Customer

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 sep 2014

The next-generation of social media analytics is moving beyond static engagements like followers & likes. Both digital marketing and customer care are converging on the social media platforms and the marketing strategy need to be based on accuracy and speed by using advanced real-time analytics tools. Futuristic social analytics should be able to highlight who, what and why of the brand's consumer engagement dynamics. This will provide real value to marketers as they are able to measure the campaign effectiveness based on data and ROI. Pernille Bruun-Jensen, Chief Marketing Officer at Netbase, provide examples of what next-generation of social analytics can do for brands - (1) Boost campaign performance in real-time (2) Discover what influences your customers purchases (3) Get an edge on the competition (4) Fix problems before they escalate (5) Learn about customers' interests outside your brand. Read on...

ADWEEK: Next-Gen Social Analytics Are Transforming Digital Marketing
Author: Pernille Bruun-Jensen

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 sep 2014

Professor Brian Wansink of Cornell University, has been conducting research on eating habits and behaviors of consumers through his Food and Brand Lab, which he founded in 1997 while being at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His new book 'Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life' is just published and focuses on understanding surrounding and environment at five places - home, favorite restaurants, favorite grocery store, work-place, children's school - that influences eating behaviors and find solutions by designing them in such a way that encourages healthier eating habits. According to him, 'It's easier to become slim by design than slim by willpower.' Here are nine recommendations from him while doing a kitchen makeover - (1) Move healthier foods to visible spots (2) Make tempting foods invisible and inconvenient (3) Declutter your kitchen (4) Make your kitchen less friendly for lounging (5) Think twice before buying big packages of food (6) Use smaller serving bowls and spoons (7) Use smaller, narrower drinking glasses (8) Serve food from the counter or the stove (9) Avoid doing other activities while eating. Read on...

USA TODAY: 9 ways to lose weight by rearranging your kitchen
Author: Nanci Hellmich

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 aug 2014

With access to 21st century communication and sharing technologies, both brands and customers are connected the way they have never been before. Social media and mobile are transforming the way brands interact with customers. But there are certain basics that remain the same. Companies and brands should emphasise on creating and facilitating communities of interest around them and consistently share and propagate their values through both words and action. Moreover to create lasting relationships the need is also to create a platform that facilitates connections among the consumers with each other. Brands can play a leadership role within the community and must share relevant content and experience that the members can relate to. Marketers have to align themselves with the consumers and help strengthen their bonds with each other. This provides members to talk to each other and discuss and share what is valuable to them. Thus resulting in the most powerful form of marketing. Read on...

Fast Company: WHY BUILDING YOUR BRAND IS ALL ABOUT SHARING YOUR VALUES
Author: Dave Hawley

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 mar 2014

Marketers are always trying to find innovative ways to connect and build relationships with the consumers. Experiential marketing does the same and assists brands and companies, by creating events in public setting like malls, stations, conferences etc and even online, to directly interact with their prospective customers through experience with products and services. The relationship building can be a two way process and companies can utilize experiential marketing to gain customer information and data in return. The article explores this value exchange by utilizing experiential and marketing research to build and retain customers and cites various examples of companies that are doing it right. Experiential marketing can provide opportunities for data capture through use of latest technologies and attractive deals in return for interaction with the brands. Read on...

CREAM: How experiential will become a new form of market research
Author: Will Northover

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 jan 2014

Customers are becoming more aware and knowledgeable about the products and services that are provided by companies and expect customer service to attend them effectively, efficiently and with an understanding approach. In a highly competitive business environment companies are using all possible resources to acquire and retain customers, and are trying to restrict them to switch to other comparable brands. Customer service is at the forefront of this customer acquisition and retention process. But all companies aren't able to provide proactive customer service and are still stuck in the older methods of reactive customer service. Article provides detailed example of a customer service delivery process by two companies, one of them is a CDN (Content Delivery Network) and the other a managed hosting service provider, serving the same client. The hosting provider has proactive approach (frequent and continued communication of the problem's status and step by step explanation of the solution process) while CDN had a reactive approach (only responding to client messages without providing assurance of solving the problem or trying to find a way to tackle it). Author also provides some basic steps that fulfil the requirement of a proactive customer service approach - Have processes that track potential problems before customers know them; Automate customer contact when a problem alert happens and manually evaluate severity of problem; Communicate humanly and effectively with customers when problem is identified; Don't keep users in the dark and share with them the solution process; Engage all possible communication channels and utilize the ones that customer prefers and is comfortable with. Read on...

ClickZ: Proactive vs. Reactive Customer Service
Author: Jack Aaronson

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 dec 2013

A retail industry expert explains how an experience in retail provides lessons that can develop and enhance leadership abilities - Don't just be different, be special (make customers part of your enterprise and delight them so much that they form an emotional attachment to the brand); Pick up the trash (don't hesitate to act on even smaller things if there is a need, become visible to your customers, model the behavior that you want others to follow, develop emotional connect with customers and employees); Don't blow a long-term relationship over a short-term glitch (create clarity around what a customer experience feels like in your context, understand the competitive offerings as the customers are aware too in today's connected world); When your name is on it, you own it (cutomers may not understand the organizational separation of working units so if they see a corporate connection then you should make sure to deliver as corporate reputation might be at stake); Frontline employees are too often undervalued (keep in mind the value of the employees who are at the bottom of the hierarchical pyramid in the organization, understand their needs and ensure their well being with proper pay and benefit policies, training efforts and other support mechanisms). Read on...

strategy+business: Learning the Leadership Lessons of Retail
Author: Eric J. McNulty

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 02 dec 2013

Customer service and support is becoming one of the most critical function of the businesses with advancement in communication technologies, social media and customer awareness. The need to focus on customer satisfaction is essential for customer acquisition, to build long-term relationships and get repeat customers. The article examines customer service trends for 2014 - Self Service; Proactive Support; Technological Domination; The Comeback of the Premium Service; Customers Have a Voice and They Can't Stop Using it. Read on...

Dubai Chronicle: Upcoming Customer Service Trends for 2014
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 nov 2013

Most companies have been putting technology enabled customer service systems at place to fulfil their customers needs and resolve issues. But are these systems sufficient to satisfy customers? According to a report '2012 Customer Service Barometer' by American Express (based on 1000 customer surveys and interviews) - Most customers still don't think service is good enough, much less getting better; Most people will spend more, significantly more, for great service; Quality personal connections still matter most; And those live interactions can be make-or-break propositions. Moreover the customers, with enhanced communicating and sharing technologies (social media etc), find it easier to propagate their customer service experiences. They tell on average 15 people about their good experiences and 24 people about their bad ones, while nearly 50% consumers always tell others about good customer service experiences while 56% always talk to people about their poor experiences. Read on...

CBS News: Most companies fail customer service test
Author: Michael Hess

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 nov 2013

Social media is creating new dynamics in the delivery and performance of customer service. It is providing tools for both marketers and customers to share their views and experiences with a larger audience at a speed that wasn't available before. Product and solution providers must understand that customer service is a critical element of a company-customer relationship that is build over a period of time with a value exchange from both sides. Customer service is the front of the organization that deals directly with the customers and a bad experience have a potential to negatively affect this relationship. The article explains the customer service mistakes that should be avoided - Limited use of the automated phone systems; Proper use of automated phone systems; Not apologizing or appearing unsympathetic; Passing the buck; Not solving the problem. Read on...

The VAR Guy: Top 5 Customer Service Nightmares To Avoid
Author: Elliot Markowitz

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 11 nov 2013

Customer participation in the design process is becoming an important part of the innovation and creative strategy. Though most organizations are still struggling to fully incorporate the concept of empathy and customer-centeredness in their business practices. In their book, 'Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All', authors David Kelly (Founder of IDEO and d.school at Stanford University) and Tom Kelly (Partner at IDEO and executive fellow at Haas School of UC-Berkeley) share their design experiences and how companies and organizations can build their creative competence. The excerpt from the book focuses on empathy (understanding what people need and incorporating them in products and services) and how over the years they have used anthropological field research at every stage of the design process to empathise with the end users. Authors suggest 'hybrid insights' an approach that integrates quantitative research into human-centered design. They cite a successful example of a bank that utilized these concepts to understand the needs and wants of the millennial generation (GenY) and created specific financial products for this target segment. Read on...

Slate: Why Designers Need Empathy - Designing better online banking for millennials
Author: David Kelley, Tom Kelley

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