Let the train take the strain

Train operators are often the target of complaints of poor customer service. Indeed, the Eptica Social Customer Service Study found that 14% of those in the South East had taken to social media to criticise train companies. Add in recent, above inflation, fare rises and record numbers of passengers leading to overcrowding on some routes and you can see why many commuters are unhappy with the service that they receive.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom. Last year’s National Passenger Survey found that a record number (84%) of travellers were satisfied with their journey overall, with just 6% actively dissatisfied. The one area that declined was (unsurprisingly given fare rises) value for money, but as the industry points out rises are set by government. National Rail has just announced a £37 billion plan to overhaul services over the next five years, including a doubling of capacity, reduced journey time and a target of 90% customer satisfaction. Measures such as more access to real-time, ‘live’ updates on departure and arrival times at stations are a key part of this.

Like every consumer-facing business, rail companies continually need to look at improving customer service as expectations rise. Increased competition from options such as driving, taking the bus or flying all mean that passengers have a range of options to choose from.

There are obviously a lot of things (such as the British weather) outside the control of train operators, but here are four areas that they can look at to improve customer service.

Communicate
Make information on your services (and fares) as easily available as possible. So as well as real time updates at stations make sure these are on the web or even sent via text or email to commuters with seats on particular trains in case of delay. Traditional channels such as briefing station staff and updating local radio also shouldn’t be ignored.

Make your website helpful
Choosing the right ticket from the multitude of options can be daunting. So ensure you provide the best possible customer experience on your website with a clear design that explains information clearly. Install web self-service so that passengers can ask questions in their own words and deploy web chat so that they can get answers to their enquiries without having to pick up the phone.

Make it consistent
A real bugbear for many passengers is receiving differing answers online, over the phone or at a station. Make sure you are delivering consistent information by underpinning all your customer communication with a single, easily updatable, knowledgebase that is available across all channels. In an era of tablets and smartphones, keeping your frontline staff in stations and on trains up to date should be a lot easier than before.

Be social
As we said social media is a favourite place for disgruntled passengers to complain. So make sure you have a presence on networks such as Facebook and Twitter and be prepared to provide updates and responses when people post about their experiences. Use social media in conjunction with other metrics to learn what needs changing and what really upsets your passengers. You can also use social media to publish updates on major disruption – however don’t overdo it by communicating constantly on minor issues.

Rail travel has never been more popular – delivering a superior customer experience is central to continuing the rise in passenger numbers, despite increasing fares.

The state of the UK online customer experience in 2012

There are lots of ways of measuring the customer experience, from First Contact Resolution rates to Net Promoter Scores. While these deliver useful data, companies also need to step into their customers’ shoes and see for themselves how good service is. Visit your own website and ask the same basic questions that customers do – is it easy to find the right information and do your online responses actually answer the question? If not, consumers will be forced to change channel and call or email your contact centre – or alternatively, will leave your site and head straight for your competitors.

At Eptica, we’ve used this customer focused methodology for several years to look at the state of UK online service. Our latest research report, the 2012 Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study, has just been released and demonstrates room for improvement when it comes to keeping customers satisfied.

100 leading companies in ten sectors were evaluated on their ability to provide answers to ten routine questions via the web, as well as their speed and accuracy when responding to email. Questions were tailored to each sector – so, for example one of the questions airlines were asked was “My flight was cancelled. How do I get a refund?”

The headline findings were that UK companies are struggling to deliver an adequate customer experience with websites only able to answer just over half (53%) of customer questions. While this is a slight improvement from the 50% answer rate of 2011, it does show there’s plenty of room for improvement.

There’s also a growing chasm between best and worst. For example fashion retailers could answer 75% of questions asked on their sites, while CD/DVD/Booksellers and food retailers scored just 40%. Worryingly given we asked the same questions as in 2011, 28% of companies performed worse than in 2012 – showing a real decline in the experience they are providing.

One thing that stood out in the 2012 Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study was the variation between different companies in the same sector. One food retailer successfully answered all ten customer questions on its website – but three other companies in the same sector could only score two out of ten.

This demonstrates two key points:
-       Delivering the right customer experience online is achievable, and many companies are excelling at web customer service through sites that make it easy to access up to date, accurate information to answer customer questions.
-       If you’re not providing the right information to customers, it is likely that your competitors are, meaning that you need to benchmark yourself against them and adopt best practice across your operations.

The 2012 Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study report is available for download here, with key findings summarised in this handy infographic. And we’ll be returning to the research over the next few weeks in the blog, drilling into the data to see the state of UK customer service, both in different industries and through channels such as email and social media. Let us know your feedback.

Disastrous customer service

The devastation brought by Superstorm Sandy to the North East United States has impacted huge numbers of people. As well as loss of life, millions have been without power and hundreds of thousands more have had to evacuate their homes and abandon their possessions. And as previous natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, have shown, cleaning up the aftermath and getting life back to normal can take an extremely long time.

When it comes to an event of this magnitude, organisations need to make sure that their customer service can cope. All companies need to ensure that they are helping people both to prepare for the worst and to cope with the disruption that a natural disaster brings.

For example:

• Insurance companies – provide advice on how people can protect themselves and their property and deliver clear information on how to make a claim
• Utilities – warn of potential power outages and give an accurate timescale on when services are likely to be restored
• Airlines – with thousands of flights grounded, provide information to help travellers plan different routes, and how they can claim refunds if applicable
• Banks – in a crisis people need cash, so make sure that services such as ATMs are available, opening emergency branches if needed
• Telecoms companies – like utilities give a clear picture of which services are affected, bearing in mind that many people won’t have access to the internet
• Retailers – make sure you stock the emergency supplies that people need and keep shoppers informed about when new deliveries will be in

And these are just examples of private sector organisations – in a crisis of this magnitude the biggest customer service challenge faces public authorities who need to provide clear information to citizens, persuade them to follow emergency plans and demonstrate that they are able to cope with the disaster as it unfolds. Communication across channels (from TV and radio to the internet, telephone and even vans with loudspeakers touring affected areas) is vital and the message needs to be clear, straightforward and easy to understand if people are to take the right actions.

No-one should look to profit from natural disasters but it is an opportunity for organisations to demonstrate that they really do put their customers first and are thinking about how to help them at an incredibly difficult time. Get it right and you’ll have earned customer loyalty – do it badly and the damage to your brand (and revenues) will be incalculable.

Succeeding in an ‘always on’ world

Singapore Flyer (Photo credit: chooyutshing)

Our last post talked about the strains facing companies as consumers demand faster and faster responses to their queries. However it isn’t just speed that customers value – they want to be able to get an answer through whatever channel they choose, whether online or offline. And if you don’t provide the right experience they’ll simply take their custom elsewhere.

To help Asian companies meet the challenge of successfully doing business with always on consumers, the Contact Centre Association of Singapore (CCAS) is organising a breakfast seminar on the Multichannel Customer Experience. Sponsored by Eptica, and taking place on Friday 12^th October 2012 it will address the key issues facing customer service today.

Covering how to create a seamless multichannel experience and a more efficient service operation the event will include practical advice on:

• How to improve efficiency and reduce your service costs by up to 40%
• How to improve quality of service and first contact resolution to more than 90%
• How to reduce the volume of inbound emails by 50% and calls by more than 30%
• How to achieve joined up and future proof multichannel web, email, social, chat, telephone and mobile customer service.

The keynote guest speaker will be Huiyoong Yong, IT Strategic Communications, AirAsia. Huiyoong will be talking about how AirAsia is using Eptica’s software to deliver award-winning customer service.

By deploying Eptica as a centralised customer Self-service system, AirAsia is now providing fast, consistent customer service across the web, Facebook and mobile channels, 24 hours a day. Over one million enquiries per month are now being managed through the AskAirAsia system. What is critical for consistency of answers is that all these channels share the same knowledgebase. So whether customers ask a question through the web, Facebook or mobile they receive the same answer, through the channel of their choice.

Eptica CEO Olivier Njamfa, will share his experiences on how to achieve best practice when it comes to multichannel customer service and Eptica’s advanced customer interaction management suite will be demonstrated, showing how companies can both improve efficiency and service levels through an integrated solution. The morning will finish with a question and answer session and the chance to network with other customer service professionals from across Singapore.

The event is free and to find out more and book your ticket simply click here