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How to Utilize Intelligent Engagement

Despite the many recent advances in enhanced customer service technology, many companies are always looking for better ways to engage their customers and gain more customer loyalty. The latest technology is known as intelligent engagement.

Bold360 is an example of an intelligent engagement service provider. It:

“puts your customer insights to work in real-time, across every channel, at the point of engagement. We named it Bold360 because it gives your business a 360-degree view of your customer and guides your agents to the next best action for that customer, in that moment.”

“The Right Insights at the Right Time — With intelligence gained from previous interactions and data from disparate systems, agents are empowered with real-time customer insights for more contextually relevant interactions. Intelligent Automation that Delights — Not every customer engagement is created equal. Bold360 uses customer profile information to automate routine interactions without sacrificing quality and to automate portions of the agent workflow to deliver the next best action. Channels that Work Together as One — Bold360 provides the digital channels preferred by today’s mobile-first consumers and makes it possible to seamlessly move across self-service and live channels with full context intact.”

Take a look at the video below to learn more.

Tags: Bold360, customer expectations, customer service, intelligent engagement, video

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Categories Business Analytics and Marketing Information, Business-to-Business, Consumers and Their Behavior, Online Marketing

Should Salaries Be Transparent?

19 Jun

This is certainly an explosive topic, with great differences of opinion. For example: Yes — This is part of a more open communication style. No — This invades privacy and can cause dissension among employees. What do YOU think?

Recently, Creative Group (a staffing firm) conducted research on this topic:

“Should professionals’ pay be public knowledge? Employers in the advertising and marketing fields don’t think so, according to new research from staffing firm Creative Group. More than eight in 10 creative executives interviewed (82 percent) said their organization refrains from publicizing employees’ compensation. Of those respondents, 61 percent feel pay transparency would decrease staff morale.”

“Is there an upside to embracing an open salary policy? According to the survey, the top benefits of sharing compensation information openly are increasing productivity (18 percent) and boosting recruitment and retention (17 percent). However, more than one-quarter of executives (27 percent) believe the potential risks outweigh any rewards.”

Take a look at the following infographic that summarizes that research findings.

Tags: compensation information, Creative Group, transparency, trends

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Categories Business Analytics and Marketing Information, Business-to-Business, Careers, Marketing Communications

Coming Up Short with Customer Loyalty Programs

9 Jun

As we have reported before (click here, for example): “The quest for customer loyalty continues to be both a critical goal and a major challenge for companies of all types and sizes.” Given the importance of customer loyalty, why don’t more firms do a better job with their loyalty programs?

According to eMarketer:

“Firms invest heavily in loyalty programs — a key part of their growth strategy to hook today’s fickle and disloyal consumers. More than four-fifths of consumers said such programs make them more likely to continue business with brands; two-thirds said they modify spending to maximize loyalty benefits; and nearly three-quarters said they would recommend brands with good programs, according to a recent Bond Brand Loyalty study, in partnership with Visa. (The annual study covered 400+ loyalty programs across industries and surveyed over 28,000 North American consumers who participate in at least one program, most in the U.S.)”

“However, the study also suggested that many marketers may not have gotten their loyalty programs right. While the number of loyalty memberships each American consumer belongs to has risen each year to 14+ from under 11 in 2014, the number of programs that consumers remain active in has declined to under 7 from about 8 in 2014. Only 22% of loyalty members feel their brand experience is better than that of non-member. With personalization being a big buzzword, only a quarter of loyalty members said they are happy with the level of personalization experience, the study found.”

Click the image to learn more.

Tags: customer expectations, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, experiental marketing, opportunity

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Categories Business Analytics and Marketing Information, Consumers and Their Behavior, Distribution, Marketing Communications

The Most Popular Athletes in the World

2 Jun

A number of athletes are celebrities and well-known around the globe. Why does matter from a marketing perspective? Companies pay huge endorsement fees to have these athletes promote their products — from sports equipment to sports apparel to energy drinks and to a whole lot more.

There are many interesting questions in terms of the top celebrity athletes, such as: Which sports do they represent? Which countries are their home bases?

Recently, ESPN produced its second annual “ESPN World Fame 100 rankings.” ESPN’s director of analytics, Ben Alamar, came up with a formula that combines endorsement income with social media following and Internet search popularity:

Of the top 100 athletes in the world fame ratings, 38 play soccer (known as football outside the U.S.), 13 play basketball, 11 play golf, 10 play tennis, and 8 play American football. Twenty other sports are also represented; but NONE of the top 100 is a baseball player.
Thirty-five athletes are from the U.S., 9 from Brazil, 7 from Germany, 5 from England, 4 from India, and 4 from Spain. Thirty-six other countries are also represented in the list.
Among the top 100 athletes, 92 are male and 8 are female.
The top 5 endorsers each earned at least $36 million in the most recent year studied.

Ronaldo, the Portuguese soccer superstar, has more than 260 million followers on social media.

Click the image below to see the ESPN top 100 and a lot more interesting data.

Tags: 2017, endorsement, ESPN, gender, global, top 100 athletes

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Categories Business Analytics and Marketing Information, Global Marketing, Marketing Communications, Social and Digital Media, Sports and Entertainment Marketing

iPhone 7 2017 Prices Around the Globe

31 May

To paraphrase our 2016 iPhone pricing post: Do you — or someone you know — own an iPhone 7? If yes, what price did you pay? We know that in the USA, service providers are not providing heavily discounted smartphones the way they used to with the formerly standard two-year contract. Nonetheless, smartphone prices still vary by provider and by deal.

With the above in mind, how do current average prices of the iPhone 7 vary around the world? As Felix Richter reports for Statista:

“The iPhone is not exactly cheap in the United States, but considering the prices that Apple fans have to pay in other parts of the world, the roughly $815 (depending on local sales taxes) that Americans have to shell out for an iPhone 7 (128 GB) seem like a regular bargain. According to the latest issue of Deutsche Bank’s ‘Mapping the World’s Prices’ report [PDF], the iPhone 7 costs $1,200 in Turkey, making it the most expensive place for Apple fans. Taking into account that Turkey’s GDP per capita ($9,317 according to the IMF) is less than one-sixth of that of the United States ($57,294) highlights how much of a luxury item Apple’s flagship phone really is for Turkish consumers.”

“While Apple has always been a producer of high-end devices, the iPhone’s price has recently become more of a problem with respect to the company’s overseas success. With dozens of Android devices available at a fraction of the iPhone’s price, even the appeal of the Apple brand may no longer be enough to win over emerging market customers.”

You will find more statistics at Statista.

Tags: global, infographic, iphone, price, Statista, trends

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Categories Business Analytics and Marketing Information, Consumers and Their Behavior, Global Marketing, Trends

GREAT YouTube Videos: Learn More About AI

23 May

For organizations of any type, artificial intelligence (AI) promises to be the next big thing. What is AI? According to Webopedia: “Artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans. The term was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” However, AI is only now really coming into its own!!!

Webopedia notes that “Research associated with artificial intelligence is highly technical and specialized. The core problems of artificial intelligence include programming computers for certain traits such as: