Finish the Conversation

Few Millennial consumers begin outreach to customer service by picking up the phone. Instead, they are reaching first for their internet connected devices. With this in mind, companies are turning their attention away from IVR improvements, which no longer deliver the ROI they once did, to other areas, such as:

Occasionally I’ll write about a unique and personal customer service experience that represents a change I see happening in the marketplace. This past weekend such an experience occurred when I visited Dick’s Sporting Goods to return a workout top that I bought for my wife a few days earlier. I was intrigued and pleasantly surprised by the service I received.  But most importantly, it clearly saved a sale and is therefore worth writing about.

Mobile, mobility, smartphone and app are all buzzwords within customer service circles right now. As a result, many organizations are developing strategies for delivering mobile solutions to their customers that facilitate self-service and online purchases. However, if customer service professionals only think about how to transplant their existing solutions from the IVR or Web to the mobile form factor, then they are neglecting to understand the social transformation and cultural shift taking place today. The consequences mean you will become an irrelevant brand caught flat-footed in a dynamic, on-the-go, “mobile” marketplace.

A who’s who of the largest companies in the world use Virtual Hold to deliver a premium customer experience while reducing operating expenses for their call centers. One of the most impactful tools to both their customers and their bottom line is the Virtual Hold callback, the virtual queuing solution invented by VHT in the mid-90s. Virtual Hold treated over 130 million callers last year, providing their customers with an alternative to repetitive IVR messaging and instrumental versions of the 80s greatest hits that serve to “entertain” and “inform” you while waiting on hold. It has become the Novocain to numb the customer from the fact that their business is not that important to the company.

We are excited to announce that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded us two new patents:

Who do you enjoy doing business with? With so much discussion around improving the customer experience, it’s important to ask this question from time to time in order to gauge who is doing what well and where.  As a result, I’m reflecting on a positive experience I recently had with a company I do business with. I’m doing this so that I can work backwards in discovering what made the experience so delightful. Documenting and reflecting upon our own customer journeys can be educational and insightful.  This post will highlight just one company interaction experience. It comes from an unexpected place.

Despite the rise of tablets, most online shopping takes place on laptops and desktops, concludes a recent national study conducted by The Adcom Group. 

We added Digital DataVoice (DDV) as a new VHT reseller, and we sold and implemented our first joint client in late 2012. Digital DataVoice provides business-to-consumer communications solutions including application development, comprehensive maintenance, management and support. 

According to Forrester, showrooming is when a customer visits a brick and mortar retail location to touch and feel a product and then goes online to purchase the product at a lower price.  Amazon is generally the benefactor in such cases.  Amazon.com is the eighth most popular site in the world and number five in the United States according to the three-month Alexa traffic rankings.  The biggest traditional retailers would love a similar kind of ranking but are much further down the list.  The first traditional retailer I recognize is Walmart, who shows up at number 24 in the US rankings.  Then comes Target at 43 followed by Best Buy at 44. Macy’s and Kohl’s show up in the 80’s and then Home Depot appears at 102.  If the brick and mortar stores want to stay relevant, they need to figure out how to close the gap with the jungle behemoth at the risk of being chopped down, paved over and lost forever.  

It's not uncommon for online shoppers to encounter problems making web- or app-based purchases, and when there's no easy way to connect with Customer Service, shoppers end up frustrated and more likely to abandon the purchase and complain about your brand. Instead, a new study from VHT reveals that shoppers would welcome an easy-to-access, web and mobile callback solution enough that it would change the way they look at the brand -- and how often they shop that brand: