It is common knowledge that business owners need to be in touch with all their business interests. Whatever the industry, this is key to effective management and so future success and revenue. Whilst financial reports speak (often) for themselves as an indicator of positive or negative performance, it is relevant to understand what factors influence these so that a. Good practices can be repeated and enhanced and b. Those factors creating a negative impact can be prevented and addressed.
For a business with one customer interaction point, this task is relatively simple – as focus is clear, and a transparent relationship with management can be maintained. However, in the case where a business has multiple units – whether it be an owned or a franchised operation – management of these both individually and holistically, poses more of a challenge. Useful to know is the performance of each, but increased insight can be gained when they are measured relative to each other – based on the same set of customer experience variables.
Click here to read a 2 page pdf white paper which details how to effectively manage multiple units holistically, strengthen the relationship your customers have with your brand, and ultimately grow your business.
Written by Meghan Kelly and found on Mobile Beat (Article) - Dec 2011.
There are 91.4 million people in the United States who use smartphones, according to a new report by comScore, but how are they using their phones? Texting, app usage and listening to music top the charts.
For three months ending in November, over 234 million mobile devices were used by 13 year olds and older, says comScore. Smartphones make up around 39 percent of that group. Android is still winning smartphone market share, up 3.1 percent to 46.9 percent, with Apple trailing in second. Research in Motion fell 3.1 percent, but remains the third competitor. As a phone manufacturer, RIM fell another .6 percent, and sits at the bottom below Samsung, LG, Motorola and Apple, in that order.
While smartphones have changed much of the way we use our phones, some activities remain the same
. Of all types of mobile devices, 72.6 percent of people use phones to send text messages. Checking social media and playing games also made the leader-board. Most interestingly, however, is the switch from browsing to application usage. In the three months prior to this current study, 42.1 percent more people used their browsers to get information, compared to the 41.6 percent that used apps. Now, however, applications have taken the lead by .5 percent. The percentage is small, but shows a significant shift in how people consume information on their mobile devices.
Mobile music listening comes in sixth place, at 20 percent. While this number seems small, most of these users probably come from smartphones, except for a few feature phones which support the activity. Given that smartphones only make up 39 percent of the mobile user population, half of these people use their mobile phones to listen to music. Indeed, sales for Apple’s iPod dropped 27 percent since last year’s fourth quarter, and is projected to continue tumbling in popularity.
Johnson & Johnson South Africa wanted to be able to measure the customer service provided by their call centre agents. They also wanted to ensure that any negative feedback was followed up immediately and that this was used as an opportunity to train the call centre agents.
The Touchwork TxtandTell system was able to provide a solution.
TxtandTell resulted in Johnson & Johnson being able to measure customer experience, follow-up on voucher receipts, and gauge the intent to repurchase a product.
To read how the solution was implemented and the results it achieved, download this 2 page pdf case study - Call Centre Management 2011.
When Consumers Tweet Complaints, Should Brands Respond? is a fantastic article highlighting the trends of consumer and brand tweeting.
Here are some highlights:
- Twitter is both a water cooler and a complaint department.
- Nearly half of consumers who tweeted a complaint directed toward a brand expected the company to respond—or at least to read their tweet.
- Only a third of consumers received a tweeted response from the mentioned brand.
- As more brands have joined Twitter, consumers’ expectation for interaction with brands has risen.
- Consumers are overwhelmingly positive when brands take the time to actually respond to them on Twitter
To read the full article, click below:
When Consumers Tweet Complaints, Should Brands Respond? posted on www.emarketer.com on the 26th of October 2011.
It is evident that brands should involve themselves in the digital social space, and embrace proactive feedback - positive and negative - from consumers. In this way you can keep track of consumer expectations, opportunities and opinions; develop a two-way relationship; and build loyalty. Furthermore, being a brand that DOES respond to a tweet, sets you apart from your competitors and gives you an advantage.
TxtandTell - a mobile software solution developed by Touchwork - acts as a central repository for customer and guest feedback. Brands are able to track and respond to direct messages, mentions and hashtag mentions on twitter as well as via the SMS channel. In this way - brands can monitor their social reputation and customer interaction simply and cost-effectively.
For more information on TxtandTell, click here.
Touchwork allows you to channel your customer and brand feedback into mobile messaging, and monitor your online social reputation. For more information, click here.
SOCAP South Africa, the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals recently held their annual conference in Johannesburg. With recent surveys pointing to the changes in the world of consumer affairs as a result of social media, the conference was titled "Consumer Affairs Professionals in Real-Time!” Speakers included the National Consumer Commissioner, Ms Mamodupi Mohlala, renowned author and business leader Mr Clem Sunter, and the Ex- CEO of Google Africa, Mr Stafford Masie.
Rory Florence, COO of Touchwork also spoke at the event on the time-line of communication trends; the adaptations that have been made owing to this and their relation to customer service - for example call centres; and the need for real-time, cost-effective feedback. Together with Johnson & Johnson, they presented a case study on how you can use real-time SMS feedback solutions like TxtandTell to better manage some of the consumer communication processes, including on-pack SMS feedback and the activities of their call centre.
The presentation was well received, and Touchwork looks forward to presenting again at SOCAP 2012.
For more information on SOCAP: http://www.socapsa.org.za
For more information on TxtandTell: www.touchwork.com/txtandtell
If you would like Rory to contact you to advise how TxtandTell can be best utilised for your business, you can contact him directly here.
The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow has nearly 16000 students and 3400 members of staff. They have 4 separate dining locations on campus servicing students, staff and visitors.
Understanding the need to prioritise and consider consumer preferences when planning and implementing business operations and services, they wanted to introduce a suitable feedback channel. Additionally they wanted to take direct action when necessary.
To match student trends and communication preferences, it made sense to utilise mobile devices in the feedback process. Because of mobile familiarity and ease of access, feedback is encouraged and therefore increased.
Management receives this feedback immediately and so service recovery can happen as required; and because all data is captured and stored, graphs and charts can be reviewed at any time to note trends, performance and causality. Tasks can also be assigned to relevant staff, and so work-flow can be monitored and managed.
An added benefit is that on permission from the guest, their details can be captured and used for further marketing initiatives and communication.
With this TxtandTell functionality, the University of Strathclyde is able to monitor satisfaction levels, receive ideas and tips to better improve their business, and make their customers aware that they are putting them first. In the 2 weeks that they have been utilising TxtandTell, several consumer insights have already been highlighted – some of which have lead to positive operational changes.
For more information on TxtandTell visit our website here.
Domino’s earlier this year ran an electronic ticker on a 4,630 sq ft billboard in Times Square. It displayed real-time customer comments — good, bad and neutral. The comments were filtered for bad language and appropriateness, but not for sentiment.
These comments were taken from their system that allows customers to track their order through the entire process (in real-time) and see the name of the person making the pizza. This also allows the staff making the pizzas to see the reviews they are getting (in order to improve).
Some may remember the bad publicity Domino’s received in 2009 when employees were found on YouTube spoiling pizzas that were going out to customers. The video went viral at a crazy speed, and Domino’s were slow and crippled to respond because they were not yet on any social media channels. Since then, they have turned their bad press into good press – learning the hard way that to ignore social media you are taking a huge risk.
Domino's customers are freely telling them how to be better – how to offer their services and product in the way that they will continue to purchase them. Why would you not want that feedback and resulting return on investment?
Touchwork is an industry leader in customer feedback and service recovery. We have a software solution to capture customer feedback via social media and SMS through both web and mobile platforms. With this, not only are your customers encouraged to give their views, but as a business this feedback can be monitored, measured and assessed – as it happens.
Read more on our website, otherwise contact us for further information.
Below is an article written by a student, and published in a UK University Magazine - read by senior management across 165 UK Universities and over 350 Higher Education and Further Education colleges throughout the UK. It summarises what students are wanting and needing, and so gives insight into how to increase student satisfaction levels.
University Business - The Business of Higher Education - Issue 44 - September 2011 (Website)
Considering their request to be spoken to in their "language", their mentioning of twitter and the importance placed on internet connectivity, it makes sense to have their feedback channel incorporate these. TxtandTell mobile feedback solution offers an "easy access platform to voice their views".
Click here to read more about TxtandTell or go straight to our Demo.
BYU (Brigham Young University) is an American University located in Provo, Utah. They have nine restaurants on their campus, as well as other catering and vending options. These dining facilities service students, staff, and guests.
BYU have increased their customer feedback from 20 messages a month, to 124 messages a day!
Click here to download a 1 page case study, explaining how TxtandTell - a mobile feedback solution developed by Touchwork - enabled this. 