Many decision-makers are struggling to strike a balance between efforts to reduce their organization's contact center costs with the need to maintain quality for a consistent customer experience. 1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman spoke with Nicolas de Kouchkovsky, Chief Marketing Officer at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Applications about actionable steps business leaders can take to optimize their call center operations.

Continue reading "Hoffman's Hot Seat: Trends Driving Workforce Optimization Strategies" »

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Few companies truly understand the importance of investing in their employees. But fewer still realize how critical it is to routinely listen to employees to know exactly where to make their investments in their companies.

A new television show "Undercover Boss" on Sundays on CBS reveals how some executives are in the dark about their companies' employees and policies.

Continue reading ""Undercover Boss" Provides a Wake-Up Call for CEOs" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2009 was the year many companies became aware of the potential impact of social media and began experimenting. 2010 needs to be the year we make it an integrated part of our activities, not just a standalone novelty. I hope by now you've come to terms with the fact that your customers -- and your employees -- are talking about you and your industry in social media, whether you're out there or not.

One of the most important steps in equipping your company to participate in social media is establishing a social media policy. It could be as simple as saying, "Understand the standards of the online community and don't do anything stupid." For most companies though, the realities of branding, marketing, communications and legal issues require a bit more detail.

And if you don't have a policy in place, you have a de facto policy that says, "Do whatever you want."

Continue reading "Guest Blogger David B. Thomas: 9 Musts for Establishing a Corporate Social Media Policy" »

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Last week I moderated a panel of loyalty experts who discussed distinctions between emotional and behavioral loyalty. During the roundtable, Prof. John Daly of the University of Texas added a new type of loyalty into the mix -- profitable loyalty. A profitably loyal customer helps the company make money. The key is knowing who these customers are and taking action.

Continue reading "Are Your Customers Profitably Loyal?" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I know what you're thinking. Delivering a one-to-one customer experience shouldn't have to be a choice over branding; it should be an essential part of branding. I agree. But when your brand isn't fully established, can taking a one-to-one approach help a company win over established competitors?

Continue reading "One-to-One Versus Branding" »

Posted by Ginger Conlon at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you ask someone to name a social media tool, they would probably say Facebook or Twitter. These get the most attention and are familiar to the masses. Now ask them how they use either service and you are likely to hear that they post a message for others to read. This misses 80 percent of the opportunity. Where is the dialogue, the engagement that drives traffic and loyalty? Sadly, it is mostly absent.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger Steve McAbee: Conversation and Credibility, Company Blogs Need Both" »

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A growing number of companies are launching Voice of the Customer programs to help gather customer feedback across multiple channels. 1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman spoke with Roderick Morris, Vice President of Marketing at Vovici to discuss some of the inherent challenges of making these programs succeed, including data integration issues.

Continue reading "Hoffman's Hot Seat: Getting Voice of the Customer Programs to Succeed" »

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Over the past couple weeks, I've interviewed a couple handfuls of data analytics experts for an article that I'm working on which will highlight the new data economy. Each expert seems to concur: Data silos still remain the main reason that keep many companies from integrating their analytics efforts into multiple channels or layering indepth predictive analytics.

Continue reading "An Enterprise Approach to End Data Silos" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

How is it that so many people think they know what I need? They haven't asked, nor have I met them. Yet they fill my inbox with information they assume I need. It's rude.

Is it possible that senders of this "stuff" think they're the only ones pitching information? Have they considered that they'll end up in my junk folder? I guess they don't care, because the next transmission is on the way. It's all about them, what they're selling, with no real interest to serve me.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger Michelle Cubas: Earn a Place in My Inbox" »

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Teaching is a struggle. Teachers would be paid like rock stars if I were our country's benevolent dictator. (Full disclosure: my mother, sisters, and much of my family are all teachers. Further full disclosure: I'd love to be the country's Benevolent Dictator.)

Consider this situation: I was helping a young man with a speech the other day as he is in the finals for the "Outstanding Young Man" in the state of Wisconsin. And indeed he is an outstanding young man and very smart, as you would expect.

He used the word "ump" in his story and I suggested he use the more formal umpire as some of the judges may not be as familiar with the word ump. I also thought using the formal word might make him sound more eloquent. Probably not my best contribution ever, but the speech was so good I couldn't think of anything to add and I'm supposed to be Mr. Big Shot Keynote Speaker Guy. In subsequent rehearsals he struggled to make the relatively simple transition to the word umpire.

It is a testament to the challenge of teaching and getting people to embrace change (and why minor suggestions are often best left unsaid).

Continue reading "Guest Blogger Ralph Heath: Teaching and Developing Leaders via Storytelling" »

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Emulating best practices is one approach to achieving marketing success. But often the true learning comes from mistakes. The following horror stories, shared by clients, illustrate that your best laid marketing plans may be doomed without fierce attention to detail. You can't make this stuff up.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger James E. Sullivan: Success--or Not--Is in the Details" »

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Many marketers struggle to obtain a clear picture of who their organization's best sales prospects are. 1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman spoke with TARGUSinfo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George Moore about demand for real-time lead scoring analytics and the challenges that marketers face in utilizing this information effectively.

Continue reading "Hoffman's Hot Seat: Utilizing Real-Time Analytics With Lead Scoring" »

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I got a pleasant surprise yesterday when I opened the mail--a letter from the Stamford Ford Lincoln Mercury dealership where I purchased my Lincoln MKX a year ago. The simple letter was from my sales rep, wishing me a happy one-year anniversary, adding that she hopes that I'm enjoying my car and that she and the dealership value my business.

Continue reading "A Little Goes a Long Way" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Have you recently called a company to resolve an issue, only to get conflicting answers as they pass you from one department to another? In the past few weeks I've had that experience with Comcast, American Airlines, and Citibank. And the sad part is that I'm not alone. You've probably had something similar.

The customer experience that companies like these offers is an "external" sign of an "internal" dysfunction.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger Nilofer Merchant: How Collaboration Improves the Customer Experience " »

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Yesterday I flew from Barcelona, Spain, to New York , returning from my vacation. The flight landed 90 minutes EARLY, something I've never experienced before as an airline passenger. Thanks to Delta for surpassing my expectations and creating a great experience.

I wanted to mention it because it's rare to hear someone discuss a great customer experience around airline travel. Most news you hear is bad news. Take JetBlue's Valentine's Day Ice Storm three years ago. People were stranded on the tarmac for hours, leading to changes in federal regulations and a new commitment to the customer on the part of JetBlue. As the company reflects three years later while also celebrating its 10-year anniversary, we look at what the company's commitment to customers really means.

Continue reading "For Its 10-Year Anniversary, JetBlue Recommits to Customer Experience Excellence" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Customer service, in its many forms, can be an effective sales tool. Sometimes, however, when the experience is self-serving for the provider, a service opportunity can become a way to lose business. Consider these two examples:

Continue reading "Service Can Make or Break a Sale" »

Posted by Ginger Conlon at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

C-level executives are hungry for fresh sales, inventory and other data that they can use to make more knowledgeable decisions quickly. But once executives are provided with these business intelligence dashboards, these systems often sit dormant or are under-utilized. 1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman spoke with Infor Director of CRM Product Marketing Tony Compton to explore steps for gaining dashboard adoption and to help make these tools succeed.

Continue reading "Hoffman's Hot Seat: CRM Dashboards: Best Practices for Gaining Executive Adoption" »

Posted by Tom Hoffman at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Customer ratings and reviews, online communities, and social media have become critical components in influencing customers in the online experience. A September 2009 study from "Internet Retailer" demonstrates the power of customer recommendations when it revealed that 67 percent of shoppers spend more online after recommendations from their online community of friends.

Continue reading "Rubbermaid Proves the Value of Listening to Customers" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Does your organization have a soul? Does it matter?

Some organizations constantly show passion, commitment, and the ability to achieve sustained success. These organizations have a "soulful" quality about them; there is a feel or a buzz that is noticeable and memorable. Conversely, many companies seem disorganized, unfocused, and unproductive. These organizations have less soul and, often, less market share. Soulful organizations consistently outperform soulless organizations.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger William Seidman: Rediscovering the Corporate Soul" »

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In my new book, Flip the Funnel, I talk about better being S.A.F.E. than sorry. The acronym stands for:

• Satisfy curiosity
• Address concerns
• Avoid festering
• Prevent escalation

Continue reading "Guest Blogger Joseph Jaffe: It's Better to Be S.A.F.E. Than Sorry" »

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As a growing number of organizations are creating the role of Chief Customer Officers, they're also working harder on designing more granular customer experience programs that are aimed at improving the business performance of their companies. 1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman spoke with Sage North America's Chief Customer Officer Doug Meyer about the importance of incorporating business process and culture change as part of this evolution.

Continue reading "Hoffman's Hot Seat: The Chief Customer Officer: Building a Customer Strategy" »

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Marketers today are pondering their social media strategies, questioning the best tools, how much to invest, and the real benefits.

This week ForeSee Results attempts to answer some of those questions in a newly released study, "The Key to Driving Retail Success With Social Media: Focus on Facebook."

Continue reading "Starting Out in Social Media" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember Super Bowls ads that were truly memorable? Like Apple's `1984' spot for the Macintosh? The Budweiser frogs? Monster.com's 'When I grow up'?

Continue reading "Betty White and Lindsay the Milkaholic: Memorable Super Bowl Ads" »

Posted by Tom Hoffman at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The ability to innovate is an entrepreneurial quality that is essential for companies to succeed in today's fiercely competitive retail markets. However many companies may be locked in an inertia of change dictated by industry norms.

Continue reading "Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone " »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CIOs have expressed some trepidation about managing different types of customer data in public and private cloud environments. Security, loss of control over data and regulatory/compliance issues top the list of worries. 1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman spoke with RightNow Technologies CIO Laef Olson about these concerns and steps that can be taken to address them.

Continue reading "Hoffman's Hot Seat: Customer Data in the Cloud" »

Posted by Tom Hoffman at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New technologies follow a pattern. They start by imitating older technologies before they evolve to their true forms. The first automobiles looked like horseless carriages. It wasn't until the Vintage Era of the 1920s that cars evolved to a form that we'd recognize today with features like front-engines, enclosed cabs, and electric starters. Televisions started off copying radios -- they looked more like an armoire with a small screen stuck on the front.

In the process of working on my latest piece of research, it became clear that the Web has followed a similar pattern. Early sites imitated a much older medium: paper. And even though "web page" still dominates our thinking, online experiences have begun to evolve away from the page-based metaphor. In the next 5 years the evolution of online experiences toward their true form is about to take off at a much faster rate than in the previous 5 years.

Continue reading "Forrester's Moira Dorsey: The Future of Online Customer Experience" »

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Motivation as a topic is quite popular. Whether in sports or in business, we talk about motivating others to perform better, to work better, or to help us accomplish our goals. But the best way to motivate can be quite elusive. We try all sorts of different programs and philosophies to get others motivated, but in the end, we are right back where we started. There is a very simple reason why this happens. The reality of motivation is this: We cannot positively motivate anyone but ourselves.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger James Castellano: The Truth About Motivation, and What You Can Do About It" »

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Online customer communities used to be just a message board where customers could ask questions or more likely, complain about products. But as social tools become more available and user adoption increases, online communities should advance with them.

Continue reading "Online Customer Communities Embrace New Social Tools" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

To say that marketing today is fast paced is an understatement. Consumers want information quickly and have little patience for slow-loading Web pages, interruptions in streaming videos and ads, or off-target marketing as they browse a brand's site. According to a December 2009 survey by Pew Internet & American Life Project, nearly three quarters (74 percent) of American adults use the Internet. This high Internet usage by everyday Americans further validates that consumers are tuning in online for information, product research, and an always-on connection with the brands and sites they rely on most.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger Martin Hayward: Supporting Social Media Engagement on Your Website" »

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As mobile phone and Smartphone adoption rates continue to soar, a growing number of organizations are taking advantage of mobile marketing and messaging campaigns to help tighten the customer experience. As part of these trends, companies are also beginning to increase their use of mobile feedback systems to gauge and react to customer experiences.

I spoke recently with Allegiance Vice President of Marketing Chris Cottle to determine whether mobile feedback systems make sense from an ROI perspective.

Continue reading "Hoffman's Hot Seat: Mobile Feedback -- Is It Worth It?" »

Posted by Tom Hoffman at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In my new favorite movie "Up in the Air," the George Clooney and Vera Farmiga characters, both frequent fliers who met for the first time, sit in an airport lounge, impressing each other with the amount of loyalty cards they carry in their wallets and how many frequent flier miles they've accumulated. At one point, the Farmiga character says to the Clooney character "We're two people who get turned on by elite status. I think we're starting at cheap," to which Clooney responds "There's nothing cheap about loyalty."

Continue reading "There's Nothing Cheap About Loyalty" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The other night on the way home from work I stopped to pick up my dry cleaning at the drive-up window. I'm not making this up. A nice young woman opens the window and says, "I'm sorry we are closed." And promptly closes the window. I'm usually up for a robust discussion about the quality of service, but she closed the window so quickly and I was so surprised by her action that I did not have time to mount a charm offensive. I checked the time as I thought perhaps it was past closing time and I was being inconsiderate, but I had 5 minutes to spare. I drove away in stunned silence.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger Ralph Heath: What Has Happened to Customer Service in America?" »

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Tax season is upon us, and almost no company is as synonymous with tax preparation and accounting activities as Intuit. The makers of Turbo Tax, QuickBooks, and Quicken software are preparing for its busy time by gathering and acting on customer insight from the web.

Continue reading "Intuit Gains Customer Insight in Time for Tax Season" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A colleague of mine was angry about the way Orbitz handled a service issue, so she tweeted about it. She also sent a complaint via the company's website customer support page. Orbitz responded to the Twitter posts via email, and resolved the issue; the company only ever sent a generic "we're reviewing your inquiry" email in response to the complaint sent via the website.

This made me wonder whether Orbitz's service channels are actually connected on the back end. Many companies now have people whose primary focus is tracking and responding to complaints aired in online communities and social networks; but not all of those teams are integrated with the rest of the service organization in a way that promotes information sharing.

Continue reading "To Tweet or Call, That is the Question" »

Posted by Ginger Conlon at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Driving to work the other morning, I heard a news report about how Burberry PLC's third-quarter sales beat market expectations. Same-store sales from the company's own retail outlets, which generated two-thirds of Burberry's overall sales in the third quarter, were up 10% for the period.

What really caught my attention in the report was a comment about how the effectiveness of the company's Internet marketing efforts have helped this 154 year-old maker of trench coats and outerwear to drive additional sales traffic at its retail outlets.

Intrigued, I decided to do a little research.

Continue reading "Internet Marketing from the 'Trenches'" »

Posted by Tom Hoffman at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Taking cues from customers is difficult in the rapidly shifting social landscape. This week Forrester has updated its Social Technographics Ladder to help marketers determine the categories of social behavior that customers exhibit to help them analyze their target audiences. A new one has emerged and marketers should take note.

Continue reading "Forrester Adds a New Rung to the Social Technographics Ladder" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Amid all of the excitement around new media and predictions that this will be "the year of" mobile, social media, or augmented reality, the reality is that most companies will still only spend a fraction of their marketing budgets on these new alternatives in 2010.

I have heard one consistent question that inhibits spending in new media: "Where's the scale?" It is a question that goes to the heart of how the basic model of marketing has fundamentally changed, and while there still is no answer to the scale question, I believe we are on the verge of shifting our approach in a way that will uncover opportunities for more meaningful results for both bottom lines and customers' lives.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger Bob Gilbreath: Finding Success in New Media by Abandoning the Search for Scale" »

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Many companies talk a good game when it comes to the customer experience. It's very easy to speak in broad strokes when it comes to a company's efforts to provide a consistent, positive experience from any channel. Yet when it comes to taking action, it can be confusing to know where to begin. There are two tactics that may serve as good starting points.

Continue reading "A Tactical Approach to Customer Experience Improvements" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Succeeding in today's hypercompetitive, fast-changing environment is no easy task. Qualities like perseverance, resourcefulness, and consideration are musts. Two that are especially important today are optimism and enthusiasm.

Continue reading "Optimism and Enthusiasm" »

Posted by Ginger Conlon at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As a ski buff, I'm fortunate to live in an area where there are a handful of small resorts located within a half-hour's drive of my home. What I like most about the proximity is that I can take a few runs on a weeknight or on weekends and not have to make a huge time commitment. I buy passes in advance so I don't have to waste time waiting on a ticket line. Just park the car, strap on my gear and head right to the chair lift.

Unless there's an unforeseen glitch.

Continue reading "Preventing a Customer Experience from Going Downhill" »

Posted by Tom Hoffman at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With the media constantly inundating us with negative messages, it was refreshing to listen to someone like Bert Jacobs speak on Monday. The cofounder and chief executive optimist of Life is Good, a $100 million privately held t-shirt and apparel company, talked to an audience at the National Retail Federation to provide life lessons that we can all translate into business lessons. "Your life isn't there to grow your business; your business is here to serve your life," he explained.

Continue reading ""Life is Good" Offers Valuable Lessons" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is our third year publishing the CxPi. The 2007 CxPi and the 2008 CxPi rankings were published in Q4. We decided to publish this year's CxPi in Q1 2010, so we don't have a 2009 CxPi.

The 2010 CxPi ranks 133 organizations across 14 industries: Airlines, Banks, Credit Card Providers, Health Plans, Hotels, Insurance Firms, Internet Service Providers, Investment Firms, Parcel Shipping Services (new this year), PC Manufacturers, Retailers, TV Service Providers, Utilities (new this year), and Wireless Carriers.

The CxPi is based on consumer evaluations during November 2010 across three areas: 1) meeting needs; 2) being easy to work with; and 3) enjoyability (see the methodology section below).

Continue reading "Forrester's Bruce Temkin: Forrester's 2010 Customer Experience Rankings" »

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Brand value improves as customer loyalty to that brand improves. It makes sense, but many companies still don't connect the dots between customer value and brand value. But which are the companies that do it best, and what can we learn from them?

Continue reading "Loyalty Correlates with Brand Value" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I once was fired as a customer. It's true.

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, Allstate Insurance decided that potential hurricane damage was a significant risk for many of its customers in the New York City area. So, the company notified us that it was cancelling our homeowners insurance--with plenty of time to find a new carrier. Initially, it seemed absurd to me (I live in the city and the extremely rare times any hurricane has made landfall in New York, it's been at the eastern-most area of Long Island). But, being in the "customer business" I understood Allstate's decision to fire potentially unprofitable customers.

Continue reading "When Is It OK to Fire Your Customers?" »

Posted by Ginger Conlon at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

The IRS doesn't have a very good reputation for customer service or helpfulness. With the bar set so low, it would take something extraordinary to get people to be upset about a lack of service. And here it is: the customer service goal is to answer only 7 out of every 10 calls that come in.

Continue reading "The IRS' Customer Service Goal: Don't Answer 30 Percent of Calls" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As it becomes clear that social networks provide a real opportunity for performance advertisers, I'm nevertheless surprised about PepsiCo's announcement in December to sit out Super Bowl XLIV and not purchase an advertising spot, instead investing $20 million in a social marketing campaign.

Continue reading "Pepsi Watches Super Bowl From the Sidelines" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

The New Year always brings with it predictions about what to expect over the next 12 months. The consensus among our group of leading business thinker is that this year will be the year that social media actually gets operationalized into business. Companies now realize that it's no fad, and they should dedicate resources and strategies to incorporate social media into everyday business, say Don Peppers, Martha Rogers, and others. What do you think?

Continue reading "Is Social CRM the "It" Strategy of 2010?" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)