Our latest blogs and case studies
Natural Language IVR
OK Google – play Absolute Radio. Alexa – add 15 avocados to my shopping basket.* Natural Language IVR (NL IVR aka Voice Recognition)
I’ll admit it - I have a smart speaker. At first, I was uncomfortable speaking to it and making it do simple tasks that I was more than capable of doing myself. But it only took a few days for me to feel that pressing a few buttons now felt like such an effort for my lazy hand.
Tone Of Voice – The Commercial Benefits
This blog is the 2nd in a series examining ‘Why Does Tone Of Voice Matter?’. This post looks at the commercial benefits of designing and implementing the right tone of voice for your and your customers. Connect on a higher level In a world inundated with choice, picking the right product can be a little
Why Does Tone Of Voice Matter?
I was talking to a friend about the tone of voice work I do. She looked at me with a puzzled look and asked, ‘but Why Does Tone Of Voice Matter’? The question really got me thinking so I thought I’d share it. First things first – what is ‘tone of voice’? Well, tone of voice is
Achieving Cost Reduction Through Channel Shift
In the new year many businesses are looking for new ways to reduce the cost of customer contact without impacting negatively on their customer experience. One of the key areas we work in is channel shift – moving customers from agent answered phone calls to self serve telephony or to digital channels. We have a lot of experience
Corporate Podcasts (Part 2)
Corporate Podcasts – we’re still all over them. In our last blog post we talked about making corporate podcasts part of your internal communications. They’re the perfect way to share industry knowledge, to train and develop, promote company culture and encourage employee well-being. Plus, they’re easy to share with everyone – desk workers, those on different sites
Corporate Podcasts (Part 1)
Not that many years ago, the podcast was but a small seed in the eager ear of the audio world. But my, how it’s grown. From gripping investigative journalism series such as 'Serial', to comedies like 'Scummy Mummies' and witty educational series 'The Infinite Monkey Cage', we're plugging in and pressing play. We're listening on
Creativity On Hold
We’ve all been in a queue, waiting patiently whilst the agent is “busy helping other customers”. But, “your call is important”, remember. And “did you know, you can get answers to your queries on the website ”? Now I don’t know about you, but hearing these things makes me feel like just another number on
NPS Or Effort?
About a month ago I had a fantastic meal in a restaurant in central London for an anniversary. It was slightly expensive, but absolutely worth it – I would recommend that place to friends. Last week I went to the corner shop and bought milk. There was nothing wrong with the experience, but I wouldn’t
Sonic Branding – ‘logos for the ears’
What’s this then? We’re all ears… A Sonic logo is a short melodic tune that’s used to reinforce a brand’s identity. It’s like logo, but for your ears. You hear them on the radio whilst you’re stuck in traffic, when you load up Netflix in the evening after a long day at work, or when
When Creative Meets Corporate
How do you deliver messages to your customers? Chances are it hardly involves the postman these days. With the likes of social media, blogs, email and contact centres, you’re spoilt for choice with the ways you can talk to customers. And when you communicate clearly and consistently through all of these channels, you create opportunities
Reduce Cost and Improve Experience By Integrating SMS & Messaging With Telephony
My mobile broadband provider was hacked in November and I have not had a single piece of outbound communication from them explaining what happened or telling me if I was affected or not. I did however receive a text from my bank letting me know that they recognised I am a customer of the mobile
Are You Sleepwalking Towards A Fine? GDPR
I have been sorting out a few bills this week and was struck by the number of companies still asking me to give full card details over the phone. These weren’t small companies either, one major mobile provider was on the list. From May 2018, any organisation which processes or stores personal data, including payment
Time Is The New Currency
I heard this phrase yesterday in a discussion group on customer effort and its impact on customer experience design. I know it to be true but hadn’t heard it summed up in quite that that way before. Customer effort is now one of the biggest factors in delivering great experience, the hard part is to
Product Activation Using Visual IVR
A major software and technology company could not complete enough self serve product activation online or within the voice IVR. This was causing high customer effort, high inbound call volumes and increased costs. Approach Visual IVR was implemented to bridge the gap between digital and phone journeys and also utilise the capabilities of smartphones to
50p to prioritise my call
I called my mobile phone provider today and was very quickly offered the chance to pay 50p to prioritise my call because ‘we are experiencing high volumes of calls today’. I didn’t take up the ‘opportunity’ and then my call was answered in approximately 2 seconds. I was amazed by this from a brand experience
Please Give Me a 9 or 10
I have noticed a big increase of people asking me to ‘give me a 9 or 10’ when you receive our post interaction survey. This happens on the phone and in store. As a consumer it makes me uncomfortable and working in the industry it means to me that customer sat is being used as
PHONE V DIGITAL
I read a stat this morning that said by the end on 2016, 40% of all contacts will start on a digital channel. I know some organisations that are over that number already but many are nowhere near. I still believe (and many research papers back this up) that the phone is still trusted more
Which Message Annoys Callers Most and Why?
There’s an interesting article in Which? Magazine this month, asking consumers what they like and don’t like to hear when waiting for a phone call to be answered. According to the report the three most irritating call queuing features are ‘being told your call is valued’ (47%), being directed to the website (28%)