Month: October 2019

A smart business owner will always consider the customer experience, and try to find ways to make improvements. This is critical to success, as you will never retain customers or benefit from their referrals if they have a bad experience when using your brand. Fortunately, it can be relatively straightforward to improve the customer experience, and this should start to deliver noticeable effects almost immediately.

So, if you are just starting out, or if you feel as though you could be providing a better experience for your customers, then be sure to read on for a few ideas for ways in which you can make improvements.

Get A Clear Understanding Of Target Customer

It is difficult to know how to improve the customer experience if you do not have a clear understanding of who your target customer is. Look closely into your target group and think about what they want when they interact with a brand.

Make Communication Easy & Varied

Communication is key to success in all areas of business, particularly when it comes to your business. You need to make it easy for your customers to get in touch with your business, and you should always be replying swiftly and professionally – there are few things more frustrating than being unable to reach the company that you are doing business with. There should be a few ways for people to contact your business as some prefer certain forms of communication and dislike others. This means that you should have the following options:

• Email
• Social media
• Chatbot
• Phone

Easy-To-Use Website

Websites are what customers greatly rely on, so you must make sure that this is easy-to-use, stylish, and functional. Nothing will deter a visitor more quickly than a clunky website, irritating ads, a chaotic layout, or a website which loads slowly. For the best results, it is worth using the services of a professional web design agency who will be able to deliver a modern, stylish and easy-to-use site which is a positive reflection of your brand.

Use Customer Satisfaction Tools

Without seeking feedback from your customers, making changes can be pure guesswork. So, a key strategy is to seek feedback from your existing customers so that you can learn what is working well and what is not. Customer satisfaction tools like those provided by HappyOrNot are highly effective for gauging how successful the customer experience is and allows you to identify ways in which you could make improvements.

Learn From Mistakes

Even the best companies drop the ball from time to time when it comes to the customer experience. What separates the best companies from everyone else is the fact that they will learn from these mistakes, and then find ways to avoid it happening again in the future. Additionally, it is important to own up to mistakes and do what you can to appease the customer (free products, discounts or anything else) – it is frustrating as a consumer when a brand does not acknowledge their error or show any empathy.

Hopefully, these tips will help you to provide a greater customer experience which will be key for retention and boosting your reputation.

For large and enterprise businesses, the ability to see into the future of technology is critical for continued success, especially when it comes to customer satisfaction (CSat). Contact centers have gone through a major transformation in the past 10 years, and emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) will soon be commonplace and part of customer service expectations. The call center software you implement and the customer data you collect and store will help improve the omnichannel experience and keep you ahead of the curve.

What Is Omnichannel Call Center Software and Why Should Your Company Use It?

Omnichannel call center software integrates inbound voice, outbound voice, seamless omnichannel interactions and self-service solutions for a robust contact center system that delivers consistent, cohesive customer service across multiple channels. It enables real-time data sharing between channels, databases and agents.

In the traditional multichannel call center, information was kept in data silos, frustrating customers who had to keep repeating themselves as they were transferred between agents or changed communication channels. An omnichannel solution provides cross-channel integration, creating a more consistent brand experience and greater CSat.

Customer satisfaction is of critical concern for enterprise organizations. Studies have shown that for users who engage with two or more channels for a single inquiry, CSat is 39 percent greater (67 percent) with a seamless omnichannel experience than with a non-seamless multichannel experience (28 percent). A positive experience enhances their perception of the business and builds customer loyalty.

What Will the Omnichannel Experience Look Like in 2020?

According to a government report on emerging technologies in contact centers, less than one-third of customers use the phone to contact a call center. It is predicted that by 2022, cloud-based technologies such as chatbots, mobile messaging and machine learning will power up to 70 percent of customer interactions, and that AI will be handling 20 percent of customer service interactions.

This rapid adoption of emerging technologies by contact centers is driven by the expectations of savvy customers who are accustomed to short, productive communications with smartphone and home AI systems like Siri and Alexa. They will expect seamless integration between voice, text, live chat and other channels with lightning-fast interactions and issue resolution. The modular design of today’s omnichannel call center software lets companies add what they need when they need it, and it adapts well to a rapidly changing communications environment.

What Data Should Businesses Be Collecting and Storing to Improve the User Experience?

With call center software, various data can be collected from customer interactions through different sources. This data can be correlated, analyzed and used to enhance the customer omnichannel experience, identify consumer trends and provide insight for future product and service development. This goldmine of information is used by sales, marketing and customer service teams to improve business operations and boost ROI.

Businesses should be capturing:

• Personal and account information
• History of communications with company agents and past transactions
• Issue details and concerns
• Most recent company website pages that the user visited
• Communications via organization’s social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook
• Most recent mobile app transactions
• Web-based sales and/or abandoned carts; order history and preferences; product questions

Where to capture data:

• Voice and SMS messaging
• Social media conversations
• Live chat sessions
• Email correspondence
• Posts on community forums
• Inquiries on company website
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software data
• ePOS and POS systems

Plan for the Future of Customer Interactions

Customers want multiple communication platforms, knowledgeable answers to their questions and fast-issue resolution. To meet customer expectations, your call center software must be robust. It should provide an omnichannel system that lets companies seamlessly integrate all communication channels to improve the customer experience; a modular omnichannel system for your contact center can nimbly adapt as new technology arrives; and it should start collecting valuable customer data so that your company can continually improve the omnichannel customer experience for maximum CSat and strong, lucrative customer connections.

If you have already graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a similar field and you’re looking for the next step in your career, you might be considering what jobs are out there that you can apply for and what advancing your education even further with a master’s could do for you. After graduating, finding a job can be difficult, but thankfully there are many doors and options that a degree will open up for you; here are just a few.

Apply for further education

Graduating with a degree is a fantastic achievement for many, but for those that are looking to expand their skills further before applying for jobs, you might find that enrolling at a university to study a masters in computer science online is perfect. It gives you the opportunity to find a specialty that you love within the computer science industry and the chance to figure out what next steps to take in terms of your career.  

Studying for a master’s in computer science will provide you with the extra knowledge you need to be successful in particular job roles. As a bonus, it will not only provide you with the skills you need to theoretically succeed in the industry and in your dream position, but it will also provide you with connections you need to actually succeed.

One of the best things about studying a master’s degree is that it immediately shows potential employers that you are passionate and dedicated to your field of work and study; you’re ready and willing to go the extra mile to learn the skills you need and that you are willing to do the same in the position you’re going for!

Career Options You Have

1.    Computer Scientist

It comes with the name and it is probably the first position you think of when you think of pursuing a career in computer science. This type of career is versatile; you could work for virtually any company or organization that requires a software system to operate. If you have a strong passion alongside your interest in all thing’s computers, you can combine the two as a computer scientist and feel fully content in your career. Algorithms, databases, and software will be your key to success in these kinds of roles.

2.    Application Developer

Particularly for mobile phones and tablet devices, application developers are growing in demand as the growth of mobile applications and games continues to skyrocket. Apps are essential for growing businesses because of their significant and increasing popularity all across the globe.

To succeed as an application developer, you will need to be an expert with various programming tools and keep in mind that it is all about the user experience on the other end of the app.

3.    Database Administrator

If you know your way around databases and other related programs like they are the back of your hand or know that you could learn to with a further degree, then it would be worth pursuing a role such as this one. As a database administrator, you can also flex your creative skills and mind when planning and designing database applications. Put your own spin on the database you’re working on, fix a bug or user error that’s been plaguing your organization; it’s all in a day’s work in this role.

4.    Web Developer

If you find yourself looking at websites and thinking that you could create something similar if not better, then consider following this drive and becoming a web developer. Design, build and maintain websites; you can choose what you want to specialize in. If you love designing and creating something beautiful and pleasing to look at, you could make the perfect front-end developer by designing the layout and content of websites and making them both stunning and user-friendly.

If you prefer to work behind the scenes, you could take on the role of a back-end developer, ensuring that the site runs smoothly and works on a technical level. Both of these roles are important in their own ways, especially in the digital age our society is in, and require the knowledge that a master’s in computer science can give you.

5.    Computer Systems Analyst

If you have a knack for fixing technical things and solving software problems that seem to boggle and confuse everyone else around you, then just by simply developing your skills it could lead you to a career as a computer systems analyst. In this type of role, you would constantly use your problem-solving skills on the job, help to ensure that software operations continue to work effectively, and assisting when issues do arrive.

You will also have the chance to improve how the systems currently operate; if you have some hotshot ideas that you think can revolutionize an operating system, program or database, then this career is your opportunity to test your solutions and improvements.

Make Connections

While a career goal is no doubt what most people focus on, and for others it is about furthering their education, it is important to make the most of the connections within the industry that the university can offer you, especially when landing a role in your dream job is so difficult nowadays.

Your immediate connections, being your professors and your classmates, will have connections within the computer science industry outside of the institution, whether this is organizational connections or personal connections, and these are all very useful when you are trying to get your foot in the door to one of these previously mentioned positions.

Knowing the organization or someone who works within the organization is extremely valuable when you are applying for positions in an industry filled with talented and capable candidates.

— Choosing what to do after you have graduated is a momentous decision that can impact the rest of your life, and it is not to be taken lightly. It can open up many career opportunities and further education options that you may not have had the chance to pursue beforehand, which of course makes it valuable to you, but it also makes you valuable to potential employers.

Network marketing is plagued with misconceptions and myths, despite being a multi-billion-dollar industry that’s full of success stories. It’s a great alternative for anyone looking to start their own home-based business, be their own boss, or find a supplementary income that has the potential of growing into a full-time gig. 

Many people who are just starting out fall into the same trap where they don’t see their new multi-level marketing (MLM) business as a business and, therefore, don’t treat it as such. However, successful network marketers, such as the marketers at tonivans.com, know that social network marketing is a great way to earn a sustainable income over the long-term if done right. This means realizing that you are indeed running a business from scratch. The key to doing anything the right way is to dedicate the right amount of time to it and, more importantly, stay organized. 

Here are some tips on how to organize your network marketing business. 

Write everything in a planner

Investing in a high-quality planner is a wise idea, because it can dramatically improve your productivity. Having a physical planner, rather than keeping digital notes scattered around, helps your brain unpack information and focus better on the tasks at hand. 

If you think digital planning is for you, there are plenty of digital planner apps that can organize your business. Google Calendar is one example where you can input meetings, reminders, and any tasks on your daily to-do list, and it conveniently syncs across all your devices to keep you on track.

Have a separate notebook dedicated to customers and prospects

Separating your daily operations from your customers and prospects is a must. It’s imperative for network marketing to keep contact information at the ready so you can follow up or reach out at a later time for updates, ‘thank you’s, and sharing testimonials. Include your prospect or customer’s name, the date you connected, their contact information, how you connected with them (i.e. in person, on social media, etc.), and briefly write out what action was taken when you connected (i.e. shared a link to buy, scheduled a meeting, etc.). 

Use a bookkeeping service to stay on top of finances

Managing your costs and profits is a basic part of running an at-home business. Not everyone is a finance expert, so if you want to keep it simple and organized, make use of bookkeeping software that you can easily manage yourself. Be sure to keep track of the sales you make directly, the sales your downlines make that you get a portion of, as well as any expenses from travelling or buying supplies. 

Utilize an email marketing system Keeping a connection to all of your customers and prospects can be difficult, especially as your network grows. Over the long run, connections you have made may fade out of your close network and communication may slowly dwindle. You can avoid this from happening by having an email marketing plan. You can include product updates, team updates or accolades, and testimonials. It’s also a good opportunity to send out thank you emails or follow up with prospects to keep them in the sales funnel. 

Having a successful small business model is heavily dependent on creating a desirable and marketable product, designing services that will appeal to your target market and being a dedicated entrepreneur who is able to see their vision through into realization. However, another really important aspect of the success of a business is making sure that your company is as user-friendly as possible, a factor which is especially important for businesses that operate mostly digitally.

Ensuring that your clients are satisfied when interacting with your company online is one of the main factors that will contribute to their continued custom; so, here are four tips that may help you to create a more user-friendly online experience.

A well designed website

Your website is the main source of information that potential customers will refer to, in order to decide whether or not they are interested in your products and services. Therefore, you must ensure that your website is home to all of the necessary information about you and your business that you would want consumers to know.

The information on your website should be in-depth enough that customers are able to find answers to any questions they have, while still being concise so that they aren’t forced to scroll through endless amounts of useless text.

Additionally, your website needs to be easily-to-navigate, and have well placed call to action buttons, so that if they are interested in booking your services or purchasing products from you, they can easily get in touch or shop right there and then. 

Online chat services

Online chat services are one of the quickest and most convenient ways for customers to get in touch with a business if they have any concerns or queries. The quicker that you can answer any questions a potential customer has, the more likely it is that they will go on to shop with you, as your attentiveness will show that you value their custom, and also that your business is reliable.

Additionally, if any pre-existing customers have any issues or complaints, these too must be dealt with swiftly to avoid your business obtaining a bad or damaged reputation.

Streamlined e-commerce

If you are a business that sells products, then e-commerce is one of the most efficient ways to sell your wares on a larger scale, especially if you are able to ship products to a broader geographical area. Companies such as CoSource can design and build dedicated e-commerce solutions that are tailored to your individual businesses needs, in order to create a more enjoyable customer experience which will help to boost your profit margins.

Utilizing social media

Social media is one of the most effective tools for creating a positive business reputation and connecting with your customers. It is important customers that they feel a business is accessible, approachable and attentive to their needs, as it makes them feel valued as a customer and shows a business to be a positive part of their community. Therefore, make sure to create a consistent and positive online presence and regularly interact with any followers you may connect with through these platforms to encourage regular custom.