Marketers Can Convert Inbound Customer Service Calls into Profit, MarketingExperiments.com Reports

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. — Though online marketers generally view customer service calls as an unnecessary expense, new research conducted by MarketingExperiments.com (MEC) proves companies can actually make money from inbound customer service calls call that formerly resulted in refunds or canceled subscriptions.

The research, published in the Marketing Experiments Journal, outlines how MEC was able to save subscriptions and up-sell new services by properly instructing call center operators and providing them with special tools and incentives. During a week’s time, operators fielded 662 inbound customer service calls and averaged a profit of $3.45 per call.

“Many people think that providing customer service is unduly expensive and time consuming, so they discourage their clients from calling and having any direct contact with the company,” said Jalali Hartman, senior analyst at MEC. “That whole idea is wrongheaded because when companies fail to provide personal assistance to their users, they are missing great opportunities to up-sell their services, bring in more revenue and keep their customers happy.”

As part of the research, customer service representatives were given special training and offered incentives to save subscriptions and up-sell products. The result was a save and up-sell success rate of 14 percent.

“The work environment became much more positive once service representatives understood that their role was more than just to listen to grumpy callers and cancel a subscription,” Hartman said. “They are now more motivated and positive because they are saving subscriptions, making sales and pleasing their customers at the same time.”

MEC’s research brief also includes guidelines for others who would like to implement these principles in their own organizations.

MarketingExperiments.com, an online research laboratory, has been named one of 2005’s best online marketing sites by KnowThis.com and is dedicated to discovering “what really works” in Internet marketing. MarketingExperiments.com tests every conceivable methodology to determine which online strategies and tactics are the most successful to improve conversion, drive traffic and sell product. Results of its experiments are published online in The Marketing Experiments Journal.

Those interested in finding out more about making a profit from inbound customer service calls can visit www.MarketingExperiments.com.


About MarketingExperiments.com
MarketingExperiments.Com (MEC) is an online marketing research laboratory dedicated to discovering “what really works” in Internet marketing. MEC engages in primary and secondary research and publishes results in The Marketing Experiments Journal. To conduct relevant, practical experiments, MEC partners with clients such as the New York Times, Reuters News Service LLC, and USA Health Care. MarketingExperiments.com is a member of the MEC Labs Group and a division of Digital Trust, Inc. For more information, please visit www.MarketingExperiments.com.
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