In today’s connected consumer environment, customers are better informed and harder to please, but they also leave a more visible evidence trail in the form of improved databases and customer information. Consumers are increasingly interconnected through various sorts of social networks, a trend that is facilitated by recent advances in electronic media and telecommunication (i.e., MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Cyworld). Consumers are also increasingly connected with brands and seek to play a more participative role in their relationship with companies, stimulating companies to reconsider how to connect with consumers. This book consists of a collection of chapters by thought-leaders in the field of marketing and beyond that deals with the rich facets of connectivity. This edited volume is a great source of research ideas and fresh theory building for academics and students in marketing and related fields who wish to understand this exciting field. It will be a source of inspiration for practitioners who are eager to take up the challenge and adapt their marketing strategies to the changing nature of consumer and business markets.
Business Models for Transforming Customer Relationships What if there were a way to turn occasional, sporadic transactions with customers into long-term, continuous relationships--while simultaneously driving dramatic improvements in operational efficiency? What if you could break your existing trade-offs between superior customer experience and low cost? This is the promise of a connected strategy. New forms of connectivity--involving frequent, low-friction, customized interactions--mean that companies can now anticipate customer needs as they arise, or even before. Simultaneously, enabled by these technologies, companies can create new business models that deliver more value to customers. Connected strategies are win-win: Customers get a dramatically improved experience, while companies boost operational efficiency. In this book, strategy and operations experts Nicolaj Siggelkow and Christian Terwiesch reveal the emergence of connected strategies as a new source of competitive advantage. With in-depth examples from companies operating in industries such as healthcare, financial services, mobility, retail, entertainment, nonprofit, and education, Connected Strategy identifies the four pathways--respond-to-desire, curated offering, coach behavior, and automatic execution--for turning episodic interactions into continuous relationships. The authors show how each pathway creates a competitive advantage, then guide you through the critical decisions for creating and implementing your own connected strategies. Whether you're trying to revitalize strategy in an established company or disrupt an industry as a startup, this book will help you: Reshape your connections with your customers Find new ways to connect with existing suppliers while also activating new sources of capacity Create the right revenue model Make the best technology choices to support your strategy Integrating rich examples, how-to advice, and practical tools in the form of "workshop chapters" throughout, this book is the ultimate resource for creating competitive advantage through connected relationships with your customers and redefined connections in your industry.
Connect and engage across channels with the new customers Connect is the ultimate marketing guide to becoming more relevant, effective, and successful within the new marketplace. Written by a team of marketing experts serving Fortune 500 brands, this book outlines the massive paradigm shift currently taking place within the industry, and provides the insight and perspective marketers need to stay on board. Readers will find guidance toward reaching a customer base that sees marketers as an unnecessary annoyance, and strategies for engaging those customers at touch points throughout the customer lifecycle. The book's scope encompasses both digital and real-life avenues, discussing the new ways of thinking and the new tools and processes that allow marketers to function in the new era where digital customer experiences are increasingly important. Marketing is undergoing a revolution to rival the impact of Gutenberg's printing press. Customers are in control, with more choice and more access than ever before, and they refuse to be "sold to" or "managed." Many marketing professionals are flailing for a new strategy while the winners are clearly jumping ahead – Connect takes readers inside the winners' world to learn the approach that's engaging the new consumer. Discover the technology and processes that allow marketers to remain relevant Craft a personal, relevant, and accessible customer journey that engages the connected customer Keep in touch throughout the customer's life cycle, both online and offline Link digital goals and metrics to business objectives for a more relevant strategy Smart marketers have moved to a higher level that achieves business objectives while increasing relevance to the customer. Connect provides readers a roadmap to this new approach, and the tools that make it work.
Kaufman takes you on a journey into the new world of service. Learn how the world's leading companies have changed the game, and how you can successfully follow this path to an uplifting service transformation.
The future of work is already here. Customers are adopting disruptive technologies faster than your company can adapt. When your customers are delighted, they can amplify your message in ways that were never before possible. But when your company’s performance runs short of what you’ve promised, customers can seize control of your brand message, spreading their disappointment and frustration faster than you can keep up. To keep pace with today’s connected customers, your company must become a connected company. That means deeply engaging with workers, partners, and customers, changing how work is done, how you measure success, and how performance is rewarded. It requires a new way of thinking about your company: less like a machine to be controlled, and more like a complex, dynamic system that can learn and adapt over time. Connected companies have the advantage, because they learn and move faster than their competitors. While others work in isolation, they link into rich networks of possibility and expand their influence. Connected companies around the world are aggressively acquiring customers and disrupting the competition. In The Connected Company, we examine what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and why it works. And we show you how your company can use the same principles to adapt—and thrive—in today’s ever-changing global marketplace.
With emerging technology transforming customer expectations, it's important to keep a laser focus on the experience companies provide their customers. Tomorrow's customers need to be targeted today! Customer experience futurist Blake Morgan outlines ten easy-to-follow customer experience guidelines that integrate emerging technologies with effective strategies to combat disconnected processes, silo mentalities, and a lack of buyer perspective. The Customer of the Future explains how today's customers are already demanding frictionless, personalized, on-demand experiences from their products and services, and companies that don't adapt to these new expectations won't last. This book prepares your organization for these increasing demands by helping you do the following: Learn the ten defining strategies for a customer experience-focused company. Implement new techniques to shift the entire company from being product-focused to being customer-focused. Gain insights through case studies and examples on how the world's most innovative companies are offering new and compelling customer experiences. Tomorrow's customers will insist on experiences that make their lives significantly easier and better. Craft a leadership development and culture plan to create lasting change at your organization!
Social media is now the dominant online activity and drives more website traffic than online search. The implications for businesses are as profound as the rise of Google 15 years ago. Amidst the demands of running a business, it can be alluring to fully delegate "digital" to the digital team. But in today's wired environment, digital is actually everyone's job. Company leaders and professionals must seek to personally grasp the tectonic changes arising from the always-connected customer, and then rethink traditional business models, business practices, and even their own job responsibilities and careers accordingly. In The Social Business Imperative, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and renowned thought leader Clara Shih identifies powerful new opportunities created by social media across the entire customer lifecycle. As described in the book's foreword, written by Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, this guide is a must-read for all professionals. From boards of directors, CEOs, and Chief Marketing Officers to to front-line sales managers, recruiters, IT, and compliance directors, no role is untouched by the social, mobile, digital transformation. This book explains how to adapt and thrive in this brilliant new world order by understanding the transformation taking place not only in one's own department but across the customer journey. Only with this broader understanding can functional leaders collaborate on delivering a cohesive experience spanning previous organizational silos. Going far beyond her global bestseller The Facebook Era, Shih offers unprecedented insights into why and how traditional organizations must re-imagine their existing business processes to capture “the digital last mile” across social, mobile messaging apps, Internet of Everything, and the collaborative economy. Drawing on her immense experience helping Fortune 500 companies operationalize digital transformation to drive measurable uplift in sales and loyalty, Shih also presents powerful new case studies spanning multiple industries and companies from Wells Fargo to Warby Parker. “A book worth reading, a voice worth listening to, from a leader of real consequence. A clarion call on the promise and potential of social channels to transform business.” —Walter Robb, Co-CEO, Whole Foods Market “This is a must-read for any business leader who wants to thrive in this time of disruptive change.” —Chip Bergh, President & CEO, Levi Strauss & Co. "Whether you're a global brand, small local business, or individual who wants to turn your passion into a livelihood, this book simply and clearly articulates how to channel the power of social media to delight audiences and grow your business." —Marne Levine, COO of Instagram “Almost overnight, social media has transformed business and the way we as companies interact with our customers. In a way, social media has become part of everyone’s job. Clara's book gets right to the heart of the matter and gets us thinking critically about what could be next on this roller coaster ride.” —Robin Hayes, President and CEO, JetBlue “The power of Clara’s book is it highlights not only social media practices but fundamental business practices and how company leaders need to entirely rethink customer engagement models. The implications for every business, regardless of industry or geography, of today’s social, connected consumer cannot be overstated. This book provides a powerful vision and compelling call to action for company leaders everywhere.” —Ted Mathas, Chairman and CEO, New York Life
With dramatic changes in consumer behaviour - from online shopping to the influence of social media - marketers are finding it harder than ever to coordinate, prioritize and integrate the latest interactive channels into their overall brand-building strategy. Despite hard evidence showing the importance of digital marketing, the emphasis often remains on traditional media, with the most common social media channels being used without centralized coordination or integration with a wider marketing and branding campaign. Multi-Channel Marketing Ecosystems examines a fundamental game changer for the entire marketing industry - the seismic shift from a single TV-centric path to a multi-channel interactive ecosystem which puts digital technology at the heart of every campaign. With separate chapters on the remaking of marketing, the rise of the digital brand, conversion optimization, m-commerce, searchability in a multi-channel world and predictive marketing, Multi-Channel Marketing Ecosystems shows how marketers and brand managers can react positively to changes in consumer behaviour, building customer responses and loyalty via the full spectrum of digital media.
Digital transformation is shaping a new landscape for businesses and their customers. For marketing professionals, advancing technology (artificial intelligence, robots, chatbots, etc.) and the explosion of personal data available present great opportunities to offer customers experiences that are ever richer, more fluid and more connected. For customers, this ecosystem is synonymous with new roles. They are more autonomous and have power alongside the company: they influence, innovate, punish and more. These developments push companies to implement new customer strategies. It is in this context, marked by pitfalls and paradoxes, that the authors of this book reflect on the customer relationship, what it has become and what it will be tomorrow. The book provides practitioners, teacher-researchers and Master's students with a state of the art and a prospective vision of customer relations in a digital world. It is aimed at those who want to gain an up-to-date understanding of the field and find all the keys needed to project themselves into the future.
Make your online customers happy—and create new ones—with this winning guide Social media gives you an unparalleled vehicle for connecting and engaging with an unlimited number of customers. Yet this vehicle is different than other, more impersonal forms. With social media, reps become part of their customers' lives. They follow back. They handle complaints immediately. They wish customers "happy birthday." They grow their brands by involving themselves in communities. The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide gives you the keys to authentic and engaged service to customers through social media. Using a blend of case studies, a primer on classic online customer service, and instructions on how to execute quality customer service, this book enables you to access the opportunities that social media presents as a means of serving customers. Authentically use social media to connect with customers to boost your bottom line Attract new customers through your online presence Achieve higher GMS (Gross Merchandise Sales) with quality customer service Social media gives you a new and growing realm to distinguish your business. Create a productive presence in this interactive space with The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide.
