Uncovering the reality of the service experience in today's "age of the consumer"

Customer expectations and their modes of contacting companies are changing dramatically. Leading companies will anticipate and adapt their contact center operations in concert with rising consumer demand for omni-present support. Shopper choice and preference will increasingly be used to differentiate companies from their competitors, and contact centers will help establish these consumer attitudes.

An effective Voice of the Customer (VoC) program is essential to any organization that wants to survive in today’s customer experience-driven world. When properly designed and implemented, a VoC program provides insight about your customers’ expectations, preferences and desires that can keep you in touch with reality and drive better decision making at multiple levels in the organization.

Attracting and maintaining loyal customers is one of the great challenges facing any service or product provider. Quality customer service starts from within your organization. The strategies you create to interact with customers, the training you provide agents, and the technology you use to facilitate communications all play a large role in the success of your CX and the overall satisfaction of your customers. Is your organization easy to work with?

How will customer experience strategies, technologies and professionals adapt to the changing demands of today’s consumer? This whitepaper will examine several aspects of CX that are likely to evolve in the very near future.

As e-mail has become an increasing part of our lives, the benefits of using e-mail to communicate with customers continues to grow. The use and transmission of e-mail is regulated at the federal level by the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (“CAN-SPAM”). Although this legislation preempts most state laws, many state laws remain applicable. Additionally, earlier this year, the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (“CASL”) went into effect which significantly limits the ability of companies to transmit e-mails for marketing purposes. Given the abundance of laws regulating the transmission of commercial e mails, companies must understand how these laws restrict their ability to interact with their customers.

For the purpose of this white paper, enterprise and consolidated reporting in the contact center refers to both standardization of contact center data and crossfunctional reporting.

SOCAP developed its Guidelines of Ethical Principles in January 1993. The guidelines were designed to assist Consumer Affairs professionals in their mission to foster and maintain the integrity of business in its dealings with consumers and to encourage and promote effective communication and understanding among business, government and consumers.

Although the technology for relating to customers, and providing personalized support, has significantly increased over the past few years, customer service, especially online, continues to deteriorate. At least, customer service appears not to be a priority in some companies and industries.

CRM is supposed to be about creating relationships with customers; however, CRM initiatives are, typically, almost all about the technology: software systems, sales contact management, data warehousing, and so on. People, especially customer-facing staff, have largely been an afterthought in CRM strategies.

Social media and social networks are two of the fastest growing areas on the Web. Popular networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn provide a unique opportunity for customer care professionals to engage directly with consumers, often in real time, to answer questions, solve problems and provide support. But where do you begin?

This white paper recaps the SOCAP China Study Trip, which took place June 20-25, 2013, with stops in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The goal of the study group was to inform SOCAP members about the expectations and practices of Chinese consumers and about the opportunities for doing business in China.

In this white paper, SOCAP International, the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, looks at the real opportunity of Big Data and how Big Data is changing the HTT sector. SOCAP represents over 100 brand name companies, many offering hospitality, travel and tourism services. This discussion begins with the big picture. How is Big Data and data analytics causing a paradigm shift in the HTT experience, and how are companies seeking to remain on the right side of business success adapting their operations to be competitive?

This white paper explores Big Data as a challenge and an opportunity for customer care organizations. Produced by SOCAP International, the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, it is intended to help its members—customer care executives at leading brand name companies—identify the issues, see the possibilities and parse the options in advancing a game-changing Big Data agenda.

As consumers continue to utilize the Internet as a source for accurate health information, it is imperative that consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies come together to establish universal responses to common consumer health and ingredient questions. Inconsistent answers from one company to the next can confuse the consumer and lead to an increase in consumer frustration.

Being on the front lines with hiring trends within the CRM and call center industry, we hope to provide useful data and research that provides additional insight to where we see the continued growth within our industry.

While outsourcing has become a dominant trend, emerging evidence indicates that results have been mixed, and there are few in-depth studies that can help senior executives recognize the inherent complexities and common pitfalls of outsourcing. Deloitte Consulting LLP conducted a study to help fill this gap and provide a fresh point of view on outsourcing.