SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 7, 2006 -- During the holidays, the mad rush for
the right gift and the pursuit for best deal can often lead to irritated
consumers and frustrated customer service representatives. While many will
try to vent their frustrations at the retail counter, many customers will
be left wondering where they can go to have their concerns and comments
addressed. Allegiance, Inc.'s Web-based feedback management solution, CustomerVoice,
provides customers with a convenient way to communicate with companies
without the long lines, and for companies to quickly resolve problems and
create loyal customers who will return again and again.
CustomerVoice is one component of the Allegiance Active Listening System, a
suite of Web-based enterprise feedback management tools. CustomerVoice
provides a system for customers and companies to communicate and resolve
concerns before they become bigger problems. Customers can submit feedback
anytime from any Internet-ready computer, and once captured, the
information is categorized, analyzed and then assigned to a responsible
manager, executive or board member who must respond in an appropriate and
timely manner. CustomerVoice maintains a historical record of customer
feedback and complaints, serving as a case management system and tracking
any issues from submission to resolution. Management can then use the
collective feedback to produce reports that provide qualitative and
quantitative support for making strategic business decisions and process
improvements.
"Many companies don't have the systems in place to quickly address customer
complaints, and customers really don't know where to go to resolve
concerns, where to report a run-in with an inattentive staffer or offer a
suggestion on how to improve," said Adam Edmunds, president and chief
executive officer of Allegiance,
Inc. "Our system is designed to resolve both time and convenience issues,
by allowing customers to report problems from the convenience of their
desktops, and then driving accountability by routing the complaint or
question to the right person who is directly responsible for a timely
response. Holiday sales account for a large portion of many companies'
annual business, making quick responses and quick resolutions to complaints
that much more important."
Many companies use post-holiday surveys to try to improve next year's
holiday season. While the survey results will help to identify areas of
concern, for many consumers, any improvements made based on the surveys may
come a year too late. Without a way for consumers to quickly resolve their
concerns or complaints, customers will share their bad experiences and
magnify the original problem. According to studies, one customer with a
serious unresolved complaint will tell as many as 10 other people, and for
every one person that does complain, there are roughly 26 unhappy people
that don't voice their concerns(i). While 55% of consumers will take their
business elsewhere if they have a bad customer experience(ii), 95% of
people will do business with a company again if their complaints are
resolved quickly(iii).
"Several studies have found that effective communications with customers
have a direct and dramatic impact on the bottom line," said Dr. Gary
Rhoads, co-founder of Allegiance
and the academic director of Brigham Young University's Entrepreneur
Center. "The holiday rush is certainly no time for companies to let down
their guard and put off communications with customers in the interest of
short-term sales volumes. Listening to and responding to feedback
especially during this time of the year will benefit companies by creating
loyal customers who will share their positive experiences and return for
years to come."
Edmunds added, "All of the functionality and benefits of CustomerVoice
combine to ensure that companies and their customers have a much happier
holiday season this year and next."
About Allegiance, Inc.
Allegiance is a leading provider of enterprise feedback management
solutions. The company's Active Listening System operates as a CRM
accelerator, providing a suite of centrally managed feedback tools proven
to help organizations capture, manage, analyze and respond to real-time
feedback from multiple sources, ultimately impacting growth, profits and
lasting value. The suite includes CustomerVoice, EmployeeVoice, and
PartnerVoice, advanced Web-based feedback solutions proven to help
organizations better understand and react to the needs of employees,
customers and partners; and SilentWhistle, an anonymous ethics reporting
and whistle-blower solution proven to mitigate risk and fulfill compliance
with Sarbanes-Oxley section 301. The Allegiance solutions help
organizations establish an ethical culture, build loyal relationships, and
make more informed business decisions. For more information, please visit
http://www.allegiance.com.
(i) "Retailers Should Prevent Many Unhappy Returns this Holiday Season,"
http://retailindustry.about.com/library/holiday/bl_sw1220.htm
(ii) Gonsalves, Antone, "Want to Lose Business? Ignore Customer Emails,"
InformationWeek, March 21, 2006,
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=183701701&subSection=Breaking+News
(iii) "Retailers Should Prevent Many Unhappy Returns this Holiday Season,"
http://retailindustry.about.com/library/holiday/bl_sw1220.htm
Contact Information: Contacts:
Kevin Wilson
Email Contact
513-898-1008
Russ Losee
Email Contact
801-617-8003