Lloyd Buxton's blog

Travel customer service – just the ticket?

Published on: April 15, 2015
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

The travel industry has been transformed by the rise of digital channels. Consumers now turn to the web first when researching and booking flights and holidays, using the reach of the internet to create tailor made itineraries, rather than visiting a high street travel agent. Sites such asTripAdvisor, along with social media, have also introduced a powerful way of sharing opinions about the s...

Evaluating the 2015 UK retail customer experience

Published on: March 20, 2015
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

Retailers face growing market challenges. Despite the UK climbing out of recession, consumer confidence is still fragile and likely to remain so in the face of a number of uncertainties on the horizon; a potential hung parliament, eurozone worries and interest rate rises. It’s not surprising that shoppers are still price sensitive, and are happy to move to rivals.

UK government embraces multichannel

Published on: March 11, 2015
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

Customer service is critical for organisations across every industry. Consumers are now demanding the same high levels of service, whatever type of company they are dealing with. This means that they expect a utility or bank to provide a similar experience to a retailer – and are not shy at complaining if they don’t receive the service they want.This equally applies to the public secto...

Making it easy for customers

Published on: February 20, 2015
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

In today’s time-poor world, consumers increasingly pick who they buy from, and what channel they use, based on ease of use. This can be seen in the growth of local shopping at the expense of out of town supermarkets, as well as the rise of techniques such as Click and Collect that make it simple to pick up online purchases at a convenient location.

The rise of linguistics in customer service

Published on: January 31, 2014
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

At Eptica, our growth has always been driven by innovation that helps companies deliver customer service more efficiently, deepen engagement and increase satisfaction. So we’re delighted to announce record revenues for 2013, with our turnover breaking the $10m barrier for the first time, by hitting $10.6m. With an annual growth rate of 18%, we’re outperforming the overall software mark...

Responding to banking downtime

Published on: January 29, 2014
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

Showing the importance of technology to the banking customer experience, IT issues caused problems for some Lloyds Banking Group customers trying to use their debit cards on Sunday. The group, which also includes TSB, Bank of Scotland and Halifax, has 30 million customers across the UK, although only a minority were affected by the glitch, which lasted 3 hours.Lloyds has since confirmed that the p...

Why understanding your customers is key for 2014

Published on: January 20, 2014
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

Analyst group Forrester has just released its 2014 predictions for customer service. It lists 12 trends that companies should be paying attention to, if they want to engage with customers and deliver the right experience for them in the year ahead.These trends are organised into four topics:1.    Deliver pain free customer service Covering areas such as omnichannel, mobile and stand...

Looking at the future of insurance

Published on: January 15, 2014
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

2014 promises to be a pivotal year for the UK insurance sector. Competition has never been greater, particularly when it comes to motor, household and travel insurance. More and more people are buying their policies through price comparison sites, rather than direct or via brokers, bringing down margins. Loyalty is at an all time low – 38% of UK motor insurance customers switched provider at...

Can customer service cope with travel chaos?

Published on: January 13, 2014
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

Recent poor weather on both sides of the Atlantic has caused widespread disruption, with flooding in the UK and subzero temperatures in the US continuing to make the front pages. Many people have been forced to leave their homes or had to live without heating or power.The weather has also had a major impact on travel, with trains cancelled and flights delayed or re-routed. Back in early December, ...

Helping the public sector become Digital by Default

Published on: December 18, 2013
Author: Lloyd Buxton - Business Development

Citizens today are increasingly embracing digital channels, such as the web, email and social media. Led by central government and its Digital by Default agenda, the public sector is therefore changing how it communicates to match the needs of citizens, patients and other audiences. More and more services can now be completed online, from renewing a tax disc to registering children for school.Digi...

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