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Good cop, bad cop

Why do good complaint handlers go bad when they write to customers? There’s a condition in complaint handling which we at The First Word like to call good cop, bad cop. It doesn’t involve interrogating customers in a dark, smoky room....

What’s really wrong at Morrison’s?

Morrisons’ Failings Revealed by new type of Market Research Study The underlying problems facing supermarket giant Morrisons are much greater than a lack of an online service or too few convenience stores, which the company is blaming for its continuing poor...

Crimes against the Customer

When it comes to critiquing customer service, Mary Portas has a bit of a reputation for her no holds barred approach. But what does she consider to be the worst customer service crimes? Over the next two issues we’ll uncover...

A Winner’s Story – From Paper to Vapour…..

…Revolutionising Re-mortgaging Fasttrac Solicitors was delighted to win the 2012 UK Customer Experience Award for Professional Services. The award was recognition of the fact that we have completely re-engineered and revolutionised the remortgage conveyancing process. We literally have taken it from paper...

Building a Great Business

Who’s heard of the delicatessen, Zingerman’s? Well, neither had I until recently. But trust me, once you learn about this small business, you’ll be itching to know more. At least this was the case for me and why I felt compelled...

Best Practices for Social Media Customer Care

Social media has arrived as a first choice channel of interaction for consumers to seek customer care and technical support. It’s the next stage of evolution in the demand for a better online experience and real time customer service.   The birth...

The Greatest (customer experience) Story Ever Told?

Like many people, as thoughts turn to what the New Year may bring, I pause and reflect on the year gone by and consider what I can learn and be inspired by to help face the challenges ahead. As far...

A Winner’s Story – Virgin Money

The Story of Virgin Money’s Lounges Virgin has a 40-year history of going into areas with the aim of making things better for customers. In the last 12 months, we’ve set out to do the same for banking. Our long-term ambition...

Waitrose – Measuring the Magic

Waitrose has demonstrated its commitment to continuous improvement of customer satisfaction by launching a customer experience management (CEM) programme with Empathica, the UK’s leading CEM provider. Replacing their current mystery shopping initiative, the new programme will be designed to assess the...

The Customer Experience Business Part 2

As I said in last month’s issue, the unexpected discovery that came as a result of my research project of five great companies is that, although they are all in different industries, they all share five things in common. Since...