Customer Service News & Articles

Cloud-based contact center solutions and optimization provider inContact has released version 13.1 of its platform. The newest release offers customer service managers the chance to view customer messages in one unified stream, regardless of the channel used. 

Customer service and contact center technology provider Genesys is acquiring cloud-based self-service applications specialist Angel from business intelligence vendor MicroStrategy. Genesys says it is trying to expand its arsenal of cloud-based customer service solutions.

The only surprise in today’s announcement from Salesforce that it is adding more muscle to its Service Cloud is that it hasn’t done it before. Given the focus of Salesforce’s customer-centric apps and the fact that so much customer prospecting is done on mobile, adding better mobile functionality is just about obligatory.

In December, Support.com released Software as a Service (SaaS) licensing options for its Nexus service delivery platform. Since then they’ve been able to examine the ways providers are using the suite of cloud-based applications, foundation services and business analytics to learn from their behaviors and improve the technology support experience.

Sure, customers can be loyal to brands they like. But how effective are the current and developing loyalty tools in creating a stronger relationship with a brand? A new report from Forrester Research attempts to point the way toward Loyalty 2.0. 

Companies that fail to provide the customer experience demanded by today’s technology-savvy consumers risk getting hit where it hurts most -- their profits. The new Oracle Global Customer Experience Report highlights exactly how companies are falling short of modern customer experience benchmarks.

When I was originally asked to write this piece, I was asked to write about the Customer Life Cycle Experience -- how great customer service and ongoing experience continues the customer journey. However, I wanted to take a different angle. One that I think better reflects the new normal in the market: How does a customer experience the Customer Experience Life Cycle?

Remember when the front office and the back office were separate things? When the folks who actually spoke to the customers had to dress nicely and even bathe daily, and use manners and speak in clear and coherent sentences, because they were the only representatives your customers would ever see?

As we wrap up our month-long focus on the customer life cycle experience, we’re reminded of how conventional methods of customer service have had to shift their goals, pushed by the convenience of social technologies for customers to ask questions, lodge complaints and seek more information from brands. Take the contact center -- live operators are standing by to take your call, but the truth is if you’re calling them, they know there’s going to be an issue.

Anyone who has badmouthed a company because a customer service agent badly handled their problem will not be surprised about the findings in a new report from AchieveGlobal. The study by the global workforce development firm found that emotion is the “key to building customer loyalty and advocacy.” 

Building Customer Loyalty
If you want to have loyal customers then there are four core customer experience competencies you must have a handle on. Pick up a few more great CXM tips from our recent #CXMChat Tweet Jam.

Goodbye Marketing Funnel
Forrester says you should ditch the marketing funnel in favor of the customer life cycle. But there is one funnel you should consider key to your customer experience strategy -- the social funnel.

The 21st Century "Social" Business
Organizations are in a state of transformation, which many refer to becoming Social Businesses. But there's more going on here then a need to be more "social". Today's ideal organization is a complex adaptive system, of which social is only a part.

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Featured Events (all events | post your event

• Feb 05 -- (Webinar) The 5 Linchpins of Great Digital Experiences
• Mar 04 -- Adobe Digital Marketing Summit
• Mar 20 -- SharePoint Conference for Business Users
• Apr 18 -- Forrester's Forum for Marketing Leadership Professionals Los Angeles
• Apr 29 -- Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit San Diego 2013

Featured Jobs (all jobs | post your job)

• Systems Analyst in Ontario at OpenText
• Online Community Associate in Santa Monica at EdgeCast
• Senior Information Architect in New York at SapientNitro
• Content Manager in Santa Clara at NVIDIA
• Firefox Project Manager in San Francisco at Mozilla

Social media is now migrating in full force to the enterprise, with particular importance for contact centers. To find out its perspective on this aspect of business socialization, CMSWire recently talked to customer contact vendor, Aspect Software’s Chief Marketing Officer Jim Freeze.

There’s certainly not even a remote bit of controversy in saying that customers are truly the lifeblood that sustains the survival of businesses today. But are you doing everything you can to stay connected?

The Customer Life Cycle Experience belongs to everyone and no one. Every person within an organization who comes in contact with a customer is responsible for carrying the torch of customer service. And if you listen real close, your analytics can tell you what the customer wants. These and other insights were among those shared with us during this month's Tweet Jam.

Providing a consistently strong customer experience is key to building lasting customer loyalty. A new report from Temkin Group, suggests that to provide the type of customer experience which builds long-term customer loyalty, companies must develop these four core competencies.