AT&T is facing a customer backlash brought on by complaints of data throttling. After a customer in California sued AT&T in small claims court of data throttling, numerous customers have started petitions on Change.org in an attempt to urge AT&T to alter its data policies. The combined petitions have garnered thousands of signatures.
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By most measures, this has been a rough winter for U.S. ski resorts. Across the continental U.S., snowpack is well below average and warm temperatures have made it tough for resorts to make and retain man-made snow. Finding a mountain with even fair conditions has been a real challenge, especially in the Northeast. But past experiences recently led me to a ski resort where I knew I could count on good conditions. And I wasn't disappointed.
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Last week, President Obama unveiled The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, a policy framework designed to provide a "baseline of clear protections for consumers and greater certainty for businesses." The availability and use of consumer data continues to grow. The announcement intends to provide clarity on how companies can use consumer information, and provides consumers with guidelines about their protections and rights.
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When it comes to using customer centricity to improve business performance, there is no one secret formula for success. Customers, companies, and the relationships between them are unique. Therefore, each organization's customer-centric business strategy must be unique, as well.
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CEOs and boards of directors often feel daunted when it comes time to hire a chief customer officer. The two main reasons: There is a lack of a standard definition of the roles and responsibilities of the CCO, and key characteristics of successful CCOs are still emerging.
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Companies want to bridge their information silos to have a holistic customer view, knowing that this will allow them to give their clients a better and more personalized service. While many experts argue that silos are actually necessary to ensure that different departments strive for accountability, focus, and specialization, the ultimate aim for organizations is to have a complete picture of their customers and ensure seamless service across different channels and departments.
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The importance of delivering exceptional customer experiences during a down economy is essential to fostering customer satisfaction--a critical measure for success. But according to the 2011 fourth quarter customer satisfaction report released yesterday by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, there were only mild improvements in customer satisfaction with a yearly gain of .07 percent, and some not-so-surprising winners and losers.
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There's been a lot of buzz about Big Data, as well as misconceptions about what the term actually means. Since this is an area that carries a great deal of significance for customer management professionals, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on the topic.
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You've doubtless heard the now-clichéd phrase, the only constant is change. When it comes to marketing, however, the only constant is complexity, according to Bruce Biegel, managing director of Winterberry Group. During his presentation at a Direct Marketing Club of New York luncheon, Biegel shared some insight into that complexity, as well as related trends to watch in 2012.
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Newegg.com is loved--by everyone from technical wizards to those who are just beginning to introduce technology into their lives. A big reason for this adoration is because the company tells the truth about its inventory to customers. The minute its warehouse runs out of an item, Newegg.com marks that product as unavailable or it is removed from its site.
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Making sure that customers are satisfied with their experience with a company is an essential part of any organization's job. However, it's also imperative to make sure that employees are happy, since they're the ones interacting with customers and can have an important impact on their experience.
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I stated in this January article that 2012 will be the year that mobile more successfully integrates with other customer interaction channels. As Forrester reveals this week in the report, "Mobile is the New Face of Customer Engagement" for mobile to successfully blend with other channels and engage with customers, CIOs need to rethink their role, strategy, and organizational structure.
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Each year we put a stake in the ground to identify trends that marketers should pay special attention to. This year we see these on the horizon:
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Valentine's Day doesn't normally conjure thoughts about banking--unless, of course, you're concerned about piling up too much debt onto your credit card account in demonstrating your affection to a loved one. But a recent experience I had with a bank has led me to share the following on this day of romance.
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While I write frequently about the rise of the Chief Customer Officer within firms advanced enough in their customer experience efforts to consider this kind of executive position, I often get questions at a much more basic level, such as: Where do I get started? Often an individual may get mandate from an executive to spear-head creating a greater customer focus at the company. For those, here are seven steps for getting started:
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Social media is like a tornado, creating a whirlwind of open dialog between companies and their customers. This is how Get Satisfaction CEO Wendy Lea described social media to me when we recently discussed the topic.
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In many ways, selling is a bit of a black art. We can't control the customer. They don't buy when we're absolutely certain this one's in the bag, and other times they surprise us with an order in the second meeting. Salespeople pump themselves up every day to go off into the unknown and find revenue. They work hard under a cloud of uncertainty, and at the end of the year, they've put up a number. Then management sticks them
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Customers have come to expect good products and service. What blows them away is when companies go beyond the line of duty, giving customers more than they expect.
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Now that your company is just getting the hang of navigating the social world of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, along comes another site that you should start leveraging...Pinterest.
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The dawn of a new year often marks a spate of leadership changes within many companies and 2012 is no exception. This includes new marketing leaders that have popped up at Facebook (former Levi's CMO Rebecca Van Dyck), Kenneth Cole (former Anthropologie marketing chief Amy Choyne), Macy's (Martine Reardon has been promoted), and Gilt Groupe (Elizabeth Francis jumps from Intelligent Beauty). And while there are multiple factors that can drive changes in leadership changes (e.g. newly-appointed CEO brings in their
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If you're reading this post, there's probably at least one person in your company (you) who's already working to improve your customer experience in some way. That means your company's CX efforts fall somewhere on the curve below.
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Satmetrix's Net Promoter Score has always brought about some interesting debates: Should organizations tie compensation to their? What is the ideal score to strive for? And should it be the single predictor of a company's growth? At the company's Net Promoter 2.0 conference held today and tomorrow in San Francisco, it seems like pundits may have a new discussion in which to participate.
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I had the privilege to attend the recent 2012 NRF convention and was impressed with the buzz around loyalty marketing and customer centricity. In one session Macy's CMO Peter Sachse stated, "We don't need new customers. We need to keep the ones we have and get more out of them." Simple yet powerful; all marketers should take this approach--and will create more valuable brands as a result. Yet, why do so many companies continue to miss the mark here?
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"Customer trust is down." You've seen plenty of headlines like that, especially in banking. But what does it really mean?
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Madonna's Super Bowl half-time show won't be the only attention grabber this Sunday. Mobile ads and location-based services will play an important role in this year's Super Bowl as companies include them in their marketing strategy in a bid to reach more customers and transform a moving image into a sale.
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Sure, most every company would like to handle customer service themselves. For some, let's just say, it's not their core competency. These companies look to outsourcers for assistance--but can you really outsource customer experience? Not if you think of it as getting the lowest price for cheeks in seats.
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