A new study from PulsePoint on the digital marketing capabilities and shortcomings of companies finds that "overwhelming complexity" and a "lack of unified measurement" are the key stumbling blocks in aligning these efforts with consumers' multichannel behaviors. There's a growing body of research on this topic, most of which support this thesis that marketing leaders are, in fact, overcome by the difficulty of managing and coordinating marketing efforts across the flood of channels that customers use. They also struggle to
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Greg Sherry, Vice President of Marketing at Verint Systems, about different ways that companies can use workforce optimization tools to foster a customer-centric contact center. This includes the ability to identify agent competencies and align agents' skills and aptitudes, such as first call resolution or cross-selling capabilities, to provide the right support to the right customers at the right time. Additionally, workforce optimization tools can also be used to help act on Voice
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Nikhil Govindaraj, Vice President of Products at Moxie Software, about different ways that companies can monitor and act on customers' social media comments to provide timely and proactive support when it appears to be needed.
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If you're like me, the parent of a soon-to-be college student, you're probably immersed in researching colleges and universities to help determine which ones may be a suitable fit for your child. After all, with a price tag that can exceed $200,000 for a four-year degree, finding the right college for your child is serious business.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Udi Ziv, President of NICE Systems' Enterprise Group, about approaches for striking a balance between using customer sentiment in social media while protecting customer privacy.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Vinay Iyer, Vice President of Marketing at SAP, about the evolution of customer relationship management.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Dave Capuano, Vice President of Marketing at Vovici, a Verint Company, about different approaches for engaging today's empowered customer.
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In most respects, there's not a lot of common ground between a regional water utility and a multinational logistics giant. But one thing that does unite the Las Vegas Valley Water District and FedEx is their respective passion for using customer analytics to improve the customer service experience.
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I've recently been following a discussion thread on LinkedIn on declining consumer sentiment about customer service along with the causes of this (e.g. lack of agent training). While there's no simple answer to this, here are a few points to ponder.
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Rising investments in marketing automation have resulted in increasing overlap between the roles of the CMO and the CIO. Gartner predicts that by 2017, CMOs will be spending more on IT than CIOs. Indeed, a growing number of CMOs and other business leaders are circumventing the IT organization when acquiring technology to support their function in order to move faster on deployments and avoid lengthy architectural and compliance reviews.
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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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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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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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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Dan McDade, President and CEO of PointClear, about best practices for generating sales leads effectively.
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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.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Deepak Advani, Vice President of Predictive Analytics at IBM, about different ways that companies can apply predictive analytics to customer insights shared in social channels.
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I've been a loyal Nissan customer for the past 20 years. Not because I've been "wowed" by their vehicles or had exceptional experiences but primarily because I've come to trust the quality and value of the product. However, if my recent customer service experiences with Nissan are any indication of what's to come, they may have landed me as a customer for life.
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This is a story about the last mile in customer service and why it's so important for companies to ensure that they are delivering great end-to-end customer service.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Jim Davis, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at SAS Institute, about steps that marketing leaders can take to connect with the empowered customer.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Glen Manchester, Founder and CEO of Thunderhead, about how the empowered customer is shaping the direction of customer communications management.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Ralf VonSosen, Vice President, Marketing at InsideView, about the steps that decision-makers can take to collect and act on intelligence about B2B customers.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Marketo Founder and CEO Phil Fernandez about steps that companies can take to use technology to drive revenue performance management.
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Huntington National Bank Executive Vice President and CIO Zahid Afzal discusses the customer and business benefits of merging multiple CRM systems onto a single platform.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Brian Kardon, Chief Marketing Officer at Eloqua, about the need for companies to move beyond monitoring customers' social comments to integrating social into your organization's marketing strategy.
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During his presentation on management innovation at the World Business Forum in New York, London Business School Professor Gary Hamel mentioned that one of the biggest problems plaguing many companies nowadays is the sheer number of organizations that are "emotionally uninspired."
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There are multiple factors that influence the success--or failure--of work teams, including the chemistry between people and a group's commitment to achieving shared goals. But one of the most important attributes of great teams is vulnerability, says author and consultant Patrick Lencioni.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with TeleTech CMO Mark Grindeland about the business benefits of providing customers with unique support experiences.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Ken Osborn, Vice President of Marketing at Five9, about how telephone-based customer support is fusing with social media.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Carol Kline, CIO at TeleTech, about steps that chief information officers can take to forge tighter relationships with other corporate executives.
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One of the comments that stuck with me after attending Dreamforce '11 in San Francisco last month came from a meeting with Jason Alley, a solutions marketing manager at Interactive Intelligence. During my discussion with Jason and his colleague, Debbie Thornburg, about cloud-based contact services, Jason mentioned how dramatic changes in terms of how companies are reshaping their contact center operations are being driven by customers.
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While attending the Dreamforce `11 conference in San Francisco late last month, I had an opportunity to speak with a variety of CMOs, CIOs, and other executives about the divide that has historically existed between CMOs and CIOs. And while there are multiple factors that contribute to this rift between the two camps - including ownership battles over digital marketing efforts and a regular misalignment of goals - it seems that trust - or lack thereof - plays a significant
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In July, I blogged about how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was proposing new rules intended to make it tougher for communications carriers and other companies to slip mystery fees onto customers' phone bills. As a Verizon Wireless customer for the past few years, I've encountered what I have perceived as a few instances of this practice of "cramming" first hand, including a particularly aggravating recent occurrence which is leading my wife and I to shop around for a new
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As many sales and marketing executives have learned, search engine optimization (SEO) is critical for driving customers to a company's website. And while there are varying approaches to SEO, such as services offered by third-party providers, some companies, particularly smaller ones with limited resources, have discovered that a do-it-yourself strategy can pay big dividends.
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I've been a YMCA member for the past several years and have generally had very good experiences with the organization. Most of the facilities I visit are relatively up-to-date and I enjoy the convenience of being able to use different locations when I'm traveling. However, a recent experience with my "home Y" left me a bit disenchanted and has led me to question its approach to providing its members with a consistent multichannel customer experience.
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Lately, I've had a number of conversations with industry executives where the topic of "right-channeling" has come up, referring to the practice of guiding or directing customers to use lower-cost channels such as online or mobile for support or other needs. While there might appear to be a business rationale for trying to shift customers to use economical channels, ultimately, customers are going to use the channels they want to use, depending on their needs and preferences. When companies take
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Martin Hayward, Director of Marketing at Mirror Image Internet, about the importance for marketers and advertisers to understand the link between customer brand preferences and the types of devices they use.
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Last week, Verint announced plans to acquire Vovici for about $60 million. I rarely write about industry deals in this space, but this one is worth noting for several reasons.
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I was disheartened - albeit not altogether surprised - when news reports surfaced last week that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing new rules designed to make it more difficult for telephone carriers and other companies to tack mystery fees onto customers' phone bills.
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As companies find it increasingly difficult to separate themselves by their products, top-notch customer support will help distinguish the leaders and laggards, inContact CMO Mariann McDonagh tells 1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Patrick James, Vice President and Global Head of Marketing, Sales, and Service Consulting at Capgemini, about the trends that are shaping CRM and the top challenges facing CRM decision-makers.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman talks with Jeff Pedowitz, Founder of The Pedowitz Group, about the key trends in the marketing automation software arena and steps that decision-makers can take to use these platforms effectively.
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1to1 Media's Tom Hoffman speaks with Steve Kraus, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Pegasystems, about opportunities for using business process management tools to enhance the measurement of customer-related metrics.
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