Your Next Quick Win

Fix the data flows between your digital and contact centre operations

Everyone knows that outbound teams always complain about the data they’re given to use, but maybe it’s time for organisations to actually pay attention to what they’re saying.

Agents immediately understand when they’ve been given a poor quality contact list, and they know that they’re going to end up dealing with the problems they can generate in terms of unsuccessful calls and increased pressure from clients. Despite these inevitable outcomes, too many organisations persist in buying poor quality contact lists and hoping for the best.

Surely customer data is too important and valuable a resource to dilute by repeating this cycle? Instead of wasting money on bad data, isn’t it time that organisations actually spent more time listening and acting on the volumes of useful information that customers are already giving them?

Listen to what your customers are saying

While it might not be immediately obvious, most organisations with multi-channel customer engagement programmes are already sitting on a wealth of detailed customer information. The trick, of course, is knowing where to find it.

Whether it’s your online channels, your retail network or the contact centre, your customers and prospects are probably already engaging with your business. By adopting an intelligent data strategy you can work to first identify and then activate previously untapped in-house data sources to create new – and higher quality – acquisition or retention opportunities.

It may be that a customer has already been on your website and left a unique identifier such as a postcode. They may have revisited your site from the same IP address, or simply called in to one of your contact centres using a repeat phone number. Alternatively they might have been in one of your stores and tried out a QR code. Whatever the data sources, when collected and analysed intelligently, you can move quickly from having a 0% profile build to a much more usable and actionable customer contact.

Working to complete broken customer journeys

Usually these traces of data are the result of broken customer journeys. That’s why it’s not enough just to harvest the data, we should also be working to help people complete those interactions.

For example, if you spent some time looking on a holiday website but didn’t take your research further at that point, the smart thing for an organisation to do would be to capture your details and reach out and see if they could help you.

This kind of intervention can really succeed when it’s clear that the organisation has understood the customer’s initial goals, picked up on this and then taken it to another channel to try and complete the original online journey. As ever, the focus needs to be on reducing customer effort.

Often all that’s needed is a better understanding of how your data needs to flow between your digital and outbound operations. One organisation that can really help you do this in a non-intrusive way is C-Centric, the integrated data specialists, who work alongside your data and contact centre teams to identify the right data for your campaigns.

To learn more about how a more intelligent outbound Big Data approach can improve results and reduce customer effort, download the report that I’ve just written with C-Centric.

Warren Pennington – Account Manager

With over 10 years’ experience, Warren has broad commercial and operational experience in Marketing, Media and Financial Services. He has worked with a number of leading organisations including Callcredit, News UK, Virgin Media and Talk Talk.

Vlad Corduneanu – Project Manager

Speaking 7 languages, including Chinese, English, German, Romanian and Russian, Vlad has a Masters from Henley and is certified with the British Computing Society. He brings this, together with 6 years in analytical roles to C-Centric.

Asit Khiroya – Head of Operations

Asit has vast IT and business experience across a variety technologies. He has led some of the largest data management implementations in the UK. At C-Centric he creates leading edge solutions that deliver clear results for clients.

Humphrey Davis

Humphrey has led ground breaking contact centre transformation programmes across leading telecoms organisations including Talktalk, EE and Virgin Media.

As a C-Centric client over many years, we have successfully worked together to implement solutions that drive increased sales and productivity.

Humphrey’s achievements include delivering in excess of 80,000 incremental monthly post pay sales through a multi-channel cross-sell strategy, building an external outbound channel delivering 40,000 monthly sales, exceeding volume, value & MRC targets, and designed and delivered a sales from service methodology that significantly reduced the cost per sale by 60%.

In addition, Humphrey has delivered a single sales from service programme covering 20 sites on 4 continents achieving local business objectives whilst supporting overall Exec Board objectives, introduced a loyalty and retention strategy that achieved 10% attachment rate and 20,000 monthly sales and led a project to use discarded data to drive further cross sales and net new customers.

Liam Smith

An experienced business leader with a track record in delivering strategic, operational and people activities.

Liam has held a number of senior roles within the energy supplier npower, in both residential and business retail markets. Following the deregulation of the energy market, Liam pioneered outbound and online acquisition, establishing the first quote and switch service of the Big 6 energy suppliers, and setting up internal and outsourced telesales channels.

Liam is currently Director of Customer Contact with Rank Group and is also a Non-Executive Director to a number of growing businesses, advising them on their growth and business strategy.

Neil Devadason – Head of Strategy and Analytics Services

Neil is a proven integrated multi-channel marketing strategy consultant and leader, having worked with Heathrow Airport, Guardian, Ideal Shopping Direct, Citi Group, BoA (MBNA), AXA, Virgin Media, Sony Mobile, Centrica, and BskyB.

David McKee – Head of Technical Consulting

David has over 20 years’ experience in delivering large and complex solutions, having previously worked with firms such as Acxiom and Sequent, and built some of the industry’s largest databases for Virgin Media, BAA, BT and IBM.

Neil Perring – Director

With over 25 years leadership in outsourcing firms such as BPS Contact Centre Services, Teleperformance and Interact CC, Neil offers an in-depth understanding of the challenges facing today’s outbound campaign operators.

Michael Page – Director

Michael is one of the industry’s acknowledged experts in optimising outbound campaign performance. He brings deep digital expertise to C-Centric, having worked as Head of Digital Development for Acxiom, and as a Director of MiQ Solutions.

Tim Pottinger – Chief Operating Officer

With over 30 years’ data marketing experience – including senior roles at WWAV Rapp Collins, Callcredit Information Group and now at C-Centric, Tim is driving the company’s business development as it builds out its smart data proposition.