Aug 16 2013 | Loyalty Today
We’ve all heard the new adage that by improving the customer experience, profitability will follow. While that is generally true, there’s a lot more to improving the customer experience than simply upgrading your tech or sending out a Facebook message, particularly for banks whose...Read More
Aug 12 2013 | Loyalty Today
Having worked in various marketing positions in the course of my career, I look in wonder at how the role of the marketer has changed in just a couple of years. From how best to leverage social media to meet sales goals to the ubiquity of marketing operations management platforms a ...Read More
Aug 12 2013 | Loyalty Today
New technologies are transforming the process of risk management from an art to a science, making it easier for insurance companies to cost effectively and efficiently manage risk. I recently spoke with Steven Di Pilla, CSP, Director of Research and Development at ESIS, Inc., part of the...Read More
Aug 06 2013 | Loyalty Today
Technology industry literature is replete with tales of customer relationship management (CRM) project failures. These complex implementations frequently take five or more years to complete, and they fail more often than they succeed. The root cause behind these failures varies by situation...Read More
Jul 26 2013 | Loyalty Today
It seems that geographical information systems (GIS) are finally being embraced in the business arena. Even as recently as eighteen months ago the idea that leveraging geographical information was essential to profitable business operations was, to be frank, alien. However, lead by ...Read More
Jul 17 2013 | Loyalty Today
Today’s consumers expect personalized service from their telecommunication providers across multiple channels, including email, mobile and social media. But integrating these channels to deliver a consistent customer experience poses a number of challenges. Providers need to unify data and...Read More
Jul 12 2013 | Loyalty Today
At Pitney Bowes, we are transforming our strategy from a product-forward to a market-back approach. We want to really understand our customers and their challenges, allowing us to provide better service, create higher value, and further grow our relationship with them. With this...Read More
Jul 04 2013 | Loyalty Today
Not all healthcare services are delivered to patients who have walked into a doctor’s office or hospital of their own free will. In fact, not all healthcare services are provided in a hospital or doctor’s office at all.
In the cases of accidents and medical emergencies, healthcare...Read More
Jul 01 2013 | Loyalty Today
State and local governments are often hit hardest when the economy takes a downward turn. When the economy takes a hit, states lose income tax revenue from employees that are laid off and sales tax revenue from decreased consumer spending.
This decreased revenue is compounded by an increase in...Read More
Jun 27 2013 | Loyalty Today
How many stories have you heard from your friends, colleagues, and customers about the time an installation specialist or repair technician failed to show for a scheduled appointment, or a repair took multiple visits (all potentially with scheduling issues) because the technician was unable to...Read More
Jun 26 2013 | Loyalty Today
We’ve talked about the topic of loyalty programs and how retailers must combine insights with other data from customer interactions to get a holistic view of the customer and create more personalized and targeted offers. A recent study finds that many retailers are experiencing...Read More
Jun 25 2013 | Loyalty Today
Studies have shown that a projected $26 billion of Medicare spending is caused by readmissions. An estimated 65 percent of that $26 billion may be unnecessary. That’s almost $17 billion in taxpayer dollars going to pay for hospital stays and medical procedures that may be wasteful or...Read More
Jun 07 2013 | Loyalty Today
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Healthcare Homebase Chief Strategy Officer, Tom Maxwell, about the importance of technology when it comes to homecare.Tom has been involved in the medical technology field for well over a decade and has plenty of insight to offer about healthcare...Read More
Jun 06 2013 | Loyalty Today
You can’t visit a government trade publication’s Web site without seeing at least one article about big data. Big data is being looked at by almost every government agency as a way of using the information that they already have to make more informed decisions, become more proactive...Read More
Jun 05 2013 | Loyalty Today
The rising tide of natural disasters has caused ongoing concern over increased potential for claims losses and reduced profitability for today’s insurance carriers. In addition, strong competition and market forces have resulted in reduced investment income and the pressure to maximize...Read More
Jun 05 2013 | Loyalty Today
The rising tide of natural disasters has caused ongoing concern over increased potential for claims losses and reduced profitability for today’s insurance carriers. In addition, strong competition and market forces have resulted in reduced investment income and the pressure to maximize...Read More
Jun 04 2013 | Loyalty Today
A year ago, in May 2012, Pitney Bowes Software commissioned a survey of 250 Chief Marketing Officers, many of whom work in the telecommunications industry. What the survey results revealed is that while customers have more ways to communicate with their service providers, customers are...Read More
Jun 03 2013 | Loyalty Today
When it comes to knowing your customer, one group in particular – Generation Y shoppers – is of utmost importance to retailers. This group, between the ages of 18 and 35, represents the future generation of shoppers and their buying habits and preferences will inform retail strategies...Read More
Jun 03 2013 | Loyalty Today
Over the next couple of years, the insurance industry is expected to change its focus from cost-cutting and operational efficiency to enabling data-driven insights and customer-centric initiatives – insights that will help drive improved acquisition and retention, provide informed...Read More
May 30 2013 | Loyalty Today
Everybody is aware of social media at this point. Frankly, it’s hard not to be… Facebook alone boasts 1 billion users.
B2B marketers understand that there’s potential here, but many aren’t actually building a customer communications strategy for social channels...Read More
May 30 2013 | Loyalty Today
Everybody is aware of social media at this point. Frankly, it’s hard not to be… Facebook alone boasts 1 billion users.
B2B marketers understand that there’s potential here, but many aren’t actually building a customer communications strategy for social channels...Read More
May 30 2013 | Loyalty Today
When it comes to social services, so much of the citizen experience is defined by communications: the notices, forms, responses and information that individuals receive and respond to on a daily basis.
How does your communication strategy compare? If your state is just launching a...Read More
Apr 26 2013 | Loyalty Today
The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) were scheduled to hold this year’s Defense Intelligence Worldwide Conference from April 8–10, 2013 in Baltimore, MD. The conference is an annual event focused on the IT solutions that are helping the defense and...Read More
Apr 26 2013 | Loyalty Today
For the past few years, the term “Big Data” has been hyped around the business and marketing worlds as the Holy Grail for companies looking to discover the secrets to mastering their customer relationships. Yet, for all of the positive hype around it, there seems to be just as much...Read More
Apr 05 2013 | Loyalty Today
One of the interesting things about writing for Engage Today is seeing how different industry verticals respond to the need to engage with customers and how they use technology to cement these relationships. But recently, I’ve been getting a little jealous of my colleagues, Meredith and...Read More
Apr 05 2013 | Loyalty Today
In a recent interview with Marketplace, New York University psychology and marketing Professor Adam Alter shared a couple of amusing tidbits from his latest book, “Drunk Tank Pink”.
Professor Alter explores how a person’s environment can have an immense effect on the way they...Read More
Apr 04 2013 | Loyalty Today
Following the HIMSS 2013 Conference last month, I was able to sit down with Christine Durr, a Healthcare Solution Specialist at Pitney Bowes Software, to discuss this year’s show, the overarching themes and her key takeaways from what is arguably the healthcare IT industry’s biggest...Read More
Mar 29 2013 | Loyalty Today
Hospital adoption of EHR (Electronic Health Record) technology has been steadily rising in the United States since 2008, and that can be attributed to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. HITECH authorized grants to qualified professionals and...Read More
Mar 28 2013 | Loyalty Today
Sam’s Club and Amazon earned the top spots in the retail sector of the 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings, which is based on a study of 10,000 U.S consumers.
The Temkin Experience Ratings evaluates three areas of customer experience: functional (can customers do what they want to do...Read More
Mar 27 2013 | Loyalty Today
The federal government sends a lot of mail.
That may seem strange in today’s world of email, text messaging, social networks and Websites, but there are simply some things that government agencies can’t send electronically. Whether it’s applications for social programs and...Read More
Mar 18 2013 | Loyalty Today
When it comes to brand awareness and customer acquisition, word of mouth still holds the most power in influencing consumers’ decisions. The concept of referral marketing has been around for a long time, but today’s social media tools are giving consumers a larger megaphone to...Read More
Mar 11 2013 | Loyalty Today
The era of Big Data should be a marketer’s dream – endless information on purchasing decisions, new abilities to reach beyond the customer into their social networks, and the opportunity to enhance customer service either through instant interaction or well-crafted response. However...Read More
Mar 07 2013 | Loyalty Today
We can’t predict the future, nor can we change the past. When tragedy hits, we often wish that were the case – especially when confronted with a natural disaster. We can, however, help minimize the impact of monetary loss with location-based technology.
It may not come as a...Read More
Feb 26 2013 | Loyalty Today
Offense! In the spirit of our recent Super Bowl, we can’t help but reflect on the importance of not being on the defense when it comes to customer churn within the telecommunications industry. In fact, a 2012 industry study by the CMO Council showed that telecommunications...Read More
Feb 26 2013 | Loyalty Today
From tagging photos with locations on Facebook to delivering targeted mobile ads, the consumer marketplace is rushing to embrace location intelligence and geocoding solutions. However, geocoding has far-reaching benefits and applications that can appeal to more than just retailers.I recently sat...Read More
Feb 25 2013 | Loyalty Today
The promise of big data and the insights it can reveal is huge, yet many retailers have yet to realize its full potential. Big data refers to data sets that are so massive, they become difficult to store, manage, share and analyze using traditional database tools. This data often includes...Read More
Feb 22 2013 | Loyalty Today
In June 2012, the General Services Administration (GSA), launched the Social Media Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP, a community of more than 300 federal social media managers, was intended to improve government agency use of social data and social media.
This week, presenters from that...Read More
Feb 20 2013 | Loyalty Today
I’ve been taking a deep dive into the value of customer advocacy, and recently discussed the importance of understanding customers. Now, I’d like to shift focus back to another very crucial element – the business end of things.
I spoke briefly about customer experience as the...Read More
Feb 18 2013 | Loyalty Today
One of the defining features of the telecommunications industry is that its business is probably as commoditized as it gets and, as a natural corollary, its customers are rarely loyal. Unlike the retail sector where customers are brand loyal because of image, or identity and customer retention...Read More
Feb 15 2013 | Loyalty Today
Retailers need to make an emotional connection with consumers that will lead to loyalty and repeat business.
When it comes to customer loyalty, emotional engagement is king according to Brand Keys, a research consultancy focused on customer loyalty. In its 17th annual Customer Loyalty...Read More
Feb 14 2013 | Loyalty Today
The problem of crowded inboxes, an increasing deluge of advertising messages and the explosion of communication channels, has led to an increase in marketing fatigue by consumers and a profound increase in opt-out rates.
A recent article which appeared on CBR Online (Computer Business Review...Read More
Feb 13 2013 | Loyalty Today
The down economy has American families across the country pinching pennies and tightening their belts. And the increase in the payroll tax, which took even more expendable income out of the paychecks of America’s hardworking citizens certainly didn’t help in the expendable income...Read More
Feb 12 2013 | Loyalty Today
In the past, a hospital was a building where people went for treatment when injured or sick. Today’s hospitals and health systems encompass much more. They may have multiple facilities, some with specific specializations and areas of coverage.
For example, let’s look at Inova...Read More
Feb 07 2013 | Loyalty Today
Loyalty programs have been around for a long time and they are becoming even more popular as retailers continue to explore new ways to compete for their share of the customer’s wallet.
One area in particular where we are seeing a lot of activity and excitement for loyalty programs is among...Read More
Feb 06 2013 | Loyalty Today
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that companies like Ford, Jet Blue, and Zappos revolutionized Twitter by embracing it as a medium for providing on-demand customer service. Nearly all brands that were profiled in this January 2009 piece in Mashable touted Twitter not only as a...Read More
Feb 05 2013 | Loyalty Today
States have recently begun to analyze the way they engage with citizens and how citizens apply for assistance programs and services. What they’re finding is an apparent need to modernize the systems they have in place to make the experience better.We recently sat down with Joe Pindell...Read More
Jan 25 2013 | Loyalty Today
Over the course of the past few years, UnitedHealth Group’s Center for Health Reform and Modernization has been issuing “working papers” aimed at offering recommendations that could be implemented by the federal government to help modernize and increase the efficiency of the...Read More
Jan 21 2013 | Loyalty Today
If you understand your customers’ preferences and actually take them in to account when communicating with them you will build more loyal, positive, and longer-lasting customer relationships, and ultimately have a more successful business. That is a general summary of many of the ideas...Read More
Jan 18 2013 | Loyalty Today
Superstorm Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record and the second most costly in American history, behind only Hurricane Katrina. In late October of 2012, the storm battered the east coast mercilessly, costing billions of dollars in damages to the Mid-Atlantic region, specifically...Read More
Jan 17 2013 | Loyalty Today
As the tax-free Internet era comes to an end, retailers need to take a more reliable approach to determining tax jurisdictions.
This past holiday shopping season, online retailers experienced a significant spike in Cyber Monday sales with ComScore reporting a +17% increase year-over-year. For...Read More
Jan 16 2013 | Loyalty Today
Talk to marketers across a variety of industries and they’ll likely tell you it’s the age of the customer and big data. Organizations are clamoring to gather customer data across multiple channels, including social and mobile, generating swathes of new customer data on a daily basis...Read More
Jan 07 2013 | Loyalty Today
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) does more than try to expand healthcare coverage to all Americans, it also has new programs and regulations intended to cut healthcare costs for both the government and its citizens.
One of these programs, a penalty for hospitals that...Read More
Jan 04 2013 | Loyalty Today
Retail executives are facing one of the most competitive environments in decades and the battle to win customers and foster loyalty can only be won by those committed to ensuring a highly-personalized customer experience. In order to accomplish this, the entire organization must have access to...Read More
Dec 28 2012 | Loyalty Today
In our previous posts on Engage Government Today, we’ve looked at the different ways that data could be used to make the federal government more effective and efficient.
From better utilizing police resources, to identifying fraudsters responsible for incorrect...Read More
Dec 20 2012 | Loyalty Today
Have you ever heard about how the Walkman came to be? It’s an interesting story – during the 1980’s it became really popular for people to walk around with boom boxes on their shoulders, playing music. Many of the key players in the industry made assumptions about what this...Read More
Dec 13 2012 | Loyalty Today
In the past, healthcare coverage wasn’t really something that consumers had much choice about. Often, employees simply had a choice of a plan or two as part of their benefits program through their employer. Many times, these plans were the offering of one particular healthcare provider...Read More
Dec 12 2012 | Loyalty Today
This post is the fifth in a series focused on customer communications in the digital era
We’ve talked about some really great topics throughout this series – building personal connections, customer decision making, earned media, social media and brand...Read More
Nov 30 2012 | Loyalty Today
Not so long ago analysts across a wide range of industry verticals predicted the demise of the call center. After alleveryone complains about dealing with the long wait time and the stumbling agent delivering a script that doesn’t address the issue at hand. But, despite...Read More
Nov 29 2012 | Loyalty Today
If you’ve picked up a newspaper or turned on the news over the past few weeks, you’re aware that the federal government is speeding towards what political and economic pundits are referring to as the fiscal cliff.
As President Obama and Congress are locked in negotiations to...Read More
Nov 28 2012 | Loyalty Today
This post is the fourth in a series focused on customer communications in the digital eraI mentioned previously that social media provides an outlet for customers and brands to honestly express themselves. And just as companies are embracing social media as part of their ...Read More
Nov 26 2012 | Loyalty Today
New research shows brands and consumers are disconnected when it comes to social media marketing - At a time when 70% of marketers around the world are placing greater emphasis on social media than ever before.
Infographic from Pitney Bowes Software
Social Media: Contrasting the Consumer and...Read More
Nov 21 2012 | Loyalty Today
Shopping behaviors have changed significantly with the introduction of the Internet several years ago and, more recently, the explosive growth of mobile devices. We now live in an “omni-channel” world where today’s socially-connected consumers quickly move from one channel to...Read More
Nov 19 2012 | Loyalty Today
What would it be like if you could have perfect insight into your customers’ motivations, their influential relationships, and all the other pieces of information that underpin a purchasing decision? Without a shadow of a doubt, it is the Holy Grail of sales and marketing and I bet...Read More
Nov 15 2012 | Loyalty Today
Each quarter, Forrester releases the results of a study that they call their Wave Report. These reports look at an established or rapidly growing market sector or category and seek to identify the leaders in that sector.
At the end of last month, Forrester released their first ever Wave Report...Read More
Nov 14 2012 | Loyalty Today
This post is the third in a series focused on customer communications in the digital era.
The day after Hurricane Sandy struck New York and New Jersey causing massive destruction, clothing company American Apparel issued an email blast offering 20% online shopping discounts to...Read More
Nov 13 2012 | Loyalty Today
Customer advocacy is a deceptively simple concept. In its most basic form, it’s when a company focuses on the experience of the customer end-to-end. But it’s more involved than it seems. It’s an outside-in perspective that comes down to how an organization cares for its...Read More
Nov 12 2012 | Loyalty Today
From the early days of graphic novels, superheroes and larger-than-life crime fighters have captured the imaginations and interest of Americans of all ages. And very little has changed from the times of the first comic books to today. Every movie that has hit the big screen in the past decade...Read More
Nov 08 2012 | Loyalty Today
Retailers have multiple touchpoints to consider when it comes to customer interaction and communications, including in-store, online, email, SMS, print and mail, social networks and mobile. It is important that all of these touchpoints be integrated so that the messaging is consistent across...Read More
Nov 06 2012 | Loyalty Today
In a recent post on Engage Today, I explained the importance of creating unified, end-to-end communications to increase customer satisfaction, engagement and loyalty. I focused on the processes involved in breaking down silos and sharing customer data among different lines of business to...Read More
Aug 16 2013
We’ve all heard the new adage that by improving the customer experience, profitability will follow. While that is generally true, there’s a lot more to improving the customer experience than simply upgrading your tech or sending out a Facebook message, particularly for banks whose...Read More
Aug 12 2013
Having worked in various marketing positions in the course of my career, I look in wonder at how the role of the marketer has changed in just a couple of years. From how best to leverage social media to meet sales goals to the ubiquity of marketing operations management platforms a ...Read More
Aug 12 2013
New technologies are transforming the process of risk management from an art to a science, making it easier for insurance companies to cost effectively and efficiently manage risk. I recently spoke with Steven Di Pilla, CSP, Director of Research and Development at ESIS, Inc., part of the...Read More
Aug 06 2013
Technology industry literature is replete with tales of customer relationship management (CRM) project failures. These complex implementations frequently take five or more years to complete, and they fail more often than they succeed. The root cause behind these failures varies by situation...Read More
Jul 26 2013
It seems that geographical information systems (GIS) are finally being embraced in the business arena. Even as recently as eighteen months ago the idea that leveraging geographical information was essential to profitable business operations was, to be frank, alien. However, lead by ...Read More
Jul 17 2013
Today’s consumers expect personalized service from their telecommunication providers across multiple channels, including email, mobile and social media. But integrating these channels to deliver a consistent customer experience poses a number of challenges. Providers need to unify data and...Read More
Jul 12 2013
At Pitney Bowes, we are transforming our strategy from a product-forward to a market-back approach. We want to really understand our customers and their challenges, allowing us to provide better service, create higher value, and further grow our relationship with them. With this...Read More
Jul 04 2013
Not all healthcare services are delivered to patients who have walked into a doctor’s office or hospital of their own free will. In fact, not all healthcare services are provided in a hospital or doctor’s office at all.
In the cases of accidents and medical emergencies, healthcare...Read More
Jul 01 2013
State and local governments are often hit hardest when the economy takes a downward turn. When the economy takes a hit, states lose income tax revenue from employees that are laid off and sales tax revenue from decreased consumer spending.
This decreased revenue is compounded by an increase in...Read More
Jun 27 2013
How many stories have you heard from your friends, colleagues, and customers about the time an installation specialist or repair technician failed to show for a scheduled appointment, or a repair took multiple visits (all potentially with scheduling issues) because the technician was unable to...Read More
Jun 26 2013
We’ve talked about the topic of loyalty programs and how retailers must combine insights with other data from customer interactions to get a holistic view of the customer and create more personalized and targeted offers. A recent study finds that many retailers are experiencing...Read More
Jun 25 2013
Studies have shown that a projected $26 billion of Medicare spending is caused by readmissions. An estimated 65 percent of that $26 billion may be unnecessary. That’s almost $17 billion in taxpayer dollars going to pay for hospital stays and medical procedures that may be wasteful or...Read More
Jun 07 2013
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Healthcare Homebase Chief Strategy Officer, Tom Maxwell, about the importance of technology when it comes to homecare.Tom has been involved in the medical technology field for well over a decade and has plenty of insight to offer about healthcare...Read More
Jun 06 2013
You can’t visit a government trade publication’s Web site without seeing at least one article about big data. Big data is being looked at by almost every government agency as a way of using the information that they already have to make more informed decisions, become more proactive...Read More
Jun 05 2013
The rising tide of natural disasters has caused ongoing concern over increased potential for claims losses and reduced profitability for today’s insurance carriers. In addition, strong competition and market forces have resulted in reduced investment income and the pressure to maximize...Read More
Jun 05 2013
The rising tide of natural disasters has caused ongoing concern over increased potential for claims losses and reduced profitability for today’s insurance carriers. In addition, strong competition and market forces have resulted in reduced investment income and the pressure to maximize...Read More
Jun 04 2013
A year ago, in May 2012, Pitney Bowes Software commissioned a survey of 250 Chief Marketing Officers, many of whom work in the telecommunications industry. What the survey results revealed is that while customers have more ways to communicate with their service providers, customers are...Read More
Jun 03 2013
When it comes to knowing your customer, one group in particular – Generation Y shoppers – is of utmost importance to retailers. This group, between the ages of 18 and 35, represents the future generation of shoppers and their buying habits and preferences will inform retail strategies...Read More
Jun 03 2013
Over the next couple of years, the insurance industry is expected to change its focus from cost-cutting and operational efficiency to enabling data-driven insights and customer-centric initiatives – insights that will help drive improved acquisition and retention, provide informed...Read More
May 30 2013
Everybody is aware of social media at this point. Frankly, it’s hard not to be… Facebook alone boasts 1 billion users.
B2B marketers understand that there’s potential here, but many aren’t actually building a customer communications strategy for social channels...Read More
May 30 2013
Everybody is aware of social media at this point. Frankly, it’s hard not to be… Facebook alone boasts 1 billion users.
B2B marketers understand that there’s potential here, but many aren’t actually building a customer communications strategy for social channels...Read More
May 30 2013
When it comes to social services, so much of the citizen experience is defined by communications: the notices, forms, responses and information that individuals receive and respond to on a daily basis.
How does your communication strategy compare? If your state is just launching a...Read More
Apr 26 2013
The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) were scheduled to hold this year’s Defense Intelligence Worldwide Conference from April 8–10, 2013 in Baltimore, MD. The conference is an annual event focused on the IT solutions that are helping the defense and...Read More
Apr 26 2013
For the past few years, the term “Big Data” has been hyped around the business and marketing worlds as the Holy Grail for companies looking to discover the secrets to mastering their customer relationships. Yet, for all of the positive hype around it, there seems to be just as much...Read More
Apr 05 2013
One of the interesting things about writing for Engage Today is seeing how different industry verticals respond to the need to engage with customers and how they use technology to cement these relationships. But recently, I’ve been getting a little jealous of my colleagues, Meredith and...Read More
Apr 05 2013
In a recent interview with Marketplace, New York University psychology and marketing Professor Adam Alter shared a couple of amusing tidbits from his latest book, “Drunk Tank Pink”.
Professor Alter explores how a person’s environment can have an immense effect on the way they...Read More
Apr 04 2013
Following the HIMSS 2013 Conference last month, I was able to sit down with Christine Durr, a Healthcare Solution Specialist at Pitney Bowes Software, to discuss this year’s show, the overarching themes and her key takeaways from what is arguably the healthcare IT industry’s biggest...Read More
Mar 29 2013
Hospital adoption of EHR (Electronic Health Record) technology has been steadily rising in the United States since 2008, and that can be attributed to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. HITECH authorized grants to qualified professionals and...Read More
Mar 28 2013
Sam’s Club and Amazon earned the top spots in the retail sector of the 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings, which is based on a study of 10,000 U.S consumers.
The Temkin Experience Ratings evaluates three areas of customer experience: functional (can customers do what they want to do...Read More
Mar 27 2013
The federal government sends a lot of mail.
That may seem strange in today’s world of email, text messaging, social networks and Websites, but there are simply some things that government agencies can’t send electronically. Whether it’s applications for social programs and...Read More
Mar 18 2013
When it comes to brand awareness and customer acquisition, word of mouth still holds the most power in influencing consumers’ decisions. The concept of referral marketing has been around for a long time, but today’s social media tools are giving consumers a larger megaphone to...Read More
Mar 11 2013
The era of Big Data should be a marketer’s dream – endless information on purchasing decisions, new abilities to reach beyond the customer into their social networks, and the opportunity to enhance customer service either through instant interaction or well-crafted response. However...Read More
Mar 07 2013
We can’t predict the future, nor can we change the past. When tragedy hits, we often wish that were the case – especially when confronted with a natural disaster. We can, however, help minimize the impact of monetary loss with location-based technology.
It may not come as a...Read More
Feb 26 2013
Offense! In the spirit of our recent Super Bowl, we can’t help but reflect on the importance of not being on the defense when it comes to customer churn within the telecommunications industry. In fact, a 2012 industry study by the CMO Council showed that telecommunications...Read More
Feb 26 2013
From tagging photos with locations on Facebook to delivering targeted mobile ads, the consumer marketplace is rushing to embrace location intelligence and geocoding solutions. However, geocoding has far-reaching benefits and applications that can appeal to more than just retailers.I recently sat...Read More
Feb 25 2013
The promise of big data and the insights it can reveal is huge, yet many retailers have yet to realize its full potential. Big data refers to data sets that are so massive, they become difficult to store, manage, share and analyze using traditional database tools. This data often includes...Read More
Feb 22 2013
In June 2012, the General Services Administration (GSA), launched the Social Media Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP, a community of more than 300 federal social media managers, was intended to improve government agency use of social data and social media.
This week, presenters from that...Read More
Feb 20 2013
I’ve been taking a deep dive into the value of customer advocacy, and recently discussed the importance of understanding customers. Now, I’d like to shift focus back to another very crucial element – the business end of things.
I spoke briefly about customer experience as the...Read More
Feb 18 2013
One of the defining features of the telecommunications industry is that its business is probably as commoditized as it gets and, as a natural corollary, its customers are rarely loyal. Unlike the retail sector where customers are brand loyal because of image, or identity and customer retention...Read More
Feb 15 2013
Retailers need to make an emotional connection with consumers that will lead to loyalty and repeat business.
When it comes to customer loyalty, emotional engagement is king according to Brand Keys, a research consultancy focused on customer loyalty. In its 17th annual Customer Loyalty...Read More
Feb 14 2013
The problem of crowded inboxes, an increasing deluge of advertising messages and the explosion of communication channels, has led to an increase in marketing fatigue by consumers and a profound increase in opt-out rates.
A recent article which appeared on CBR Online (Computer Business Review...Read More
Feb 13 2013
The down economy has American families across the country pinching pennies and tightening their belts. And the increase in the payroll tax, which took even more expendable income out of the paychecks of America’s hardworking citizens certainly didn’t help in the expendable income...Read More
Feb 12 2013
In the past, a hospital was a building where people went for treatment when injured or sick. Today’s hospitals and health systems encompass much more. They may have multiple facilities, some with specific specializations and areas of coverage.
For example, let’s look at Inova...Read More
Feb 07 2013
Loyalty programs have been around for a long time and they are becoming even more popular as retailers continue to explore new ways to compete for their share of the customer’s wallet.
One area in particular where we are seeing a lot of activity and excitement for loyalty programs is among...Read More
Feb 06 2013
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that companies like Ford, Jet Blue, and Zappos revolutionized Twitter by embracing it as a medium for providing on-demand customer service. Nearly all brands that were profiled in this January 2009 piece in Mashable touted Twitter not only as a...Read More
Feb 05 2013
States have recently begun to analyze the way they engage with citizens and how citizens apply for assistance programs and services. What they’re finding is an apparent need to modernize the systems they have in place to make the experience better.We recently sat down with Joe Pindell...Read More
Jan 25 2013
Over the course of the past few years, UnitedHealth Group’s Center for Health Reform and Modernization has been issuing “working papers” aimed at offering recommendations that could be implemented by the federal government to help modernize and increase the efficiency of the...Read More
Jan 21 2013
If you understand your customers’ preferences and actually take them in to account when communicating with them you will build more loyal, positive, and longer-lasting customer relationships, and ultimately have a more successful business. That is a general summary of many of the ideas...Read More
Jan 18 2013
Superstorm Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record and the second most costly in American history, behind only Hurricane Katrina. In late October of 2012, the storm battered the east coast mercilessly, costing billions of dollars in damages to the Mid-Atlantic region, specifically...Read More
Jan 17 2013
As the tax-free Internet era comes to an end, retailers need to take a more reliable approach to determining tax jurisdictions.
This past holiday shopping season, online retailers experienced a significant spike in Cyber Monday sales with ComScore reporting a +17% increase year-over-year. For...Read More
Jan 16 2013
Talk to marketers across a variety of industries and they’ll likely tell you it’s the age of the customer and big data. Organizations are clamoring to gather customer data across multiple channels, including social and mobile, generating swathes of new customer data on a daily basis...Read More
Jan 07 2013
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) does more than try to expand healthcare coverage to all Americans, it also has new programs and regulations intended to cut healthcare costs for both the government and its citizens.
One of these programs, a penalty for hospitals that...Read More
Jan 04 2013
Retail executives are facing one of the most competitive environments in decades and the battle to win customers and foster loyalty can only be won by those committed to ensuring a highly-personalized customer experience. In order to accomplish this, the entire organization must have access to...Read More
Dec 28 2012
In our previous posts on Engage Government Today, we’ve looked at the different ways that data could be used to make the federal government more effective and efficient.
From better utilizing police resources, to identifying fraudsters responsible for incorrect...Read More
Dec 20 2012
Have you ever heard about how the Walkman came to be? It’s an interesting story – during the 1980’s it became really popular for people to walk around with boom boxes on their shoulders, playing music. Many of the key players in the industry made assumptions about what this...Read More
Dec 13 2012
In the past, healthcare coverage wasn’t really something that consumers had much choice about. Often, employees simply had a choice of a plan or two as part of their benefits program through their employer. Many times, these plans were the offering of one particular healthcare provider...Read More
Dec 12 2012
This post is the fifth in a series focused on customer communications in the digital era
We’ve talked about some really great topics throughout this series – building personal connections, customer decision making, earned media, social media and brand...Read More
Nov 30 2012
Not so long ago analysts across a wide range of industry verticals predicted the demise of the call center. After alleveryone complains about dealing with the long wait time and the stumbling agent delivering a script that doesn’t address the issue at hand. But, despite...Read More
Nov 29 2012
If you’ve picked up a newspaper or turned on the news over the past few weeks, you’re aware that the federal government is speeding towards what political and economic pundits are referring to as the fiscal cliff.
As President Obama and Congress are locked in negotiations to...Read More
Nov 28 2012
This post is the fourth in a series focused on customer communications in the digital eraI mentioned previously that social media provides an outlet for customers and brands to honestly express themselves. And just as companies are embracing social media as part of their ...Read More
Nov 26 2012
New research shows brands and consumers are disconnected when it comes to social media marketing - At a time when 70% of marketers around the world are placing greater emphasis on social media than ever before.
Infographic from Pitney Bowes Software
Social Media: Contrasting the Consumer and...Read More
Nov 21 2012
Shopping behaviors have changed significantly with the introduction of the Internet several years ago and, more recently, the explosive growth of mobile devices. We now live in an “omni-channel” world where today’s socially-connected consumers quickly move from one channel to...Read More
Nov 19 2012
What would it be like if you could have perfect insight into your customers’ motivations, their influential relationships, and all the other pieces of information that underpin a purchasing decision? Without a shadow of a doubt, it is the Holy Grail of sales and marketing and I bet...Read More
Nov 15 2012
Each quarter, Forrester releases the results of a study that they call their Wave Report. These reports look at an established or rapidly growing market sector or category and seek to identify the leaders in that sector.
At the end of last month, Forrester released their first ever Wave Report...Read More
Nov 14 2012
This post is the third in a series focused on customer communications in the digital era.
The day after Hurricane Sandy struck New York and New Jersey causing massive destruction, clothing company American Apparel issued an email blast offering 20% online shopping discounts to...Read More
Nov 13 2012
Customer advocacy is a deceptively simple concept. In its most basic form, it’s when a company focuses on the experience of the customer end-to-end. But it’s more involved than it seems. It’s an outside-in perspective that comes down to how an organization cares for its...Read More
Nov 12 2012
From the early days of graphic novels, superheroes and larger-than-life crime fighters have captured the imaginations and interest of Americans of all ages. And very little has changed from the times of the first comic books to today. Every movie that has hit the big screen in the past decade...Read More
Nov 08 2012
Retailers have multiple touchpoints to consider when it comes to customer interaction and communications, including in-store, online, email, SMS, print and mail, social networks and mobile. It is important that all of these touchpoints be integrated so that the messaging is consistent across...Read More
Nov 06 2012
In a recent post on Engage Today, I explained the importance of creating unified, end-to-end communications to increase customer satisfaction, engagement and loyalty. I focused on the processes involved in breaking down silos and sharing customer data among different lines of business to...Read More