Customer Loyalty posts, articles, and infographics

8 Marketing Trends to Implement in Your 2012 Marketing Plan

February 2, 2012 by Yasmin Bendror
with 66 views

As I’ve said before, social media needs to be INTEGRATED into your overarching marketing plan. It’s not the magic pill. It’s not the hard sale, it’s the soft sell. It’s not going to blast your sales from $0 to $10,000 overnight. But social media is a powerful marketing tool that must be used in your marketing tactics today. And other important marketing tactics must not be ignored either. [read more]

Rethinking Approaches to Customer Loyalty

February 1, 2012 by Mark Johnson
with 55 views

Photo by Joe Loong via Flickr

Bernard Chung, Director of Product Marketing of SAP guest-writes for Loyalty 360's State of the Industry series: In my work with forward-thinking enterprises around the world, it’s clear that customer loyalty is a top priority. The focus today is on customer centricity, and no wonder – not only are customers expensive to attract, but... [read more]

Is J.C. Penney Stuck With Stores?

January 31, 2012 by Denise Lee Yohn
with 19 views

Image courtesy of author's blog

New York Times’ Stephanie Clifford asked me for reactions to J. C. Penney’s recent presentation about the vision and path forward for the venerable chain. My comments were featured in her piece as follows: Denise Lee Yohn, a branding consultant, said that she was impressed with some of his ideas, but that Penney’s... [read more]

What is Customer Loyalty? It Doesn’t Always Add Up

January 13, 2012 by Dr. John R. Miller
with 104 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Customer service organizations continue to encourage and support the same old behaviors in their customer service agents. They back up those behaviors with soft skills training, product training, systems training, voice analytics … on and on it goes. But is all of the stuff on the left side really adding up to Customer Loyalty on the right side? [read more]

Ford’s Jim Farley on the Importance of Putting Your Brand in the Hands of Customers

January 7, 2012 by Brian Solis
with 61 views

During Blogworld Expo in Los Angeles, I was given the opportunity to interview Jim Farley, Ford’s Group Vice President, Global Marketing, Sales and Service live on stage. The discussion was focused on a powerful theme, putting your brand in the hands of customers. Certainly for any business, large and small, the idea of empowering... [read more]

Top 10 Ways to Build a Customer-Centric & Profitable Business

January 2, 2012 by Dr. John R. Miller
with 194 views

Photo by Dimitris Kalogeropoylos via Flickr

Satisfied customers aren’t enough. To drive profitability you must generate customer loyalty and orient your entire organization around that mission. Real customer loyalty is not a short-term proposition; rather, it is a long-term commitment to your products or services, company or brand. In order to create and build Loyal Promoters and... [read more]

'Customer Delight' and a Remarkable Interview with Santa’s Elves

December 25, 2011 by Andy Hanselman
with 43 views

You may remember last year that we got an exclusive interview with Santa Claus when he explained his approach to creating Customer Delight (Watch it here if you missed it!). Well, this year, we’ve managed to have a word with some of his team! Does he ‘practise what he preaches?’ Is he a good role model? How does he measure up against the... [read more]

Caught Between A Rock and an Angry Community

December 16, 2011 by Jon Burg
with 42 views

The best way for any brand (including Lowe's) to recover is by marching back to first place. Make those you have wronged feel right as best you can, and then get on with your show. Demonstrate that you care about your community by engaging them in articulate and meaningful actions and conversations behind the gates with your employees, at retail and online with your customers. [read more]

The Test of Customer Service: The Holiday Customer Experience

December 15, 2011 by Meikah Delid
with 35 views

Image: Courtesy of makaticity.com

Here in the Philippines, Christmas time equates a mad rush of shopping frenzy. Parking lots overflow into the streets, and so expect terrible traffic jams! [read more]

The Convenient Lie of Customer Lying

December 5, 2011 by Chris Bailey
with 55 views

Photo: Discoodoni/Flickr

First, I don’t believe customers “lie.” When we believe they’re “lying” to us, it immediately puts a negative lens on the customer and their experience. [read more]

Do You Know the Power of Your Customers?

December 1, 2011 by Shep Hyken
with 135 views

Back in the 1990’s the White House Office of Consumer Affairs commissioned a study on customer service. One of the interesting statistics revealed was that an unhappy customer might tell twenty or more people about the problem they had with a company. Since that time, many studies have confirmed that simple statistic is true... [read more]

The Final Frontier: Customer Expectations

November 29, 2011 by Robert Passikoff
with 52 views

Image: Digitpedia/Flickr(creative commons)

Comedian Louis C. K. does this marvelous bit where he berates consumers about how spoiled they are about technology today. How folks have come to take for granted what a mere decade ago would have been called ‘science fiction.’ How, he says, “Everything is amazing right now and nobody’s happy.” Or satisfied. Mr. C.K. tells... [read more]

Developing Customer Relationships: A Tip From Our Field Service Engineers

November 26, 2011 by SarahHedayati
with 133 views

If you’re like other people interested in customer service, you’re constantly on the lookout for ways to develop customer relationships. Some customers are easier to engage than others, but recently I’ve seen great customer service from field service engineers. I recently scheduled an appointment with my gas company to get my pilot... [read more]

Customer Service – It’s All in the Name

November 20, 2011 by Michael Zimmerman
with 186 views

Sixty years ago, my father had an insurance agent named Jack Josephson. Jack was the embodiment of customer service. He answered his own phone, spoke in simple terms, told the truth, and would drop anything he was doing to respond to a client with a claim. Jack was a good guy in an age of good guys – but since good guys were everywhere... [read more]

Using Mistakes to Make Memorable Moments for Your Business

November 19, 2011 by Douglas Hanna
with 69 views

Photo credit: jetheriot via author's blog

There’s more to building a business than advertising, yet how many organizations spend more of their budgets on marketing and attracting new customers, while neglecting the importance of maintaining current customers and making sure their needs have been met? There is no doubt that every company is going to make mistakes, but how many... [read more]

Who is the Beneficiary of Sales and Marketing Automation?

November 13, 2011 by Dave Brock
with 64 views

I had the privilege of participating in a fantastic roundtable at Focus.com this week. It was “A Sales View Of Marketing Automation,” with three of the smartest sales and marketing people I know: Alex Shootman, Chief Revenue Officer of Eloqua, Thor Johnson of Team Thor Marketing, and Carlos Hidalgo of The Annuitas Group... [read more]

What Should Bankers Do to ‘Understand’ their Business Banking Customers?

November 12, 2011 by B2B Sales Intelligence
with 80 views

Photo Credit: Gian Fiero 2008, image courtesy of author's blog

Recently, I attended the RMA/American Banker Small Business Banking Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. One of my takeaways from the conference was the imperative for bankers to develop a much better understanding of their customer and their businesses. What are their goals? What concerns do they have? What’s important for them?Photo... [read more]

Working On Trust

November 11, 2011 by Dave Brock
with 31 views

Trust is the cornerstone in developing healthy relationships,whether they be personal or professional. It’s particularly important in our effectiveness as sales people. However, there’s a lot of bad information about establishing and maintaining trust–both with your customers and within your organization. The launch of their... [read more]

Starbucks Aiming To 'Surprise And Delight' Their Customers!

November 10, 2011 by Andy Hanselman
with 441 views

Absolutely love this ‘app’ from Starbucks. They’ve used ‘augmented reality’ to delight their customers! Using the ‘app’ which is being released this week, customers can interact with their coffee cups! By doing so they meet five characters — an ice skater, a squirrel, a boy and a dog sledding and a fox — on their screen, and... [read more]

Klout Standards: Do Customers Even Care?

November 7, 2011 by Mac Ocampo
with 71 views

Klout has been the reigning industry standard in the ever-sporadic social media sphere for 3 years already. It has become a standard for measuring social influence and reach. And just like any social analytics platform, Klout has rolled out changes last month in order to determine new categories in measuring social media influence. For... [read more]