Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/26/2012 -- To any card business the need for providing acceptable customer service is obvious. Such a need is inherent in any organization hoping to be successful on a retail or consumer direct basis. Even manufacturing and supply organizations find that service is a substantial factor in their competitive positioning. In the card business, customer service is particularly important for many reasons, some of which are presented below:

- The various types of general use cards are not particularly differentiated in the type of usage available.
- Competition creates the need for perceived differentiation within the various card programs. T
- Customer choices for cards are simply too great in growing competitive markets, many of which have experienced an explosive growth in card issuance over the past five to ten years.
- Maturing markets find themselves in an environment where growth of one particular card program has to rely on movement of cardholders from other programs in an ever-increasing requirement for growth.
- The average number of cards being carried by qualified individuals is significant.
- Usage of all card types is now more complex and more service-related than ever before.
- New concepts of revenue generation are often exception condition fee based (past due, over-limit, exception handling).
- Loyalty programs have grown significantly and tend to increase usage even for relatively small value items.
- Simple arithmetic indicates that medium to large size card issuers have well over 100 percent of the number of existing cardholders contacting the issuer multiple times during a year.

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Key Highlights

- Usage of all card types is now more complex and service related than ever before - card customer services must support all these
- Service perception and the reality of service provision is the same thing for the customer
- The provision of bad service is very expensive
- Card customer service has the opportunity to reduce costs, including by taking on functions that have been performed elsewhere

Scope

- This report provides a methodical, bottom up approach to positioning a cards specific customer service operation
- It examines the resources, both tangible and intangible, required to operate excellent customer service policies
- It reveals what service quality metrics should be measured, and how often
- The report also looks at the use of customer service as a tool to increase profitability

Reasons to Get this Report

- Find out why the customer service function must be a central feature of card programs
- Consider what factors affect how customer service is delivered
- The report highlights all the customer service tools necessary to provide excellent service
- It discusses the importance of recruiting and training an effective customer service team

Companies Mentioned in this Report: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, Citi

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