Recently, a report from the BBC showed just how important this is, drawing attention to the increasing number of complaints faced by broadband and telecom companies in the UK.  

What’s interesting about this report is that while many organisations in the market offer similar services, the level of satisfaction among their customers differs drastically.  

Ultimately, companies can’t avoid receiving complaints but can take the right approach to dealing with them.  

The Value of Effective Complaint Management 

Customers complain about a range of reasons, and those complaints are often more valuable than you’d think. Reports tell us that only a handful of customers actually complain to a company directly; the rest (91%) leave and buy what they need from a different company.  

This means a complaint is an opportunity for you to prevent your customer from abandoning your brand. Studies show that 83% of customers feel more loyal towards brands that actively respond to and resolve their complaints. 

Complaints are also a chance for you to spot problems that might cause other customers to churn before they have a massive impact on your retention rates.  

Even complaints about things beyond your control can be helpful. If you notice that customers regularly complain about service outages and issues, proactively contacting them when there’s a problem with the service could reduce their frustration.  

How to Handle Customer Complaints Correctly: Top Tips 

Dealing with a complaint quickly, effectively, and empathetically can be an excellent way to turn an unhappy customer into a valuable advocate for your brand. One report from the Harvard Business Review found that customers who have their complaints handled in five minutes or less often spend more time with a company in the future.  

So, how do you master complaint management? 

Step 1: Listen and Empathise 

Listening is the key to resolving complaints correctly. It’s easy to get defensive when speaking to a frustrated customer, but they’ve contacted your company for a reason. It’s your job to get to the bottom of the problem with empathy.   

Train your agents to use active listening practices like open-ended questioning to ensure they understand the root cause of the customer’s problems. Collecting details about a customer’s order history, details, previous complaints, and issues will make it easier to resolve customer issues quickly. Plus, it ensures that if, for any reason, an agent needs to transfer a call to someone else, the customer won’t have to repeat themselves and start from scratch—a very frustrating practice that’s all too common.  

Of course, only if you are in the wrong, but sometimes, all your customer really wants is for someone to apologise and acknowledge their frustration.  

Studies have shown that customers are more willing to forgive and keep buying from a company that apologises for its mistakes. However, don’t just stop with an apology; thank the customer for bringing the issue to your attention. Then, if possible, it’s time to solve the problem… 

Step 2: Find a Solution 

Some complaints are easy to resolve. If a customer is unhappy with the quality of a product they’ve bought, you can offer them a refund or replacement. Other issues are a little more complex. For instance, a service outage can’t always be resolved quickly. Have clear guidelines available for the team so they know how to handle the issue, clear lines of escalation, and empowerment to make judgment calls to resolve issues to the customer’s satisfaction.  

Step 3: Record Their Feedback  

As mentioned above, complaints are more valuable than they seem. They can offer incredible insights into ways your company can improve and evolve. The only way to detect opportunities for growth is to record your customer’s feedback and look for patterns.  

Examine any complaints you have received and brainstorm ways to prevent the same issue from happening again. Detailed data dashboards can be key to help quickly analyse and action such insight. 

Step 4: Be Proactive  

Complaints might disappear when you solve a customer’s problem, but the frustration they feel towards your company can linger. The best way to repair the relationship is to follow up. Send an email or SMS asking for feedback on how the complaint was handled and if you can do anything else to aid them. Maybe offer a further discount or promotion or flag their account to prioritise care should the issue re-arise. Is it something you are looking to fix on your transformation roadmap, why not keep your customers updated?  

Optimising the Complaint Management Process 

Complaints are important. They offer feedback on your product and service and give you a second chance to retain and develop a loyal customer. However, handling complaints well and consistently can be challenging.   

At DDC OS, we offer a solution. We can provide access to an outsourced complaints service team, expanding your capacity or handling complaints management as a whole, ensuring you can respond quickly and compliantly to customers when complaints arise.  

With a little extra help, you can turn complaints from a daunting prospect into something that helps your company grow.  
 
Get in touch today and follow us on LinkedIn

DDC OS was shortlisted for three awards: Best Multilingual Customer Service with Boohoo, Best BPO Partnership – Large with Photobox and Best Pan European Contact Centre.  

In what was a very glamorous evening, with appearances including Fiona Bruce and Linford Christie. Guests were entertained with performances of Moulin Rouge and Lion King, amongst an array of acrobatic acts.  

As ever, the competition was fierce, with the best in our industry shortlisted. Along with the anticipation of categories we were shortlisted for, Joe Beal (CCO) presented the award for Small Contact Centre of the Year to Estee Lauder. Huge congratulations in order for all of the team there.  

First up Best BPO Partnership – Large. Big cheers followed to mark a fantastic first year in partnership with Photobox as another silver award was presented to the team. 

Up next for the DDC OS team was the Best Multilingual Customer Service category, and we were delighted to take home the Silver in partnership with Boohoo. 

In the penultimate award of the evening, Best Pan European Contact Centre, whilst not taking home silverware, we did receive a High Commendation – the only shortlisted business to receive it in the category.  

All in all, a wonderful evening for DDC OS and the teams from the UK to Bosnia & Herzegovina and beyond. Thank you to all involved, from our internal teams to our clients who made this a possibility.  

To discuss your outsourcing project with us (so we can enter many awards together!), then please get in touch.  

Until next year, when we hope to be even more successful, all the best…  

Team DDC   

In the UK, 81% of consumers have said they’re planning to shop more during the Black Friday period to help manage the cost-of-living crisis while still ensuring they can stock up on gifts. All over the world, these trends can present excellent opportunities for retailers to increase revenue and loyalty. However, it’s crucial to have the right plan in place to handle this demand.  

As tempting as it might be to double down on your marketing and try to cultivate additional sales during the holiday, the promise of short-term revenue wins shouldn’t come at the expense of long-term loyalty. After all, while 58% of consumers say they’re willing to accept long waiting times and delays during the holidays, only 8% will accommodate bad customer service.  

Perfecting Customer Service at Peak Times 

Peak periods, ranging from Christmas to Black Friday to other seasonal events, can be a double-edged sword for brands. On the one hand, they’re a chance to connect with engaged customers and accelerate sales. On the other hand, they can often lead to issues with inconsistent customer service and overwhelmed operational facilities.  

Implementing an enhanced sales strategy for the holiday season means not only creating the right marketing campaign but also ensuring you have the right resources on-hand to support an increase in demand. More sales mean more questions, service requests, and demands from consumers.  

If you can’t handle this extra pressure, pushing your business beyond its limits could cause more damage than good. In 2020, a report found that around 50% of Brits began actively avoiding companies with bad service at Christmas, leading to a loss of around £1.9 billion for those brands.  

Before you dive head-first into a peak retail season, you’ll need to ensure you’re not over-promising and under-delivering. Ask yourself: 

• What do customers expect from you? Start by assessing the kind of expectations you’ve already built in terms of customer experience for your customers. Does your company offer ultra-fast delivery, convenient returns, and rapid customer support? If so, can you continue to deliver on the same promises as demand increases?  

• Do you have a stable supply chain? Do you have what it takes to continue delivering products to a higher number of customers? If your current suppliers are unable to deliver on-demand, do you have backup options in place? How will you deal with popular goods going out of stock during the holiday period? How are you going to manage fulfilment and ensure items arrive at customer destinations on time? Even if the answer is no to some of the above, you can alleviate some inbound traffic by proactively updating your customers and them offering options.

• Can your existing team members handle extra work? Any increase in sales will automatically lead to an increase in work for your team members. If your staff are already overwhelmed, how will you provide additional support? In-house recruitment, outsourcing partners? Short-term solutions can pose a range of problems.  

Plan for Peaks Beyond the Holiday Season 

While the holiday season may be the most common time for many businesses and retailers to experience a peak in demand, it’s important to remember that there are other peaks to think about too. Different brands have different peaks and troughs depending on their industry and target audience. A sports company might see an increase in sales around annual competitions, while a florist may have additional demand during Mother’s Day and Valentine’s day.  

There are even instances in which retailers can manufacture peaks and demands with sales, events, and clever marketing. Ensuring you’re effectively prepared for the unpredictable nature of retail is crucial to ensure you retain loyal customers. Because of this, simply hiring seasonal staff for a couple of months each year may not be the most cost-effective and resourceful strategy. Could it be tied into other activities? Where else could you benefit from support? Can you create long-term solutions to short-term demand?  

Rather than having to find, hire, and train temporary team members on a consistent basis, many brands will benefit from creating more consistent agreements with third-party customer support agents, which allow them to structure a steadier flow of orders and maintain customer satisfaction throughout the year. Companies could even assign their outsourced specialists to different tasks each month to ensure they’re leveraging their available resources effectively.  

A consistent and holistic strategy will allow brands to manage not just holiday peaks but unexpected changes in customer demand whenever they might happen. Make sure you can always take full advantage of peak sales times without compromising on customer service.  

To learn more about the work DDC OS do in retail, please get in touch. 

So, delivering good customer service must be balanced against keeping costs as low as possible. At the same time, it’s vital to understand and manage compliance with ever-changing industry regulation – balancing a complex set of requirements around the Licence Conditions is tricky – and understanding the constant flow of information from the regulator and changing government policy is vital to ensuring that your business model stays compliant. 

Sounds simple, right? Of course not! That’s why partnering with organisations across the sector that can specialise in certain aspects can be so fundamental to success.   

Why is getting it right from the start so important? 

We’ve been working with energy suppliers for many years and have seen the full range of issues as they occur. Experience tells us that energy is not an industry that forgives easily – It can be very difficult to recover service levels from a build-up of errors– but can you stop issues from occurring in the first place?

The first critical stepping-stone is to try and solve customer problems on first contact, which can stop issues from escalating and means less bad debt further down the line. A customer is unlikely to settle a bill in dispute – so as soon as you can resolve the issue, the sooner the bill will be paid, and the debt is unlikely to escalate, compounding the problem. But how do you avoid those expensive customer contacts in the first place? 

Reducing Customer Contact  

Getting the first bill right is critical to preventing errors from snowballing (and avoids that first customer inbound contact) and means you can build up a trusted relationship with a consumer.  That means suppliers should be taking a razor-sharp focus on the onboarding of new customers. 

Some key questions that you should be asking yourself before things start to go wrong. Do you have the correct data from your customers, and do you know what your system does with that data?  Where are the gaps?  Who is working on the issues, both in terms of preventing them and solving them? 

First things first – have you gathered the right data from customers to make sure you can bill them?  Has the first Direct Debit been collected correctly? Are you actively checking for failure, and is the data you’ve got from the previous supplier correct?   

Getting your systems set up correctly is critical here, too – have you got debt tolerance and meter read tolerance set correctly, for example?  Too tight, and you will get ‘pinged’ with errors and failed bills constantly, and too loose, you’ll set yourself up for disaster further down the line when large amounts of debit or credit may build up in the system, impacting cash flow and damaging customer trust. 

Lots of questions, but how about some answers?  

Granted, we focussed a lot there on potential pitfalls and things to consider. But, when in business are things simple, when do we get the luxury of having to consider only one or two things? The good news is that there are people and organisations that can help.  

As an outsourcer with extensive experience in utilities, we have helped solve many of these issues for energy suppliers. From end-to-end processes to a more modular approach. Each supplier is different, and therefore, so is our approach to solution design.   

Key to our offering is being able to support from both a customer-facing perspective and also working on back office tasks in the background, ensuring everything is running smoothly. It gives us a holistic view so our experienced agents can truly support customers and avoid future contact.  

Get in touch to learn more.  

If your budget is limited, you might assume allocating funds to things like product development, advertising campaigns, and sales strategies is far more lucrative than doubling down on “CX”. However, the statistics show a different story.

Even in a world where brands can easily spend a significant portion of their budget on outsourced talent, enhanced analytics technology, and omnichannel services, the return on investment for CX is impossible to ignore. Around 87% of business leaders say customer experience is their biggest growth engine, delivering more revenue, customers, and results than any other strategy.

The ROI of Great Customer Experiences

In virtually every industry, the research shows that investing in great customer experience pays dividends. Customer service is no longer a “money sink” for major brands, but a valuable investment, capable of boosting loyalty, retention, and even customer spending habits.

Gladly’s “Customer Expectations” report for 2022 found 72% of consumers are willing to spend more on a brand that guarantees a good customer experience. The research found “customer loyalty” and satisfaction levels are the most significant indicator of whether a business will thrive or not.

Gladly’s research isn’t the only report to highlight the financial value of good CX either. Studies have found investing in CX can boost your revenue streams by:

• Increasing customer loyalty: Happy customers are more likely to stay with your brand, and continue purchasing from your company. Alternatively, 83% of customers will leave a brand based on a bad service experience alone. Studies by Bain & Company found using good customer service to increase retention by 5% can be enough to increase profit by 25%. That’s because repeat customers spend up to 300% more than new clients.

• Enhancing average order value: 66% of customers say they prefer brands that can make personal recommendations based on their previous purchases. What’s more, 1 in 4 customers actively purchase products recommended by service agents. Investing in good customer service gives your business more opportunities to increase average order value through cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

• Improving sales numbers: When it comes to generating new sales, your chance of selling to an existing, satisfied customer is 14 times higher than your chances of selling to a new customer. What’s more, 72% of customers say they’ll share a positive experience with 6 or more people. Investing in customer satisfaction can help you expand the reach of your brand, and attract new potential clients.

• Reducing customer churn: All companies lose customers, but you’re far more likely to miss out on long-term, loyal clients if you don’t have the right customer service strategy. 42% of customers say they would stop buying from a company all together after just 2 bad experiences. What’s more, 55% of customers intending to make a purchase from a brand say they backed out because of poor service.

• Boosting brand reputation: A strong brand reputation instantly equals better profits. When customers know they can rely on your business to deliver excellent experiences, they’re more likely to purchase something from you. Having a good reputation for good service can also significantly reduce your “customer acquisition cost”. Studies show companies with great reputations can spend less on marketing and promotion to lure new customers.

Customer Experience is the Best Investment for Your Brand

For years, the “customer experience” strategy has been overlooked by brands. While it’s true investing in outsourced professionals, and tools for excellent customer service can incur a cost initially, the value you earn in return is well worth the initial spend.

In fact, 83% of companies who believe in the importance of great customer satisfaction say they also experience rapidly growing revenue. Plus, brands with superior customer experience generate up to 5.7 times more revenue than their competitors.

Customer experience has now emerged as the ultimate differentiating factor for any brand. Invest in customer experience, and your clients will reward you with their loyalty, their money, and even by advocating your business to other prospects. Underestimate the value CX can offer, and you risk losing money, customers, and opportunities.

Customer expectations for what defines a good experience stay fairly consistent over time, but the approach to providing that experience changes. As was the case 3 years ago, technology, timing and trust are still hugely prevalent in today’s customer service landscape.  

So here we are in 2022, 3 years later. What are the top 3 takeaways this time?  

Customers want to be served quickly and completely, the first time. The interaction they have with the person on the other end of the phone makes or breaks their level of satisfaction. The agent needs to be professional, easy to communicate with and – most importantly – knowledgeable so they can solve the problem. 

Customer expectations are influenced by technology. Today, 58% of customers interact with digital channels, and 50% of all transactions start digitally. Customers expect to have multiple channels to contact you through, from Facebook Messenger to a chatbot. Making sure the appropriate channels are available to your customers will help to reduce frustrations and encourage an efficient service. 

Consumers are okay with proactive outreach if they have some control. Customers are happy to be approached with discounts, reminders and memberships if it is to their preferred contact point. Some of these can be useful and encourage return custom, as long as the customer doesn’t feel bombarded. 

Considering customer behaviour and needs can be tricky and time consuming for any business; one way of relieving this stress is to partner with an outsourcer. An outsourcer comes with decades of knowledge and expertise that can be used to shape your decision making.  

Sound good? Why not get in touch today to see how DDC can help you achieve exceptional customer service. 

Can you find a trusted outsourcer to provide the same excellent level of service you pride yourselves upon? One that will enhance your business culture and not stifle it? 

Well, at DDC OS, we can assure you that, yes you can! We recognise that brand, tone of voice and image are an integral part of any business and that these should be reflected in any communications with both existing and potential customers. 

It sounds cliché to say it, but it really is important to us that you consider us an extension of your team. This starts long before your project goes live; in fact, it begins when we first discuss how we can help you. We invest time researching and collectively discussing your business values and your approach to customer service to ensure that the team will represent those standards. 

Your brand values form an essential part of our induction process. We will invite you to send a ‘Brand Ambassador’ from your business to train your new team on who you are and how you present your brand to your customers. If that isn’t possible our trainers will work with you to understand the brand, ready to engrain it in the training plan. On an ongoing basis, we actively encourage your input to help reinforce your brand personality. We have seen operational areas branded, merchandise delivered, discount programmes and team days out; there are many options for building brand ambassadors.  

Here at DDC OS, we encourage you to visit your team, meet with them, chat with them, and work with them! Encouraging your internal teams to engage with your outsourcing partner is a great way to ensure your brand values are really embraced and – more importantly – understood.  

For more information on how you can grow your own team of outsourced brand ambassadors, feel free to contact us.   

While you doubtless have many things to take care of, one thing you shouldn’t overlook is your customer services. Of course, 2020 has been like no other year. The outbreak of Covid-19 has hit the economic world hard. It’s never been more important to meet your customers’ needs and ensure that they keep coming back for more. Let’s take a look at why you need to offer excellent customer service this season.

It’s the busiest time of year

Whether you run a commercial business or offer services, the holiday period is likely to be the busiest time of year. It’s not just the season to be jolly. It’s also the season to spend a whole load of money. Yes, Brits spend an average of £512.85 on gifts alone each year. Unsurprisingly, this year has seen a huge surge in online shopping. Back in April, experts reported that it was up by 129% week-on-week here in the UK due to the pandemic.

The increase in spending is fortuitous for online businesses, big and small. However, it also means that there’s more pressure on the customer service department than ever before. More sales mean more people wanting to speak to your business team. That means there will be extra pressure on your advisors, should they be an in-house team.

Customer stress levels run high

While the holiday season is supposed to be a joyous time, your customers’ stress levels can surge. One survey by YouGov found that more than two in five Brits feel stressed during the festive period. To make matters worse, one in four suffer from either depression or anxiety at this time too. That statistic is likely to increase this year, now that we are in a second national lockdown. For that reason, supporting your customer base is vital.

When tensions are high, your customer services game needs to be top-notch. Should a customer have a problem with a purchase, a return, or even a question, the sooner you can answer them, the better. Customers will expect to log on or pick up the phone at a moment’s notice and get an immediate response from you. With that in mind, ensuring that you have a great team available to help them is a sure-fire way to win their loyalty.

Keep new customers coming back

Chances are, you have a loyal base of customers that use your services all year round. However, when the holiday season begins, many businesses see an increase in their customers. It is a time when you will likely have newcomers trying out your company, whether that means buying a product from you or subscribing to a package. Believe it or not, this change offers you the opportunity to expand your clients in the long-term.

Ensuring that your business offers noteworthy customer services is a savvy place to start. First impressions count for a lot! Since this is the first experience many customers will be having with your company, you have the chance to wow them. From the moment they contact your team, their experience should be smooth and pleasant. By making sure that is the case, you can turn curious one-time customers into loyal ones that will stick around.

The takeaway

Customer relations is always a crucial aspect of your business. However, this holiday season, your business needs to put greater emphasis than ever on this area. Outsourcing this part of your business could be the answer to helping you manage the sudden influx. It means you can quickly scale up your team of advisors to cope with the busy period. This cost-effective and low-hassle approach is an intelligent way to offer excellent service.

Thinking of outsourcing your customer services this holiday season? Contact us now and find out how we can help your business

1. It’s a cost-effective solution

You already know that offering excellent customer services is a must. But how can you make it happen? One option is to hire in-house customer service advisors and managers to keep things ticking over. While this may be your first instinct, you may want to think twice about diving in. Expanding your staff with these professionals can be a costly and time-consuming endeavour. You have to consider salaries and additional benefits.

On the other hand, should you choose to outsource your customer services, you only have to cover one fee. Outsourcing offers a customer lifestyle solution that will suit your business. In combining email, chat, IM, and voice services, outsourcers can offer a well-rounded package that is low-hassle and affordable. Allowing you to achieve this high level of service under one regular cost.

2. You can offer multilingual services

Do you have loyal customers all around the globe? If the answer is yes, offering multilingual customer services is a huge bonus. Not only will this move keep existing customers satisfied, but it could also help to win you new clients along the way. 74% of customers would be more likely to buy from a company that offers support in their language, according to a report from the Common Sense Advisory.

Needless to say, offering multilingual customer services in-house is a tall order. Managing people who are bi-lingual and ensuring that you get the right experts can be difficult and costly. When you choose to outsource this aspect of your business, you don’t have to worry about these fine details. Many outsourcers will offer services in more than 32 languages.

3. Offer 24/7 customer services

The modern world never sleeps. It’s hard to overstate the value of 24/7 customer services. When you have customers living around the world in different time zones, ensuring that you can serve their needs is a must. Of course, having an in-house team that works around the clock is a logistical nightmare. However, when you choose to outsource these services, you instantly have the ability to offer continuous customer services.

4. Always get a consistent quality level

Poor customer service costs you in revenue. After experiencing bad customer service, 39% of people say that they would avoid using a company for two years, according to research from Zendesk. Whenever a customer or potential customer reaches out to you, they expect a high level of service. The system should be quick, easy and reliable.

Offering customer services in-house is one way to go. However, since this is not the business’ primary function, many find it hard to ensure a consistent high-quality level. Fortunately, outsourcing your customer services is the answer. You are entrusting an experienced team of experts to do what they do best. Having an external company take care of this side of your business frees up your time to focus on its core functions.

Ready to up your customer services game by outsourcing it? Contact us now to find out how we can help you.

Inhouse Customer Services

The importance of brand image has at no point in time been as important as it is now. Therefore, it is expected that organisations are protective of it, and sometimes concerned about outsourcing such a front-line element of the brand, its voice through customer service. Keeping both hands on that wheel can be appealing. That control also enables you to hear first-hand your customers feedback, to quickly action and escalate issues.
How about the key reason not to keep it inhouse? Quite simply cost! Purchasing the equipment, the software, recruitment, salaries, incentives, rents, management, investment in expertise and the list goes on. Now, that’s not to say outsourcing is free, of course not, but why is it worth the investment?

Outsourced Customer Services

While on the topic of costs, it makes sense to recognise that a key reason to outsource would be to enjoy how cost-effective it can be. Outsourcers generally can offer a range of locations, onshore, nearshore and offshore, therefore, offering you a variety of cost models to suit your budget. It provides one transparent fee that covers the complex world of having a customer service team and all the associated costs.

The importance of your relationship with your customers can’t be overestimated, so there is no time to waste. Outsourcers are highly experienced in a range of industries and working with them enables you to benefit from their extensive knowledge and experience. Moreover, that all-important time can be spent looking at other core business functions, seeking continuous improvements to keep your customers happy.

The list goes on, but one final pro for outsourcing contact centres… recruitment! The task is not to be underestimated, nor are the associated costs. Contact Centres, no matter how successful experience higher levels of staff turnover than many industries. Investing in the current teams to increase longevity, focussing on internal progression and, implementing new people into the team is a full-time job on its own. Why take on the additional headaches, when an outsourcer can do it for you?

In the interest of fairness, let’s consider a negative of outsourcing. Communication is key, and this goes beyond regular meetings. The most successful outsourced projects are those that work as a partnership, where each parties input is valued, and collectively, they work together for excellent customer services. That requires exceptional communication. If you choose to outsource to a provider-based thousands of miles away, you may find cultural and language differences. However, providers like us here at DDC OS, offer in-country account management to support your campaigns and help develop outstanding partnerships.

But, don’t just take our word for it, here is a snippet from Invensis; Outsourcing of call centres is a trend that is catching on fast, and the business world has acknowledged that companies that outsource are often much healthier in terms of profit and brand establishment. Additional reasons to outsource include achieving flexibility, capability to run global business operations, entering into new markets, acquiring additional skills that the business does not possess, multilingual proficiency, and more.

Still not quite sure? Or ready to start your outsourced journey now? Then get in touch today. However, if you are still set on an inhouse solution, why not get in touch and give us the opportunity to provide you with a comparison?