Numerous research reports point to customer centricity as a key objective for many companies as they head into 2012. However, this will be a difficult path for many companies that still need to make their corporate cultures more customer centric, says Brian Solis, author of The End Of Business As Usual, a new book that examines the changing consumer landscape, its impact on business, and what companies can do to adapt to and lead the consumer revolution.
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Net Promoter is both popular and controversial, so naturally we in Forrester's customer experience (CX) research practice get lots of questions about it from CX leaders whose companies have adopted it or plan to adopt it in the future. Overall, we know that Net Promoter can effectively support CX efforts when companies implement it correctly. But we also know that correct implementation from a CX perspective is in no way a given.
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Imagine this scenario: A woman buys a dress from a department store and leaves it for some alterations. When she goes to pick it up some time later she is told that the dress has been resold to someone else and is offered another outfit and compensation. Many people would find this situation completely unacceptable. They would argue that a company cannot sell something that another person had already bought and would consider it the embodiment of bad customer service.
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This week "Consumer Reports" unveiled its 2011 Naughty & Nice Holiday List. First introduced in 2010 as part of a public-education campaign, the Naughty & Nice Holiday List examines the good and not-so-good shopping policies and the companies behind them. In doing so, Consumer Reports calls out untrustworthy practices, such as Liberty Travel's hidden fees, and praises Costco's generous return policy.
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With only one retail location, Zane's Cycles of Connecticut is one of the three largest bike shops in the United States. It sells $15 million each year in bicycles and bike supplies, with a relationship grounded in customer trust. For example, on any given day you might see a $6,000 bike go out the door for a test drive without any one of Zane's folks asking to collect the customer's identification or any type of collateral. "Do you want my
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Thunderhead President and COO John McGee about recommendations for communicating with customers in the channels they prefer cost effectively
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The real-time Web is an increasingly powerful tool for customers to get the word out when out when they feel a company has wronged them. In fact, a recent study by loyalty marketing company Colloquy revealed that 26 percent of those surveyed said they were far more likely to raise hell about a negative experience than they were to sing the praises about a positive one.
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It was bound to happen. Black Friday has moved beyond its brick-and-mortar beginnings to penetrate anywhere potential customers are. So it's obvious that Facebook is now ground zero for Black Friday deals and retailer outreach this holiday season.
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Far too many business leaders think they can make a few one-off improvements to their organization's customer experience, and voilà, customer engagement will follow. If it was only that easy. "Customer experience is a journey, not a destination," Sophie Vlessing reminded attendees during her session at NACCM earlier this week. Vlessing, senior vice president of strategic marketing and student experience at Kaplan University, shared her roadmap for taking a customer experience journey that leads to ongoing innovation:
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For most of my career I've been obsessed with delivering an exceptional service experience, creating advocates, and coaching others to do the same. And, after nearly two decades in customer facing and operational roles, I think I'm pretty good at it. Recently, I had an opportunity to sit in the "buyers" chair. My subpar experience helped crystallize some things in my mind, specifically the behavioral attributes required of your people to create a true customer-centric culture: empathy, impeccable listening skills,
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With just a week until Thanksgiving my main concern is whether the 16-pound turkey I've ordered will fit in my apartment-sized oven. Stores, on the other hand, are thinking beyond the bird, the stuffing, and the cranberry sauce and focusing more on the following day, the much anticipated Black Friday.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Dr. Jim Goodnight, Co-founder and CEO of SAS Institute, about best practices for gaining buy-in to apply analytics strategically in business.
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Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday because it involves no commerce--no stress of purchasing gifts, no frenzied search for sales, no glitzy décor, and no marketing. The holiday involves the simple pleasures in life: food, family, and football.
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The best way to engage customers: Tell stories. Stories connect people on an emotional level, and emotion is what drives people to action. "Stories define us and give meaning to our lives," Peter Guber, Chairman and CEO, Mandalay Entertainment Group, and author Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story, said during his keynote this morning at NACCM. "Stories break down barriers. They work."
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Zappos.com is well-known for its culture and customer focus. What makes Zappos.com a service company? During her keynote this afternoon at NACCM, Jamie Naughton, speaker of the house, chief culture ambassador, for Zappos.com explained:
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The power has shifted to the consumer in terms of driving change, Scott Hudler, vice president, brand marketing, Dunkin Brands, said during his keynote this afternoon. "It's not about your strategy; it's about are you meeting customers' needs." Retaining customers is more challenging than ever in today's customer-led market. "Even our best customers are not monogamous; they're very promiscuous," Hudler said, adding that customers will go to competitors more often if Dunkin's not meeting their expectations.
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Do you have raving fans? Do you have employees that are as engaged as those raving fans? Companies will rarely have the former without the latter. "The number one law of customer loyalty is employee satisfaction," Pete Winemiller, senior vice president, guest relations, NBA's Oklahoma Thunder, said during his keynote at NACCM this morning.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Dave King, Executive Vice President of Confirmit Mobile Solutions, about the role of mobile in crafting a successful multichannel customer engagement strategy.
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Tales of passenger woe at the hands of airlines are unfortunately too common. Even with in-depth media coverage and widespread customer complaints, airlines continue to leave customers on the tarmac in adverse situations. They haven't had incentive to consider customers ahead of standard operating procedure. But today's news from the Department of Transportation may signal a wake up call, hitting airlines where it hurts -- their pocketbooks.
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When was the last time you sent or received a hand-written thank-you note? It was probably longer ago than you care to remember. Unfortunately, the written thank-you note seems to be a dying art. Fortunately, however, for those who use them, the power is unmatched.
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My friend Sasha has been facing some tough personal and financial challenges, and has threatened many times to close her business. After years watching my business advice fall on deaf ears due to her indecisiveness and inertia, I finally stopped giving it. We recently surveyed our B2B community, and it felt like Sasha influenced the results. Inertia was a recurring theme.
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As a kid, the highlight of any flight would be visiting the cockpit to see the pilots at work and look out through the panoramic windows. That was pre-9/11 and today's high security makes it highly unlikely that airlines will allow anyone into the cockpit. While the visits to the cockpit are something of the past, I have often wondered what else happens behind the scenes in the airline world. How is food prepared? How many people handle my luggage?
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A protestor participating in Occupy Seattle recently was photographed lighting a Bank of America debit card on fire. The photo of the card going up in flames represents the sentiment among consumers right now and the power they hold.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Tina Valdez, Vice President, Technology Innovation at TeleTech about using technology tools to help create great customer experiences.
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Last week the 1to1 Media staff provided in-depth coverage of the upcoming holiday season. Articles ranged from sharing new mobile initiatives and gift card best practices to e-marketing campaign tips and research such as holiday consumer spending predictions. Even with coverage of the many facets of the industry, a few themes shown through.
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Consumers are making their gift lists and checking them twice. On most consumers' lists: gift cards. According to the National Retail Federation, nearly 60 percent of shoppers polled said they would like to receive gift cards this holiday season. And about 50 percent of consumers surveyed for First Data's 2010 U.S. Gift Card Consumer Insights Study purchased gift cards as holiday gifts in 2010. Gift cards, however, aren't always perceived as the most personal gift--unless the recipient has specifically requested
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Coveo Chairman and CEO Louis Tetu about ways that contact center agents can use enterprise search tools and techniques to help customers resolve issues quickly.
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One thing we all understand as marketers is that no matter how brilliant our strategies are, how intriguing our brand stories and compelling our promotions are, they must reach the market in order to have any effect. And one of the main pathways to the market in any business is through the sales force. Salespeople carry our stories and our programs out into the world. Yet there is a lot of "heat loss" between our office and the point of
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With consumer holiday spending projected to be flat compared to last year, it's become ever-more important for retailers to deliver memorable, consistent experiences to customers across all of the channels they use, whether it's for product research, purchases, or support.
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The holiday season is rushing towards us quicker than a harried Santa on Christmas Eve. Many stores have already stocked their shelves with greeting cards and decorations, putting their customers in the mood to fill their shopping carts with gifts for their loved ones.
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No holiday season is complete without the toy catalog. Every year, kids the world over study each page carefully, pondering which holiday gifts to add to their wish lists. This year Toys R Us is giving its holiday catalog a new twist, adding mobile quick response (QR) codes to its pages. Select products in the 80-page book will have accompanying QR codes, which customers can scanned with a mobile QR reader to access additional multimedia content including videos, product reviews,
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Promotions and hassle-free shopping are top of mind for consumers as they begin to think about the holiday shopping season. According to a number of studies, an increasing number of savvy holiday shoppers with limited budgets and a lack of time, plan to maximize discounts and deals this holiday season, as well as take to the Internet to conduct their shopping.
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I recently had a discussion with my colleague Richard Evensen about how customer experience (CX) pros draw on the work done by market insights (MI) departments. Our conclusion: In most cases, they don't. Instead, we often find CX teams doing their own research to understand and improve the experience. This represents a broader phenomenon that we call shadow MI: research commissioned or executed inside a company without the approval or involvement of MI professionals.
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With the tune of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "Shop Around" pulsating throughout their collective subconscious, the majority of consumers plan to hunt for deals this holiday season. Dwindling household incomes and the stagnant unemployment rate have left many consumers clinging to every coin, deliberating every dollar spent-and heading to the social sphere to search for seasonal sales.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Bluewolf Managing Director Randy Rodriguez about the importance for financial services firms to become more trustworthy in the eyes of their customers.
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