1. welcome
Sarah Hatter
Founder, CoSupport
@sh
Richard White
CEO, UserVoice
@rrwhite

4. no pitching

5. logistics here

6. why

7. two reasons

8. Nothing like it existed
You really don’t want the alternatives
REASON NUMERO UNO

9. ITIL

10. call centers

11. The conference
about keeping your
customers

12. The conference
about keeping your
customers (happy)

13. how not why

14. No one goes to school
for customer service...
A HUMBLE OBSERVATION

15. No one goes to school
for customer service...
A HUMBLE OBSERVATION
Political Science & History
Art History
Physics & Math, Electro-Optics
Economics & Political Science
Digital Arts, English
Information Technology
Computer Science

16. No one goes to school
for customer service...
A HUMBLE OBSERVATION
Political Science & History
Art History
Physics & Math, Electro-Optics
Economics & Political Science
Digital Arts, English
Information Technology
Computer Science
Marketing & Communications
Finance
BA Arts & Cinema
Masters of Education
Certified Project Manager
Liberal Arts
Computer Science

17. No one goes to school
for customer service...
... they go to UserConf
A HUMBLE OBSERVATION

18. Most conferences suck
and we thought we could do better
REASON NUMERO DOS

19. ten “things”

20. ... Have Panels
... Have Gurus or Thought Leaders as Speakers
... Say Shit Everyone Already Knows
... Spam Attendees or Sell Their Email Addresses
... Take Sponsors For Granted
... Have Lame Sponsors
... Have Live Q&A
... Overcharge for Tickets
... Take Thyself Too Seriously
... Forget Conversations
Thou shalt NOT...

23. Community as a
Conference

24. 5 Cities
30 Meetups
312 Pastries

25. thank you

26. The Golden Era of Products
(aka why we really started UserConf)
Richard White
Founder, CEO
@rrwhite

27. Two different worlds of
“customer service”
@rrwhite

28. “All agents are currently
serving other customers”
“Your call is important to
us”
“Press 9 to hear these
options again”
Entering your account #
only to have to repeat it
to the agent
Customer Service Our World
Highly skilled agents
Delivering great support on
any medium
A product issue is solved in
hours or days not months
Every customer
engagement is an
opportunity

29. 20%
handle multiple channels
40%
respond to tweets
29%
respond < 1 day
89%
handle multiple channels
87%
respond to tweets
83%
respond < 1 day
Customer Service Our World

30. 20%
handle multiple channels
40%
respond to tweets
29%
respond < 1 day
Past
89%
handle multiple channels
87%
respond to tweets
83%
respond < 1 day
Future

31. the future
is here

32. or is it?
@rrwhite

33. Exceptional customer
care isn’t new.
@rrwhite

34. No, this is different.
Things have changed.
@rrwhite

35. three changes
@rrwhite

36. The internet has spawned a
generation of businesses
built around self-service.
CHANGE #1
@rrwhite

37. Is this really necessary?
@rrwhite

38. 43%
62%
of people said they could
have solved their customer
service issue on their own if
better self-service tools were
available.
of people age 18 to 24
@rrwhite

39. THE FUTURE IS...
More user self-service
50%
of smartphone users would prefer to use a
mobile customer service application to try
to resolve their customer service issue
before calling into the contact center.
@rrwhite

40. 56%
of online consumers agree that their
(customer service) calls are more complex
as simple transactions are often automated
THE FUTURE IS...
More user self-service
Less customer contacts but more
complex issues. No more scripts.
@rrwhite

41. THE FUTURE IS...
More self-service
Less customer contacts but more
complex issues. No more scripts.
Need less people but better
training (and pay)
@rrwhite

42. Companies are moving to
subscription-based revenue
models.
CHANGE #2
@rrwhite

43. I know. You’re shocked.
@rrwhite

44. 50% of US businesses have either
adopted or were planning to
adopt a subscription based
model
@rrwhite

45. 50%
40%
of US businesses have either
adopted or were planning to
adopt a subscription based
model
Global 2000 companies will
use subscription services for
their billing, fulfillment and
renewals by 2015
@rrwhite

46. Ye olde sales funnel.
@rrwhite

47. THE FUTURE IS...
Subscription revenue
@rrwhite

48. THE FUTURE IS...
Subscription revenue
Funnel is broken. You must re-close
customers every month!
@rrwhite

49. THE FUTURE IS...
Subscription revenue
Funnel is broken. You must re-close
customers every month!
The blurring of the line between
sales & support.
@rrwhite

50. THE FUTURE IS ALSO...
Freemium models
@rrwhite

51. THE FUTURE IS ALSO...
Freemium models
@rrwhite
69%
of worldwide iOS app revenue and 75
percent of global Android app revenues
come from freemium applications.

52. THE FUTURE IS ALSO...
Freemium models
Requires you to care for users not
just customers.
Requires you to scale your
processes (self-service) earlier than
ever.
@rrwhite

53. Social media is the catalyst
but not the medium of the
future.
CHANGE #3
@rrwhite

54. 1%
of people said they preferred
to get support via Twitter
instead of traditional mediums.
@rrwhite

55. 1%
of people said they preferred
to get support via Twitter
instead of traditional mediums.
of US consumers are very to
somewhat interested in
resolving customer service
issues.
email: 67%, phone: 90%
22%
@rrwhite

56. Seeking an actual response from a company to
help them with a service issue
Venting frustration with a bad customer service
experience
Sharing information about their service
experience with a broader audience
@rrwhite
TOP REASONS PEOPLE TURN TO SOCIAL MEDIA

57. @rrwhite
Twitter is the small claims
court of bad support

58. THE FUTURE IS...
Social Media level of care
on traditional channels.
@rrwhite

59. Seeking an actual response from a company to
help them with a service issue
Praising a company for a great service experience
Venting frustration with a bad customer service
experience
Sharing information about their service
experience with a broader audience
@rrwhite
TOP REASONS PEOPLE TURN TO SOCIAL MEDIA

60. THE FUTURE IS...
Social Media level of care
on traditional channels.
@rrwhite

61. THE FUTURE IS...
Social Media level of care
on traditional channels.
Word-of-month matters again
@rrwhite

62. More self-service = More complex interactions and
more leeway given to customer-facing team members to
solve them.
Subscription revenue + Social media = Business case
for investing in building a great product and great
customer care.
Freemium = Need to scale high level of customer care
much faster and larger than previously.

63. THE FUTURE IS...
Customer retention over
acquisition.
@rrwhite

64. THE FUTURE IS...
Customer retention over
acquisition.
how much more it expensive it is to acquire
new customers than satisfy and retain
current ones
5X
@rrwhite

65. Why are we just now
talking about this?
@rrwhite

66. ZyngaFacebook Powered “Virality”
THE AGE OF ACQUISTION
@rrwhite

71. GrouponFacebook Ads & Email Marketing
THE AGE OF ACQUISTION
@rrwhite

72. Groupon
THE AGE OF ACQUISTION
@rrwhite
485% amount Groupon's customer acquisition
costs rose between 2010 and 2011

73. Groupon
THE AGE OF ACQUISTION
@rrwhite
485% amount Groupon's customer acquisition
costs rose between 2010 and 2011
change in ROI of email marketing from
2006 to 2012-26%

74. eHowSearch Engine Optimization
THE AGE OF ACQUISTION
@rrwhite

75. eHowSearch Engine Optimization
THE AGE OF ACQUISTION
@rrwhite
40% drop in traffic for eHow & other
DemandMedia sites due to Google’s
“Panda” update.

76. Paid Search
THE AGE OF ACQUISTION
@rrwhite
11% The increase in the average cost per click
(CPC) on Google Adwords in 2011.
of questions related to effectiveness,
budget and usage where PPC trended
downward on a survey of 500 US online
marketers
100%

77. App Store
THE AGE OF ACQUISTION
@rrwhite
56% Increase in app marketing costs in the last
year on iOS platform (70% on Android)

78. Remember what
happened to eBay?
@rrwhite

79. THE FUTURE IS...
The market seeking
equilibrium
@rrwhite
The cost per lead for direct mail, email, and paid
search are $51, $55, and $52 respectively.

80. THE FUTURE IS...
The market seeking
equilibrium
There are less and less Northwest
Passages to millions of users.
@rrwhite

81. THE FUTURE IS...
The market seeking
equilibrium
There are less and less Northwest
Passages to millions of users.
Any ones that do open up close
increasingly faster.
@rrwhite

82. THE FUTURE IS...
Greatness requires
customer retention
@rrwhite

83. THE FUTURE IS...
Greatness requires great
products and service
@rrwhite
89%
of iPhone owners have indicated they
will stick with Apple for their next
handset (HTC next with 39%)

84. THE FUTURE IS...
Greatness requires great
products and service
@rrwhite
89%
of iPhone owners have indicated they
will stick with Apple for their next
handset (HTC next with 39%)
of Blackberry owners that will. Down
from 62% only 18 months ago.33%

85. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER...
Business is going old
school.
@rrwhite

86. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER...
Business is going old
school.
The last 30+ years have been one
big scaling problem.
@rrwhite

87. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER...
Business is going old
school.
The last 30+ years have been one
big scaling problem.
We now have the technology and
enough incentives to provide old
fashioned service at web scale.
@rrwhite

88. but how?

89. Proactive engagement before there is a problem
Create ways for users to engage outside of when they have a problem.
Get out from behind your help desk.
@rrwhite

90. Proactive engagement before there is a problem
Create ways for users to engage outside of when they have a problem.
Get out from behind your help desk.
Go to where your users are...
It's not your "customer portal" and it isn’t Facebook: it’s inside your app.
Make getting support or giving feedback a great in-app experience.
@rrwhite

91. Proactive engagement before there is a problem
Create ways for users to engage outside of when they have a problem.
Get out from behind your help desk.
Go to where your users are...
It's not your "customer portal" and it isn’t Facebook: it’s inside your app.
Make getting support or giving feedback a great in-app experience.
Drive more self-service & 1:many communication
Especially with Freemium or Free2Play.
Without sacrificing quality as a bad experience is now expensive.
@rrwhite

92. Proactive engagement before there is a problem
Create ways for users to engage outside of when they have a problem.
Get out from behind your help desk.
Go to where your users are...
It's not your "customer portal" and it isn’t Facebook: it’s inside your app.
Make getting support or giving feedback a great in-app experience.
Drive more self-service & 1:many communication
Especially with Freemium or Free2Play.
Without sacrificing quality as a bad experience is now expensive.
Give your front line more leeway to do the right thing
Support teams are looking more like sales teams. Not Scripted.
Agility over process.
@rrwhite

93. Proactive engagement before there is a problem
Create ways for users to engage outside of when they have a problem.
Get out from behind your help desk.
Go to where your users are...
It's not your "customer portal" and it isn’t Facebook: it’s inside your app.
Make getting support or giving feedback a great in-app experience.
Drive more self-service & 1:many communication
Especially with Freemium or Free2Play.
Without sacrificing quality as a bad experience is now expensive.
Give your front line more leeway to do the right thing
Support teams are looking more like sales teams. Not Scripted.
Agility over process.
Drive meaningful, win-win engagement (with analytics).
That which is actionable to the company and important to users. Move beyond the
shallow pond of “likes” and “follows”. No flying banner 10 minute surveys either.
We can do better than social media vanity metrics.
@rrwhite

94. but who?

95. @rrwhite
Chief Customer Officer
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A...

96. @rrwhite
Chief Customer Officer
A top executive (person) with the mandate and power to
design, orchestrate, and improve customer experiences
across every customer interaction.
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A...

97. @rrwhite
Chief Customer Officer
A top executive (person) with the mandate and power to
design, orchestrate, and improve customer experiences
across every customer interaction.
30 in 2003
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A...

98. @rrwhite
Chief Customer Officer
A top executive (person) with the mandate and power to
design, orchestrate, and improve customer experiences
across every customer interaction.
30 in 2003
in 2013
730
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A...

99. @rrwhite
Chief Customer Officer
A top executive (person) with the mandate and power to
design, orchestrate, and improve customer experiences
across every customer interaction.
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A...
85% of CCOs sit on the executive
management team within their
companies up from 50% in 2012
of CCOs were promoted from within
the company56%

100. you
@rrwhite