#orion elearning

Companies use customer demographics to help them determine the following:

Core customers

Groups that use their products or services

What can be done to better meet the needs of customers

What product or service changes might appeal to customers

How to gain new customers

How they should direct their marketing projects and who the target audience should be

Once you have determined your customer base it is time to determine your service strategy. Undifferentiated Strategy:

All customers are treated the same. 

No efforts are made to satisfy particular segments, or groups.

Identical promotional material is sent to all customers.

Concentrated Strategy:

Particular segments or groups are focused on or targeted, while other groups are ignored, or left to be served by competitors.

Promotional material is used to advertise benefits to only a specific segment or group.

Differentiated Strategy:

An effort is made to target a wide variety of customer types and needs by providing multiple product and service options.

Attempts are made to meet the needs of as many segments of the population as possible.

Different promotional material is created for different groups, which are aimed at meeting that group’s specific needs.

Another useful way to think about your customers is to divide them into internal and external groups.  External Customers:

External customers can be thought of as the general population, or any customer that does not work for the same company as you.

 External customers come from outside of your company. 

These are the customers who spend their money on your products and services.

There is no set captive audience when dealing with external customers.

Internal Customers:

Internal customers are the people you serve who work within your company. 

This could include co-workers, supervisors, managers, other departments, etc.  They have no options. 

They are relying on you to provide them with excellent service.

Benefits of KMS in Contact Center Environments

Information Sharing: KMS allow for the easy sharing of information.  There may be places for agents to post and access tips, share and read articles on best practices, etc. as well as access product and service databases

Meeting Customer Expectations: Customers have come to expect immediate answers to their questions. Agents can provide answers quickly by searching the knowledge database

Easy Access to Very Large and Changing Body of Knowledge: Agents may be responsible for providing information on a very wide range of products.  This information may change from day to day.  KMS allows for easy access to information and allows for easy product information updating. 

Ability to Better Meet Metrics: The ability to provide quick answers to a variety of questions will help both First Call Resolution Rates and Average Handle Times.  This will also help reduce employee stress.

Knowledge Retention: Employees can post solutions and tips.  Even if an employee leaves, the knowledge they have shared in the database is still accessible.

Greater Consistency of Information Provided: Agents can all access and pass on the same, accurate information to customers, creating a higher level of consistency. The information the customer receives no longer relies as much upon individual agent knowledge, but rather how well the agent can use the KMS.

Even with a diligent security plan, and conscientious internet surfing, the use of third party applications can allow for personal information, especially email addresses, to be traded and sold by third party application creators.  One of the most prominent results of this information becoming known is a proliferation of junk mail, or unsolicited e-mails, and an increased susceptibility to phishing scams.

Phishing:

The criminally fraudulent method of trying to obtain sensitive data by masquerading as a trustworthy source in the form of an email or other electronic communications.

Since the majority of people know enough not to reveal sensitive personal information like passwords, or bank account and credit card numbers, phishers often have to trick their victims into giving up the data.

By using emails with the logos or legitimate messages from actual companies, phishers will replace links or email addresses with their own fraudulent links and addresses in order to obtain your information.

The phishing message will often contain a message that elicits a sense of urgency in the victim to act immediately.  The following are ways in which phishers often elicits responses from their targets: Threaten victims with account cancellation if they don’t respond immediately, thanking victims for purchases that they never made, or asking victims to reset their username and password.

The point of a phishing email is to gain information by having the victim act before they think.

In all of these situations the victim is being threatened with some sort of loss or disruption so that he or she will be more willing to follow the phisher’s link and provide information in the hopes of resolving the issue.

Phishing Methods and Phrases:

In order to appear even more authentic, phishing messages will contain links that appear to go to a legitimate web site, but instead:

1)      The victim will be taken to a fake scam site. 2)      A pop-up window will appear that looks identical to the official site, but it actually part of the phishing site.

There are some phrases that you can look for if you suspect that an email might be part of a phishing scam:

“Verify your account”

Real businesses will not ask you to send your passwords, social security numbers, login names, or other personal data via email.

For example, if you receive an email from Microsoft requesting your credit card or banking information, do not respond.  Microsoft would not ask for such information through an email communication.  This is a phishing scam.

“You have won the lottery”

There is a common phishing scam called the ‘advanced fee fraud’ that is perpetrated using the promise of large cash winnings.

By promising victims that they have won a large sum of money in a lottery, phishers ask for a smaller sum of money as an advanced fee that is to be paid before the winnings can be delivered.  In reality, there are no lottery winnings that will ever be delivered.

This scam often makes reference to large or prominent companies like Microsoft.  In reality, there is no Microsoft lottery.

“If you don’t respond within 48 hours, your account will be closed”

This type of message is created in order to produce a sense of urgency in order to elicit an immediate response from the victim.

Phishing Methods and Phrases:

In order to appear even more authentic, phishing messages will contain links that appear to go to a legitimate web site, but instead:

1)      The victim will be taken to a fake scam site. 2)      A pop-up window will appear that looks identical to the official site, but it actually part of the phishing site.

There are some phrases that you can look for if you suspect that an email might be part of a phishing scam:

“Verify your account”

Real businesses will not ask you to send your passwords, social security numbers, login names, or other personal data via email.

For example, if you receive an email from Microsoft requesting your credit card or banking information, do not respond.  Microsoft would not ask for such information through an email communication.  This is a phishing scam.

“You have won the lottery”

There is a common phishing scam called the ‘advanced fee fraud’ that is perpetrated using the promise of large cash winnings.

By promising victims that they have won a large sum of money in a lottery, phishers ask for a smaller sum of money as an advanced fee that is to be paid before the winnings can be delivered.  In reality, there are no lottery winnings that will ever be delivered.

This scam often makes reference to large or prominent companies like Microsoft.  In reality, there is no Microsoft lottery.

“If you don’t respond within 48 hours, your account will be closed”

This type of message is created in order to produce a sense of urgency in order to elicit an immediate response from the victim.