Jacada Blog

Are you listening to me?

Much has been written about how agents communicate with customers over the phone and how the social customer is changing the game in terms of customer engagement.

But before we even begin to engage the customer, the agent must listen, process, and react (or not react at all) to the customer's pain or issue. As a customer, how many times have you thought, or even said, "you are not listening to my problem or issue." To address these matters, let's break down the art of listening into its two most basic forms: active and passive...

Read the rest of the article here (written by Brian Jameson and posted on Customer Management IQ).  Also, check out this Jacada webcast focused on how social meda and location-based services have changed the rules of customer engagement.  As always, you can find many other resources and articles at Jacada.com too.

How to master the four customer experience competencies

Check out this great blog by Bruce Temkin, Customer Experience Transformist & Managing Partner, Temkin Group, posted on MyCustomer.com. 

Bruce looks at the findings from a recent survey of companies and outlines what we can learn about efforts to become more 'customer-centric.'

In a recent survey of large companies, he found that 92% of European companies are putting more focus on customer-centric culture this year than they did last year. This represents a much higher level of attention than in North America.

Read the entire article here. Also, check out a webcast featuring Bruce Temkin as part of the Jacada Analyst Series - Turning Contact Centers into Customer Experience Leaders

Don't let 'madvocates' hurt your contact center's reputation

Customers are more apt to publicize negative customer experiences than any positive experiences and those negative comments can spread like wildfire via social networks.

Read the entire blog here from Customer Contact News. Jacada products can help keep both your customers and customer service agents happy. Making your agents more productive and efficient will lead to better customer service, loyal customers and hopefully, no more 'madvocates!'

Social or traditional? What came first?

Everyone is interested in social media these days and utilizing social channels for customer service and communication can be highly effective. But how do you get started and is it really worth it? What challenges will you encounter as you navigate through the potentially unchartered "social" waters?  How do you integrate social strategies into a traditional customer engagement?  Answers to these questions and more will be revealed in our upcoming webinar, "Getting Social, Traditionally Speaking" scheduled for Wednesday, March 16 at 11am ET and featuring Brent Leary of CRM Essentials.  

Understanding how to manage a social strategy alongside traditional customer engagement processes can be confusing, but after this webinar I hope you have a better understanding of what your company needs in order to get started (pay attention, there may be a quiz at the end!). 

Register today and "Get Social!"

Register today for an upcoming webinar featuring Brent Leary of CRM Essentials and Chris Du Toit of Jacada.

Getting Social, Traditionally Speaking
March 16, 2011
11am ET

Join us for a complimentary webinar guaranteed to get you talking.  Our experts will discuss the importance of integrating social tools and strategies into traditional customer service processes as well as the challenges associated with "going social." We will also touch on why companies need to have a good traditional foundation before implementing a social strategy.

We hope you can join us and participate in a lively discussion after the presentation. For more information and to register, click here.

Lifetime Value of the Customer In a Social World

Putting a value on what a customer brings to a company's bottom line over the lifetime of the relationship is pretty cut and dry, historically speaking. Add up all the stuff they bought, subtract out the cost of servicing them (phone calls, emails, chats, site visits, etc.) and you have a pretty fair measure of what a customer adds to the corporate coffers. And the more data you have on customers gives you an opportunity to categorize customers into segments, where customers that spend a lot with us, get the best service we can provide – with more options to choose from, because we want them to remain customers for as long as possible. Other customer segments, not spending as much as our a-list customers, will be provided less costly means of support in order to maximize the financial value they bring to the bottom line.

Now the "less valuable" customer segments can increase their value to companies if they buy more of what they currently purchase, buy more expensive products, and/or buy more complimentary products.  By taking these actions a customer can improve their value to the company and earn the right to have better service, because they're adding more financial value. Or they can buy access to better service, which also adds financial value.

The LVC metric is an important metric with respect to understanding what a customer (or potential customer) will directly add to the bottom line.  And the direct value added to the bottom line is what keeps us in business.  But as it stands the LVC is a financial measure – and while financial value is critical in measuring customer value, it is not the only value customers can bring to a company that can have serious impact. A customer's influence on social networks, and their activeness engaging others over social channels on behalf of (or against) your company can seriously impact a company's well being – far beyond their specific LVC metric score. 

Lifetime Influence of the Customer and Lifetime Activity of the Customer will play an ever increasing role in measuring the full impact a customer will have on our bottom lines. The more influential a customer is when talking about our products, services, competitors or the industry overall, the greater the impact they have on the company. And as companies look to build customer support communities in hopes of leveraging their knowledge to resolve tier one issues/challenges (freeing up reps to handle more important issues while lowering service costs), customers who actively provide valuable information and insight to the community should have that activity included in how we value them.

The financial aspects of valuing the customer will always be critically important.  But having an understanding of social influence and activity – and putting a proper valuation on both – has to be on the corporate radar. It will take time and observation to understand influence, activity, and how each add value.  We'll need to know how influence and activity levels should factor into what customer segment a customer should be placed in. We'll also have to figure out how influence and activity impact each other to tell the story of customer valuation in the Social Age.  

Additionally, we'll also have to facilitate the customer's desire to create value via social channels and interactions, by offering them additional avenues to collaborate with us.  But one thing is sure – social values are, and will continue to have, serious impact on the bottom line.  Customers have always wanted to be valued beyond the financial transaction.  Their actions online are proving this out. So it's important to start factoring these actions into the equation of how to value them.

Brent Leary - Co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC

Brent Leary is a crm industry analyst, advisor, author, speaker and award winning blogger. He is co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC, an Atlanta based CRM advisory firm covering tools and strategies for improving business relationships. In 2009 he co-authored Barack 2.0: Social Media Lessons for Small Business.

Recognized by InsideCRM as one of the 25 most influential industry leaders, Leary also is a past recipient of CRM Magazine's Most Influential Leader Award.  He serves on the national board of the CRM Association, and on the advisory board of the University of Toronto's newly created CRM Center of Excellence. He's been quoted in several national business publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Entrepreneur magazine. Leary writes the Social CRM column for Inc.com, and blogs at BrentLeary.com. You can reach him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BrentLeary.

Note: Brent Leary has been retained by Jacada to participate in the Customer Service 2.0: Access the Experts speakers series. The opinions shared herein reflect the views of the author, and not necessarily Jacada or its employees.

The Customer Service Paradox: Companies vs. Customer...Guess Who's Right

I was recently at a CRM industry conference where a prominent CEO said that the overwhelming question he is hearing from customers and prospects alike is how can they keep their customers.  At this same event, a great panel of customer service executives was asked if there were any specific things that keep them up at night – without hesitation all five panelists said social media.  

The reason these two things caught my attention is because the answer to the question the CEO kept hearing probably has a lot to do with the thing keeping the panel of customer service executives up at night.  Social channels and how customers are using them to communicate continues to offer both an opportunity to keep them on board longer, and a challenge to be able to effectively engage them with.

While many companies view social media and networks as the domain of marketing and public relations, the biggest impact may be in creating better experiences for customers looking for information sharing and best practices, as well as for service requests and problem resolution.  Social customers today are also looking for a proactive, collaborative engagement with companies – as equals.  They believe they have more to offer to the relationship than just the financial transaction, and want to feel like they are contributing to making the product/service the best it can be. This can transform the vendor/customer relationship – based solely on the transaction – into a partnership where both sides view each other as advocates with mutual trust and respect for each other that goes beyond the transaction.

But the challenge lies with companies who need to view customer service through the eyes of today's socially-empowered customers.  This is why a recent Network Solutions/University of Maryland study caught my attention.  According to the study, small businesses feel that customer service is one of their main competitive strengths in a very challenging business climate.  Ironically, another recent study from American Express found two-thirds of consumers surveyed feel companies aren't doing enough to earn their business – with 28% saying they think companies are actually paying less attention to providing good service.

So, while companies may believe customer service is a competitive advantage, what the customer says and feels is of utmost important, because they will act on those feelings.  Not only will their actions consist of potentially walking away, but also telling everybody within tweeting distance why they are doing so.  And by the time they are done blogging and sharing their story with friends on Facebook, everyone will know what they think of your company and the way they feel they've been treated.

Therein lies the challenge for companies looking to hold onto customers today.  Not only have the means for communicating with customer changed – and continue to do so – the expectations for interacting with customers have also changed.  Yes it's still critically important to be responsive to customer needs to resolve their problems as quickly as possible. But now customers want options that allow them to have a better experience for problem resolution.  Additionally, they want proactive, collaborative opportunities that go beyond the traditional role of customer service.  

The new demands being placed on companies today by customers leveraging social tools and mobile technology is just at its infancy.  It does pose serious challenges to those responsible for creating and extending customer relationships.  But it also offers a great opportunity for those companies who are up for the challenge, as they can create loyal, vocal, long-lasting company advocates...also known as social customers.

Brent Leary - Co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC

Brent Leary is a crm industry analyst, advisor, author, speaker and award winning blogger. He is co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC, an Atlanta based CRM advisory firm covering tools and strategies for improving business relationships. In 2009 he co-authored Barack 2.0: Social Media Lessons for Small Business.

Recognized by InsideCRM as one of the 25 most influential industry leaders, Leary also is a past recipient of CRM Magazine's Most Influential Leader Award.  He serves on the national board of the CRM Association, and on the advisory board of the University of Toronto's newly created CRM Center of Excellence. He's been quoted in several national business publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Entrepreneur magazine.  Leary writes the Social CRM column for Inc.com, and blogs at BrentLeary.com.  You can reach him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BrentLeary.

Note: Brent Leary has been retained by Jacada to participate in the Customer Service 2.0: Access the Experts speakers series. The opinions shared herein reflect the views of the author, and not necessarily Jacada or its employees.

Using Social Channels to Show Customers You Care

When it comes to social media and customer service, many are familiar with the stories from Zappos, Comcast and a few other high profile companies.  I recently had an opportunity to speak with Drugstore.com’s Director of Customer Care Lisa Larson. With Drugstore.com being an online retailer since 1998, and Lisa being there from the beginning, their story has valuable perspectives and insights that companies looking to engage customers via social channels can learn a great deal from.  Especially Lisa's thoughts on using social networks, not only to get a better understanding of your customers, but also to allow them to get a better understanding of who you are.

Below are a few highlights of the conversation around how social media is impacting customers, customer service, Drugstore.com as a company, and Lisa's role as director of customer care.

Brent Leary:   How are social media tools helping you today? 

Lisa Larson:  They allow us to get out there.  Right now, we are out there in social media, in two areas with marketing.  That's drugstore.com and beauty.com.  But we are also out there on Twitter within Customer Care; we have Beauty Advisor and Directors Desk.  So we go out there and we talk to our customers and the social tools help us manage those contacts.  

BL:  Was that a big transitional change, being able to start communicating with customers, or have them communicate with you over social channels, as opposed to the more traditional channels? 

LL:  It was. It really was.  It's different.  You have to learn how to do it.  You start out rough.  I think most people probably do.  Not many people are doing this yet. They are trying to learn how to talk to their customers.  You are trying to learn if it should be personal or really professional.  I think there are different areas.  With our marketing and promotion, we have fun and customers get to know us as a store.  

But when you are sitting down and you are talking to someone within our Customer Care, its personal. You are talking to me and I am there to solve your problems and you will get to know who I am, or you will get to know who the beauty advisor is, because we are there to serve you.  Just like you walk into the corner store and you are talking to the person at the front desk, it's the same thing.  That is what social media is, it's the communication and we think that's important.  We want people to know us. 

BL:   So they can actually contact you on Twitter? 

LL:   They can contact me on Twitter.  They can contact my team on Twitter and we'll be there to talk to them.  We make sure that we actually use our escalation team or a team lead to talk back, because you cannot take things back.  There is one shot.  If you say the wrong thing or you create the wrong impression, it could be a bad brand experience and that's one thing we want to be cautious of.  We are learning.  We have put together processes.  We are building on those and the guidelines on how to speak to our customers in this arena. 

BL:  Are your reps really interested with being able to serve the customers in all these different formats and actually meet the customer where they are now? 

LL:  Absolutely. 

BL:  So they are reaching out to them on Twitter?  How is that impacting the way that they go about serving their customers? 

LL:  First of all, they love this.  The team that's on Twitter, they are out there in public, that's really cool to a CSR, for them to be seen and get to know the customers. That's something that is important to them.  For them, they see this as a win and its fun.  CSRs like to do different things, they want to try new forums, they like to chat, they want to do email and phone.  Social media is very different and new and for them to be a part of this program is very big and fun. 

BL:  Just to give us a sense, how many reps do you have? 

LL:  Overall we have over 150 CSRs, plus a management team. 

BL:  A certain number of them are interacting or all of them?  What percentage of them are actually out there? 

LL:  Within social media, just a small percentage of my escalation team.  I have got a team of ten right now that are trained and being trained.   We look at every social media site, every two to four hours, depending on the time. We have a schedule.  If there's an issue that is a Customer Care issue and they can quickly and easily respond to, they do.  

If it's a situation where they are not sure how to handle, they actually bring it forward and we have a social media team that includes marketing, legal, myself and HR.  There are some issues you want to be very cautious about.  

BL:  Does this social interaction translate to better relationships with your customers, now that they are getting a sense for knowing who you are?  Does it make it a more valuable interaction between customers and agents? 

LL:  It does.  They start caring for you.  Sometimes when you are online, or just on the phone or email, people almost forget that you are human.  When you put a face out there, or you put people out there and they get to know who you are, they treat you differently.  Our goal is to serve them and to solve their problems, and do it well.  I think I hear that and see it and know it.  Social media is a big part of that.  They can come and see who we are.  We fix their problem, they see us not only fixing their problems, but fixing everyone else's.  That means something to them.  You do it well, honestly, and openly, and you are going to create relationships.  They are going to like you for that.  It’s when you don't do it that way or when you ignore them - or you don't resolve their problem – that is when they won't trust you. 

That's a goal, to build trust because we want to fix every problem out there.  We want to do it well. We want to do it right. 

Brent Leary - Co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC

Brent Leary is a crm industry analyst, advisor, author, speaker and award winning blogger. He is co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC, an Atlanta based CRM advisory firm covering tools and strategies for improving business relationships. In 2009 he co-authored Barack 2.0: Social Media Lessons for Small Business.

Recognized by InsideCRM as one of the 25 most influential industry leaders, Leary also is a past recipient of CRM Magazine's Most Influential Leader Award.  He serves on the national board of the CRM Association, and on the advisory board of the University of Toronto's newly created CRM Center of Excellence. He's been quoted in several national business publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Entrepreneur magazine.  Leary writes the Social CRM column for Inc.com, and blogs at BrentLeary.com.  You can reach him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BrentLeary.

Note: Brent Leary has been retained by Jacada to participate in the Customer Service 2.0: Access the Experts speakers series. The opinions shared herein reflect the views of the author, and not necessarily Jacada or its employees.

Getting Social in the Office

To Be or Not to Be...Social

That is the question.  These days, companies are determining how much access employees are allowed to have to public networking sites.  Does IT block employees from all social sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter?  Or is some social networking OK?

According to an April 2009 survey conducted by the University of Melbourne, workers who engage in "Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing (WILB)" are up to 9% more productive than those who don't, provided they spend less than 20% of their workday on the Web. Now that might be good news for those "social junkies" out there, but that doesn't mean we should jump on the Web and update our status immediately.  Everything in moderation, right? Many employers are leery of social media use in the workplace because they fear abuse and it can be a huge waste of time if you are busy updating your profile at work. Security is a big issue too. It's clear that social media isn't going away anytime soon so to avoid problems, employers need to set clear boundaries that depend on the corporate culture, the work environment and the industry, among other things.

Let's not dwell on the potential for negative outcomes here.  Instead I want to focus attention on how businesses can utilize these social sites for their benefit.  Let's say you have a question but you are not sure who in your department or company has the answer.  If you send an email to everyone you think might know the answer, that would just clutter up their email and potentially annoy them.  A system like Yammer (think Twitter for the workplace) can improve business communication and collaboration with simple and quick informal conversations that only your coworkers can see.  This is a good example of how using a social site can improve team communication and productivity if used properly.

Facebook – do we dare go there? Most companies do not want to utilize a public site like Facebook as part of their corporate communications network and encourage their employees to join. But it can be a good tool for fostering communications and discussions across a company that has a diverse and widespread employee base.  In an era where telecommuting is common, bringing dispersed workers closer together is key to good working relationships and open dialogue. Of course, bringing social networking Facebook-like software behind the firewall is a nice compromise – you keep the security and still get the connections. (There's that moderation again).

Social networking sites and Web 2.0 technology have changed the way we communicate, both personally and professionally.  Those who were early adopters personally have become fans of these sites for business uses. Companies need to build a plan for how and when these sites are appropriate and employee buy-in is big.  Changing the way associates find and publish information as well as how they "virtually" talk to each other will take time.  Some changes will work and others will need to be re-evaluated.

Status updates such as "In Progress" and "More to Come" might be best.

Jeff Strnad, Senior Vice President - Global Customer Solutions, Jacada Inc.