Proven Strategies to Improve Customer Effort Score for PC Manufacturers

noHold's 18+ years of experience, and long standing customers in a variety of industries (including PC) have given us insider knowledge when it comes to what companies can do to better support customer efforts. Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold, took some time to look into the PC industry, and determined a few key pointers that will help improve Customer Effort Scores (CES). 

For more information about noHold please visit, www.nohold.com

Black Friday: 4 Tips to Avoiding a Customer Service Nightmare this Holiday Season

Ready or not, the 2015 holiday season is among us! While it may be the happiest time of the year for some, it can quickly turn into a nightmare for customer service professionals if the right measures aren't taken to ensure smooth sailing through the season. 

Some companies have been preparing for this rush since the end of summer, and rightfully so. 2015 is expected to be the "most connected holiday shopping season - ever. Almost half of holiday shopping occured online" (thinkwithgoogle.com). "In 2014, Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday set new (online) sales records with 1.33 billion and $2.4 billion spent. This number is only expected to rise for 2015" (shortstack.com) We can't forget about the growing trend of Cyber Monday either. Check out the infogrpahic below sharing 2014 Cyber Monday results.

Photo Credit: pfsweb.com

These couple months are the biggest time of year for businesses to see growth in every aspect of their company. "Ad impressions get a 50 percent boost, [Click-through rates] CTRs skyrocket 100 percent, direct traffic grows 150 percent, average order values rise 30 percent and conversion rates increase 60 percent" (Entrepreneur).

With the expected spike in traffic during this season, consumers already anticipate long wait times and rude people; and companies witness customer satisfaction scores drop. But what if there was a way to keep up with the increase in demand AND maintain customer satisfaction, though? World-class brands have accomplished it, and with the right recipe so can you. Here are some tips to help your company continue to hit top sales all season, while (doing the most important thing) keeping customers happy. 

Tip #1 Planning ahead- As mentioned earlier, it is always helpful to get a head start so you aren't frantically trying to get everything set up in a short amount of time.

Photo Credit: capitolmediasolutions.com

Tip #2 Hiring enough help- Making sure you are not under staff during the rush season has a few positive affects. (a) customers don't have to wait for busy agents, and (b) agents don't feel rushed and can help customers completely through their issues. It's a win-win situation. Happy employees = happy customers. 

Tip #3 Providing helpful resources-  With the influx in contact volume coupled with the increase in seasonal agents, proper tools and resources should be made available to agents. One resource many call centers are equipping their agents with is a Virtual Assistant, promoting efficiency and consistency to new and seasoned agents. 

Tip #4 Self-Service- As a common theme throughout this blog, mobile and eCommerce are playing a huge role in the way people are interacting with your company. Online support holds true as well. Intuitive/ diagnostic self-service options should be readily available and easily accessible to consumers via the web.

Example of Interactive self-service solution (Virtual Assistant)

How is your company preparing for the holidays? Are you taking a different approach this year to account for the web? 

For more information on how Virtual Assistants help to alleviate some of the stress during peak seasons, please read "How Stand Out Brands Weather the Storm During Critical Spikes in Traffic." 
www.nohold.com

5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Virtual Agent

I recently read an article titled, "11 Tips to Get the Most Out of Siri." In this article, Dan Graziano from CNET demonstrates some lesser known features of Apple's Virtual Assistant Siri. For example, you can let Siri know that 'Stacy' is your mom, so when you ask Siri to 'text my mom', Siri recognizes who you are talking about. 

Inspired by this article, I wanted to let you in on a few of our tips/best practices to get the most out of your Virtual Agent...

1. Use social media to market your Virtual Agent to your audience as a great way to stay connected. With more than half the population on social media (Social Networking Statistics), quick tweets and updates can promote self-service. Companies across multiple industries have discovered that sending quick messages to a connected audience is a great way to spread awareness and remind clients that self-service is available 24x7. For more info on this topic, read "Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: Now Trending....#VirtualAgents"  

2. Another tip is to turn your partner program into a revenue generator.  Extending the Virtual Agent to them will build a stronger relationship with them all while seeing an increasing ROI. 

3. Start embedding 'how-to' videos into Virtual Agent solutions. It is good to have multiple media options within the Virtual Agent to best accommodate the needs of all individuals. In addition, the Virtual Agent makes finding videos much easier than traditional search. By positioning the video as part of a solution, end users can play a short clip and visualize how to fix their problem.    

4. Utilize a Virtual Agent to enhance your product's user manual. User manuals tend to be cumbersome, but creating a more interactive and diagnostic manual (with a Virtual Agent) will make it more user-friendly and quicker to find the information you need. 

5. Implement a 'Care Virtual Agent' in addition to the traditional support VA. Excellent customer care is a key factor in satisfying your audience and encouraging them to remain loyal. When they have a question about shipping information, it is important to be able to find a solution as quickly as possible, on their own terms. 

These are just a few tips/best practices that we have learned over the many years of being a leader in the industry. How do you get the most out of your Virtual Agent? Do you have any other 'tips' about Virtual Agents or self-service to add to this list? 

Cheers!

www.nohold.com

A Look Back at noHold's Top Stories of the Week

This week has been full of exciting news. Take a look back at noHold’s top stories of the week.

1. Eugene Becomes the First Robot to Pass the Turing Test

2. Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: “How Do I Check for Outages in my Area?”

"How do I check the status of my order?" "How do I log into my new router?" Consumers always have 'how to' questions, such as these, when dealing with any company, regardless of the industry. Each company has the power to provide immediate answers to these questions, while increasing customer satisfaction. 

3. noHold Virtual Agent Recognized by Satisfied Customer

4. Throwback Thursday: The Past, Present, and Future of Online Shopping

I’ll leave you with this photo to start of your weekend off with a little laughter. Enjoy!

Photo Credit: bentspine.com

Throwback Thursday: QR Codes and Virtual Agents

Quick Response codes, or QR codes, have been around for quite some time. The announcement of QR codes was released in 1994, but during that time they were mainly used to track parts for vehicle manufacturers in Japan. Today, QR codes are used in a variety of ways. For example, many marketers utilize QR codes in their strategies, as well as commercial tracking, product labeling, etc. 

With the rise of the smart phones, the use of mobile recognition technology has risen as well. It is predicted that by 2015, there will be double the amount of money invested into mobile recognition technology (364 million dollars) and a large part of this includes QR codes. QR codes are gaining popularity because it is a quick way to scan and get information. In other words, it is an easy to use resource for end users. 

Offering access to a Virtual Agent through scanning a QR code is a great tip for companies looking to elevate their customer service and support strategies. Providing consumers with Virtual Agents via a QR code gives them more power to make an informed decision about the product of interest. Consumer knowledge is key to gaining new customers and creating loyalty. 

QR codes are just one way to access a Virtual Agent via your mobile device. In addition to native mobile apps, and mobile friendly VAs, there are other alternatives that might appeal to your company's target audience. Some alternatives include:

1. SMS short codes 
2. Augmented reality apps
3. UPC bar code reader
4. Bluetooth and NFC (nearfield communication)

To give you an example of one of the alternatives to QR codes, Bluetooth and NFC work like a sensor. When you walk near or through these "sensors", they trigger a notification to be sent to your mobile phone. (More information about NFC can be found here.) For a Virtual Agent, the notification can range from a personal virtual shopper, a virtual assistant, information on products, or limited time coupons to entice consumers to purchase products on the spot.   

In short, mobile recognition technology (whether it be QR codes, SMS short codes, etc.) are an important part of a mobile strategy. Monitoring the target audience and adapting to what the consumer wants is essential when adopting mobile strategies.  How does your company make it easy for customers to interact with your brand via mobile device? Does your strategy include QR codes or apps? Share your mobile marketing or support strategy here. 

www.nohold.com

Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: Best Practices for Virtual Assistant Implementation

With over 14 years experience in the Knowledge Management and Virtual Assistant space, noHold provides best practices to its customers. Spanning across industries such as Telecommunications, Hi-Tech, Finance, and more, noHold customers have achieved Return On Investment (ROI) while creating award winning eService experiences for their customers.

This excerpt from a recent best practices guide was designed for our client's implementation and ongoing success. Take a look below for a snapshot, and if you would like access to the full document, there are instructions below for contacting us.

This document will address the following:
• Content
• Positioning
• Promotion
• End User Experience
• Integration
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Tasks and Timeline
• Post-Pilot Roles and Resources

Positioning

Once you have determined your content, you will need to decide where you would like your VA to live and in what form. This means deciding where on your website you would like the VA to be placed, and if you anticipate this being a tool used on mobile devices. This step will help to drive promotion and the success of the VA.

Tip: Look at where your audience currently accesses support and contact information. In order to generate the most effect level of deflections from live agents, you will need to position the VA in places where people looking to answer questions will most likely engage with the tool.

This might mean integrating with your support page, positioning the VA to preempt the opening of a support ticket, etc.

Questions to ask when deciding on positioning:

• Should the VA be mobile friendly?
• Should the VA be positioned on the website support pages? Contact us page? Product pages?
• Should the Virtual Agent be part of email and marketing communications to your audience?
• Do you want the VA to have its own internal landing page?

Promotion

After determining the various aspects of scope, Cisco was faced with the challenge of driving self-service adoption. That is, now that the tools were in place, how would Cisco make sure that they maximized their investment and reach as many users as possible? “Promotion,” Mahmoud says. “And by promotion, I don’t mean like offering a coupon for customers, but make the customer aware that these platforms exist. Most companies make the assumption that once you have it online, customers will find it…you have to be proactive to make your customer-base aware of what their options to get support are.” – Tarik Mahmoud, Cisco

This step is directly related to the positioning of the VA. In order to attract customers to the VA, it must first be positioned so it can preempt other channels. Second, the VA must retain those customers by providing effective content. Before either of these things can be achieved, customers need to know that a VA is now available for them to use.

Tip: Here are some effective ways to promote your VA:

• Good positioning on your site is the key. The link to the VA should be easy to find and located consistently throughout the site, not just under support, but possibly also in the Products page or Contact Us page.
• Retain customers by providing a unique user interface. Integrate multimedia, Wizards, videos and your logo to foster brand recognition and loyalty.
• Link to the VA from your community forums, blogs, and other support channels. Give your customers unrestricted access to this great tool.
• Advertise the VA on your product packaging. The link to the VA should be clearly displayed on packaging, manuals and marketing collateral.
• Advertise the availability of the VA as a competitive differentiator. “We offer 24/7 support no matter where you are in the world!”
• Promote the VA in every communication with your customers: Newsletters, email blasts, and on the support agent’s email signature.
• Advertise it on your IVR. Let people who are on hold know that the VA is available.

These are just a couple tips for implementing a Virtual Agent. To receive access to the full document and get best practice techniques on content, end user experience, integration, key performance indicators (KPIs), tasks and timeline, and post-pilot roles and resources please follow the link to the 'Contact Us' page and request a copy.

Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: Now Trending… #VirtualAgents

Social Media is one of the most popular ways to communicate with your audience. From top Fortune 500 companies to the local corner shop, staying connected to your customer is a top priority. More and more companies are turning to social media to do so.  It’s fast, it’s easy, and (in most cases) it’s free!

With more than half the population connected to social media (Social Networking Statistics), quick tweets and updates can promote self-service. Companies across multiple industries have discovered that sending quick messages to a connected audience is a great way to spread awareness and remind clients that self-service is available 24x7. In the example below, one company tweeted about one of their Virtual Agents, and provided users with a link directly to “Emma.” This in turn increased the use of the VA. 

Marketing your Virtual Agent to your consumers is a great tip to maximizing usage. Check out the blog written yesterday for more advice about embedding your Virtual Agent directly to your social media sites.

www.nohold.com 

Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: This Valentines Day, Give the Gift of Virtual Agent Love

Have you ever wondered how to gain the most from your Virtual Agent? Virtual Agents are capable of doing so much more than just providing answers to consumer questions. One tip to getting the most out of your Virtual Agent is by sharing it with you partners. It is equally important for partners to feel special, as well as customers. Extending the Virtual Agent to them will build a stronger relationship with them all while seeing an increasing ROI. Here is a slideshare we have presented before about how a company in the medical field made a customer support Virtual Agent accessible to all their partners and reaped great benefits, such as

• Generating about $5M in revenue per year
• Building a powerful relationship and making partners feel apart of the inner circle.