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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.
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Assuring Quality in the Language E-Commerce Customers Speak August 27, 2009 
The last 10 years has brought sea changes to the customer service industry from both operations and technology standpoints. Organizations have moved away from traditional domestic live phone support toward new technologies and business models such as interactive voice response, intelligent scripting and offshoring.
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Customer Experience and the Magna Carta August 26, 2009 
Last week I was doing some research for a speech, and I remembered something from a weekend stint at a cooking school that I decided to run down. I was trying to make a point about customer experience when it occurred to me that the idea has ancient roots. Hospitality law is a body of law that deals with the hotel and restaurant industry.
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E-Commerce With an Accent on Luxury August 14, 2009 
There is nothing quite like the experience of shopping at a luxury retailer. The consumer is immediately immersed in the luxury experience: highly branded and emotive décor and product displays, personal and bespoke service, champagne ... and anything else the consumer may desire. It's undeniable that these factors contribute to a scenario that transcends a simple shopping transaction.
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The Vital Role of E-Presentment in Online Self-Service July 31, 2009 
Driven by competitive pressure to improve the customer experience, organizations are moving toward an online self-service model that pushes the boundaries of electronic information presentation, or e-presentment. Yet as they embrace this model, new challenges await, including how to ensure customers have seamless online access to relevant and accurate information in the format they want.
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The Bright Spots and Sore Spots of Apple Customer Service July 28, 2009 
Ed Zitron's laptop caught on fire in 2006; his apartment could have easily burned if he hadn't been at home. Infuriated, the account rep for RLM Public Relations called customer service -- and his fury quickly turned into unmitigated outrage. "The customer service rep could not have been more uninterested or blasé about the whole thing. I practically had to force her to give me an apology," he told MacNewsWorld.
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Don't Trade Customer Satisfaction for Call Center Efficiency July 24, 2009 
Increasing contact center efficiency has always been a clear path to cutting costs, regardless of economic conditions. Increasing productivity and doing more with existing resources are now more important than ever, but cutting call center costs does not have to result in poorer customer service.
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Wielding the Technology Sword: Q&A With Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne July 24, 2009 
Overstock.com is a retail site that sells products in just about any consumer category, from clothes to electronics to home goods to furniture. Not surprisingly, it hid a major skid last fall when the U.S. economy went into seizure. "We were growing 27 percent through the first part of the year," CEO Patrick Byrne told the E-Commerce Times.
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Time for a Virtual Agent Reality Check? July 17, 2009 
For decades, companies have leveraged technology with the twin goals of reducing the cost of customer support while improving its quality and dependability. This is reflected in the significant investments many organizations have made in providing information, products and services through self-service channels.
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Kindle Case Could Crack Amazon's Customer Service Image July 16, 2009 
An unhappy Kindle customer is taking his grievance to court. Seattle resident Matthew Geise bought the second-generation model of Amazon.com's popular e-reader device, the Kindle 2 -- along with the $29.99 Kindle Cover -- only to find that this protective covering was anything but.
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How to Earn Your Customers' Loyalty July 16, 2009 
There's a saying in the business world: Customer acquisition is an investment, but customer retention delivers profitability. So, how do you retain your customers and earn their loyalty? It's like any successful relationship: If you want customers to be loyal to you, you must be loyal to them and demonstrate that loyalty.
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Don't Give Your Customers a Reason to Park Their Carts July 09, 2009 
Up to 70 percent of online shoppers abandon their shopping carts before completing the checkout process, according to SeeWhy, a company specializing in abandonment tracking software. This rate, which rose substantially from 2005 to 2008, is in part a reflection of the intensified comparative shopping that visitors conduct on many sites simultaneously.
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The Multichannel E-Commerce Path Out of the Recession June 16, 2009 
In the midst of the U.S. economic crisis, cautious spending and downsizing have left the retail industry in dire straits. Even as retail numbers drop, however, online shopping and total online sales continue to show steady growth in the face of adverse economic conditions.
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GM's Demise and the Rise of CRM Culture June 10, 2009 
Business schools have been discussing General Motor's loss of market shar for decades already, and the added denouement of the company's bankruptcy filing will no doubt drive many academic papers for decades to come. The roots of GM's fall from grace are numerous, and it would be incorrect to attribute the fall to any single factor.
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Toiling Away in 'White-Collar Sweatshops' - aka Call Centers June 09, 2009 
Sarah Betesh's career in customer service began in box office call centers at venues such as the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia. She moved on to Tickets.com and
Vertical Alliance, at one point becoming a call center manager. However, in spite of her success, Betesh left her call center career behind in 2003.
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Outsource or Keep It Home? Have It Your Way: Q&A With Alpine Access CEO Chris Carrington June 08, 2009 
Not that long ago, the outsourcing of customer service to home-based agents was a small niche category, viewed as not quite on par with a bricks-and-mortar call center operation. For a number of reasons, that perception is changing -- starting with the lower costs involved and ending with the growing number of quality providers that have highly qualified staffs on hand.
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