Using text analytics technology to analyze call-center transcripts and customer surveys, emails and tweets can improve customer service, in part by avoiding pitches that merely annoy customers, according to Ernst and Young.
Every major financial institution records its inbound calls, but few examine the data for insights into their customers, the company says in a report by consultants Heidi Boyle, Bernhard Klein Wassink and Avril Castagnetta.
Text analytics software searches textual communications for insights that could help businesses reduce customer attrition and target cross-selling efforts for greater success, the Ernst and Young report says. Without text analytics, executives miss the huge pool of comments and complaints describing customer attitudes about the company, its products and employees.
For example, if customers are calling frequently with billing questions, it may be a sign that a confusing billing statement needs to be redesigned.
Going further, the combination of text analytics and voice-recognition software can determine the emotional content of customer communications. If this is done while the customer is on the phone, the call-center script can be "adjusted to the customer's emotional state," the report notes.
"A customer calling about a replacement debit card is not ready to hear a pitch for a new mortgage product. Likewise, a caller who is upset about service and billing problems is probably not willing to be up-sold whole life insurance," the report says.
Text analytics software can help customer-service reps, the report says, by "suggesting relationship-building actions, instead of standard cross-selling messages that stand little chance of success."
Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn.
Read more about customer relationship management (crm) in CIO's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Drilldown.
In the third and final episode of our 3-part CMO50 video series exploring modern marketing and why it’s become a matter of trust, we’re delighted to be joined by Telstra’s former CMO and now digital services and sales executive, Jeremy Nicholas, and Adobe VP Marketing Asia-Pacific and Japan, Duncan Egan.
Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.
Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?
As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.
