629 Posts Found

For some products and services, such as power tools or software, an owner’s manual is a very necessary and accepted part of the deal. But many businesses can take this notion to heart and use it as part of their education experience, even if others in the industry don’t practice this approach.

Content: Article | Author: John Jantsch | Source: OPEN Forum (American Express) | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

Following on the first article on defining customer experience, this second installment looks at the first essential step of improving the experience you deliver, which is mapping out your customer journey.

Content: Article | Author: Adam Richardson | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Customer Related

Customer retention is ultimately driven by value. Even the best segmentation, targeting, positioning, creative messaging, or promotion with flawless execution will fall flat in the absence of value.

Therefore, in developing a plan to maintain and upgrade a customer base, it is necessary to build on a solid foundation. Only then will the plan lead to greater customer retention and overall organizational success.

The path to customer … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Chintan Bharwada | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Customer Related

Listening to real time conversations for opportunities, leads, and reputation management is now a standard marketing item on the to-do list.

While there are services that provide this kind of tracking for a fee, there are a number of tools that any do-it-yourselfer can employ to capture much of what’s being said about their brands, people, products, and industries in real time.

Content: Article | Author: John Jantsch | Source: OPEN Forum (American Express) | Subjects: Customer Related, Management

How the simple rules underlying human decision making can have a huge impact on consumer behavior.

Content: Multimedia Content | Author: Daniel Goldstein | Source: London Business School | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

By guiding the design of customer interactions, the principles of behavioral science offer a simple, low-cost route to improved customer satisfaction.

Content: Article | Authors: John DeVine , Keith Gilson | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

“Sleep on it” is common advice given to anyone facing a big decision. Yet research by Loran Nordgren shows you may want to stick with your first impression instead.

Content: Article | Author: Loran Nordgren | Source: Kellogg Insight | Subjects: Customer Related, Organizational Behavior

Have you ever walked into an airport, seen that there is nobody in line at the check-in counter, but still made a bee-line for the self-service kiosk? Better yet, have you ever waited in line for an ATM machine even though there is nobody in line for the teller inside the bank?

If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, you’re not alone. Most customers … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Lara Ponomareff, Matt Dixon | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Customer Related

Your customers and prospects won’t understand or appreciate a value, or a bargain, or a service, or a benefit, unless and until, you first educate them to appreciate it. Merely offering a product or service at a specific price (even the best price) doesn’t compel excitement, or a response, until you tell people what they’re getting, what a value it is compared to other products … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Jay Abraham | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

Is your enterprise resilient or rigid? In this Q&A, HBS professor Ranjay Gulati, an expert on leadership, strategy, and organizational issues in firms, describes how companies can evolve through four levels to become more customer-centric. Plus: book excerpt from Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business.

Content: Article | Authors: Ranjay Gulati, Sarah Jane Gilbert | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subject: Customer Related

The success of any organization depends on high-quality customer service. But for companies that strategically align customer service with their overall corporate strategy, it can transcend typical good business to become a profitable word-of-mouth machine that will transform the bottom line. The author draws on over thirty years of research for companies such as 3M, American Express, Chik-Fil-A, USAA, Coca-Cola, FedEx, GE, Cisco Systems, Neiman … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: John A. Goodman | Subject: Customer Related

Five practical approaches to get closer to your buyers.

Content: Article | Author: Stuart Cross | Source: BNET | Subjects: Customer Related, Market Research

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When you make decisions that respect and honor customers, you will earn their admiration and, eventually, their love. Then customers will begin to grow your business for you.

Customers who love you won’t be able to stop raving about you. But you need to earn the right to their story first.

Rather than giving a one-size-fits-all solution (because there isn’t one), my goal is to encourage you … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jeanne Bliss | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

Usability evaluations are good for many things, but determining a team’s priorities is not one of them. The Molich experiment proves a single usability team can’t discover all or even most major problems on a site. But usability testing does have value as a shock treatment, trust builder, and part of a triangulation process. Test for the right reasons and achieve a positive outcome.

Content: Article | Author: Robert Hoekman Jr. | Source: A List Apart | Subjects: Customer Related, IT / Technology / E-Business

The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that
there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer.

Content: Quotation | Author: Peter F. Drucker | Subject: Customer Related

Businesses that thoughtfully examine and measure the time customers spend with them, and then either reduce the time costs or enhance the time value of their offerings, can gain an advantage that will continue when the economy recovers. For companies looking to win over today’s more frugal customers, a focus on the value of time comes not a moment too soon.

Content: Article | Authors: David A. Light, Nick Smith, Paul F. Nunes | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

These days many customers don’t have the money to spend and so the natural tendency is to want to go out and look for new ones who do. It’s a great strategy, it’s necessary, but it’s really only half the story. Here’s what you want to know about your customers.

Content: Article | Author: JoAnna Brandi | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

How Tony Hsieh uses relentless innovation, stellar customer service, and a staff of believers to make Zappos.com an e-commerce juggernaut — and one of the most blissed-out businesses in America.

Content: Case Study | Authors: Max Chafkin, Tony Hsieh | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subject: Customer Related | Company: Zappos.com

A lot of marketers call the Internet an “attention economy.” They are looking for consumers who will pay attention to their product, and they try to calculate consumers’ propensity to purchase. They think that attention means intention. But it doesn’t. The reality is, people don’t go online to give attention, but to get it. They don’t want to be part of the audience. They want … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Esther Dyson | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales