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There's been a lot of buzz about J.C. Penney lately now that the fledgling retailer has tapped former Apple retail czar Ron Johnson as its white knight. Much of the buzz has centered around Johnson's fair pricing strategy which is designed to keep prices low on the types of products its shoppers typically look for and, in part, by setting up its stores with low-priced merchandise on a monthly basis. Read more »

Whew! What a week. 1to1 Media and Peppers & Rogers Group's 2012 social media week was a great success. We met lots of readers and fans, got some great insight, and connected in ways we've never done before. If you missed any of it, here's a recap of our activities last week: Read more »

When it comes to considered purchases it seems that everyone--B2B and B2C buyers alike--wants a second opinion. In fact, 100 percent of the nearly 100 respondents to 1to1's recent survey "How Social a Social Customer Are You?" seek recommendations on occasion before purchasing an item important enough to research before buying. While only about a third of the survey respondents seek recommendations prior to every considered purchase, only 4 percent rarely ask for recommendations. Read more »

Instead, many companies use social to promote a product, to sell, or to monitor brand mentions. To be truly effective at leveraging social to engage customers and foster loyalty, organizations must transition from using social as a one-dimensional broadcast device to a two-way communications channel that enables meaningful and personalized dialogue. Read more »

Customers are communicating with their favorite brands in an ever-increasing number of ways; along with phone calls and emails, today's customers are increasingly using social media channels not only to follow and interact with companies they're interested in, but also to share their experiences with these organizations. Read more »

Unless you have fresh ingredients, following a great recipe will not lead to a delicious meal. It doesn't matter which Michelin-starred chef penned the recipe or how well you follow it, the stars of the show are the ingredients, and they can make or break your dinner. Similarly, the stars in any company are employees, making hiring the right people and giving them the needed training, as well as constant retraining, an essential factor in creating a fantastic customer experience. Read more »

Often, while browsing the Internet, I notice advertisements that pertain directly to items or topics I've just searched. When shopping at the mall, I'll suddenly receive an email that connects me with an offer for the very store I just left. The eerie wave of awareness stops me dead in my tracks and I wonder, where is Big Brother and how does he know my every move? Read more »

In business, we don't use social media for the sake of being social; we leverage social media to grow our business. However, how can we determine whether a social media marketing or sales strategy is proving beneficial to our bottom line when many of us are still struggling to determine how to measure the success of our social efforts? Read more »

When Susan Boyle walked on the stage of Britain's Got Talent in 2009, both Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan gave the 47-year-old unemployed woman skeptical looks. She expressed her wish to become a professional singer, but had never been given the chance to make her dream come true. And from Cowell and Morgan's facial expression, they didn't seem to believe that her luck was about to change. Read more »

In a recent study, Temkin Group and Peppers & Rogers Group examined the social media activities within companies. It turns out that less than 40 percent of large companies have achieved even modest value from their social media efforts, but nearly 90 percent expect to gain that value over the next three years. A lot of companies are expecting many good things from social media. To gain that value they'll need to have solid social media strategies and good execution. Read more »

1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with SundaySky President and Chief Revenue Officer Jim Dicso about ways that companies can use online video to engage customers and form tighter relationships. Read more »

Today we published Forrester's Customer Experience Index, 2012 (CXi). It's our fifth annual benchmark of customer experience quality as judged by the only people whose opinion matters: customers. The CXi is based on research conducted at the end of 2011 and reflects how consumers perceived their experiences with 160 brands across 13 industries. Read more »

What can Warren Buffett learn from Justin Bieber? Besides the latest dance moves, it turns out celebrities can teach CEOs and other business executives a thing or two about making personal connections with customers via social media. Until now, many executives have hidden behind their size when it comes to customer interactions. Social media tools like Twitter and others break down that barrier, allowing senior leaders and customers to interact in new and scalable ways. Read more »

If you're not harnessing social to its full potential, we're here to help. 1to1 has joined forces with parent company Peppers & Rogers Group to bring you Social Media Week from January 23-27: five days of content and activities that aim to help you launch or improve your social media strategy. Why next week? We're celebrating the release of our social media-themed issue of executive journal Customer Strategist. The entire issue examines how social media drives customer engagement and business Read more »

Adapt or die: It's an adage that many companies have had to heed to remain successful in times of change. New technologies threaten to sideline currently successful ones with the promise of better and faster service and output. Read more »

It's an exciting time to be a retailer. In addition to the announcement made on Monday at the National Retail Federation's Big Show in New York City that retail sales are forecasted to grow 3.4 percent this year, the show also demonstrated that retailers will soon be better positioned than ever to offer customers a seamless, innovative, and convenient shopping experience. Read more »

1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with MediaRoost President Mark Krieger about steps that companies can take to deliver effective customer support via social media channels. Read more »

I opened my email today to a message from Zappos telling me my account may have been hacked. But I'm not alone. 24 million other customers received the same email. While Zappos has made a name for itself with its customer-focused culture, not everyone is a fan. This weekend it became the target of hackers. And the situation may test the relationship it has with customers. Read more »

It seems that marketing folks are torn. In most organizations marketing "owns" social media monitoring and welcomes the opportunity it provides to interact with customers, but they don't want to get pigeon-holed into become the monitoring group, according to Chris Cottle, executive vice president of marketing and products at Allegiance. Cottle called this situation the dysfunctional social paradigm. Read more »

I recently had a particularly bad self-service customer experience that prompted me to think about the experience gaps in many organizations' self-service offerings. Although my experience involved a self-pay kiosk at a parking garage, the basic principles can be applied across virtually any industry. Read more »

With the second week of January coming to a close, the signs of the recent holidays are quickly disappearing. Spendthrifts have been replaced by savers and healthy salads are taking the place of gluttonous meals. What remains of the holidays are the resolutions to be better in 2012. For many marketers, resolutions include a stronger social media presence. According to the State of Social Media Marketing report, by Awareness, marketers want to increase their presence across social media marketing platforms, Read more »

Every organization and company has unique opportunities to create meaningful interactions with their customers every day, through any channel, by engaging customers and offering exceptional value with each touch point. Read more »

1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Russell Keziere, Senior Director of Corporate Marketing at Pegasystems, about steps that companies can take to leverage real-time analytics to tighten relationships with customers. Read more »

2011 was a pivotal year for the field of customer experience. A major increase in the number and types of consumer technologies had a wide-ranging impact on daily life: People controlled their TVs with tablets, asked their phones questions, and played video games without using physical controllers. The extensive reach of these changes -- and the screaming pace at which they happened -- triggered a corporate awakening to the value of great customer interactions. Read more »

The online world is fast-paced and hectic. Many of us are so focused on keeping up, that sometimes we lose sight of the fact that there are other people out there too. Somewhere along the line snarky comments and impatience replaced common courtesy and politeness. Well, Real Simple magazine has had enough, and this week launched "Be Nice on the Internet" week. Read more »

Everyone has a place they love to go because the customer experience is so fabulous. Yours may be a restaurant, boutique, hotel, or spa. It may even be a bank or gym or dry cleaner or copy shop. Or perhaps a gallery, theater, or museum. And the reasons you delight in the customer experience at your favorite place are as varied as the places themselves. The reason you enjoy the customer experience may be because of stellar customer service, but Read more »

Last year was an exciting one for the voice of the customer (VoC) world. We saw significant advancements in a number of key areas, including process, culture, and technology. Ultimately, these moves led to better experiences for customers and better financials for companies. Read more »

With the holidays over, many retailers are offering deep discounts to get their stock moving. But businesses need to keep in mind that slashed prices aren't an excuse for bad customer service, especially considering the cutthroat competition they're facing. Read more »

In 2012, social media will continue to transform our society, businesses, and social discourse. But I wonder if executives are still largely unconvinced that engaging in social sites and blogs isn't relevant to their work. Read more »

1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Dan McDade, President and CEO of PointClear, about best practices for generating sales leads effectively. Read more »

Quick Response (QR) codes are either poised to take off in 2012 or eventually join the junk heap of other tech flops such as the Apple Newton and Internet currency (remember Flooz and Beenz?). While the emergence of other technologies such as near field communications and digital watermarks may shape the durability of QR, ultimately, the potential for the technology rests with how effectively companies place customers at the center of their QR efforts. Read more »