Mobile Apps and Customer Experience Enhancements
This was a good brief synthesis about how mobile apps could be a great differentiator for businesses seeking to engender deeper loyalty and enhance customer self-service. The article outlines the rationale for introducing an app. It is tricky, of course, to be app-crazy; most of us only rely on about 7 apps on our phones (span of attention) on a regular basis, so getting on that short list can be complex. But I do admit to being enthused about my WestJet app (Canadian airline), which serves as repository of flight information and gives me little extras, like internet service while on a plane (in theory, at least). Do it right - and you just might get somewhere. (To angel investors - I have this idea for a loyalty/word of mouth app ;-) )
Endangered Customers - An Elegant Expression for Inelegant Customer Experiences
Richard Shapiro's newest book, The Endangered Customer: Eight Steps to Guarantee Repeat Business, sounds like a tome for our times. This article undertakes a brief interview with Shapiro, and gives us insights into what should be in our crosshairs as we strive towards favourable and retentive customer experiences. I am, of course, particularly enamored of the human touch, the personalization of experience efforts, and endorse wholeheartedly a thought he expressed in the article - namely, "...The strongest loyalty is person-to-person, not person to company or brand. If your company employs people who can build loyalty one customer at a time and is coupled with an organization or brand that stands behind them, then that is a winning combination."
Big Data Your Way to Customer Excellence
I won't confess to having deep insight into the use of big data in evaluating customer experiences. However, it appears that Monica Mullen just might. I've always struggled with the data scatter - there's lots out there, but it's often stored in various databases that just aren't connected. Mullen makes an argument that efforts can bring insight from big data about customer experience, and provides some practical places to start. My conclusion - even if you just talk to your customer service reps and get them recording and sending data to one place, you will make a significant start. Big data is great - but human effort might be greater.