6 E-CRM Trends to consider for 2012 planning
I've recently asked several CRM specialists including Paul Greenberg and Shaun Smith to describe how they see the key ECRM trends from 2011 which will also be important in 2012. I've picked out 5 key trends
E-CRM Trend 1. Brands as curators
Shaun Smith, founder of Smith+co believes there are a number of innovations that have become more popular this year as businesses seek to deliver deeper customer experiences. This includes brands positioning themselves as curators to ensure that they provide added value to their customers.
“Increasingly, brands that are really clear about what they stand for have the credibility and the authority to be able to recommend other things associated with that brand,” he explains. “So Nike, for example, has an app called True City that will recommend all the best places to go to in a city you are unfamiliar with. If you like driving, BMW…
A round table discussing approaches to managing customer service today
I recently took part in a roundtable on improving the quality of customer service hosted by ISP UKFast as part of their UKFast.tv Round Table series. An interesting example of content marketing.
It was good to hear about the increased focus on customer service and how social listening can be used to improve customer service. The main takeaway for me was the fantastic insight that’s available from customer service teams and their reporting software, but how it’s not always fed-back into the customer care or sales-related content on the website.
At this point In the clip you can see me talking about the power of customer feedback tools in shaping online services.
Benchmarks on customer service quality for the UK
I was also interested in the customer service benchmarking that Lynne Mills described. Looking at some of the most recent …
5 rules to live by for your social content strategy
I picked up a copy of the new "Social CRM for Dummies" at the Adobe/Omniture Summit last week and thought I would share some of the ideas from it and alert you to it since it's available as a free download (registration required).
About the guide
You'll know the yellow "Dummies" guides. This isn't a full guide, but a free, short 50 odd page guide created for lead-generation/customers by EmailVision. I think it's still worth scanning, particularly if it's early days in developing your social CRM strategy.
Content generation and distribution strategy
I thought the guidelines on this topic were useful, so I would expand on them. The authors of the guide say that "content generation should be proactive, persistent, multichannel, relevant, high quality and two way.
Here is my guidance, prompted by these ideas, these are the 5 rules to live by when defining and…
A briefing on using Quora for digital marketing
Before I start my mini-rant I have to say I do see the value of online Q&A services. I really enjoy answering questions and reading answers - it's one of the best ways to learn. They can also help in a small way in learning about customer needs and making folks aware of your services.
Buzz about Quora
I decided to write this summary since there's been a massive amount of chatter about Quora in the digital marketing world in the first week of 2011. Like me, you're probably thinking: "what is it", "what makes it different from Yahoo! Answers?" and "how can it help my online marketing?" I think many became aware of it through this widely shared article on the Telegraph and similar stating that "Quora will be bigger than Twitter".
I initially picked up on it through a Tweet giving this giving an…
Is Twitter the canary in the coal mine of customer relations?
Despite the buzz surrounding it, Twitter is not the fastest growing customer service option out there. It"€™s understandable if people have that impression but the numbers don"€™t appear to back it up.
According to a recent post by Diane Clarkson of Forrester data show the number of online consumers to use Twitter for customer support to be under 1%. (Source: North American Technographics Customer Experience Online Survey, Q4 2009 and US Online Omnibus Q4 2010.)
(more…)…
5 B2B Social CRM case studies to learn from
Value: [rating=4]
Our commentary : The hunger for information on how to apply social CRM in 2009 and 2010 is shown at the start of this post.
It's helpful since it features 5 mainly B2B mini social CRM case studies - often a good way to learn!
I'm not so keen on the definition of Social CRM in the link below though - this definition of social CRM scopes it better I think. The scope is scary = CRM.
Marketing implications : This post could be helpful if you want to know more about how you could harness social CRM and some of the software tools you could use to support it.
Recommended link: Social CRM case studies…
Our interview with Guy Stephens on the past, present and future of online customer service
You may know Guy from his work at the Carphone Warehouse where he was Customer Knowledge Manager or Mars Drink UK Global Online Marketing Manager.
I became aware of his passion for building brands through championing customer service when he was at Carphone Warehouse through his Twitter feed and conference presentations.
I'm delighted he agreed to talk us through the challenges and opportunities of using social media to deliver customer service since, in my opinion, he is the one of the world's leading thinkers on this topic as his answers to my questions below demonstrate.
Today, Guy is a Senior Consultant Foviance and is active in sharing his expertise through various channels:
Linked In Group: Where Social Media Meets Customer Service
Social media customer service: http://squidoo.com/socialmediacustomerservice
Twitter:…
Have you heard of Zappos? They're a US online retailer mega brand largely unknown in the UK - more often referred to as a social media pioneer in marketing circles (for Twitter usage particularly). Yet, dig a little deeper and it becomes clear that a significant strategy is under-pinning their success, and it's not all about social networks. It does however start to become obvious as to why social media know-how is natural to them and necessary to help drive marketing.
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos says simply "€œWe pay more attention to our customers"€.
It"€™s this simple, profound mentality that has led to Amazon purchasing Zappos for a staggering $1.2bn in Nov 2009.
Tony goes on, "€œPeople may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel"€. This is the essence of how Zappos have achieved their phenomenal success.
Apparently, it wasn"t…
"€œThe purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer"€ - Peter Drucker
With digital marketing in mind, I"€™d add the word "€œinspire"€ to Peter Drucker"€™s quotation. We must create and inspire customers - since inspired customers have a reason to be loyal, to spend more and to talk about your brand, products or services to other potential customers. Customers that feel positively about their experience of interacting with your brand, product or service is paramount to success in a heavily connected digital age - here are a few significant reasons why:
"€œBirds of a feather flock together"€, and never before has this mantra been so true, your customer are participating within the audience that you wish to connect with
We"€™ve all understood that prior to the Internet an unhappy customer will spread more messages about you to their friends than a happy one - today an unhappy customer gets to…
