Discover your top customer experience (CX) issues quickly

How do your customers, both current and prospective, really feel about the experience they’re having with your brand? How can you best measure this? In this post, I share three cost-effective analysis techniques you can use to get these answers. I realize it’s more fun to focus on acquiring new customers. It’s satisfying to see those acquisition metrics rise as you capture more visitors through your organic, paid and social campaigns, then nurture them with your content marketing. But if there are any 'experience or expectation disconnects' during those first touchpoints, these prospects may not feel an emotional connection with your brand, and not convert as a result. Also, it’s much more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one. According to Emmett and Mark Murphy in the book 'Leading on the Edge of Chaos,' a 2% increase in…

A comprehensive checklist for auditing different customer data types in a CRM or Email marketing system

In today’s world of ever-increasing data availability, volume and variety the challenge to know which data is valuable to you is a key step in starting to build a marketing solution. An often-cited response is that ‘all data is important’ and this may be true, but to help decide which elements are critical in the initial stages of building your solution a method to identify at the value of each type of customer data is key. In this post, I will look at how to audit customer data based on its type and value.  The examples will show why it's important to be selective when reviewing customer data in CRM and Email marketing. Over numerous implementations of Marketing Database solutions, I have seen many types…

Chatbot increases conversions, not just dialog, which is why you need to understand how best to use chatbots

Live chatbot is not just for customer support anymore; it’s a proven engagement and revenue booster. Kayako.com shares some compelling statistics that show just how powerful live chat can be when it comes to engagement and conversion. Analytics and conversion expert Neil Patel also shares some conversion math related to chat. He asserts that, with chat available, 10-50% of your visitors will engage with you on your website. If implemented correctly, one-third of those visitors should go on to become buyers. Even using his conservative estimates, that means a conversion rate of 3.3% through the use of chat. That’s nothing to scoff at. For large-volume sites, these conversion rates and revenues add up quickly. Here are six tactics you…

Over 95% of consumers say customer service is the most important factor in their choice of a brand

The customer service game is quickly changing. Customers tend to expect more from their interactions with brands and consequently, brands are forced to invest more in customer support innovation to up their game. It's a small wonder that, according to Gartner, almost 90% of businesses are going to compete mainly on customer experience, and over 95% of consumers say customer service is the most important factor in their choice of a brand. Is your business keeping up? Your customer support team may not be available 24/7 but your customers may have questions every day, all day long. Imagine how many unhappy customers you may have been able to win back if only your team could be there to promptly help or direct your lost leads in the right…

Too many organizations still view their data obligations as just that; a set of things they have to do

Over 18 months have passed since the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) came into force. In the two years prior and time since, we’ve seen a lot of change in the data and marketing industry – not to mention the UK’s political climate. The constant appears to be the ongoing battle between global businesses, with an interest in our data, and the regulators trying to protect consumers’ privacy. Much of this discourse is pushing us towards increased scrutiny regarding global data regulations, digital marketing, social platforms and many more of the connected experiences we increasingly engage with every day. [si_blog_banner_cta]

Increasing consumer unrest

However, the fact remains that many of the data and tech power players are still largely able to write their own rules, with single nation regulators out-gunned in this fight compared to these…

Live chat is a valuable customer service tool, but you need to use it correctly. There is plenty you should do but also a number of things you need to avoid

Excellent customer service has two critical elements. The first is solving the customer query as soon as possible. The longer the case persists, then the more it becomes a nuance for your customer. Secondly, you need to make the experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible. Even an acknowledgment of their issue, such as "I'll get back to you with a solution" can help with this. The solution can be provided later. People remember world-class customer service and they detest poor service. [si_blog_banner_cta] Live chat can help fulfill both these elements. Kayako, a help desk software for customer service surveyed 100 customers to show the long-lasting impact of live chat on user experience: More than 50% of customers prefer…

Chart of the Week: 34% of customers are frustrated at not being able to find answers to simple questions. Could updated customer service channels help?

As it becomes easier to find information and make purchases, customers are becoming increasingly impatient. Brands need to ensure they are reducing this frustration by offering the highest possible level of service. However, now that there are so many channels that customers can interact with you, this is more difficult than ever. Brands need to ensure they are making the purchase journey simple and engaging, providing all the relevant information in an easy-to-find way and communicating with customers across all the channels their audience uses. [si_guide_block id="70611" title="Download our Free Resource – Essential digital marketing tools" description="This guide gives Free members a preview of the 30 categories of digital marketing tools you should be using for your marketing."/] Failing on any one of these fronts can mean you lose customers,…

SMEs need to choose a CRM that is easy to use and will grow with their business - without additional costs

A good customer relationship management system is vital. Whether you're a large enterprise with multiple products, integrated marketing and sales teams, and have thousands of monthly customers or are a small start-up wanting to better understand your customer journey and nurture a small number of leads, a CRM that grows with you is just as important as having a winning business strategy or an optimized PPC campaign. Understanding how your customers interact with your brand, how you interact with your customers and how it all fits together in a succinct and integrated customer lifecycle, will help every size company manage and analyze customer interactions and data. [si_guide_block id="82510" title="Download our Free Resource – How to avoid these 10 SMB digital marketing mistakes" description="This short guide will show you how to make the most of digital…

Chart of the week: Only 2% of marketers have integrated all processes throughout their marketing funnel.

Creating a funnel that ticks all the boxes is a vital part of marketing. Your funnel should attract, nurture, qualify and convert, leading customers through to the checkout as seamlessly as possible in order to get the best conversion rates. Unfortunately, few funnels are completely perfect. Most of us will find that our marketing funnel isn’t performing as well as we might like, with at least one section causing issues at any one time. While you can work to deal with these problem areas, it’s unlikely that all the issues will be solved. More often than not, this friction between sections of the funnel is caused by how integrated all your process are. Poor integration will naturally slow other process and see your overall results impacted. Currently, according…

Privacy is a top concern for people online, despite the fact that many want more personalized experiences from brands.

With the constant decline of network television and print media, marketing strategy is shifting to the digital space. This has also seen increased competition in the new medium, forcing marketers to look for ways to personalize content to break through the noise and get to individual consumers. While this approach might enrich the customer experience, there is always the risk of companies having too much information about our personal affairs. It is even more dangerous when we are poorly informed about the specific types of data collected about us or how these companies use the data. [si_guide_block id="99357" title="Download our Individual Member Resource – GDPR and ePrivacy briefing for marketing professionals" description="In this report we cover the latest examples and discussion on both of these regulations which seeks to improve transparency and the effectiveness of data…