By Samantha Williams 

So an independent audit was run in which participated a total of 100 UK-based online gambling companies. The results revealed a better state than before on the context of marked improvements in customer service. It’s for sure they didn’t want to gamble with their revenues and proved once again that the brewery-owner is essentially a teetotaller. Though the report kept the fact hidden between the lines, but it shall be unfair to claim that they didn’t commend these gambling sites for winning over other sectors in the UK market; namely, retailers and broadband service providers. What were the areas that came under the inspection? The audit marked the sites on different key grounds on which the improvements occurred. The first one is on the grounds of being tech-savvy (live chat and security issues); secondly, it is on the basis of performance on the other aspects (e.g. accuracy, response speed etc.). A whopping 61% from last year’s 7% and Talisma, one of UK’s leading customer interaction management solutions providers is now adding a few more to the existing list of questions for a better assessment in the future. They expect the responses could have been more accurate (perfectionist’s syndrome?) that way and would have revealed more than the 12% increase in offering an online chat facility by the sites or the fact that 90% of the telephone calls are answered within less than ten seconds or the improved email support that went from 60% in 2006 to 74%. May we have a glimpse of what was asked? Sure! But since we cannot provide the exact transcriptions, we shall swan the subjects on which the questions were set. 

• The minimum deposit/bet amount to open an account.

• Choice of currency to open an account.

• Various customer service criterions.

• Areas of improvement, inclusive of responsiveness, personalisation, newer channels for interactions, information accuracy and a few more.

• Tracking previous correspondences with past customers.

 When asked about their feedbacks on the survey, Jon McNerney (Vice president, International operations, Talisma) commented – “While it is encouraging that the UK online gambling sector has significantly improved customer service in 2007 there is still huge scope for improvement. In a growing competitive market, customer acquisition and retention is the key. UK gambling websites have a global customer base that wants easy access to information and immediate responses to enquiries, particularly when their money is quite literally at stake. Gambling websites need to evolve a customer-focused strategy that provides high quality, round the clock support and empowers agents to manage an increasing number of interactions across a growing number of communication channels.” However, improvement shall set its position as a constant as technology progresses and since there exist further chances of improvements in terms of online knowledge base and personalized phone calls, the day is not very far to see Talisma wearing an extra feather on its laurel.