Headline Feeds|
Citi Dumps Credit Card Customers at the Pump October 23, 2009 
Shannon Burdette tried to pay with her Shell Mastercard after filling up her gas tank this weekend but found the card rejected. Confused, she called the Citibank customer service line and was told the account was closed because of something that appeared on her credit report. The only negative thing on her report, it turned out, was "closed at credit grantor's request" on the Shell MasterCard account.
|
Debt Settlement Firm Penalized for Customer Fraud October 16, 2009 
An Arizona-based debt settlement company accused in a lawsuit of preying on people who can't pay their bills has been ordered to pay nearly US$200,000 in penalties for defrauding customers in New York state. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launched a nationwide probe last spring into a "renegade industry" of debt settlement businesses.
|
|
CRM + BPM: Raising the Customer Experience Bar October 16, 2009 
For decades, organizations have been dealing with the challenges of driving more effective customer service. Traditional CRM solutions have focused on presenting consolidated customer information, but they still rely heavily on employees to resolve customer issues. This means that the customer's experience can vary greatly depending on the manual processes and efficiency of the staff at any given organization.
|
T-Mobile Offers Glimmer of Hope - or $100 Credit - in Data Loss Debacle October 13, 2009 
Service is now largely restored to Sidekick users, but T-Mobile is apparently still struggling to retrieve content and data lost due to a server malfunction over the weekend. At the same time, the carrier is piling on the mea culpas to its customers, many of whom are furious about the incident.
|
|
Bonobos Wants to Do for Pants What Zappos Does for Shoes October 10, 2009 
Brian Spaly's quest for the perfect pair of pants led him and former roommate Andy Dunn to start a Web-only clothing company that wants to sell men's trousers that fit -- without the need for fitting rooms. Business is good for their company, Bonobos, though it's too early to tell whether the startup can achieve the heights of another online apparel store with a remarkably similar beginning.
|
Bookit.com Has Some Nifty Features Hiding Under the Clutter October 09, 2009 
Clutter, clutter, clutter -- will they never learn? Well into our survey of travel-planning Web sites, a common design theme continues to predominate: a crowded user interface that detracts from the supposed utilitarian purpose of the site. As I examined Bookit.com, though, a few features jumped out of the busy display, dispelling my initial less-than-dazzled impression.
|
|
Employee-Customer-Employee: Closing the Feedback Loop October 09, 2009 
Organizations with the most loyal customers not only measure and monitor employee interactions with customers, but also share that feedback with employees. This creates a closed-feedback loop that allows customer-facing staff members to understand the impact of their interactions on customers, enabling them to improve those interactions over time.
|
E-Commerce Innovations - What's Now and What's Next September 14, 2009 
Just as the evolution of the speed-skating boot set new standards for the sport, innovation in today's constantly evolving e-commerce landscape has worked as a catalyst to move it forward. E-commerce practitioners from all industries need to be ready to step up and embrace innovation as a means of staying ahead of the game.
|
|
CRM in 2009: Personal, Social, Mobile, Adaptable September 14, 2009 
Making sure that every customer gets the personal touch may be fairly easy for the owner of a neighborhood bakery, but in a mass market of millions, making each customer feel like an individual is a formidable challenge. In the information age, tools like customer relationship management software make it possible for companies to apply a personal touch to the mass market -- and that's golden.
|
IVR Systems: Are They Done Yet? September 11, 2009 
Remember the bad old days of customer self-service? Automated systems would present you with five or more different options -- any one of which could lead to five or more other options. With touchtone systems, accidentally pressing the wrong number at a prompt could result in instant death by disconnection. Then came the speech-recognition systems, with their own specific tortures.
|
|
Speaking the Right Language Online September 08, 2009 
A rose by any other name can raise quite the stink, making the act of localizing Web sites to fit foreign cultures all the more thorny. "Ben and Jerry launched their 'black and tan' flavor of ice cream without realizing that this phrase referred to British soldiers that were best known for their cruelty in the fight for Ireland's independence," said Nataly Kelly pf Common Sense Advisory.
|
Customer Respect Management: It's About Time September 08, 2009 
Aretha Franklin didn't intend it, but she offered a powerful business lesson when she sang "R.E.S.P.E.C.T -- find out what it means to me." Customer relationship management has evolved into customer experience management, and respect is the biggest part of providing an excellent customer experience. So, what does respect mean to your customers?
|
|
Beyond CRM: 5 Steps to Outfox Your Competitors September 03, 2009 
Imagine this all-too-common scenario: A customer needs to add a new line to his cellphone plan. He's had a number of reception and phone issues, and he will stay with his current company only if offered a very good deal. However, the agent -- unaware of the prolonged dissatisfaction and insensitive to the customer's tone -- suggests an expensive upgrade plan and rushes the customer to some type of decision.
|
Customer Experience vs. Service-Product September 02, 2009 
Last week, I made the suggestion that we have overdone our reliance on customer experience as a customer intimacy tool -- something that I stand by. The idea of customer experience looms large, and there is no denying its power as a theme in CRM. But if our interpretation of customer experience is off the mark, as I think it is, then what is the right approach?
|
|
Survival Tips for Passengers Stranded on the Tarmac August 28, 2009 
You're tired, hungry, have a cranky baby on your lap and all you want to do is get off the plane, but you can't because it's been on the tarmac for hours waiting to take off. While such delays are rare, they can be more common during the hot summer due to thunderstorms and, this year, because of fewer flights to get you to your destination if your flight is canceled.
|
Cellphone Customers Fume Over $2 Accidents August 27, 2009 
Verizon Wireless is looking into ways to prevent subscribers without data plans from accidentally starting up the Web browser on their phones and racking up $1.99 in fees each time. On many phones, including ones on other carriers, it's easy to inadvertently hit a button that brings up the Web browser.
|
See More Articles in Customer Service Section >>
