For immediate release

Date: July 2004

Subtitle: VIRTUATell’s customer satisfaction surveys increase Apple’s customer satisfaction rating by 45%.

London, England March 27th 2004.  –  Apple, manufacturers of the innovative  iPOD’s, iBook and iMac computers, have increased satisfaction with their Call Centre IVR from 50% to over 90% through the use of VIRTUATell’s automated customer survey service.

VIRTUATell allows the Apple call centre to capture “live” opinions and satisfaction surveys from a cross section of their callers.  When calling Apple, they are invited to take the survey and after the agent has completed the transaction, they are transferred to the ASMA system on VIRTUATell’s VoiceXML based IVR system. Callers are then asked a series of questions by the system, to which they score responses using their telephone keypad and also have the opportunity to leave a comment in their own words about the success of the transaction. The results can be viewed in real time and the data compiled for further analysis.

One of the Apple questions asked if the caller was satisfied with the IVR system.  “It was a surprise to hear the strength of feeling in the verbatim comments and that made us realise we only had a 50% IVR satisfaction rating” says Cathal McCarthy, Global Apple Store Manager.  “We listened to our customers, made the changes they suggested, and our satisfaction level is now over 90%”  “Apple is now working on the remaining 10%” says Cathal.

“Apple makes great use of the customer feed-back that ASMA can capture, and their focus on customer satisfaction makes them an ideal customer.” Says Alan Weaser, a Director and co-founder of VIRTUATell.