What We’re Reading: Customer Care for the Holidays, Big Data Analytics, and Taking Down Giants
Here are a few articles I found interesting this week!
How Retailers Can Ensure Winning Customer Care this Holiday Season Multichannel Merchant performed the study linked here. Internet Retailer also conducted a study last holiday season. Both came to the same conclusion: in order to win loyalty, you MUST provide stellar customer service. That means everything from responding to customer inquiries effectively to meeting order delivery expectations. What I like about this article is the emphasis on the customer’s emotional state. If you please a customer during the holiday season, you will likely win them over for life. This article provides some sound suggestions on how to do that.
What the F&#$ Is Big Data Analytics Anyway? The best part about this article is that it addresses big data for the little (or middle) guys. Most people think big data is an enterprise problem, but “big” is relative. The amount of data, speed at which it changes and variety of sources can all cause huge barriers to success for companies of any size. What matters is how those factors compare to the amount of staff you have to work through it, the technology you have available and its quality. In the multichannel space, addressing big data properly can lead to better insight through business intelligence and better merchandising through improved product information management.
Three Guys, A Poker Game And A Plan To Take Down Teleflora I love this article! This company took a creative angle on an industry “standard,” found the technology and business process to execute it, and got noticed. This is what nChannel is all about. This is why we are in business! We want to help sellers find ways to stand out in otherwise crowded markets – to win more market share and grow faster than their competitors.
Customer Experience Management Isn’t Just a Touchpoint Problem
If customer experience management (CXM) was just a touchpoint problem, we’d be pretty good at solving it by now. Innovation has bred a bevy of content management, mobile app platforms, and eCommerce solutions (everything from Square to Hybris). You create a customer experience a thousand different ways. Those technologies available to manage direct customer touchpoints are incredible. Yet, they are arguably underutilized in terms of potential, because of one reason.
Customer experience management isn’t just a customer touchpoint problem. (more…)
How Retailers Can Improve Return Policies to Enhance Customer Experience
What We’re Reading: Retail Agility, Beyond Sync, and Apple Pay
One of the traits we look for when hiring new employees at nChannel is curiosity. Obviously past experience and success are indicators of a good employee, but the only thing that is consistent about retail technology is that it is constantly changing. New ideas are born every day and we want people who are going to use those ideas to pull nChannel forward, not hold it back.
This trait is particularly important in my area, marketing. It’s our job to stay ahead of the retail technology market, and even shape it a little. Everyone at nChannel spends a lot of time learning about what makes retailers successful. We thought you might be interested in what we’re learning.
5 Causes of a Bad Online Buying Experience (And How to Fix Them)
Making your customer happy is your first priority as a seller. Customers have high expectations for their experience, especially when online shopping. If you don’t meet or exceed those expectations, they will likely decide to not buy from you. You only get one shot.
According to Internet Retailer, nearly half of global Internet users plan to make an online purchase in the next six months. You want to profit from this growing segment of tech-empowered customers who demand the products they want and how they want to purchase them. Many retailers are losing potential customers, because the retailer’s online experience just isn’t as personal as it is in the store.
You can avoid being one of those retailers. Here are five common problems that create a bad online buying experience and how you can fix them.