Desire, loyalty, touch-points, reputation... This week's CX Buzz is full of those industry buzz-words. But that doesn't detract from the importance of some of the best customer experience content on the web this week. Especially the call from CX queen Jeanne Bliss, calling on you to consider changing the word "loyalty" to "desire." Read on to see why.
The Customer Experience Is Everyone's Business [Marketingland.com]
Customers now have multiple points of entry or touch-points with brands, especially within this oversaturated, media-driven environment we all live in. Columnist Katy Keim wonders who truly "owns" the customer experience. As she rightly states, "Smart brands know that everyone owns the customer experience." Everyone! Even your very own customers. In this great piece she discusses the steps to becoming a truly customer-focused brand.
REPORT: The State of Marketing Analytics: Insights in the age of the customer [Venturebeat.com]
We guess by now you have all got the message that data and data analysis is the key to better marketing and ultimately better customer experiences. But we also get that understanding data and knowing what to do with it, is the biggest challenge. That is why this report, compiled from over 1,000 Marketing Analytics professionals and published by Venturebeat, is probably well worth the steep $499 price.
Offline and Online Reputation Management: Expert Strategy Explained [Virtualsocialmedia.com]
It may seem like simple advice, but if you cultivate a lot of very happy, loyal customers who sing your praises, then it stands to reason that your online and offline reputation will be excellent and beyond reproach. Finding a disconnect, wherever it appears, and quickly carrying out repairs could mean the difference between a good and a bad reputation. As this piece rightly says, you need a savvy plan, that involves every level of operation, from the top of your organisation to the last employee who turns the lights off, in order to protect and preserve both your online and offline reputations. Like we said, seems like simple advice. Are you reputation savvy and ready?
Align Business and IT for Better Customer Experience [Customerthink.com]
Every company is a software company. Do you understand why that is? According to this piece by Michael Hinshaw, digitally enabled customer experience makes the phrase "every company is a software company" truer than ever. With technology driving every aspect of business, including experience, nearly every company, no matter how non-tech they might appear, is evolving into a software and data company. You will have to read on to see what examples he gives to help you understand this statement, but the concept of, as he says, "taking down the walls between business, IT and customers" is not a new one.
Earn Customer Desire and the Right to Grow [Customerthink.com]
When Jeanne Bliss re-coins a phrase that everyone is familiar with, it's time for the industry to sit up and take notice. From her vast experience she has learned that 'loyalty' can be something to go get from customers, rather than something to be earned. Defined in this manner because someone has run numbers to correlate that customers who own two products rather than one are more loyal or worth more. But you can't earn loyalty without reliability.
She rightly says, "If you deliver a reliable experience, your customers and clients will desire to have it again. Desire is an emotion that will earn growth and prosperity for your business." Let's join Jeanne's call to change the word "loyalty" for "desire." It sounds so much more appealing anyway.
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