The way customer workflows are designed and interactions are handled should be independent of the call’s origin – inbound or outbound. When developing a process, focus on how you want the interaction with the customer to flow, not on how the connection is made.   By driving interactions with ... Read more...

Whether they know it or not, customers generally have four key attributes that they associate with outstanding service: Recognition: Recognize me and know my services and preferences Resolution: Address my issue during our first interaction Efficiency: Make the interaction as effici... Read more...

As discussed in this previous entry, at RiverStar, we believe that every customer interaction is fundamentally a process, having a beginning, middle and end that all aim to meet a specific objective. Incorporating three key elements into your processes will save your customers and agents time and, u... Read more...

Users of RiverStar Studio will be familiar with its workflows and process flows as a series of pages. As mentioned in our previous entry about the Studio 11 update, we’ve enhanced the functionality of pages with a new object: panels.    What Is a Panel?   A panel is a sub-page – a... Read more...

At RiverStar, we believe that every customer interaction is fundamentally a process with a very specific objective. Objectives may stem from customer requests — such as billing inquiries or troubleshooting — or company outreach — such as customer satisfaction surveys or upselling. By creating proces... Read more...

The only constant is change, and that is especially true with technology. While RiverStar Studio makes it easy for you to create customer service scripts, self-service web pages, workflow applications and complex business applications, there are always new features and functions that come along to i... Read more...

This is the question we've been asking ourselves during the first few weeks of this year. Rather than attempt to answer that ourselves, we are kicking off 2011 by stepping up our research focus on the Contact Center BPO space with a new survey.  The RiverStar lab geeks have come up with 15 opinion-based multiple-choice questions that should take you less than 5 minutes to complete.

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Do companies really understand the value of first call resolution? AT&T seems to get it as this article shows in a call to their wireless call center. See how the obvious can make all the difference in a customer experience. 

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The predications are in. Top analysts and thought leaders in the CRM and Customer Service space have made their predictions for what’s going to be hot in 2011. Rather than create my own list of (ill fated) predictions, I composed a set of 5 predictions shared by a handful of experts.

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For the 2010 Holiday season, product returns are expected to jump to more than $3.7 Billion.  When it comes to handling returns online, most companies are still in the dark ages, with manual processes still prevailing. AND, it's only going to get more complicated.

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It’s common to hear sales teams and executives point out their company’s superb customer service as a competitive advantage, seldom translating into front line marketing/advertising messages that consumers see; until now at least.   With economic activity still relatively stagnant, and as products and services become more standardized and commoditized, companies are increasingly choosing to compete on customer service and experience-based differentiation.

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Customer loyalty is a premeditated function of repeat behavior by consumers toward a particular brand. Does the behavior displayed by consumers on Black Friday really support actions of loyal consumers?

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Best Buy offers a unique level of service that most people are likely not aware of. Additionally, the lines of communication across all of their divisions (Geek Squad, Magnolia) are fantastic. Read this story to see how they create customers for life.

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Direct Response Marketing campaigns typically conjure up images of Tae-Bo, Proactive, and P90x, but the reality is that DR plays a huge role in pumping money throughout the economy - $1.7 trillion in the USA alone.  

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 The marketing team has spent weeks on designing a cross-channel direct response campaign. The direct response ad will be launched over TV, Internet, and Direct Mail. Much thought (and investment) has gone into the design and production of the television spot, emails, mail inserts, and banner ads. The copy has been rewritten 4 times over. The campaign is finally ready to launch.

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