The gap between customer expectations of phone-based support and reality is greater than ever. Over 80% of people prefer a phone call for customer service, but only 8% of them feel the service they receive is ‘excellent.’

Be sure to read the following list of call center trends that will help shape your support strategy in the coming year and beyond.

1. Cloud

Cloud-based infrastructure is the fastest growing area in the call center industry, which DMG predicts will almost double between 2013 and 2015.
The proportion of call centers seats in the cloud will reach 18% by this time, up from just 2.2% in 2008.

Initially, the recession drove financially-pressed companies to embrace the cloud because of quick deployment and great value. Now that the functional gap with premise-based solutions is narrowing, cloud-based infrastructure is not only a viable alternative to more call centers – but a more logical one

Some of the leading vendors in this space include Fonolo, Interactive Intelligence, Five9, inContact, and Contactual. We expect to see more acquisitions in the coming years from companies looking to enter the cloud game or reduce the number of competitors in the space.

2. Smartphones

Global smartphone shipments are expected to jump this year by 25% according to Digitimes Research, By 2015, IDC expects more US consumers will access the internet through smartphones than PC’s.

Smartphones’ potential to improve the call center experience, combined with their widespread adoption, resulted in a flurry of mobile customer service product releases in 2012:

• Mobile Call-Back by Fonolo
• Nina^TM: Virtual Assistant by Nuance
• Mobile Reach by NICE
• Interaction Mobilizer by Interactive Intelligence
• Mobile Engagement by Genesys

Forrester reports that 68% of call center decision makers believe mobile integration is a high priority for the long-term success of their customer relationships. They predict this trend will grow the number and sophistication of mobile customer service vendors in 2013.

3. Gamification

Gamification promises to make the workplace more fun by applying game design elements to business processes such as customer support, and it’s quickly gaining traction. Gartner predicts that over 70% of Global 2000 companies will have incorporated some form of gamification by 2014.

Vendors are creating gamification software for the call center, to make customer support more enjoyable for agents. Whether this trend will become mainstream is up for debate, but these pioneers are betting it will:

• Arcaris
• Freshdesk Arcade
• Desk.com

We expect the number of vendors and sophistication will increase in 2013, and more call centers to give gamification a try.

4. Customer Feedback

When it comes to improving customer interaction, a whopping 38% of call center managers say that measuring results are one of their biggest challenges. Call centers are notorious for implementing many different technologies, which can make reporting difficult, convoluted and time consuming.

Managers want to tackle this challenge head on. Over 40% plan to upgrade their customer feedback surveys within two years, more than any other customer interaction upgrade.

As the customer experience becomes a top priority, timely and accurate feedback becomes an absolute requirement. According to Gartner, customer feedback surveys are “especially important for learning about end-user dissatisfaction before it gets escalated.”

5. Video Support

Video is making its way to the call center; thanks to the amount and detail of information it provides customers. In fact, 18% of managers plan to introduce or upgrade this emerging technology in the next two years.

Video support works when customers want to talk to agents with the video feature on their smartphone, making support a deeper and more personal experience. Video content can also be sent to the customer’s phone, which is great to troubleshoot problems, use a program, or do-it-yourself projects.

Video support also promises to lower a company’s support cost, because customers obtain answers to their questions through phone self-service.

The following companies have embraced video support, IKEA just recently, and are reaping the benefits:

• IKEA – How To Assembly Videos
• Verizon – Frequently Asked Questions Videos
• iRobot – Videos Related to Roomba Vacuum Cleaners

We expect more call centers to introduce video into their support strategies to give their customers a better service experience.

Don’t miss the last 5 trends! Download the full report below.

TOP 10 CALL CENTER TRENDS FOR 2013

Businesses recognize its importance. According to Forrester, 90% of customer service decision makers think that good service is critical to their company’s success, and 56% use it to create a competitive advantage.

The following list of customer service trends will help shape your support strategy in the coming year and beyond.

1. Rising Customer Expectations

Customers are more demanding and likely to switch companies over poor customer service than ever before. The gap between what they expect and what they receive continues to grow, with only 26% agreeing that call centers provide excellent customer service.

The challenge for businesses is how to create better customer service experiences to narrow the gap, while under so much pressure to control costs and maximize profits. Leaders such as Apple, Zappos, and Amazon are living proof that not cutting customer service costs can really pay off.

2. Social Media – Early Warning System

Companies that ignore social media are playing a dangerous game, but thankfully, most are catching on. According to new research conducted by Stanford University, 90% of executives understand the impact social media has on their organization, yet only 32% monitor it [social media] to detect threats to their business.

While social media isn’t always the best place to resolve an issue, it is a great proactive channel to identify customer service problems before they spiral out of control. Many customers immediately flock to Twitter to complain about a company regarding bad support experience – we can expect more companies to use Twitter as problem detection/resolution platform.

3. Vendor Consolidation

Customer service companies, especially those with cloud or social media capabilities, will continue to be snapped up by industry leaders seeking to grow their product functionality.The customers of these major players benefit from consolidation by not having to integrate multiple products on their own, and dealing with different vendor contracts.

The last few years have seen some juicy deals in the space and you can expect more in 2013. Some examples:

Other notable deals include Oracle’s acquisitions of Collective Intellect and Inquira, Pegasystems’ acquisition of Chordiant for $161.5M, and Salesforce’s acquisition of Assistly for $50M.

4. Speed Is King

One in three of us feel we have less free time than our parents did, according to a recent survey conducted by Persuadable Research Corporation.Some of the results from that survey indicate that we feel a time crunch because of higher living costs, longer work hours, family responsibilities, and commuting time.

Its no surprise that customers find speed of service more important now, regardless of whether they are on the phone, web, or at the service location:

• 66% of people said valuing their time was the most important thing a company can do for good online customer service
• 42% of customers find repeating information to be their biggest frustration with call centers
• followed by waiting on hold at 17%

Companies should make fast and efficient service a priority – it reduces the chances of your customers getting annoyed and abandoning the service process, or worse yet, switching to a competitor.

5. Customer Power Shift

Customers have access to more knowledge about companies than ever before, and knowledge is power. Social media, online customer reviews, message forums, and the power of Internet search are tipping the balance of power away from the corporation and in the favor of the customer, where it belongs.

Customers are smarter and resourceful. Slick branding, marketing, and messaging are not enough to sustain customers. They have access to copious amounts of information at their fingertips.

Tricia Morris of Parature said it best, “The shift from CRM to VRM (where customers will choose and maintain their relationships with vendors on their own terms) will continue, as consumers and customers determine if, when and where they engage with brands.”

Don’t miss the last 5 trends! Download the full report below.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 7 PAGE REPORT!

Here are the three most comprehensive reports I’ve come across this year for contact center managers.

1. Consumer Preference Report Contact Centers Global 2011 – Forrester & Avaya

This report identifies patterns of consumer attitudes, which are valuable to companies mapping out their customer service strategy.

Based on a survey of 5,299 consumers, conducted by callcentres.net and sponsored by Avaya, it highlights the following key points:

• Consumer attitudes towards customer support centers
• What consumers want from customer service centers
• Support channels consumers use and prefer
• Attitudes towards emerging technologies
• What consumers think about how and where agents are managed

Download Now

2. Customer Contact Centre Industry Technology Roadmap – Contact Centre Canada

A comprehensive overview of the evolution of the contact centers that includes changes in technology, customer needs, and organizational mandates:

• Contact center evolution
• Technology trends, adoption, and use
• Future trends and the drivers of change
• The contact center workforce overview and challenges
• Role of vendors, government, research institutions, and the industry

Download Now

3. Multi-Channel Contact Center Benchmark Report – RightNow Technologies

Gauge your contact center success by benchmarking your KPIs and metrics against over 300 companies that participated in the survey across a number of verticals, including: software, finance, telecom, government, travel, and more.

Some of the 42 metrics benchmarked were:

• Average cost per call
• Agent turnover rate
• Average email response time
• Chat deflection rate

Download Now

I hope you find these reports useful! Please share other informative contact center reports in the comments below.

TOP 10 CALL CENTER TRENDS FOR 2012

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 6 PAGE REPORT!

Undoubtedly not for the weak at heart, some call center managers have the grace and tenacity to handle the extreme pressure and create an experience that pleases customers without exceeding dwindling budgets, a truly remarkable feat.

“What are the 5 biggest challenges managers face in the call center?” I posed this question to members of the Contact Center Operations and Management group on LinkedIn.

Have a read through their honest (and candid) comments below.

1. Agent Recruitment and Retention

Cited as the biggest challenge by nearly all respondents, the call center is notorious for being a difficult place to work, and makes attracting and retaining quality customer service representatives a tough undertaking.

“Finding ways to hire better quality call center agents is consistently placed as a “Top 5” priority by senior management. The majority of the costs associated with operating a contact center are labor costs – and hiring the wrong person to begin with is the root cause of most call center performance issues. A weak hiring process is a significant drain on profitability, the budget, sales, attendance & shift adherence, service levels, customer satisfaction, brand reputation, and overall team morale.”
- David Filwood

“I think the number one challenge is finding a way to adapt the call center environment to be appealing to the new generation of workforce. Millenials love flexibility and most call centers have very little of that.”
- Juliet Carnelia

“Improving the screening/hiring of staff so that the right folks get on the bus and fight the temptation to fill the chairs with whomever applies.”
- Hilario Fuentes

“Finding, hiring, and motivating contact center staff to consistently deliver an “awe-inspiring” customer experience.”
- Larry Streeter

“It’s getting harder to attract and keep the Gen Y workforce and meet their expectations and demands.”
- Bryan Socransky

“Hiring and retaining of top performing supervisors and coaches. They have the power to make or break a call center.”
- Lark Will

“Utilizing supervisors to effectively develop their agents.”
- Kevin Gulbransen

2. Doing More with Less

Unfortunately, call centers are still viewed as cost centers by most executives. It’s an uphill battle as managers are expected to maintain service levels despite diminishing budgets.

“Many companies have cut call center budgets as they view this as a cost center. Call center managers are forced to deliver the same service levels with less people and the same old infrastructure from 2001.”
- Bryan Socransky

“Determining where to allocate budget and resources. Identifying, quantifying and prioritizing opportunities from both an operational and strategic perspective represent a significant challenge for any contact center manager.”
- Trish Paterson

3. Reporting

With so many separate systems and technologies jumbled together in most call center environments, getting accurate and consistent reporting poses a colossal challenge.

“Tracking the reasons why customers are calling in, whether to purchase specific products, book specific appointments, complaints, etc.”
- Jeane Landau

“Helping executive teams understand that WHY customers call and the need to address those issues are far more important than metrics such as abandon rate and handle time.”
- Kevin Carly

“Another challenge is poor call center routing and poor statistics. Quite often, call center managers do not know that routing is ineffective. What is worse, call centers often get inaccurate reporting on call statistics and also do not know about it.”
- Anthony Shteyn

4. Increasing Customer Expectations

Higher customer expectations, reshaped by social media channels such as Twitter and increased business competition, has made it even harder to satisfy callers.

“Customers expect better service (lower ASA, better AHT, better FCR) and new ways to interact (multi-channel: SMS, social media, chat, email, etc…)”
- Bryan Socransky

“Dealing with the changes brought about by social media.”
- Larry Streeter

5. Consequences of Bad Experiences are Magnified

When customers are ticked off from a bad phone support experience, they react in ways that can be disastrous to a company’s reputation. Onholdwith.com is a Twitter-based site that tracks thousands of customer complaints related to hold times.

“Customers are increasingly empowered by social media to publicize any bad customer service experiences.”
- Bryan Socransky

I’d like to thank everyone from the Contact Center Operations and Management group on LinkedIn for their responses.

What other challenges do call center managers face? Share your thoughts below.

TOP 10 CALL CENTER TRENDS FOR 2012

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 6 PAGE REPORT!

Repeating information to agents, waiting on hold, and navigating phone menus are the main reasons customers dread the call center. Negative caller experiences drive customers to the competition, and to share these experiences with the world through social media, eroding the reputations of countless companies.

Customers Prefer Phone Conversations

A recent Forrester Consulting titled “North America 2011 Consumer Preference Report – Contact Centers” finds that the overwhelming majority of consumers (81%) prefer phone support, far ahead of email (33%), the next most popular channel.

The study also found that a “phone conversation” was the most often used method in the prior 3 months, with 44% of those surveyed, compared to just 15% for email.

Why is the phone so popular? Customers want to “interact with a real person,” and view human interaction as a critical part of excellent customer service. They want to quickly reach someone who can resolve their issue as fast as possible, two key strengths the phone has over other channels.

‘Excellent’ Customer Service is Hard to Find

Unfortunately, most customer service departments are focused on minimizing support costs, rather than delivering a call center experience that doesn’t frustrate their customers. In fact, the same Forrester report found that only 8% of consumers are provided with ‘excellent’ customer service.

Higher customer expectations, reshaped by social media channels such as Twitter and increased business competition, makes it even harder to satisfy callers.

When the Forrester study asked respondents what makes a customer service interaction excellent, quick issue resolution and human interaction topped the list.

Here’s what they wanted:

1. “I am able to interact with a customer service representative quickly.”
2. “My query is resolved quickly.”
3. “I am able to interact with a person.”

Fast support remains a challenge for most organizations, and is a major reason why people are so disappointed with customer service centers today.

What Frustrates Callers the Most?

Most call centers are an absolute nightmare for callers. The three most common complaints increase the time it takes to reach an agent and have an issue resolved in a timely manner.

1. Phone Menus

People hate navigating phone menus, also known interactive voice response (IVR) menus. They are supposed to help callers, but have countless amounts of grief over the years. Customers are infuriated with valuable time wasted trying to reach a support representative.

2. Waiting on Hold

Waiting on hold for long periods of time to reach a support representative is not acceptable. An automated voice that regularly tells customers, ‘your call is important to us, we’ll be with you shortly’ insults their intelligence and makes them even angrier.

3. Repeating Information

Repeating information to multiple agents not only slows down customers from getting their issue resolved, it also suggests that the offending company can’t get their act together, hurting their credibility.

The Impact of Bad Customer Service

When customers are annoyed by a bad phone support experience, they react in ways that can be disastrous to the company’s reputation.

ClickFox published a survey that highlights the negative impacts:

• 52% tell family/friends/peers about the experience
• 35% stop doing business with the company
• 16% post comments on social networking sites

Onholdwith.com is a Twitter-based site that tracks thousands of complaints relating to hold times, and showcases the enormous number of customers frustrated by poor caller experiences.

How to Eliminate the Most Common Call Center Complaints

Effective phone support is easy to use and resolves customer issues quickly. Implementing the right technology can remove the barriers that prevent your call center from consistently delivering positive customer service experiences.

1. Replace phone menus with a visual interface

Use a visual interface that offers your website visitors and mobile users one click access to the appropriate destination. Your customers will no longer have to listen to or navigate your phone menu, saving your call center time and money by eliminating zero-outs.

2. ‘Whisper’ customer information to the agent before the call

The time it takes to authenticate a customer at the start of a call frustrates customers, and slows down the process of solving the caller’s problem.

Collect customer information before the call through forms on your website and mobile app and pass them onto the agent in the form of a ‘whisper.’ This helps your agents shine by enabling them to immediately focus on solving the customer’s issue, and inevitably reduce call resolution time by up to 20%.

3. Offer a call-back to customers waiting on hold

Replacing hold time with a call-back is one of the easiest and most effective approaches to take during peak hours. The technology places callers in a virtual queue and automatically calls them back when an agent is available. The benefits are significant:

• Customers can go about their daily lives while they wait for your call
• Lowers the burden of hiring additional call center staff
• Saves you and your callers money from not keeping phone lines open
• Lower handle times from customers not complaining about waiting on hold at the start of the call

Cloud-Based vs On Premise

The majority of call centers don’t have the budget required for on-premise technology solutions, which require more time, money, and technical integration than their cloud-based counterparts.

On-premise deployment models have prevented widespread adoption of call-back technologies that improve the caller experience.

With the increasing popularity of cloud-based technology, companies are finally able to integrate best of breed point technologies such as call-back in a faster and more cost-effective manner.

Conclusion

We live in a world where few call centers are able to provide the immediate response and fast issue resolution their customers demand. The availability and convenience of cloud-based technologies that enable support organizations to meet these expectations is changing the caller experience from a nightmare into a customer service dream.

TOP 10 CALL CENTER TRENDS FOR 2012

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 6 PAGE REPORT!

What are the biggest trends in call centers today? Share your thoughts below.

With the constant evolution of technology, “They’re accustomed to more options, greater control, and a worldwide platform to tell others what they think about the way brands treat them,” says Megan Burns of Forrester Research.

Here are 5 memes that explain what is frustrating customers today.

1. Phone Menu Hell

No surprise here – people hate phone menus. In fact, callers say it is the fourth most frustrating aspect of customer service.

What customers really want is to speak to an agent right away. Even the most advanced phone menus will slow this process down. A customer can quickly become furious by the time they reach an agent and will zero-out to reach any support representative, complain on social media, or a combination of the three.

2. Waiting on Hold

No one likes to wait on hold. To be ranked as an ‘excellent’ service center, quickly reaching an agent is cited as the important factor. How serious is this problem? American consumers have wasted over 60 million precious hours… you guessed it – waiting on hold.

Social customers expect fast customer service. When they don’t get it, they complain about it on social media, which can be catastrophic to a company’s brand.

Need further proof?? Check out all these ‘On Hold’ complaints happening right now on Twitter!

Source: Zendesk

3. Repeating Information

According to ClickFox’s second annual Consumer Tipping Points survey, 42% of consumers find speaking with multiple agents and repeating information as the most frustrating parts of customer service.

Quite frankly, it’s not their problem and they feel you should be working on keeping them happy. They’re angry and not afraid to show it by letting everyone on Twitter know about it.

Source: Zendesk

4. Agents Have it Tough

Being a customer service representative is one of the most demanding and stressful jobs. When customers are irate with your company, it’s your front line agents who absorb the brunt of their fury.

Instead of being reactive, consider a proactive approach that dodges verbal bullets fired by your angry customer. Callers are going to vent about long hold times with your agents which lengthens the handle time and the cost per call.

5. Treating Customers Like They’re Stupid

“Your call is very important to us.” Really? If that’s true, don’t keep callers on hold for 45 minutes. Invest in the time and resources necessary to make the caller experience smooth and more enjoyable.
Over the years, customers have become experts in detecting corporate BS.

A company who holds true to the old adage, ‘Honesty is the best policy’ will win credibility points with their customers. If you’re contradicting corporate promises, expect customer uproar.

Do you really care about your customers’ time? If so, why not implement a call-back solution so they don’t continue to waste time waiting on hold?

What other major issues are facing customers and call centers? Share your thoughts below.

In any given week, I read approximately fifty articles and come across a few diamonds in the rough that are well written and teach me something new. Here are my 6 favorite customer service blog posts so far this year.

What Do Customers Hate Most About Bad Customer Service

This probably won’t surprise you, but according to a recent Forrester survey only 2% of consumers strongly agree that they always receive excellent customer service. Zendesk outlines what customers hate the most. Don’t just read and move on – make sure you fix these problems if they apply to your company.

Favorite quote: “22% of customers tell their family / friends / peers about bad customer service.”

Read the Article

First Contact Resolution: 6 Tips for Getting Customer Service Right the First Time

Ask any call center manager how they measure customer service, and chances are, first-call resolution will be at the top of the list. Parature provides some valuable information on improving FCR for a better service experience.

Favorite quote: “Don’t penalize CSRs for longer support times if they are achieving first contact resolution. Sometimes slow and steady will win the race, or at least greater customer loyalty.”

Read the Article

Changing the Culture of Customer Service

Culture is difficult to change in a business, especially larger and more established companies. But in this era of social media, becoming a customer-centric organization is vital. Rawn Shah recently interviewed Frank Eliason, Senior VP Social Media for CitiGroup. It was a great discussion on their biggest challenges and how they’ve been dealing with them.

Favorite Quote: “It has to be at top, the CEO dictating here’s what we are going to be. But you also need that bottom layer to truly buy into it, and the two have to marry.”

Read the Article

12 Take-Note Online Customer Service Statistics for 2012

Online customer service has come a long way in the last ten years, with social media becoming the next major support channel. These relevant statistics by Tricia Morris make a strong case for updating your digital service strategy.

Favorite Quote: “More than 50% of Facebook users, and 80% of Twitter users, expect a response to a customer service inquiry in a day or less.”

Read the Article

Transform the Contact Center: Forrester’s Playbook for Customer Service Excellence

The case for investing in customer service is clear: higher customer loyalty and revenue, with lower support costs. Getting it right is the real challenge. Kate Leggett, Senior Analyst at Forrester, outlines four important pillars to make it happen.

Favorite quote: “Provide cross-channel customer service in the way that customers want to receive it. In the past 12 months, 68% of customers used the phone, 60% used help or frequently asked questions (FAQs), 54% used email, 37% used chat, 20% used SMS, and 19% used Twitter.”

Read the Article

6 Keys to Building a Service Culture

So you want to build a customer service culture, but don’t know how? John Tschohl, President of Service Quality Institute helps you get started with 6 important steps.

Favorite quote: “The service leaders hire one out of 50 applicants, sometimes one out of 100, but they’re very, very careful. You can’t afford not to be extremely choosy when you hire.”

Read the Article

What are the best customer service posts you’ve read this year? Share in the comments section below.

TOP 10 CUSTOMER SERVICE TRENDS FOR 2012

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 6 PAGE REPORT!

Unfortunately, very few companies are able to satisfy, let alone impress, their customers. In fact, only 2% of companies meet the high expectations consumers have for their call center.

Read on to learn what it takes to get an ‘excellent’ rating in the call center, extracted from Avaya’s 2011 consumer preference report.

The report asked consumers, “Ideally, what should a company’s customer service center offer you in order to rate your experience as truly excellent?”

Here is a summary of the results:

Fast Speed of Resolution

With social media literally at their fingertips, customers have become more demanding, especially when discussing the call center experience. They expect to quickly reach a customer service agent and have their problem solved.

Still in doubt? Do your research. Check out OnHoldWith.com and see what happens when you mix long hold times and disgruntled customers.

You’ll find that:

• Consumers expect to reach a customer service agent quickly
• Consumers expect to have their query resolved quickly

Hire the Right Agents

Your call center agents are front line super stars for your organization. Communication and personality will have a major impact on the caller experience. So if you’re looking for ways to improve your call center, hire the best.

Your consumers want agents who:

• Are based in the same country
• Have good communication skills
• Are friendly, polite, and easy to understand
• Exercise empathy

Customer Information is Available and Accurate

Nothing kills the caller experience faster than having to repeat information. Repeating information can quickly kill the caller experience. When customers are forced to repeat information, it kills the caller experience. That was as much fun to read as it was to type. Forcing customers to repeat information is one of the biggest turn offs. Don’t do it.

Make sure that:

• Service reps have access to all of a customer’s account information
• Customer profiles are up to date and accurate
• All customer details are recognized

Source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report.

What else is important for a great call center experience? Share your thoughts below.

Free Webinar: How to Resolve 3 Common Call Center Complaints

Sign up for our free webinar to learn how to eliminate the most common call center complaints and provide a better caller experience.

Date: Thursday, July 19th at 2:00pm ET
Presenter: Shai Berger, CEO, Fonolo

Who Should Attend:

• VP’s and Directors of Customer Service
• VP’s and Directors of Contact Centers

Learn How to Eliminate These Customer Complaints:

1. Phone Menu Hell
2. Long Hold Times
3. Repeating Information

Space is limited. Sign up today!

What do customers hate about call centers? How do callers define excellent service? Find out what steps to take to deliver a great experience and what to avoid.

Avoid The Most Common Call Center Complaints

In the age of social media, a bad caller experience can go viral in a heartbeat. Make sure you avoid these complaints or risk frustrating your customer base:

1. Having to speak with multiple agents and start over every time
2. Waiting on hold for a long time
3. Rude or inexperienced support representatives
4. Not being understood by the IVR or speech recognition applications

Source: Zendesk Infographic

Factors That Define an ‘Excellent’ Caller Experience

What do your customers expect from you? The list below outlines some of the ‘must haves’ identified by customers. If you can deliver on these factors within your call center, you’re off to a good start.

1. Reach a customer service agent quickly
2. Quick call resolution
3. The customer service representative is based in the same country
4. Friendly and polite customer service agents
5. The support representative has access to all my information
6. My information on record is accurate

Source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report 2011

Learn More In Our Call Center Webinar

Sign up for our free webinar to learn how to eliminate the most common call center complaints and provide a better caller experience.

Date: Thursday, July 19th at 2:00pm ET
Presenter: Shai Berger, CEO, Fonolo

Who Should Attend:

• VP’s and Directors of Customer Service
• VP’s and Directors of Contact Centers

Learn How to Eliminate These Customer Complaints:

1. Phone Menu Hell
2. Long Hold Times
3. Repeating Information

Space is limited. Sign up today!

The explosion of social media has empowered customers and changed their behavior, making them more influential and demanding than ever. In addition, companies like Zappos thrive by making great support a central pillar of their brand identity.

It’s an exciting time to be in customer service, so read on to find out where we stand today.

What Frustrates Customers Most About Call Centers?

Even though most consumers still prefer to use the telephone for support, only 26% agree that call centers provide great customer service. The customer service industry is missing the mark and needs to take action to keep customer churn to a minimum.

What are their biggest complaints?

• Having to speak with multiple agents and repeat information(42%)
• Being kept on hold for long periods of time (17%)
• Not being understood by IVRs / speech recognition (12%)

Source: Zendesk Infographic

What Channels do Customers Prefer?

Despite new channels appearing all the time, the telephone has remained dominant, which makes keeping support costs under control difficult for organizations.

Source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report 2011

What Do Customers Think of Service

The customer service industry is missing the mark with regards to customer expectations, with only 26% responding positively when asked if they receive great support.

Source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report 2011

The Impact of a Good Customer Experience

80% of consumers prefer using the telephone for customer service, followed by email and web self-service, which makes keeping costs under control a difficult task for organizations.

Delivering a great customer service experience continues to pay dividends for companies from both a brand awareness and revenue perspective:

• 58% of consumers will tell their friends about a great experience
• 60% of consumers will pay more for a better experience

Source: Econsultancy Infographic

The Impact of a Bad Customer Experience

Bad customer service experiences spread like wildfire on social media networks, impacting a company’s brand and their bottom line:

• 35% of customers stopped doing business with the company that ‘wronged’ them
• 52% of consumers spread the word about bad service they received
• 16% flocked to social media outlets to vent about poor customer service

Source: Zendesk

How To Become An ‘Excellent’ Call Center

The graph below shows that quickly connecting callers to agents and offering prompt issue resolution are the two most important factors, in order to be considered an ‘excellent’ call center.

It’s obvious that customers want fast and helpful service, but most support centers fail to deliver. On the other hand, organizations that do meet the needs of their customers are thriving.

Source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report 2011

These results show that customers want fast and helpful service, but most support centers fail to deliver.

If taking your contact center to the next level is on the top of your priority list, you don’t want to miss our next webinar. We’ll show you the critical steps required to eliminate the most frequent causes of caller frustration.

FREE WEBINAR: How To Solve 3 Major Customer Service Complaints About Your Call Center

Sign up for our free webinar to learn how to eliminate the most common call center complaints and provide a better caller experience.

Date: Thursday, July 19th at 2:00pm ET
Presenter: Shai Berger, CEO, Fonolo

Who Should Attend:

• VP’s and Directors of Customer Service
• VP’s and Directors of Contact Centers

Learn How to Eliminate These Customer Complaints:

1. Phone Menu Hell
2. Long Hold Times
3. Repeating Information

Space is limited. Sign up today!

Maybe you’re just interested in the latest trends and statistics. Don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place.

Here are the 10 most useful customer service infographics I’ve ever come across that I hope you will find useful.

1. The State of Customer Service

My Favorite Statistic:

86% of consumers have quit doing business with a company over a bad customer experience.

Source: Click Software

2. Why The Call Center Won’t Go Away

My Favorite Statistic:

79% of consumers still prefer to use the telephone to interact with a customer service center.

Source: Zendesk

3. The Incredible Influence of the Social Customer

My Favorite Statistic:

21% of social customers will spend more for excellent service vs 11% of non-social customers.

Source: Parature

4. What Do Customers Hate Most About Bad Customer Service

My Favorite Statistic:

52% of unsatisfied customers spread the word about the bad service they received.

Source: Zendesk

5. The Ultimate Customer Experience

My Favorite Statistic:

97% of respondents say an online experience influenced whether they would buy a product or service from a brand.

Source: Econsultancy

6. Support Gets Social

My Favorite Statistic:

62% of consumers have used social media for customer service issues.

Source: Zendesk

7. The Mobile Advantage

My Favorite Statistic:

72% of consumers have a more favorable view of a company if they have a customer service app.

Source: Nuance

8. How to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value

This infographic shows you how to calculate customer lifetime value with a step-by-step example for Starbucks Coffee.

KISSmetrics

9. Choosing The Right Social Media Platform for Your Business

My Favorite Takeaway

Twitter is a secret weapon for customer service, with brands like Jetblue and Comcast using it to publicy address customer concerns.

Source: Zintro

10. Top 25 Most Influential in Customer Service

A great collection of 25 influential people in the customer service space. I highly recommend following these thought leaders on social channels like Twitter, and interacting with them through their blogs.

Source: MindTouch

What other infographics would you add to this list? Which one is the most valuable? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

TOP 10 CUSTOMER SERVICE TRENDS FOR 2012

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 6 PAGE REPORT!

To help with this challenge, I’ve compiled a list of 5 important customer service statistics that cover interaction channel preferences, customer expectations, consumer attitudes towards the current state of support, and contact center priorities to guide your strategy moving forward.

• What Consumers Think About The State of Customer Service

Only 26% of consumers responded positively when asked if they believe customer service centers provide great support, compared to 49% who did not. This clearly shows how the industry is missing the mark in relation to customer expectations.

The upside is that this is a perfect opportunity for organizations to step up to the plate and differentiate themselves by providing better service experiences.

Q: “Please rate the level to which you agree or disagree with the following statement:
Customer service centers always provide excellent customer service.”

 Source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report 2011

• How Customers Want to Communicate

80% of consumers prefer talking to an agent on the phone, which poses a financial challenge for organizations because it is by far the most expensive channel to support.

The range of channel preferences highlights the need for support centers to provide multi-channel service options, which is a difficult undertaking to do right, and may explain low customer satisfaction with customer service as a whole.

Q: “Which methods do you prefer to use for industry customer service centers?”

 Source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report 2011

• The Changing Importance of Contact Center Metrics

Customer satisfaction is finally climbing up the priority list and, in my opinion, is the most important metric for a truly customer-centric organization. Two years ago, first call resolution and answer speed would be low on the list but, as of late, they have become significantly more important. These changes are indicative that consumer demands are driving the shift in metrics.

Q: “How important are these contact center metrics compared with two years ago?”

Source: The US Contact Center Decision Maker’s Guide

• How To Become An ‘Excellent’ Contact Center

Being a customer service leader means knowing how your customers define excellence. The results below show that quickly connecting with an agent and prompt issue resolution are the two factors that should be addressed.

Q: “Ideally, what should a company’s customer service center offer you in order to rate your experience as truly excellent?”

 Source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report 2011

• Emerging Call Center Technologies

The contact center industry is experiencing a growth in innovative new technologies. At the core of these new technologies are changing customer demands and preferences. Offering these capabilities can be a great way for service centers to gain a competitive edge. I recently wrote about some of these in 5 Call Center Technologies Heating Up Customer Service.

Research indicates consumers strongly prefer the telephone channel and having their issues resolved quickly. Accordingly, 27% of respondents said they are extremely likely to use intelligent call-back technology, which eliminates hold times in call centers. Smartphone applications and video aren’t far behind, driven by evolving global trends.

Q: “If the following types of interaction were offered to you as a way to communicate with a company in the future,how likely would you be to use them?”

Source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report 2011

What other research do you find helpful for customer service and contact centers? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

TOP 10 CALL CENTER TRENDS FOR 2012

 
DOWNLOAD THE FREE 6 PAGE REPORT!

I see things a bit differently. If you look past the surface and dig a little deeper, the North American call center industry is going through an unprecedented transformation, driven by the influential power the customer has on major business decisions.

At the forefront of this transformation are 5 innovative technologies that are changing the call center experience and inspiring businesses to think differently.

Voice Biometrics

Voice has become a reliable way to authenticate a person’s identity, because it is unique to each individual. Imagine not having to provide personal security questions at the start of every call with your bank, insurance, and pharmaceutical company. In fact, your voice signature is legally binding according to the E-SIGN act, making it a convenient way to complete signature-requiring transactions.

Leading Provider: Nuance

The Smartphone

With over 50% of US consumers using smartphones, its only natural that smartphones are on their way to becoming a mainstream customer service device. Smartphones open the door to a wide range of benefits related to a better call experience, such as passing contextual information to the agent, and higher interactivity. We’re on the brink of a call center revolution with several providers announcing new products in 2012.

Leading Provider: Genesys

Interactive Video

With customer support taking top priority, interactive video response is causing quite a stir with visual phone menus and instructions. This kind of enhanced featured allows businesses the ability to play advertisements, promotions, or even a music video while customers are waiting on hold. Interactive video isn’t practical for every call center but the added dimension opens up a world of new possibilities for organizations to stand out.

Leading Provider: Avaya

Universal Queuing

Universal queuing has its implementation challenges, but the pay-off from combining voice, email, chat, and social media into a single ‘universal’ queue makes for a more consistent and streamlined customer support experience. The single view of the customer is the Holy Grail for many call centers, although most fall short in achieving it. An organization able to implement universal queuing can gain a clear advantage against their competitors.

Leading Provider: IBM & Genesys

Intelligent Call-Back

I’ve saved the best for last. Web call-back eliminates the frustration from phone menus and waiting on hold by placing a widget on a website for customers to enter their number in exchange for a call-back from the next available agent. Smartphone call-back has those same advantages plus the convenience factor of mobility and the potential to add context, such as the location. The ‘intelligent’ derives from the ability to map out an entire phone menu and automatically navigate on the customer’s behalf, making it different from simple click-to-call solutions.

I am biased in recommending Fonolo, but I can honestly say it is the best call-back solution I’ve seen in my 6 years in the industry (something that motivated me to join the company). Its ability to navigate phone menus and low flat-rate pricing are two major differentiators from competing solutions such as Virtual Hold’s Conversation Bridge, Cisco’s Courtesy Callback, and Avaya’s Callback Assist.

Leading Provider: Fonolo

What other call center technologies would you add to this list? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

TOP 10 CALL CENTER TRENDS FOR 2012

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 6 PAGE REPORT!

Cisco, Avaya, and Alcatel-Lucent continue to dominate with over 70% of market share in the global market. However, other vendors are growing revenue by targeting emerging markets, niche applications or specific verticals (ie: service providers). They are also competing on technology, especially when it comes to cloud-based offerings.

Let’s take a look and see which vendors are giving ‘the big three’ a run for their money.

Altitude

Altitude uCI is a highly scalable, software-based contact center suite that offers interoperability with a wide range of PBX and IP-PBX vendors. They offer multi-channel inbound and outbound capabilities and competitively priced modules including IVR, workforce optimization, routing, call recording, and scripting. They are dominant in Europe and Latin America where 70% of the top contact center outsourcers choose their platform.

Huawei

A thorn in Cisco’s side, Huawei has grown into a serious contender for contact center deployments in China and other developing markets such as Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. They offer a range of platforms suitable for medium and enterprise businesses that include IP switching, routing, IP-PBX, IVR, CTI, CRM, call recording, and a host of other capabilities both directly and through channel partners.

Interactive Intelligence

Primarily focused in North America, Interactive Intelligence offers a scalable and tightly integrated contact center suite available as cloud-based, on-premise, and hybrid deployments. Customer Interaction Center™’s software platform offers a wide range of capabilities including IP-PBX, PBX, multi-channel routing and recording, IVR, and knowledge management capabilities. They are best suited for companies looking for a scalable, all-in-one contact center suite.

Aastra

Aastra’s Solidus eCare Multimedia Contact Center (wow, that’s a lot of words) is a good fit for small to medium-sized environments that want telephony, multi-channel, and mobile-phone capabilities from a single vendor. With a range of capabilities including IP routing and queuing, interactive voice response, telemarketing, and web chat, Aastra has established a large user base primarily focused in Europe.

Mitel

Mitel offers both a business edition of its solution for single-site contact centers with up to 25 agents and an enterprise edition for larger and more sophisticated environments. Primarily focused in North America, they offer a full range of capabilities including workforce management, multi-channel automatic call distribution, outbound dialing, screen pop, and remote agent support.

Which other contact center software vendors would you add to this list? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

TOP 10 CALL CENTER TRENDS FOR 2012

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 6 PAGE REPORT!

Only about two thirds of callers got through to an IRS support representative this tax season, according to a recent report issued by the inspector general for tax administration. Believe it or not, this exceeds the stated goal of 61%, with IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman taking pride in this achievement.

This is a great lesson about the impact cost-cutting has on customer service in the call center, so let’s explore it further.

The Impact of Cutting Costs

With fewer staff manning the IRS telephone lines, tax payers have to suffer with longer wait times and disgruntled agents. A major reason why only 66% of callers got through to an agent this tax season was because the remaining 34% hung up in frustration or received a busy signal.

Angry taxpayers naturally vented their anger on Twitter. Below are some heated tweets collected over the past month. Unfortunately for them, taxpayers have no ‘competitor’ to turn to, so it looks like they will have to deal with declining service standards for some time.

These staggering results showcase the impact cost-cutting has on an organization’s service levels and reputation.

The Aftershock

OnHoldWith.com measures the number of complaints related to long hold times. The chart below shows that the IRS call center has frustrated tax payers with long wait times, further damaging its already poor reputation for effeciency.

In fact, it is now leads all other companies in hold-time related complaints on Twitter.

IRS Hold Time Complaints – Number of Tweets By Day

US taxpayers flocked to Twitter to vent their frustration while #onholdwith the IRS. The steady spike occurred during 11am-8pm and most likely coincided with the highest hold times and call volume for the day.

IRS Hold Time Complaints – Number of Tweets By Hour

About OnHoldWith.com

OnHoldWith.com is a website maintained by Fonolo that provides Twitter-based statistics of consumers as they vent their anger regarding long hold times. It makes them publicly available so that companies are alerted when there are problems in their contact center.

Give #onholdwith A Try

Frustrated with long call center hold times?

Simply log into your Twitter account, let everyone know who you’re #onholdwith and your message will be shared in OnHoldWith’s complaint stream. The offending company will automatically see your tweet in their feed! There is power in numbers and, hopefully, the pressure will motivate companies to make changes so you and millions of other customers aren’t suffering through a horrible call center experience.

What do you think? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments section below.

TOP 10 CUSTOMER SERVICE TRENDS FOR 2012

When Bank of America announced its plan to charge customers $5 / month to use their debit cards back in September 2011, the resulting backlash forced them to abandon the idea. When Netflix wanted to increase prices and split their service, their stock lost a quarter of its value in just one week.

Clearly, customers have a significant impact on business decisions that affect them. Take a closer look at this phenomenon with our latest customer service infographic.

TOP 10 CUSTOMER SERVICE TRENDS FOR 2012

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 6 PAGE REPORT!

In an era of instant gratification, service expectations are much higher which makes customers tougher to please. Megan Burns of Forrester Research states, “They’re accustomed to more options, greater control, and a worldwide platform to tell others what they think about the way brands treat them.” Not surprisingly, only 37% of brands were rated good or excellent in The Customer Experience Index 2012.

Calling any contact center is a customer nightmare, so let’s examine three of the biggest culprits and what you can do about them.

1. Phone Menu Hell

The issue with phone menus, aka IVRs (interactive voice response), is that people hate talking to an automated system. Callers want to speak to an agent, not an annoying phone menu. Lengthy prompts are hard to follow, let alone navigate.

A poorly designed phone menu can drive customers to be:

1. Extremely hostile by the time they reach an agent
2. Frustrated enough to zero-out (repeatedly pressing ’0′), hoping to connect to anyone
3. Irate to the point of hanging up, then flocking to social media to publicly complain

This is a lose-lose scenario for both the customer and the company. IVR Menu Tips is a great source for those of you seeking advice and best practices.

2. Hold Times

American consumers have wasted over 60 million precious hours waiting on hold. The average American’s lifespan is approximately 683,806 hrs (78 years old) – that’s 88 lives lived and lost!

Are hold times a killer to our most precious commodity – time? Yes. Are consumers ticked off about that? You bet. It’s human nature to want to get things off our chest. Social media channels are swarming with angry consumers venting their displeasure.

So just how big is this problem?

OnHoldWith is a Twitter-based website that tracks and reports real-time complaints about waiting on hold. Consumers will bond with one another while venting.

Curious to see how many people are complaining? Check it out.

Below is a screenshot of a few tweets pulled from the feed. Consumers have nothing to fear and are very vocal about sharing and tagging the company they’re on hold with and the length of time they’ve been waiting. This information will NEVER be deleted. It forever lives on in cyberspace. I think it’s safe to assume that this could have a negative impact on a company’s reputation.

Tweets Complaining About Hold Times – OnHoldWith.com

Which companies are the biggest offenders?

Below is a graph from #Onholdwith which ranks companies by the number of complaints received.

Most Hold Time Complaints By Company – OnHoldWith.com

3. Repeating Information

According to a 2009 UK Survey Conducted by YouGov, 69% of respondents said they were frustrated when asked to repeat information after being transferred to another agent.

Blame company silos as the culprit for this aggravation. Because call centers neglect to integrate all of their systems, a complete customer view is not available to agents.

Customers couldn’t care less about call center infrastructure. They want fast and efficient service. In fact, 76% of adults surveyed said that it only takes one unpleasant contact center experience for them to
take their business elsewhere.

SOLUTIONS

In an effort to help companies stay clear of social media suicide stemming from long hold times, we’ve outlined a few solutions to consider.

Better Phone Menu Design

Take a hard look at your phone menu/IVR and limit the options. This will make life easier for your customers – less to remember and saves time.

Bulk Up Your Agents

No, we’re not talking about exercise tactics, although, you should exercise having ample agents scheduled. Cost-cutting measures should not be put in place at the expense of lost customers. Assign down-time tasks to improve productivity when agents aren’t busy.

360 View of the Customer

Integrate your CRM and telephony systems so customer information is shared across your organization. This will prevent the frustration a customer feels from having to repeat account information.

Skip The Hold Times And Phone Menus
If you could eliminate the painful hold time experience your customers are subjected to, would you? The solution is quite simple. Provide customers withwith a call-back service.

How does it work?

Your customers are online and on their smartphone. Provide them with an electronic version of your phone menu that is accessible through these channels. They can visually navigate your phone menu ensuring they get to the right department. Once they ‘place the call’, virtual queuing is initiated and the system waits on hold on their behalf. They get a call from the next available agent, ultimately eliminating the dreaded hold time and significantly improving the call experience.

You may be interested in downloading the free report:
Top 10 Customer Service Trends for 2012.

On March 3rd, United Airlines attempted to merge their reservation system with Continental. It did not go as planned, creating customer mayhem because of ensuing technical glitches on the website and ticketing functionality.

The lines to their call center were jammed with irate customers who were dealing with extremely long hold times and problems booking their tickets.

United Airlines is no stranger to bad press. I’m sure you all remember United’s 2009 debacle that dominated the headlines for customer service gone bad.

If not, check out the vid here: “United Breaks Guitars.” It was a PR fiasco that went viral – a company’s worst nightmare. United has done it again, albeit on a lesser scale, losing trust with their remaining customers.

A month has passed since the March 3rd train wreck where customers placed United Airlines in the social media crossfire. We’ve uncovered some alarming statistics through OnHoldWith, a website that tracks and reports complaints about waiting on hold on Twitter.

The Impact on United’s Bottom Line

Customers were furious over incredibly long hold times, and naturally vented their anger on Twitter. Below are some heated tweets collected over the past month. In addition to expressing frustration, many referenced the fact that they would be ditching United Airlines and seeking out another carrier to fly with.

These staggering results highlight the impact poor customer service has on a company’s reputation and ultimately, their bottom line.

Customer Complaint Aftershock

OnHoldWith.com measures the number of complaints related to long hold times. The chart below shows that United Airlines spent weeks recovering from the March 3rd situation. While they’ve finally managed to lower hold times (hold times that frequently exceeded one hour), the damage to its reputation has already been done.

United Hold Time Complaints – Number of Tweets by Day – March 2012

Unable to gain control of the influx of calls to their contact center, United Airlines customers flocked to Twitter to vent their frustration while #onholdwith their call center. The steady spike occurred during 12-4pm and most likely coincided with the highest hold times and call volume for the day.

United Hold Time Complaints – Tweets By Hour – March 2012

How It Could Have Been Prevented

The blow to United’s reputation would have been softened had they anticipated the worst, and set up a contingency plan before attempting to integrate two significant technical systems.

A proactive approach to customer service would have saved them. Having the additional infrastructure and agents to handle a surge in inbound customer calls would have mitigated hold times that lasted over one hour. Instead, it took them almost a month to put 600 additional agents in place, which is too late. They chose to be reactive, and it cost them dearly.

United’s disaster should teach all companies to have an emergency-preparedness plan in place should they be unexpectedly overwhelmed by spikes in call volume.

What Does the Future Hold?

The customer service issues caused by United’s airline merger serves as a great case study for other airlines. Recently, JetBlue Airways and LOT Polish Airlines have teamed up so that customers can “seamlessly book connections through JetBlue’s home at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and LOT’s hub at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport”.

We will be on the lookout for any customer support problems that arise once the program is launched.

About OnHoldWith.com

OnHoldWith.com is a website maintained by Fonolo that provides Twitter-based statistics of consumers as they vent their anger regarding long hold times. It catalogs tweets related to the #onholdwith hashtag and makes them publicly available so that companies are alerted when there are problems with their hold times. Fonolo’s cloud-based solution replaces hold time with a customer call-back, solving this issue for offending companies that subscribe to its services.

Give #onholdwith A Try

Frustrated with long call center hold times?

Simply log into your Twitter account, let everyone know who you’re #onholdwith and your message will be shared in OnHoldWith’s complaint stream. The offending company will automatically see your tweet in their feed! There is power in numbers and, hopefully, the pressure will motivate companies to make changes so you and millions of other customers aren’t suffering through a horrible call center experience.

Feel free to read my whitepaper,The TOP 10 CUSTOMER SERVICE TRENDS FOR 2012 for how to deliver a better customer experience.

Social media support is now adopted by more than 85% of organizations according to a recent 2011 TSIA social media survey,  up from under 40% in 2007. However, only 14% describe their programs as “mature.”

The explosive growth of social media adoption among 18-34 year olds is a clear indication that it’s a ‘must’ to stay competitive in today’s market.

Use the following list of comprehensive steps as a guide to effectively support your customers through social media.

Step 1: Identify the Right Channels

New customer service channels emerge each year. Your first step is to prioritize which ones to use in your contact center. The most popular are:

1. Twitter
2. Community Forums
3. YouTube
4. Facebook
5. Blogs
6. LinkedIn

Before you move forward, keep these important points in mind:

1. Identify and prioritize the social channels your customers use
2. Define clear goals and ways to measure your progress
3. Allocate enough resources to each strategy
4. Always get executive-level buy in to support your objectives
5. Start small with a limited set of channels,  and expand as you mature

The following graphic from “Social Media in the Contact Center” by Mariano Tan shows you the channels organizations use from a recent TSIA survey. The most popular, in descending order, are online communities, blogs, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Their relative popularity is a function of how easy they are to implement and measure ROI.

Social media support has become mainstream, with over 80% adoption in 2011, up from 40% in 2007.

What about customer service leaders?

Below: “Benchmarking Social Media Customer Service” by Telus, shows us how they prioritize social support.

Most of these leaders, with the exception of Best Buy, have not adopted all channels. They ensure best-in-class status in each channel they use before they expand.

What about specific channel strategies? Here are some helpful resources to get you started:

1. Twitter – “How To Use Twitter for Customer Service”

2. YouTube – “YouTube for Customer Service”

3. Facebook – “Five Tips for using Facebook for Customer Service”

4. LinkedIn – “33 Ways to Use LinkedIn for Business”

The channels you implement will depend on your objectives, resources, and nature of your customers. Remember to start small and grow one step at a time, just like the leaders mentioned above.

Step 2: Understand Your Social Customer

Know your customers. This knowledge is necessary to build lasting and valuable relationships. It is key to any successful sales, marketing, or customer service effort. It’s no coincidence the best customer care organizations have the best understanding of their customers.

But the social customer is a different beast than your traditional customer. How are they different?

To answer this question, I recommend you read Nielsen’s reports titled, “State of the Media: US Digital Consumer Report Q3-Q4 2011″ and “State of the Media: Social Media Report Q3.” These provide a rich set of statistics on today’s social customer.

In addition to 3rd party research, consider creating a focus group to get a direct understanding of your specific customers. You should also build a feedback system that profiles and aggregates statistics about your customers and their interactions from across your channels. Finally, solicit feedback from your contact center agents who are interacting with your customers on a daily basis.

Once you have a clear understanding of your social customers across each channel, share them across your entire support organization.

Here are four relevant pages pulled from Nielsen’s report that profile the social customer:

1. Social Customer Demographics

2. Social Customer Characteristics

3. Social Customers by Country

4. Social Customers by Device

Step 3: Social Media Goals and Metrics

Organizations are at varying stages of maturity with regards to their social contact center. A challenge faced by all companies is how to best measure their efforts using relevant business metrics.

What are your goals? Why are you using social media? What impact are you trying to achieve for your company and your customers?

You will need a set of social key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your progress. While the indicators you use may vary, they should all be:

1. Measured Accurately
2. Relevant
3. Actionable

Start with a limited set of metrics. Avoid investing all your time and resources crunching numbers. What’s key is making sense of these numbers and using them to identify specific steps to take to accelerate your progress.

Social metrics are different than traditional metrics, which can make this step a challenge. I recommend you read “Measuring Social Customer Service in the Contact Center,” by Telus. It is the best report I’ve come across on this topic.

Telus identifies three categories of social metrics:

1. Service
2. Quality
3. Effectiveness

1. Service Measures for Social Care

2. Quality Measures for Social Care

3. Effectiveness Measures for Social Care

Do not try to measure and track all of these metrics. Choose a subset that measures and represents your goals most accurately.

Step 4. People, Processes, Technology

Your social contact center is only as good as the people, processes, and technologies you put in place. A weak link in any one of these areas will impact your overall effectiveness. It is arguably the hardest part to get right and is what separates social support leaders from the laggards.

People
People are your most valuable asset. You must empower them with the knowledge of your customers, how they should interact with them, and how you will measure their performance.

Senior Executives: Getting buy-in and sponsorship from senior executives is essential to any social care strategy. Get their support by forecasting the impact your strategy will have on the business and supply them with ongoing metrics to quantify your progress.

Managers: Managers need an understanding of your strategic goals and how to achieve them. They need to understand what they are being measured on, how they should measure their support staff, and what processes to follow. A little wiggle room to experiment will offer them the flexibility to determine what works best.

Support Staff: Arguably the most important touchpoint because they’re the front-line agents who interact with your customers. They should be trained in social media norms, and how those channels are different from traditional support channels. Agents should be provided with an easy to follow guide on how your customers use social channels and how to best service them. Appreciation goes a long way, as do incentives. A happy agent typically delivers a better experience than one who hates their job. It is your responsibility to make sure they fall into the first bucket.

Processes

The processes you put in place could make or break your social contact center strategy. Clearly define how to communicate with customers, resolve issues, how to measure performance, and how to implement strategic recommendations.

Technology

Technology helps you communicate with your customers and measure your performance. It will enable you to:

1. Effectively communicate with your customers
2. Monitor conversations and feedback
3. Provide a rolled-up customer view across communication channels

The rolled up 360 view of your customers is often the hardest point to achieve. Getting it right means you have solid insight across all your touch-points. Remember, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Investing time and resources in this step will pay off.