What Consumer Affairs Managers Are Saying

    Our Consumer Affairs department staff several years ago put themselves in the shoes of a hypothetical consumer trying to find where our product items were available nearby.  It took two days and that was very frustrating.  Indeed, before we started using ILS, our reps handled calls from consumers who would became enraged when we did not know where items could be purchased near consumers’ homes.

    Having ILS is a high-profile capability.  When our CEO first visited our call center, the first question was “How do we respond to consumers’ where-to-buy questions”?  Knowing where our products can be purchased is a corporate priority.

     - Director of Consumer Affairs for an International Canned Foods Company

    When we learned what ILS can do for our call center reps in helping our consumers find where to buy our product items and how affordable it is, we subscribed.  It has been the best value for our Consumer Affairs dollars we’ve ever spent.

     - Consumer Affairs Manager of an International Specialty Foods Company

    Twenty-five to thirty percent of our consumer inquiries are questions of where to buy specific personal care items.  ILS is a low-cost expense for a good value.  The solution was so obvious we didn’t need an ROI analysis to justify subscribing to it.

     - Consumer Affairs Manager of a Global Personal Care Products Company

    Our rationale for using ILS is to satisfy our customers’ immediate needs to know where to buy our products.  When consumers call, our contact center reps provide additional product information.  Many are seeking our products in the major chain stores.  Our consumers are visual-oriented and need where-to-buy guidance when a new line is introduced, or when an established line is newly packaged.

     - Director of Consumer Affairs for a Fortune Cosmetics Company

    We have no doubt that our company benefits from using ILS in our contact center. We did not feel it necessary to perform a formal cost/benefit analysis when we began using ILS six years ago.  Several years ago we started making ILS available on our branded Web sites and did a cost/benefit analysis since we expected direct consumer usage to be substantial.  Today the self-serve ILS is working well--our call center receives far fewer where-to-buy calls.

     - Director, Consumer Affairs Director of an International Foods Company

    A significant percentage of our consumer inquiries are from customers wanting to know where they can buy our products.  So, addressing their questions with ILS was an obvious solution.  Using it is a 'no-brainer' way to improve customer satisfaction.

     - Consumer Affairs Manager of a Major Household Products Company

    The cost/benefit justification for subscribing to ILS for our call center was obvious.  ILS is essential because our call center reps need to know instantly where our products are sold to tell our consumers where they can buy them.  We simply cannot tolerate not having the answers.”

    Prior to our using ILS callers who could not find out where nearby stores where our products were available called our president directly and asked:  “How can you not know where your products are available?”  The impact of such high-level escalation is significant.  We measure customer satisfaction and see the impact when our customers are unhappy with our call center response.

     - Consumer Affairs Manager of a Household Cleaning Products Company

    Being able to provide locations where consumers can purchase hard-to-find or discontinued items helps us build brand equity.  Having our call center rep able to quickly look up the nearest locations where customers can purchase desired items ensures the sale.

     - Director of Consumer Affairs for a Personal Care Products Company