Following widespread industry deregulation, the energy and utilities sector has become increasingly competitive. With more and more choices available to customers, providing quality customer service is more critical than ever. Customer loyalty is no longer guaranteed, with negative experiences driving ratepayers to the competition: 43% of utility customers who have a negative experience are still members after a year, compared to 74% of those who’ve had a positive experience. It’s a perfect storm of high consumer expectations, a host of new challenger brands, and online price comparison sites.
In this new era, customer service has become the battleground for organizations in the utilities sector. Those that win on this front are retaining customers and growing revenue. Those who lose are losing big. For example, in 2018, British Gas announced the loss of 340,000 customers and a 20% drop in profits.
Those looking to regain some ground through their customer service offering must first equip themselves with the data necessary to make informed decisions. What metrics should you measure, though? Here are the four key performance indicators (KPIs) your call center must be tracking.
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Retail is transforming at an increasing rate, and more than ever. Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing interactions between customers and brands and are allowing many of these processes to become automated. However, despite these rapid changes, many customers still prefer interacting with an actual person, whether it’s in store with a floor representative, or on the phone with a call center agent.
As Harry Truman famously stated, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Wise words. Although this is true, how do customer service leaders strategically read to a) learn how to turn themselves into optimal leaders; and b) transform their teams into the high-performing customer service engines they aspire to be?![Are You Prepared for Unpredicted Spikes in Call Volume [Webinar]](https://fonolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Are-You-Prepared-for-Unpredicted-Spikes-in-Call-Volume-Webinar-450.jpg "Are You Prepared for Unpredicted Spikes in Call Volume [Webinar]")
While today’s tech-savvy consumers are using more non-voice channels to connect with businesses, the act of picking up the phone to quickly and verbally resolve an issue (complex or otherwise) isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The problem with this? According to an 
It seems like, every month, Apple is coming out with a new product or service for its customers to take advantage of, a gadget or a gizmo to “improve” their lives. A steady stream of people visit Apple stores to view, purchase, or try out some of its convenient gadgets hands-on. If you’ve ever walked through a mall where an Apple Store is present, you’ve seen the phenomenon: A mass of people congregating within its glass walls, standing at the product kiosks, handling items with interests and speaking with customer service professionals about the latest and greatest in Apple technology. When you have hundreds of people walking through the doors at any time, one can only imagine the demand on its customer service professionals.
Call center executives are constantly under pressure to find cost-savings. Yet, according to the 
One of our goals with the Fonolo blog is to expose our readers to a broad range of voices on a broad range of topics. We share a lot of diverse content, including lists of 
While on a call with a customer, the language used is incredibly important. Call center agents are likely to have many, many conversations over the course of a work day, so it’s easy to forget the importance of each and every interaction you have with a customer on the line.
The buying experience often gets the most attention in customer service. Conversions are the name of the game for most businesses, so it would make sense that importance is placed on the process leading up to a purchase. For example, retail brands focus heavily on ensuring that sales associates help shoppers find the right sizes, greet guests warmly, create quick and easy checkout processes, and include thoughtful touches like water bottles in change rooms.
