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Call centers can be expensive as well as the source of lots of consumer angst. But companies can get more bang for their buck by doing a better job of coordinating marketing decisions that drive customers to call centers with operational ones about handling them once they get there, says a new study from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.
The study, co-authored by Professors Philipp Afèche and Opher Baron in the Rotman School's Operations Management and Statistics Area, and Mojtaba Araghi, an assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, provides an integrated marketing-operations framework to help companies design more effective service policies for their call centers and other service channels.
[...] Getting things right at the call center has been shown to be vital to businesses. Previous research has shown that companies use call centers for 80% of their customer interactions and 92% of customers base their opinion of the company on what happens during their call. Four out of ten customers who end their business with a company place the blame squarely on a customer service call that went badly.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171002112343.htm
[Source]: How much is that call worth?
[Abstract]: Customer Acquisition, Retention, and Service Access Quality:
When quarterly results matter the most, do you think that companies will follow this advice ?
(Score: 5, Informative) by ledow on Tuesday October 03 2017, @11:27AM (16 children)
Try getting anywhere with Apple support lines. Even as a school or huge enterprise. They honestly have nobody to deal with it and just pass you from Germany to Singapore to Ireland etc.
I eventually - after MONTHS of trying to get them to fix a single problem for which I was seeing an error explicitly saying "contact Apple Support" - wrote them a letter, hoping it would prompt some kind of action.
I received a telephone call from their "Head of written complaints" (that's what he said his job title was!) from Ireland, who then proceeded to tell me that he couldn't acknowledge my complaint in writing (? Apparently Apple can't afford a printer), and that there was nothing he could or was willing to do. Literally nothing. No complaint process, escalation, resolution, nothing. They just forwarded a knowledge-base article that didn't relate to the problem at all, didn't solve anything, and was like sending a "Have you rebooted it?" FAQ answer to an IT manager, given that we had 500 iPads all with the same problem. Oh, and everybody refused to give names, details of their complaint process, or the head-office address (some of which are illegal to not give on demand in my country).
They literally had no-one to deal with a query about an error which said "contact Apple Support", could not suggest anything that wasn't on a KB on their website, couldn't escalate, transfer or otherwise get someone who might know to deal with it (no education department, etc.). It got to recorded-delivery letters on company-headed notepaper with everyone copied in, and yet NOTHING in the way of a vaguely helpful (or even trying to be helpful) reply was ever forthcoming. They closed the ticket after they phoned my technician (who had nothing to do with the problem, and we think they dragged up their number from a 2-year-old ticket about something else entirely) on a Sunday, during Bank Holiday weekend, and he didn't answer, so they literally just shut it all down and said "issue is now resolved"...
Honestly never received such diabolical, self-serving and downright insulting customer service from a company in my life, and went through 20+ people over the course of weeks trying to get anything other than rudeness and deliberate ignorance ("Can you just give me the iPad number?", "Actually, it's 500+ devices all with the same problem", "Okay, then we'll need all their numbers".... WHAT?!) and literally avoiding putting ANYTHING in writing whatsoever - point blank refusal. They all either shoved the problem along to someone else (oh, and make me explain it all from scratch again) or refused to do anything vaguely in the direction of helping solve or escalate the problem.
6-figure sums of investment in their products, and they couldn't care less. So I solved the problem the only way I could - I refused to support the devices, literally stating that I had no recourse if they didn't work and could never guarantee their operation, and that we were doing business with a company who fail in basic trading standards compliance, so we're now scrapping them all and using something else from a company that does actually want to help its customers use its products.
And then people have the cheek to say "But why don't you like them?"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @11:40AM (1 child)
Well, they have 0 incentive to actually do anything, do they?
Now if you had the authority to just return those 500 iPads as "not fit for purpose" then someone might start to have reason to care.
Complaining with a letter without phone number might help as well next time.
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @07:47PM
Pay for private support. Conglomerates rarely give you real help.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 03 2017, @11:53AM
Back in 2006, I had a MacOS issue, called support and after 2 minutes with the front-line, they passed me to Jose in Cupertino - dude was for real, knew his stuff. Still didn't have an acceptable answer to the issue (gotta re-install the OS and lose all your data), but he could deliver the bad news convincingly.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 4, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 03 2017, @11:56AM (6 children)
>Honestly never received such diabolical, self-serving and downright insulting customer service from a company in my life,
Clearly, you don't have Comcast.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:54PM (5 children)
In countries where a 3-day weekend is referred to as a "Bank Holiday weekend", there's a bit more competition for home Internet access.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 03 2017, @01:03PM (4 children)
True, but if you live in "hipster land" then Apple does have a monopoly on your mindshare, I mean: what alternative is there, really?
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:21PM (2 children)
If you're referring to Android, then there's a market segment where Apple does have an effective monopoly: 4" to 5" Wi-Fi-only tablets. Google appears to have seen no interest in competing with the iPod touch, as the Android CDD initially required a working cellular radio. The Archos 43 Internet Tablet in particular ran AOSP without Android Market because it lacked a cellular radio. Late in the 2.x era, Google was somehow convinced to drop cellular as a requirement, allowing Samsung to release the Galaxy Player. But I never saw that product in U.S. electronics showroom chains when I looked in the Samsung section. Nor did it ever officially get Android 4, either OTA or through a successor device.
Or would you recommend buying an Android phone on a prepaid plan and just not renewing cellular service once the trial expires?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:33PM
A couple of years ago, I would have recommended equipping all of your cost-conscious family members with $200 Nexus 5 and later 5x phones on GoogleFi and for those who didn't want the $20/month cellular service, just stop paying for it when they were done. $220 for a Nexus 5 or 5x was a hell of a deal, at the time. Not sure if these made it to the international markets or not.
Lately, that bottom end seems to be drying up. We had a iPod Touch back around 2008, unfortunately it fit too well down the toilet, didn't last long. Never had an urge to replace it, not when $99 7" tablets were so readily available.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 1) by toddestan on Wednesday October 04 2017, @02:23AM
I would recommend buying an unlocked phone, which you can do from reputable major retailers like B&H, and then never get cellular service for it. On Android at least, everything works as you would expect for the phone part - which would still work if you needed to call 911 on your MP3 player in a pinch. That's almost certainly why you don't see many 4-5" Wi-Fi only tablets for Android. They would be a niche product, and the added cost of the cellular radio is likely negated by the economies of scale that phones would have. In Apple-land where they maintain a tight control on prices, they can offer the iPod touch which is basically an iPhone sans cellular radio at a carefully picked price point that's somewhere below the iPhone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 04 2017, @02:26PM
Man I read that wrong:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:05PM
What further steps did you take?
Did you try to return all the devices? Did you send them an official letter, notice of default (not sure that's the proper translation) or ...
Did you lodge a complaint to whatever consumer affairs bureau exists in your country? In the EU you have several EU governmental organisations that can work cross border and as such carry more weight against internationals as Apple.
From time to time I complain to others and myself about bad product quality on some things I bought, and have to remind myself to return it and ask my money back.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:18PM
Sounds like the right time to involve the law department.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:24PM (3 children)
> Even as a school or huge enterprise.
Especially as this. They don't know how do deal with that.
Now if you're a simple customer, you're supposed to go to the Apple Store and make an appointment with a "Genius". And if you're not a city dwelling hipster... fuck you.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:49PM
Why would you buy one of their phones if you're not a city-dwelling hipster?
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 03 2017, @04:01PM (1 child)
You're doing it wrong. Set up a few fake starbucks in the halls and fill them with a few unempl^H^H^H^H^H^Hnovelists (you can find them in real starbucks). Then give all the kids skinny jeans and thick rimmed glasses. Maybe throw in a thrift store and turn an art class into an art gallery featuring radical feminist works. Within a month or so there should be an Apple store in the school's cafeteria. Problem solved.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 04 2017, @12:18AM
^^^ This guy urban plans.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:10PM (2 children)
I'll just leave this here:
Let's talk about on-hold music [fyngyrz.com]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday October 03 2017, @04:25PM (1 child)
Would you prefer paying twice as much for each product in order to cover the cost of having enough humans to answer the phone in 30 seconds or less?
(yes this is a copy of the comment on your blog, done for amusement sake)
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Tuesday October 03 2017, @05:39PM
Okay, then here's a copy of my reply:
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Valkor on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:35PM
"Four out of ten customers who end their business with a company place the blame squarely on a customer service call that went badly." This is what happens when companies treat their customer service as a loss-leader. Nobody wants to be sold something when they are calling in because your service or product isn't working. Shit wages, useless management, and forced sales with the threat of termination is how a company gets a useless customer service department.
Instead of fucking around with sales numbers, they should be paying attention to issue resolution and surveys. Incentivise fixing the customer's issue, and you'll have a team full of reps that want nothing more than to help out, and retain the customer. Incentivise sales, and you have a team of reps that get the customer off the phone as fast as possible after they decline the sales pitch.
I say this having worked several years at a call center, for various clients. They all did the same shit, and two out of the three clients/companies don't exist any more. Go figure. The third I don't expect to last past next year.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by goodie on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:47PM (1 child)
After sales support is by definition something that costs you money without bringing any money. It's a future loss avoidance process. so when you reward current profit, well people go "fuck future loss avoidance". It's the same when you buy a dishwasher, a car, or anything really. There are very few companies that care about it. Anecdotally, my experience is that when they do care, they are private companies who get to decide how they do business. My latest dishwasher is a Miele, something considered a luxury brand for appliances in NA. These guys don't even trust the delivery company hired by the store. The store places an order on the Miele B2B website, the Miele truck delivers and unpacks the item and they do the after sales service. and guess what? When you call, you get through them, quickly and effectively.
Most other companies (like my previous Kichenaid which we changed before the end of the extended warranty) rely on outsourcing service so it's effectively about saving as much as you can.
When I changed cell phones about 6 months ago, I went to a store with my current provider (been with them for 15 years...). You'd think they would try to treat like somebody they want to keep. Nope. I got the same BS talk about having to fund my phone by upgrading to a plan I did not want or spit hundreds of $ for a regular smartphone. I went to another provider. Next day I get a phone call from my now old provider's customer care center asking me why I had changed and if there was anything they could do to make me go back. I told them it was too late and I told them to shove it, that reacting after the fact was probably the worst thing they could do. If I were driven by the idea of saving a buck everywhere I go, I would have bargained for a deal and gone back. But screw it, I voted with my wallet.
And don't get me started on Bell Canada who keeps on offering these "great deals" for their fibe service. Thank you but no. I have lost countless hours with you in the past, so I will never be your customer again (at least not willingly).
(Score: 4, Informative) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday October 03 2017, @04:10PM
Nope. After sales done properly is sales. I know because I work both sales AND aftersales for a company that makes products used in a major aftersales industry. Dawg.
Step 1: Make reliable products. If your product / service works well most of the time, people will give you some slack when it fails.
Step 2: Allow your staff to be themselves. No customer wants to talk to a robot, no employee wants to be reduced to a goddamned script. Let people have real conversations, in their own time.
Step 3: Get decent, intelligent people, train them well and expose them to more than just their tiny corner of the business, so they have a good knowledge of not only how the product works, but how your business works. Where possible take them out to customer sites to see the product being used "in the wild". If your staff know the product and understand the customer's needs, they will give better support. They will also be able to sell. Furthermore they can educate and train customers - half of your support calls are going to be simple user error / didn't RTFM. If you take the time to train your customers not to break shit rather than simply cleaning up after them and waiting for the same problem from the same customer in two weeks' time, you are going to reduce incoming calls, making more time for the customers who really need you.
Step 4: Retain your people. Half of this is finding people who are more interested in job security than chasing the next big pay rise. The other half is paying them well and looking after them. Customers love it if they call and ask for the guy that helped them 2 years ago and he's still there. Bonus points if the guy remembers the customer. Building relationships with your customers is everything.
Step 5: Make Customer Satisfaction your main metric. Don't obsess over time per call or calls per agent or any shit like that. Is the customer happy? Yes? Good, well done. This is obviously good for customer satisfaction, but also staff satisfaction. We are social animals, and helping people makes us feel good. Your staff will leave the office at the end of their shift with smiles on their faces. Also, don't freak out if one of your guys helps the customer by suggesting a way for the customer to reduce his bill - that same customer will trust him 6 months later when he suggests upgrading to a more expensive product.
Step 6: Give your people the tools and the slack they need to make things right for the customer. "Oh I'm sorry sir, we screwed up badly there. I can authorise a week's free subscription to make up for it." "I can't get it working for you straight away, but here's a temporary replacement until we do." Customers should never hear "There's nothing I can do" or "Computer Says No." Make it right for the customer, somehow.
Step 7: Documentation. FAQs. Support ticketing systems. Use them and keep them up to date. Get your staff to use them and keep them up to date. Not because you'll whip them if they don't, but because your staff want to help people (See step 5) and you convinced them that these tools will enable them to help more effectively.
All this sounds expensive, but it pays dividends. For one thing, you'll find that a small, well-paid, well-trained, experienced team of aftersales folk can support as many customers as a much larger team of transitory, demotivated scriptmonkeys. Pay for quality and you won't have to pay for quantity, and you'll have much happier customers. And happy customers, of course are loyal customers. Repeat customers. Also, in this age of social media, reputation means a lot. People talk, and a happy customer is an unpaid salesman.
What's more, aftersales staff who have a good relationship with the customers, understand their needs and also know their own products are in a perfect position to sell. You barely even have to tell them to do it! Your team will want to help people, and if helping them means moving them on to a newer / better product, or selling them something extra, then they will naturally suggest it and the customer will listen.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday October 03 2017, @03:51PM
If you have to call customer service, things are already bad. The product or service is not working, possibly defective. Or, there's some problem with the bill, some sort of double charge, overcharge, bill padding, or just a plain old price hike. Too often, it's a billing problem.
Seems the billing department's first purpose is to extract more money out of you, not correct mistakes. I find especially annoying AT&T's habit of forcing you to listen to a pitch for more service while waiting on hold. I've only dealt with Comcast once, years ago, and yeah, they were poor. That was in the days when they insisted in installing software on your Windows XP PC, and tried to give you bull about how you could only have one computer hooked up to the Internet, unless of course you paid them more money. I set up a dummy computer with Windows just for that, then wiped it and hooked up my own equipment.
Over time, I have become more and more sensitive to their trickery. They project this aura of business competence, to suggest their billing couldn't possibly be wrong. They'll try to say that's the way the system works, and it is correct. Or, tell a flat out lie: "that's what everyone does." They'll play the helpless, hapless call center monkey who hasn't the power to do anything, and there's some truth to that. One place's collection department even tried debt collector tactics on me. Asserted that I was being emotional and rude, calling them names, when I was not, and that they would hang up on me if I didn't behave. One of them did hang up on me, and I immediately called back and reported her.
All this wastes a great deal of time, and I think that's somewhat deliberate. They're also trying to wear you down so you'll give up and just pay, because a few dollars isn't worth the time a call takes.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday October 03 2017, @10:17PM
What matters the most to the marketing team is generating as much "buzz" as possible about the company and its products. Which means maximizing calls to the company is a good thing. This will help the CMO get a higher salary, and allow them to hire more of their buddies to work for them.
What matters the most to the people running the call center is getting those callers off the phone as quickly as possible. Which means that a bunch of phone calls that they never even answer is a good thing, no matter how much this will anger the customers. This will help whoever is running the call center get a higher salary, and allow them to hire more of their buddies to work for them.
What matters the most to the COO is reducing the cost to produce things as much as possible. Which means that lousy products using substandard parts that generate lots of phone calls to customer service are a good thing. This will help the COO get a higher salary, and allow them to hire more of their buddies to work for them.
I can keep going, but I think you have the pattern here. What's good for the customers, what's good for the company and what's good for the people running the company are often completely different.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.