Ben Davis says, “Some companies have customer experience managers or departments, and others do not. Why is that? Who should own customer experience and what does that entail? In an ideal world, everybody should champion the customer and their experience; certainly everyone within marketing, ecommerce/digital, sales, product development, service design and leadership. That’s what happens in startups, and it’s easy to do when you’re a small band of merry men and women led by a charismatic founder. But how easy is it for a big multinational? How does that actually work? At... [...]

Shar VanBoskirk says, “Since 2010, you’ve heard Forrester beating our customer obsessed drum.  It is our idea that in The Age of the Customer, your relationship with your customers are your primary competitive differentiator.  We’ve written a lot about how to put the customer at the center of your total operating model.  But a total customer-obsessed transformation can be daunting because of the completeness it requires.  So many companies we talk to get overwhelmed at the idea of having to change every single part of their business, so they do nothing instead.  How could... [...]

Matt Mansfield says, “Customer service is one of the key linchpins of small business success. Do it poorly and you’ll drive your customers away, do it well and it can pay off in ways you never expected. As a small business owner, you should always work on improving customer service. That means: Understanding the value of good customer service; Keeping an eye on trends and statistics; Building a solid customer service team; Staying on top of the latest tips and tools; Figuring out how to manage your team; and Learning from real-world customer service examples, both positive and negative. Guide... [...]

Kate Leggett says, “In today’s world, customers decide how customer-centric a company is. Good customer service should capture the fundamentals of a great experience: ease, effectiveness, and emotion Looking ahead, Forrester sees 10 trends for 2017 that customer service professionals should take into account as they move the needle on the quality of service that they deliver: Here are six of them: Customer service organizations address a smaller volume of simple voice-based customer contacts as they mature their self-service, automated engagement, and digital operations. Trend No.... [...]

Ted Schadler says, “It’s increasingly challenging for marketers to earn loyalty as empowered consumers become entitled customers with more options than ever before. My latest report, Case Study: Max Factor China Rejuvenates Customers’ Loyalty With Social CRM, tells marketers how to leverage social CRM to define an effective loyalty strategy that spans the entire customer life cycle, across channels. The US cosmetics brand Max Factor has been growing its business steadily since it entered the Chinese market in 2009. However, Max Factor has faced growing challenges in recent years: –... [...]

Maxie Schmidt-Subramanian says, “If you are like other CX pros, at some point in your CX career you’ll encounter the “money question.” Your CEO will ask you: “What’s an improvement in our customers’ experience worth in dollars and cents?” And it’s likely that you won’t have a (good enough) answer. I say that because I know that 50% of CX pros we surveyed have not modeled how CX quality influences customer behavior. We know great CX drives revenue. But to make the case, you need a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding. So we used data from our Customer Experience... [...]

Mike Sands says, “2016 was a whirlwind year for marketers. The battle for consumer share-of-wallet intensified as Amazon continued to capture spend, reporting a record-setting Prime Day and its most successful holiday season to date. Innovations like artificial intelligence and virtual reality made their way from science fiction into the real world, opening new doors for customer engagement. And the technology that advertisers and marketers use to do their jobs evolved, with players like Verizon entering the space as consolidation continued. As I reflect on last year’s trends, I see the... [...]

Brian Hughes says, “A startup business needs a constant supply of new customers to survive. That’s why sourcing new customers has to be a daily priority. If you’re not selling, you’re not in business; all you’ve got is a hobby. But once you do get that customer base going, your next step is to establish a balance between maintaining current customers and scouting out new ones. And, in that regard, customer retention is usually kinder to your bottom line. This is especially true if you convince your current customers to purchase more often and/or make larger purchases. Next... [...]

Ayodeji Onibalusi says, “To businesses, especially businesses in the B2C segment — loyal customers are more valuable than new customers. Even research has shown that loyal customers are worth up to 10 times the value of their first purchase. This makes it paramount for businesses to improve the number of loyal customers they have versus their one-off customers. Also, given that the cost of acquiring a new customer is higher than that of maintaining an existing one, building customer loyalty is necessary for any business that aims to remain competitive. When a business has more loyal... [...]

Loren Baker says, “Maintaining an open line of communication with your clients is key to any successful business relationship, as your clients will be more satisfied if they know that you’re behind them every step of the way. This does not necessarily mean you’ll need to spend extra man-hours to keep those lines of communication open though, as there’s a lot of customer service requests that don’t need a human being to handle them. Putting automation to work in your business frees you and your employees up to continue to move your business forward, while still keeping a level of... [...]