WebProNews

Tag: consumers

  • Study Looks At Pressure On Business Leaders To Meet Rising Customer Expectations

    A study out from Lithium Technologies reveals that 42% of business leaders claim that consumers shame them on social media. This is based on a Harris Poll in April and Mayamong 300 corporate execs who work at companies with revenue of $1 billion or more.

    82% of these executives, who are VP level and higher, say their customers have higher expectations compared to three years ago, and 60% say it’s hard to please them. 42% indicate that customers use social media to shame them into doing what the consumer wants, the report says.

    “The consumer is forever changed,” said Lithium Technologies CEO Rob Tarkoff. “Social media and the rise of non-traditional, web-based entrants into established industries have evolved their expectations. Consumers use digital channels to find and share information, reviews, and insider tips. At the same time, they are using those channels to suggest improvements and sometimes shame brands into solving their problems. Business leaders are taking note of what this means to their image and bottom line—and rushing to find innovative ways to adapt.”

    Another interesting finding from the report is that 78% of business leaders think the Internet and consumer app companies are setting a new benchmark for customer experiences.

    “Yelp has changed dining experiences and made it possible for everyone to be a food critic,” said Tarkoff. “Uber has forever changed urban transportation. Airbnb has pressured the hotel industry. Netflix has changed the way we watch TV. And of course Amazon has changed the rules of retail for every retailer—online or otherwise. Whether a company competes directly with these companies or others like them, the Internet has created a consumer expectation that all companies now must meet.”

    65% of those polled cited innovation as one of the top pressures felt from rising consumer expectations, while 58% cited competition with other companies, and 52% cited customer turnover. 30% said slowed revenue growth, 28% said increased amount of discounts their company provides for to customers, and 17% said reduced market share.

    “All businesses need to get savvier about responding to the new consumer—and find ways to reap the benefits of digital business while minimizing the negative impacts,” said Tarkoff. “The good news our survey showed is that 93% of business leaders say their company is adapting to the digital transformation. But do their approaches have scale and staying power? That is the next big question.”

    Via AdWeek

    Image via Lithium Technologies

  • Comcast Is Hiring More Twitter Reps to Help All You Super Bitches

    Comcast Is Hiring More Twitter Reps to Help All You Super Bitches

    If you’d like to work for Comcast and handle angry customers on Twitter, well, they’re hiring.

    In fact, Comcast says it’s tripling its online @ComcastCares team, which handles customer service issues on Twitter and other social outlets.

    “So, today we are excited to announce that we are tripling the size of our social care team and giving them additional resources and support so they can be more responsive and helpful to customers. With a much bigger team, we’ll be able to support customers across more platforms. And we’ll be able to get to them faster. A larger team also means that we’ll be able to increase bicoastal and bilingual coverage to make sure we are available 24/7 to customers who speak either English or Spanish,” says Comcast’s Senior Vice President of Customer Service Tom Karinshak.

    I guess Comcast wants to try to improve this:

    “Improving the customer experience is our top priority,” says Karinshak.

    Remember, Comcast has said that Customer Service will “soon be one of [its] best products.” Let’s just hope that the training for the new Twitter rep position involves a crash course on not calling customers Super Bitch, Asshole Brown, or Cunt Martinez. Sorry, that last one is unfair – that was an insult lobbed from a Time Warner Cable employee. You know, the company Comcast is trying to buy.

  • ‘Super Bitch’ Is Comcast’s Latest Customer Insult

    Just a week after winning hearts and minds by calling a customer “Asshole Brown” on his bill, Comcast is continuing this stellar customer service thing by slinging more insults at people.

    This time, it’s a 63-year-old Chicago area woman named Mary Bauer.

    Or, should I say “Super Bitch” Bauer.

    According to WGN, Bauer is pretty familiar with Comcast’s customer service. In a few month span, she reportedly saw 39 technicians at her home due to spotty service. As soon as she finally got that straightened out, her bill stopped coming.

    After four months, she called Comcast. Here’s what happened next, via WGN:

    “I was nice enough to call them to ask how much I owe,” she said. “I was little hot and a little angry because I never got good service.” But she says she didn’t swear or call them names.

    It was not an usual complaint, but when Mary got her bill today…

    “It says Super Bitch Bauer,” she said. “This is a disgrace to me. Why are they doing this to me? I pay my bills. I Dd not deserve this.”

    Last week came the story of Lisa and Ricardo Brown, who were shocked to see the name “Asshole Brown” printed on their bill. Considering neither of them are named “Asshole”, the couple took it as an insult.

    Comcast issues a public apology and fired the employee responsible for the name change.

    In a blog post, Comcast SVP of Customer Experience Charlie Herrin stressed the need for respect.

    “We took this opportunity to reinforce with each employee just how important respect is to our culture. In every interaction we have with a customer, we need to show them respect, patience, and enthusiasm to provide them with an excellent experience,” he wrote.

    “The culture of a company is the collective habits of its people – we have great people at Comcast and we need to treat customers with the respect they deserve.”

    In the past week, other reports of bill name changes have surfaced, including some claiming that bills sported names like “whore” and “dummy”.

    Speaking earlier this month at a CES panel, Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit said that soon, the company expects customer service “will soon be one of out best products.”

  • Comcast Calls Customer ‘Asshole Brown’ on Bill, Continues to Win Hearts and Minds

    Let’s say you’re Comcast. Let’s say, just for argument’s sake, that you’re the most-hated company in America. Let’s say that you’ve been the most-hated company in America for years now. Let’s say that the past year has been one long string of customer service mishaps and very public embarrassments for you.

    Now, one of your regional offices calls a customer an “asshole”.

    Ouch. Not good.

    But this story isn’t just about a Comcast service rep losing their temper and calling a customer a bad name. Apparently, a woman recently looked at her bill and was shocked to see that instead of the addressee being Ricardo Brown, her husband, the recipient was one “Asshole Brown”.

    Christopher Elliott at elliott.org has the story.

    Lisa Brown, a volunteer for a missions organization in Spokane, Wash., contacted me yesterday because of a billing problem with Comcast, her local cable provider. The issue? The name on their bill had been changed from her husband’s name, Ricardo, to “Asshole” Brown.

    Seriously.

    Brown has tried to fix the name herself. She’s visited her local Comcast office and phoned higher-ups in the Washington region. But she wasn’t getting anywhere and needed help.

    So Elliott made a few calls and eventually got the attention of a higher-up at Comcast. That got the ball rolling.

    “We have spoken with our customer and apologized for this completely unacceptable and inappropriate name change,” Jenni Moyer, senior director of Comcast corporate communications, told Yahoo Tech. “We have zero tolerance for this type of disrespectful behavior and are conducting a thorough investigation to determine what happened. We are working with our customer to make this right and will take appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again.”

    Brown maintains that she’s sure she didn’t act rudely toward any Comcast rep. She claims she simply called to cancel a service, upon which she was slapped with a cancellation fee and a talk with the ubiquitous “retention specialist”.

    Of course, this is immaterial. Rude or not, you can’t change someone’s name to “Asshole” on their bill. I mean, honestly.

    Comcast is now going over-the-top in attempting to make amends. First, they refunded her $60 cancellation fee. Then, the company said it would terminate the employee responsible.

    Now, Comcast has refunded two years worth of cable bills, upon her demand. That might be is a bit excessive, to be honest. But hey, Comcast just aims to please, right?

    Speaking earlier this month at a CES panel, Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit said that the company expects customer service “will soon be one of out best products.”

  • Consumer Tech Spending Could Be Slowing

    This weekend Apple once again set records, selling over 9 million iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones. With consumers willing to spend money every year on a smartphone upgrade (and mobile providers now encouraging them to do so), it would seem like tech spending will continue to skyrocket in the coming years. However, consumer tech spending could actually slow in the near future, if new data from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is accurate.

    The CEA today revealed that consumer confidence toward technology spending has dropped down to levels not seen since 2009. The organization’s index for tech spending expectations fell 6.5 points in the past month.

    These results could be due to increased consumer patience. A CEA survey found that just over half (51%) of American adults intend to purchase electronics before 2014. Among those Americans, a full 62% of them stated they are waiting until Black Friday or later to make their tech purchase.

    “Despite key product launches this month, broad consumer appetite for tech showed signs of waning in CEA’s most recent sentiment readings,” said Shawn DuBravac chief at CEA. “Given some broader economic uncertainties and a generally poor back-to-school spending period, consumers might be holding back on tech purchases.”

    Though consumers seem to be putting off their tech purchases, Americans’ overall feelings toward the economy have not dipped. The CEA survey saw its index measurement for consumer sentiment about the economy drop less than one point in the previous month. Feelings about the economy have, however, dropped over 10 index points from this time last year.

  • Tech Spending Confidence Rising, Says CEA

    Tech Spending Confidence Rising, Says CEA

    The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) today announced that consumer confidence in technology spending reached its highest level this year in August. The organization’s “Consumer TEchnology Expectations” index improved to 87.2 this month, up one point from the index in July.

    This increase in tech spending confidence happened while consumer confidence in the overall economy is falling. The CEA’s “Consumer Expectations” index, fell to 162.6 this month, down 5.2 points from the July index. The Consumer Expectations index measures consumer confidence about the overall economy. This month’s index is 6.1 points lower than the index one year ago.

    “Consumer sentiment toward the overall economy softened this month,” said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at CEA. “Tensions abroad could have consumers holding back on spending.”

    The CEA stated that the good tech spending confidence should be good for back-to-school and holiday spending. Tech companies, including Apple and Amazon, are expected to announce their new yearly lineups of tablets and smartphones sometime in the coming months.

    “Technology sentiment increased slightly in August, a positive sign for tech spending around back-to-school purchases,” said DuBravac. “Tech sentiment is in line with August 2012 levels and well above the 2009-2012 average.”

    (Image courtesy Apple)

  • Facebook’s Image, User Confidence Hurt Post IPO

    Nobody needs to reiterate that Facebook’s post-IPO honeymoon period has gone, well, less-than-swimmingly. As of the writing of this article, the stock has sunk to $27.24 per share. On the plus side, it’s been hovering in the $27-$28 range all day and only dipped below $27 for a brief moment. Ok, who am I kidding – people aren’t too pleased.

    Apparently, it’s not just frustration over the stock situation. According to metrics provided by BrandKeys, the distaste left by the disastrous days following the IPO has metastasized and is now affecting how consumers view the company on a couple different levels.

    In short, the IPO has negatively affected Facebook’s consumer loyalty and engagement.

    BrandKeys’ Customer Loyalty Engagement Index showed Facebook in the top spot in previous months. Thier study encompasses 49,000 consumers, and tracks over 600 brands in 83 categories. In the social media category, Facebook ruled…until the index came out for May.

    According to the numbers, Facebook has dropped to 5th on the list, behind LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and top dawg YouTube.

    “First you need be resonant enough with consumers to make the list. Then we’re able to determine how well a brand meets or exceeds expectations consumer hold for the drivers of engagement and loyalty in the category. Five months ago Facebook was doing just fine,” said BrandKeys president Robert Passikoff.

    The metrics break down into subcategories, which show that Facebook was hurt in terms of “Self-Image” and “Trust & Security,” losing 11 and 20 points respectively.

    Passikoff blames it on the IPO, saying “what was once a community is now being viewed as a business, and that changes things substantially.”

    To be fair, a few months have passed sinced Facebook was riding high atop the Consumer Loyalty Engagement Index. The IPO fiasco is a relatively new thing. Plenty of other things could have miffed users in the last few months, including but not limited to privacy concerns and redesigns that pissed off a whole hell of a lot of users (yo Timeline).

    But then again, they might be on to something, because, you know, this:

  • Social Customer Service Becoming More Widely Used

    More and more, when a consumer has a problem they are turning to the internet and looking for answers in the avenues of social customer service. If you haven’t heard of social customer service, just think back to the last time you had a problem with iTunes or couldn’t figure out how to create a filter for your Gmail and, instead of pouring through FAQs and help files, you instead just posted to Facebook or Twitter to ask other people.

    That type of resolution would be considered social customer service.

    This trend of relying on social media is predictably attributable to the increasingly internet-dependent youth, but the shift away from the traditional modes of customer service isn’t limited to that group only. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 adults 45-to-54 years old asked about a problem on a Q&A site and over 1 in 4 adults 35-to-44 year-olds said they’ve watched a video tutorial on Youtube or a company website.

    Honestly, who can blame anybody for turning to the internet as the first-response method to solving a customer service problem? Nobody wants to dig through an owner’s manual, locate a corporate hotline, and then go through a vexing menu of automated recordings only to finally talk to a living-and-breathing customer service rep just to be put on hold. Resorting to the internet’s brand of semi-self-help social customer service is usually a faster and likely easier way to locate a good answer since some of the people you’d be asking are those who have experienced the very problem you’re looking to solve.

    Or, if you can’t solve the problem, of course the internet is the best basket available to slam your complaints into. 20% admitted to using the internet to vent, and that number went up to 36% when limited to those under 25 years old.

    Social customer service isn’t necessarily replacing traditional means of customer service, though; more, it’s an additional channel to help consumers remedy an issue. To illustrate the shift in customer service, Our Social Times put together an infographic using recent consumer data that point to evolving habits of of the 2012 consumer.


    To see a larger version of the above infographic, click here.

  • Mobile Ads Don’t Motivate Americans To Make Purchases

    According to the latest research from Nielsen, American consumers were least likely to make purchases online after viewing mobile ads. Only 20 percent of Americans owning smartphones made purchases on after seeing an ad. As a comparison, In German, 34 percent of consumers were likely to make a purchase online via a PC after seeing a mobile advertisement. In fact, smartphone and tablet owners in the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany were found to be more likely than Americans to make a purchase online after seeing mobile ads.

    Only 4 percent of American smartphone owners purchased a product directly on a smartphone after seeing the mobile ad. Surprising information, considering how simple and fast this method appears to offer consumers. American tablet owners were only slightly more inclined with just 8 percent admitting to making a purchase directly after viewing an ad on their tablet. The results were also surprising because of the strong consumer culture in the United States.

    The takeaway from the Nielsen study seems to be that the mobile advertising world may not yet have found the best way to target audiences in America and have somehow found a way to reach European audiences more effectively. Another key factor in the results may be that American consumers are so inundated by advertising everywhere else, they may be more jaded than their European counterparts when it comes to receiving ads and therefore less likely to make purchases afterward from their mobile and tablet devices.

    @LucieHyde
    Lucie Hyde    Tablet & smartphone owners in UK Italy & Germany more likely than US device owners to make purchase with PC after seeing mobile ad #neilsen 16 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • iPhone, Samsung Smartphone Demand Remains High After Holidays

    iPhone, Samsung Smartphone Demand Remains High After Holidays

    It looks like a lack of Christmas isn’t slowing down anybody’s desire to buy smartphones. ChangeWave Research, an independent research firm that examines consumer behavior, has found that people are still clamoring to get their hands on iPhones and Samsung smartphones.

    Unsurprisingly, demand for Apple’s iPhones continues to dominate the market months after the release of the iPhone 4S. ChangeWave, who tracks consumer behavior in quarterly reports throughout the year, states that “Apple has never dominated smart phone planned buying to this extent more than two months after a major new release.” Again, it’s not exactly news to blow your hair back but it’s suggestive of the Siri factor that the iPhone 4S offers users.

    The amount of people who plan to buy an iPhone has steadily increased over the past four years with the predictable spikes of interest whenever a new iPhone was released. Traditionally, the amount of people intending to purchase an iPhone drops precipitously a few months after the release of a new model but then establishes a new baseline that is higher than the previous baseline percentage of people planning to buy an iPhone before a new model is released. Apple, in other words, are wizards at creating a sustained interest after the release of iPhones.

    What’s more telling is that, while iPhone’s demand has remained strong, it’s dipped 11% from September to December among people planning to purchase a smartphone within the next 90 days. Alternately, the amount of people planning to purchase a Samsung smartphone climbed 8% in the same time period. Combine that with the 2% increase of consumers planning to purchase a Motorola smartphone and you can pretty much see where that missing 11% of would-be iPhone buyers went. In case you forgot, Samsung launched a pretty wild campaign for their Samsung Galaxy S II phone by singling out iPhone users as an affected group of Kool-aid-swilling consumers. While this wouldn’t normally resonate among consumer trends, the December 2011 marks the single-highest increase of people planning on buying a Samsung smartphone in the past four years. That said, it seems Samsung’s left a favorable impression on the minds of potential buyers.

    Maybe Samsung’s new market of planned buyers were poached from Apple or maybe they’ve managed to appeal to a sect of consumers who, until now, had remained smartphone-less. When ChangeWave releases their data for March later this year a clearer picture of how (or if) Samsung has chipped into Apple’s market dominance will take a firmer shape.