165,000 in the latter half of 2010 alone. A spokesperson from the company stated that dealing with an off-shore contact centre caused “frustration that can lead to dissatisfaction”. The financial giant bolstered the news of its relocation with a branding overhaul and a new strapline, “driven to do better”, denoting its commitment to a better class of customer service. Societies are well accustomed to a global business environment, but it seems that consumers hesitate to embrace the notion of having their financial, sartorial or other needs dealt with by a call handler who could be many thousands of miles away, in a different time zone and who may well be fresh from a daily briefing about the goings on in Albert Square.
Rather than language issues or grievances over accents, a lack of cultural affinity is thought to be a key factor in the failure of some overseas contact centres to engage and satisfy customers. If a customer has a complex or contentious issue, any obstacle to empathy or understanding between the call handler and caller can escalate rapidly to a point where both brand and solution are irreparably marred. Having a conversation with an individual who relates and empathises with your issue and can analyse the problem within a shared cultural context is crucial to a satisfying and progressive business relationship.
Telecoms provider, New Call Telecom also recently returned to the UK after discovering the disparities in call efficiency between the UK and their outsourced offices in India. Speaking to the Economic Times CEO Nigel Eastwood asserted; “The average (call) handling time in the UK is three minutes. But if you go out to India you add another minute, unless it is a very efficient operation… we can actually reduce the head count with the saving”
During the earlier stages of relocations to India, low property and salary rates warranted the move, but in recent times inflation and prices have increased; Indian wages are expected to rise 13% over the next year. In short, what was working economically for businesses is no longer working for them or their customers. At New Call’s new offices in Burnley, Lancashire the rental cost in pounds per square foot is similar to that in major Indian cities and the area has good scope for an economicaly viable workforce. In addition, there are no extra costs for transporting managers or other staff to review progress on site and manage any issues.
As economic pressures mount throughout the world notions of patriotism come to the fore and businesses that show themselves to be supporting local economies and communities receive praise in the media and from politicians. Brands will undoubtedly be using Santander et al as litmus tests for their own future strategies. Astute brands know that failing to listen to the needs of their customers is integral to on-going success. It could be that consumer’s disaffection continues to pull the tide that will cause the sea change.
At the beginning of July this year Expolink took on a loyalty campaign for The Daily Mail. The paper was launching a promotional campaign across its weekend editions to encourage sales and long-term customer loyalty. It needed a contact centre to complement its online presence and anticipated that 4% of contacting customers wouldn’t have access to the internet or would need support filling out the web form.
More than anticipated, out of 30368 calls in July, 13.9% were responding for those very reasons. 65% of those callers were making contact to ask for advice or support relating to the promotion. These figures show unequivocally that there is still a very real and enduring need for human contact options.
Readers were encouraged to collect tokens from The Daily Mail which would allow them to accumulate discount rewards from major retailers.
The results reflect the fact that a considerable chunk of the paper’s market base, while still active consumers, still required support with the promotion. Imagine if the lines had not been in place and a potentially loyal customer of the paper had been unsure of the functionality or benefits of the scheme and had fallen at the first hurdle? That’s a considerable impact, not only on the paper, but on the paper’s retail partners, who we can be sure have their own loyalty strategy to fulfil.
The Office of National Statistics estimates that internet usage almost doubled in the UK between 2006 and 2010, a perhaps unsurprising figure given the proliferation and popularity of internet shopping and social media. However, on closer analysis, socio-demographic factors come into play. 60% of those aged over 65 had never accessed the internet compared with just 1% of those aged between 16 and 24. A cursory scout around one of The Big Four or any shopping centre will tell you that it is not just this latter age group that should be a target for consumer loyalty.
Turning to regional demographics, while 83% of folks in the capital are estimated to have their own internet connection, just 59% in the North East say the same. Perhaps most enlightening of all is the reasons households give for not having their own web connection; 39% said they just did not need it and 21% said they did not have the skills. These are two facts that businesses cannot ignore when reviewing their strategy for a campaign. Making your communications as inclusive, user-friendly and coherent as possible is fundamental in achieving profit, loyalty and optimum customer care. Our campaign continues to enjoy success for our client due to the commitment we have to our client’s customers. The response has also proved a vital exercise in customer awareness and will help the paper continue to achieve loyalty successes within their market base, in what are very uncertain times for our national press.
The influential American philosopher Elbert Hubbert once asserted, “one machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” In an age of virtual assistants and automated medical advice lines this is a philosophy us humans should perhaps cherish. Customer feedback solutions specialists, ServiceTick, concur with Hubbert. A survey conducted by the company pits contact centres against web-based customer management and finds the latter is still lacking. Their 150,000-strong survey discovered that customer satisfaction scores and NPS (Net Promoter Score) were consistently higher at the end of a personal conversation with an agent than with web-based scores. The difference was clear – customer satisfaction scores were 22 points higher and NPS 69% higher.
Thinking laterally, this is hardly surprising. After all, having someone listen to your query or problem and actively strive for a solution or enhance your experience with their product or service, is most consumers idea of excellent customer service. Choice, convenience, service standards and provision must be key when deciding on the communication channels your company offers. The customer service strategy you employ is dependent on the type of campaign you are running. Simple services with little need for interaction or risk of procedural error could be suited to web-based applications, but if the campaign is more information-driven or if there is more risk for the customer to become confused by a difficult process or service, a contact centre environment might be more appropriate. Expertly managed online systems are well demonstrated by Facebook and Google who, when not fighting over world domination, have constructed comprehensive troubleshooting systems that negate, though not replace, the need for “contact” customer service. Their businesses are such that the majority of the problems their users encounter can be solved through the kind of procedural IT troubleshooting that many of us are familiar with from work. We can see that in some contexts this approach is well suited, but if you are hoping to reap the rewards of upselling, cross-selling or simply injecting your brand with a bit of personality, contact centre services can’t be beaten.
Modern consumers create complex personas through their product choices and the way they select, negotiate, manage and communicate these choices. We allow ourselves to be constantly contactable, both by our peers and marketers alike, and expect the same availability from our service providers. Smart businesses understand that, in order to promote customer acquisition and retention, a more holistic approach to customer service is needed. While web-based processes are sometimes quicker or more convenient to access, the frustration that can develop from not being able to locate your answer within a FAQ matrix can be a far less preferable process to speaking to a responsive and laterally-minded person, interested in retaining your custom. Should a customer be thinking of shopping around for a different supplier, a chat with an advisor gives the opportunity to win the customer back over. Social media and forums mean that people are going to be talking about your products and services; good and bad. Both the bane and beauty of social media is that it is so hard to control and moderate, in fact nigh on impossible. By ensuring the quality standards of your service or product at source, you can be assured that you are doing all you can to prevent negative publicity as well as ensuring that you have a strategy in place if online chat turns negative.
Being able to fully integrate your contact centre and online systems should be the ultimate aim when optimising your customer service provision. It is not a contest between one or the other and, as with many of the facets of business, as long as you are considering the needs of your customer, every step of the way, you can’t go far wrong.
Mary Portas and Michel Roux Jnr. have recently graced our screens extolling the virtues of good customer service and aiming to put paid to the perception that British customer service has more in common with the fictional antics of Basil Fawlty than the Maitre’d of Claridges. In a market saturated by consumer choice, building and maintaining a good customer service culture in your business is more important than ever. With the advent of social media and the fact that consumers now have an enormous, open forum to discuss your services it is vital that you not only offer an exceptional product but that your customers have an all-round positive experience when dealing with your company. The convenience enjoyed from shopping online adds further challenges to purely customer-facing organisations. At Expolink we believe that despite the advantages that e-commerce offers you cannot underestimate the power and value of a face-to-face conversation. Having someone actively listen and proactively meet your service requirements creates loyalty, builds brand profile and gives you a competitive edge in an increasingly over saturated market.
We live in a culture where, traditionally, the customer is always right. While this does not necessarily sit well with a profitable business strategy, there are many ways to positively manage your customer relationships without giving away your valuable profits or upsetting the apple cart. Being put unnecessarily on hold, false promises, lack of compensation, not meeting SLA’s, not recognising errors and apologising for them are all grievance trends noted in 2010 by thisismoney.co.uk. But what can be done about it?
Good customer service is achieved by choosing and nurturing a team of long-term staff who are knowledgeable, empathetic, proactive and enthusiastic about promoting your services. Management should empower their employees, building on their strengths and encouraging them to take pride in their work and the company they represent. If contentious issues arise, staff must be patient, reasonable and eager to resolve the customer’s problem. Each customer should be treated as a new opportunity to build the business whether their call is of a positive or negative nature.
At Expolink we are confident about the great service we offer our clients – acting as a seamless extension of their business, we bring expertise to every call we take and strive never to lose a customer. We coach and appraise our staff, allow them to think on their feet, use their initiative and listen closely to callers’ needs. Staff are trained for specific campaigns and allocated to particular skill groups to ensure that they have the greatest possible understanding of your business. Performance management and quality targets ensure that our colleagues have a genuine knowledge of your call handling needs. We never lose sight of the fact that your success is our success. Find out more about Expolink’s contact centre services.
Bucolic snow-covered vistas and home video footage of people skiing to the corner shops are welcome light relief at the end of news bulletins; but there is a far weightier concern for businesses across the country. The last two winters brought wide-spread and, in some areas, devastating snow storms to rural and urban communities. Snow has already been reported in as disparate locations as Gatwick and the Grampians in the earliest and farthest reaching coverage in 17 years. The Met Office’s 30-day forecast predicts snow and low temperatures right up to Christmas Eve. It is vital that companies assess their business continuity plan now to ensure that disruption to customers, suppliers and key stakeholders is kept to the absolute minimum.
In 2009 The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) estimated that 20% of the UK’s working population, or 6.4 million people, did not make it to work due to adverse weather conditions. Journeys that normally take minutes to travel stretched into hours and employers were obliged to let staff go home early or arrive late; if they made it in at all. Considering that the average commute of UK workers is 8.6 miles, the effect and potential for disruption is huge. Productivity and turnover is significantly hampered and many businesses are forced to close for the day due to the lack of trade and staff.
In January this year insurer RSA predicted that a day of severe snow could cost the UK economy as much as £690million. The Centre for Economics and Business Research estimated the daily loss would be £900m, using a calculation of UK GDP per day of about £4.5bn.
By taking action now you won’t have to find out what snow and adverse weather could cost your business.
Expolink’s many clients know that the on-going telephone and email support it provides is highly flexible and tailored towards individual businesses’ campaigns. If your staff are unable to get to work, and when all your competitors are only offering answer phone messages, your calls will be answered by a warm friendly operator ready to answer questions and take orders. In January this year, while all the aforementioned workers were stuck at home, internet, mail order and phone sales shopping saw a boost of 14.6%. These aren’t sales that your competitors alone should avail of!
Click on the link to find out how Expolink’s contact centre services can help you and your business.
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