For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

The Reality Of Customer Service In Europe: How Europeans Use And Rate Service Channels

by Patti Freeman Evans, October 9, 2009

With 51% of European adults having sought company support in the past three months, customer service must be a key component of any company retention strategy. We found that Europeans favor traditional service channels like the phone and in-store interaction, . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Footwear Manufacturers' Cross-Channel Experience, 2009

An Industry Look At This Year's Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design

by Adele Sage, September 18, 2009

As part of a larger analysis of 16 firms, Forrester evaluated the cross-channel experiences of four large footwear manufacturers — adidas, New Balance, Nike, and Puma. Overall, the footwear manufacturers lagged relative to most of the other industries. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Discount Retailers' Cross-Channel Experience, 2009

An Industry Look At This Year's Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design

by Bruce D. Temkin, September 3, 2009

As part of a larger analysis of 16 firms, Forrester evaluated the cross-channel experiences of four large discount retailers — Kmart, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart. Overall, the discount retailers performed poorly compared to the other industries we evaluated. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Executive Q&A: Cross-Channel Reviews

by Adele Sage, July 31, 2009

Cross-channel reviews uncover flaws that prevent users from accomplishing goals when their paths take them across multiple channels, like Web sites and interactive voice response (IVR) systems. When companies fix these flaws they improve business results. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Auto Insurers' Cross-Channel Experience, 2009

An Industry Look At This Year's Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design

by Bruce D. Temkin, July 10, 2009

As part of a larger analysis of 16 firms, Forrester evaluated the cross-channel experiences of four large auto insurers — 21st Century Insurance, Allstate Insurance, Geico, and State Farm. Overall, the auto insurers performed fairly well relative to the . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Enhance Your Product Strategy With Convenient Customer Service

by Doug Williams, June 22, 2009

Customer service has become an integral part of product strategy, and, as such, it should now be a primary concern of consumer product strategy professionals. Customer service has also grown more complex: Consumers used to simply bring the product back . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Best And Worst Of Email Interaction Design, 2009

Forrester Applies Its Email Interaction Review Methodology To 16 Major Firms

by Adele Sage, May 27, 2009

Forrester applied its Email Interaction Review to the email interactions of 16 firms: four each of the largest auto insurers, discount retailers, footwear manufacturers, and online travel agencies. Only one of the 15 companies that actually responded . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Online Travel Agencies' Cross-Channel Experience, 2009

An Industry Look At This Year's Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design

by Adele Sage, May 22, 2009

As part of a larger analysis of 16 firms, Forrester evaluated the cross-channel experiences of four large online travel agencies — Expedia, Orbitz, priceline.com, and Travelocity. Overall, the travel agencies ended up with the highest average score compared . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

eBusiness Customer Service And Support Benchmark

Aligning Availability And Accessibility With Customer Needs And Desires

by Zachary McGeary, March 27, 2009

Consumers continue to embrace online customer service and support. According to a November 2008 survey, 48% more consumers claimed that a company Web site was more useful than a physical store for their servicing needs. Yet availability and accessibility . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

US Customer Service And Support Metrics, December 2008

Benchmarking Email Response Management Best Practices

by Zachary McGeary, February 13, 2009

Of the 84% of sites offering email as a customer support option, only 44% provided auto-acknowledgements, according to a recent JupiterResearch WebTrack. Moreover, 81% of sites responded to email inquiries, but just 57% resolved email inquiries within . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester's Customer Service Innovation Framework And Self-Assessment

Use Our Assessment To Improve The Customer Experience And Get Quick Wins

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., January 13, 2009

Customer service disappointments are often a result of poor strategy. Forrester's Customer Service Innovation Framework provides you with 150 best practice capabilities — organized into six categories — that drive customer retention, loyalty, reduced . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester's Customer Service Innovation Capabilities Self-Assessment  (158 KB XLS)

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., January 9, 2009

This is the self assessment workbook that accompanies the document "Forrester's Customer Service Innovation Framework and Self-Assessment".

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Optimizing Online Banking Customer Contacts

A Checklist For Improving Self-Service During The Downturn

by Emmett Higdon, December 18, 2008

Given the continuing turmoil experienced by financial institutions, the last thing customers need from their bank is more uncertainty. Yet when posing a question online, many customers are often left guessing about how and when they will hear back from . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Benchmarking E-mail Customer Service

Evaluating People, Processes, and Technology

by Zachary McGeary, November 18, 2008

Lackluster e-mail response times continue to plague the online customer service landscape. A broad failure of organizations to implement e-mail automation applications has decreased consumers' satisfaction with e-mail support. With dedicated resources . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Case Study: E-LOAN Finds Success In Targeting Application Abandoners

Communication Timeliness Is The Key To Success In Converting Abandoners

by Brad Strothkamp, November 5, 2008

E-LOAN is one of the few financial firms to take application abandonment seriously. Consumers who abandon applications receive two follow-up emails encouraging them to complete the process. The result has been a 28% increase in completed applications.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Customer Service Software Solutions, Q4 2008

Define The Customer Experience Before Choosing A Vendor

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., October 21, 2008

Forrester evaluated the leading customer service solution vendors across an average of approximately 180 criteria and found that the vendors still need to be grouped into three groups: interaction-, process-, and record-centric. Forrester found the Leaders . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Best And Worst Of Email Interaction Design, 2008

Forrester Applies Its Email Interaction Review Methodology To 16 Major Firms

by Adele Sage, October 14, 2008

Forrester applied its Email Interaction Review to the email interactions of 16 firms: four each of the largest airlines, banks, department stores, and MP3 player manufacturers. None of the 13 companies that actually responded to our emails passed the . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Online Self-Service Case Study

Carfax Cuts Support Costs and Raises Quality Through E-mail Deflection

by Zachary McGeary, September 22, 2008

Context: The overwhelming popularity of e-mail as a support touch point has increased the volume of asynchronous communication, challenging organizations to maximize e-mail management efficiencies. Thirty-one percent of sites in a recent JupiterResearch . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Department Stores' Cross-Channel Experience, 2008

An Industry Look At This Year's Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design

by Vidya L. Drego, August 7, 2008

As part of a larger analysis of 16 firms, Forrester evaluated the cross-channel experiences of four large US department stores — JCPenney, Kohl's, Macy's, and Sears. As an industry, the department stores received average scores compared with other industries, . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Airlines' Cross-Channel Experience, 2008

An Industry Look At This Year's Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design

by Vidya L. Drego, July 17, 2008

As part of a larger analysis of 16 firms, Forrester evaluated the cross-channel experiences of four large US airlines — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Air Lines. As an industry, airlines earned the highest average score, . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Technographics® Insight: Which Europeans Use New Customer Service Methods?  (271 KB PPT)

by Reineke Reitsma, June 5, 2008

This Technographics Insight takes a look at the customer service methods Europeans like and use. It examines more particularly the methods consumers use to contact their main mobile phone operator.

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

How To Get Customers To Shop Online

How Consumers Research, Buy, And Get Service

by Carrie Johnson, April 16, 2008

Our research still shows that despite the adoption of online transactions, consumers prefer in-store experiences over the Web when it comes to researching, buying, and getting customer service. This somewhat counterintuitive data points to the biggest . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

US Customer Service & Support Metrics, December 2007

by Zachary McGeary, April 14, 2008

Consumers continue to leverage e-mail for customer service, but their satisfaction with the channel remains mired. A recent JupiterResearch WebTrack provides the most current snapshot of the overall e-mail customer service landscape.

For Customer Experience Professionals

How Consumers Research, Buy, And Get Service

Preferences For Channels Differ Across Generations

by Bruce D. Temkin, March 31, 2008

Forrester asked consumers about the channels they use when researching, buying, and getting customer service. In-person interactions, both phone and store, dominated these activities. But consumers were not very satisfied with most interactions. Our research . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

E-mail Automation Best Practices

Optimizing E-mail Response Management

by Zachary McGeary, May 23, 2007

Waning e-mail response performance has implications for all companies.