Guest Service

Your business needs to operate from a number that can be regularly expected with no profitability beyond sustainability. You as a business owner must know that whatever happens, you’re going to hit that number. Small businesses become massive ones by following strategies that don’t spend beyond a business’s means.

New research reveals that focus, simplicity, “digital first,” and perceptions matter most.

We decided that one of the best ways we could assist this crowded industry is to become a hub of engagement and loyalty data from across the US.

So, for the last three years, we've tracked and recorded every publicly available piece of data we could find regarding customer engagement and loyalty. All of it can be found in what we call the Ultimate Collection of Loyalty Statistics.

To add Customer Value one must be very clear about terminology. Loyalty is often used as a goal. What you should understand is that loyalty is not the same as love. Loyalty is not constant. In the Customer context it really means are we likely to retain the Customer for his next purchase or his next recommendation. A loyal Customer is only loyal at a point in time.

Executive boards and senior leadership teams represent a variety of personalities and management styles, but one thing they definitely have in common is this: they’re busy. A customer experience (CX) program cannot thrive without broad-based organizational support, so here’s how to keep CX front-and-center in the busy lives of leadership teams and sponsors.

Humans versus robots. This scenario is playing out across a widening swath of industries as businesses weigh the value of replacing human workers with automated and artificial intelligence systems. And while the human touch still has merit, business leaders are exploring more and more opportunities to increase efficiencies and cut costs with robots.

Think beyond the next transaction.

To say that customer service is important is an understatement. According to Parature’s Global Customer Service Report, 97% of consumers in the world find customer service very, or at least somewhat important in their choice of a brand.

For the average retailer or restaurant, 66% of sales come from the top quartile of customers. Regulars are the lifeblood of any growing business, which is why many businesses have turned to loyalty programs to identify, engage, and retain these loyalists.

When done right, loyalty programs can be hugely profitable for the business—a 5% increase in customer retention can result in an 80% increase in profitability.

We are relying on technology more than ever before; everything from transportation to education is being automated and it’s just a matter of time before low-level and mid-level professions start vanishing.

Consider what a single second costs giants like Amazon and Google.

Amazon claims that a one-second slowdown on its pages could cost it $1.6 billion a year. Google has said that slowing pages even 4/10 of a second means losing 8 million searches per day plus all the revenue from its attendant ad messages.

In every interaction between a consumer and a brand, there are probably hundreds of opportunities to sabotage or advance the relationship.

One of the perks of my job is that I get to travel to many fabulous places in this country and abroad. In my travels, I have experienced all types of customer service.  On a recent business trip to Iowa, I was told by the woman at the hotel front desk that the pizza at…

Customer Relationships - Is your customer loyalty program meeting consumer expectations? We recently conducted a study of North American consumers to find out what they felt about loyalty programs. The following insight