SPSS (Nasdaq: SPSS) has introduced a new product, PredictiveCallCenter, that it says can transform inbound call hubs from cost centers to profit centers. The application integrates with call-center CRM and call management systems to determine on-the-fly the best way to market to inbound callers, noting whether they are more receptive to upsell, cross-sell or retention offers.
According to SPSS, the program achieves highly accurate customer recommendations and can increase cross-sell and upsell hit rates by 50 percent or more. It does so by using predictive analytics, scanning all of the sales channels used by a customer to anticipate the customer's needs, preferences and attrition risk.
Dual Roles for Agents
The importance of predictive analytics is increasing as outside forces hamstring some outbound sales channels...
In today's business environment , most retail companies have an Internet presence, typically an e-commerce Web site where customers can buy products online and obtain some degree of customer service . In fact, the distinction between pure-play e-commerce companies and traditional brick-and-mortar companies that use e-commerce as a retail channel no longer exists, in practical terms.
"Today, I am not clear that even companies like eBay or Amazon are 'e-commerce,'" Yankee Group senior analyst Art Schoeller told the E-Commerce Times. "Amazon does have warehouses [and] call centers. It ships products," just as traditional companies have done for years.
Considering the ubiquity of e-commerce, however, few companies seem to understand how to walk the fine line between enticing customers to become repeat buyers and annoying them with incessant marketing messages. In other words, few have mastered the art of the follow-up...
Look long enough at any company's Web site, C-level presentations, earnings conference calls or marketing efforts, and you'll find the phrases like, "customer-centered," "The customer comes first always," and "The customer is the center of the business."
They are all noble thoughts to be sure, but too often the exact opposite is true: Companies hold entire series of customers in contempt and disdain.
Worse, the leaders of companies openly and harshly speak of these unprofitable segments in private as if they were literally bleeding the company dry of profits...
Look closely at any effective customer relationship management (CRM) strategy. Look beyond the technology, beyond the hype, and what will you see? What you'll see is a company that knows how to effectively communicate with its customers.
Ask yourself, "What do CRM solutions actually do?" To put it very simply, they collect and manage customer information. Now ask yourself, "What is the real value or purpose of all this customer information?" Again, very simply, the real value of this information is in helping your organization to better communicate with your customers.
For example, customer information can tell us what products or services a customer has previously purchased and, as a result, can also tell us what products or services a particular customer is likely to purchase in the future. This information can, in turn, be used to guide future marketing activities and can also be used by sales and customer service personnel in face-to-face or call center interactions...
The European low-cost airline EasyJet is known for having a culture that motivates employees, which in turn leads the employees to make the customers feel welcome.
It's one firm that is working on creating what I call a CRM collaborative culture.
That is what happens when an organizational culture is based on the principle of putting the customer first in each and every interaction with the customer and across all departments. This means that a marketing employee will respond to an internal inquiry from a call center agent in the shortest possible time in order to give a quick reply to a calling customer. It also means that customer service is not the last to be informed about new product developments, new campaigns and new prices. And that means customers won't have negative experiences when they ask customer service for more details about those products, campaigns and prices..
Executives have heard the following phrase countless times: marketing needs to get more analytical. The strategies, processes and technologies used to identify, acquire and retain loyal customers, as we now know them, are changing. Companies struggle to find out what makes their customers "tick" while budget constraints make finding the best customers and prospects more difficult. Add to this the barrage of an unprecedented volume of messages across every conceivable channel and the world of marketing becomes a very difficult place.
New technologies have made the opportunity for marketing success larger, but have also made the situation worse because customer data can be captured from so many touch points, such as call centers and Internet sites. Without a way to manage and..
One of the main problems when offering a focused product is how to equally focus the accompanying marketing efforts. This was recently the challenge for Hibernian, one of the largest insurance providers in Ireland. The firm wanted to advertise a new auto insurance program called Ignition. The marketing campaign targets younger, inexperienced drivers who meet very specified criteria: The drivers must have passed a driving test within the past five years; they must be claim free on their driving record; and their car has to meet certain size requirements.Mass marketing was not an effective option, because it would have resulted in a flood of calls to the contact center from interested parties who did not meet the requirements, wasting time and money as agents filter out unqualified drivers, says Vytas Kisielius, president of Adeptra, which develops text messaging--based marketing programs. "Everyone is doing text messaging in Europe," Kisielius says, "and we developed a program where dri..
Dutch insurance company FBTO Verzekeringen has 500,000 customers and underwrites more than one million car, health, home, and life insurance policies. It uses only direct channels to market its products, interacting with customers through direct mail, the call center, and the Internet.FBTO used to send out only mass mailings and found that because marketing campaigns were not targeted at the people most likely to respond, there was a relatively low conversion rate of mailings to actual sales. "We had a feeling we could improve our results on direct mail by improving our analysis capabilities," says Jeroen Pronk, database marketing manager at FBTO. "Our main goal was cost reduction and we were looking for ways to do more campaigns in the same amount of time." The company selected SPSS PredictiveMarketing, which uses predictive analytics to identify customers who are more likely to purchase certain financial products..
In buying a U.S. company, liabilities do not cease once a seller has completed a deal. The allocation of liabilities is usually determined in the acquisition agreement. Acquisition agreements are described in the previous article in this series. Here we examine the role of indemnifications in acquisition agreements.
The role of indemnifications in mergers and acquisitions has become highly developed, scrutinized and refined by investment bankers (as described in the second article in this series) and other deal managers intent on controlling risks and providing a high degree of predictability for buyers of U.S. businesses.
Indemnifications make the acquisition process safer for buyers, especially buyers who are not accustomed to making acquisitions of U.S. businesses or for whom every acquisition represents a major strategic transaction. Buyers from outside of the U.S., such as the Indian call center owners who I work with and who are using acquisitions to quickly expand in U.S. ou..
With recent regulatory developments in the industry and routine call center functions moving to offshore teleservices vendors, there is no time like the present for the Call Center Research Laboratory established at the University of Southern Mississippi a few weeks ago.
The CCRL, led by USM professor David Butler, aims to be the first international research facility dedicated to the collection of trend data, technology development and call center education with the application of an academic, scientific methodology.
This isn't a marketing spin factory -- in other words, politicizing the push of low-paying, low value call center jobs to vendors in India and the Philippines. The laboratory's mission ties it to all stakeholders in various parts of the world and expects to arm them with data from vendor partners, industry associations such as the National Association of Call Centers and academic experts worldwide...
