A story in USA Today examined the debate between the physiological and psychological benefits of social networks. The piece attempts to debunk notions that too much time spent connecting with friends online detract — and devalue — the benefits of physical interaction (an argument akin to what people say about the change from snail mail to email, or from honking a car horn to texting “im outside”). The positive outlook on social networking can be summed up in this passage:
For the most part, being part of a social network is good for you, research suggests. For example, a study in this month’s Scientific American Mind finds that social support and social networking offer benefits, from additional resilience to greater life satisfaction to reducing the risk of health problems. Other studies in the past two years have found that feeling like a part of a larger group helps in stroke recovery and memory retention and boosts overall well-being.
Phewf! That’s a relief.
The opposition — as there always is — contends that social networks are “programmed to make money,” under the guise of bringing individuals closer (isn’t that also what can be said about fraternities and sororities…or many groups for that matter?) The problem, though, appears to be serious, marked by the opening of the first U.S. residential treatment center for Internet addiction this summer in Washington state.
Among members of the Gen Y generation who regularly use social networks, 55 percent are more likely to self-report happiness compared to 35 percent of nonusers. Moreover, 60 percent of Gen Y social networkers were reportedly dating or in a relationship, compared to 30 percent of nonusers.
This video was featured at the Shop.org Annual Summit earlier this week. It shares a lot of statistics around social media and consumer use of social media in an attempt to answer the ultimate question — Is social media a fad?
I recently had the opportunity to take a week-long vacation around the Labor Day holiday. You know, one of the prime shopping holidays of the year. I was looking for some fall clothes with the American Express gift cards I received due to my being a loyal member, accruing enough points for a $25 and $50 one.
I used the $25 one with no issue. When I was in line at Express buying sweaters using my $50 card, the fun really began. The order could not be completed. Obviously, this was annoying on all fronts. There was a line of people behind me, and the cashier got his manager to come over and call American Express, trying to get the issue ironed out. After being on hold for 15 minutes, a live person finally took the call and refused to talk to the manager. He wanted to speak with me.
I take the phone, and the agent says that there is a “technical glitch” with my gift card through no fault of my own. I say, OK, fine — authorize my purchase over the phone and send me a gift card for the remaining balance. I didn’t think this was an overly complicated task. Credit card companies authorize charges over the phone all the time. It goes with the territory.
Well, apparently this is not the case with American Express gift cards. He refused to do it, saying it was not possible. He said he would send me a new gift card. He was missing the point: I needed the money now. At that moment. At the point of sale. This sale wasn’t going to last the three-to-five days it would take to send me a new card.
I informed the agent of this obvious point, that I was on vacation, and wouldn’t be able to get the card until I returned more than a week later to my apartment. He said that he would have the card expedited. It was seriously like talking to a brick wall.
…Ok, maybe it didn’t take me exactly 12 minutes, but I’ve got to jump to some sessions here at Shop.org’s Annual Summit in Las Vegas! Resource Interactive’s President and Chief Experience Officer Kelly Mooney (also author of The Open Brand) was the conference’s final keynote and shared a bunch of insight on moms and (the second wave of) Millenials.
Look for a news story on the keynote on destinationCRM.com, but for now, I wanted to share Mooney’s closing list of tips on how to making online shopping a better experience:
Support social marketing & merchandising.
Offer more ways to pay that also ensure security online (e.g., PayPal, Twitpay).
Monetize your Facebook page (It’s not just a place for socializing!).
Auto fill codes, points, and special offers identified customers .
Get more personalized and relevant at the online “shelf” level.
Add “raves” to your ratings & reviews (Mooney cites how studies in neuroplasticity proves that if a consumer sees another happy consumer, it can rewire them to have positive feelings, too).
Use messaging to tap into thrift mentality. Consumers, especially moms, are wearing frugality like a “badge of honor.”
Make meaningful service changes based on feedback. Solicit feedback, then make sure customers know that you’re acting on those insights through explicit communication.
Use social networks to encourage users to share shipping codes or offers instead of just making the offer available to any and everyone.
Offer new utility and fun ideas to help users engage with each other around the products (e.g., create your dream room), or come up with news ways to use the products.
Introduce new products and price points (e.g., Recession Denim, which, according to its “About” page, “was born in New York City amidst the economic chaos of September 2008. Creator, Daniella Siri set out to establish a premium-quality denim brand that offered irresistibly trendy, yet classic denim without the premium price tag.”)
Shift the dialog (e.g., Hyundai’s Assurance Program addressed the challenges of making big purchases in a difficult economy and gave customers the assurance that the company has their “back for one for year.”).
K! Gotta run!
[Pssst! If you want a copy of Kelly Mooney's presentation from this morning, send an email request here: Rewired@resource.com]
Allan Dick, chief marketing officer and senior plumbing evangelist at Vintage Tub and Bath, evaluated 85 potential speakers to fill 18 spots in the two-part session “40+ Specific Things You Can Do to Make More Money Next Week” at this week’s Shop.org in Las Vegas. Preparing for the sessions took 3 months of seemingly endless conference calls, but the result was an crash course in search engine optimization and e-commerce best practices.
Tired of hearing e-commerce being described as the “bastard step-child” and going to conferences where speakers only gave “inspirational” talks, Dick wanted to lead a session that provided actionable insight retailers. He wanted an a power-packed session that would give retailers tips they could immediately begin putting into place once they got back to the office. Each speaker was given exactly 8 minutes to deliver their choice of best practices (If speakers weren’t finished by 8:10, the microphone was turned off, and the audience could vote whether or not the speaker should continue–luckily only 2 speakers went overtime, only one of which got the extra minute).
A bunch of speakers touched upon these fundamentals, most of which are changes pertaining to site usability and Web design:
Make important information & calls-to-action buttons bigger, more noticeable (i.e., different color, size, shape), more descriptive (e.g., “Buy,” not “Submit”).
Increase consumer confidence with security icons, customer service contact information, and concise return, warranty, and privacy policies.
Avoid distracting shoppers from the shopping experience by taking away from the product pages — use modal windows or pop-outs instead.
Remove the mandatory registration page for new users (tests have shown as much as 38 percent dropoff after consumers have clicked the “checkout” button — Lance Loveday, Closed Loop Marketing)
Display at least 20 items per page.
Claim search listings that include [your company name] and the words “coupon,” “voucher,” “discount,” etc., to ensure that you’re claiming searches that might otherwise go to your affiliates.
Retailers are too intimately tied to their sites — go into a store and watch real users interact with your site.
Have clear, specific, pinpointed error messages. Instead of “Invalid Variable,” highlight the field that was filled in incorrectly and say what’s missing in plain language (e.g., “At least one address line must be supplied”). Or better yet, be proactive about helping consumers fill in forms and provide instructions that follow consumers as they fill out the from (check out Restaurant.com’s registration form)
Use positive language (e.g., “Orders received by 2 PM will be shipped out today!” vs. “Orders received after 2 PM will not be shipped until the next business day.”
Be specific in your product descriptions. Customers aren’t searching for “cute” boots, they want “black, knee-high, leather” boots.
Allow users to sign up for emails on every page with an embedded field — eliminate the extra click, ask only for email (you can get more information later).
Use positive language like “Join Now” or “Sign Up,” rather than “Submit,” which has a negative connotation.
Be clear about the benefits of receiving company emails.
Immediately engage new subscribers with a “Welcome” newsletter.
Email pre-header should immediately reveal: who’s the email from; what’s the advantage gained; and how to take action.
Use progressive profiling to enhance personalization of emails based on on-demand data through surveys to collect needed information.
By Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal, Beagle Research Group
I saw this on The Huffington Post and thought it said a lot about CRM:
A California woman has refused to pay her bill for a credit card she has with Bank of America. According to Huffington Post, Ann Minch “has carried a balance of several thousand dollars on her Bank of America credit card, making minimum monthly payments of about $130, sometimes paying an extra $50 or $100. She says she’s never missed a payment.”
Minch’s beef is that, for all her good behavior and customer loyalty, the bank repeatedly raised her interest rate this year, reaching 30 percent in July.
It gets better.
Minch decided to make her fight with the bank public, posting a four-minute video on YouTube to explain her actions and demand the bank negotiate and reduce her rate.
Minch is not alone, especially in these hard economic times. Many people carry balances on their cards and pay monthly interest. Banks are only too happy to carry the balance and collect the interest because, at interest rates of 15, 20, or even 30 percent, it doesn’t take long for the borrower to pay the bank more than the original card balance. For banks, card balances are the gift that keeps on giving.
Credit cards are a form of unsecured loan with the key differentiator being the loan originator. It’s you and me, not some loan officer. The banks can’t walk down the hall to tell you to stop making silly loans to yourself — the interest-rate lever is the only tool at their disposal for that. So, to influence behavior, they jack up the rates they charge in the hope that you’ll stop charging until you get your income and expenses in line.
The difficulty comes when money borrowed at one interest rate is suddenly assessed a higher rate. It’s like moving the goal posts — and, paradoxically, a credit-card holder whose payments only raised concern at a 15 percent interest rate may actually default once the rate gets pushed to 30 percent.
Lest you think that the bank has all the leverage here, consider this: Minch says in her video that she owns no property and currently has no permanent employment. There’s nothing that the bank can do to compel payment — it can’t seize her home or car and can’t garnish her pay.
The bank can (and probably will) take Minch to court — but, as she correctly points out in the video, the civil courts are backlogged and it could be years before the case gets heard. Meanwhile, she rails against Bank of America and all banks, institutions that have received federal bailout funds from the people of the United States and then turn around and treat those same people — their customers — the way she has been treated.
It looks like a Mexican standoff but it could turn into a circular firing squad because Minch’s goal now is not simply to get the bank to reduce her interest rate — she wants to spark a revolt against all big financial institutions, which she refers to in the video as “evil, thieving bastards.”
So far — as of September 22 — her video has been seen about 250,000 times, but it’s going viral thanks to social media. The expanding reach of this one customer’s complaint underscores the importance of every vendor having good policies and procedures in its CRM strategy (not just tools—strategy) to avoid this kind of nightmare scenario.
Come on, admit it: You have at least one story — either your own or one you’ve heard from a friend — about waiting for hours at your house for the cable guy, only to find out at the end of the day he wasn’t going to show up.
Turns out that you’re nowhere close to being alone. Statistics from a survey conducted by Harris Interactive and TOA Technologies finds that many Americans continue to have this problem with field service, highlighted in this month’s Re:Tooling column in CRM magazine, and customer retention is seriously at risk.
Findings include:
18 percent have lost wages to wait for field service at their home in the first half of 2009;
18 percent refused or canceled a product or service because the field technician was either late or did not show up;
29 percent of respondents have left their home in frustration — costing their service provider more money in rescheduling, customer service, and operations costs — due to lateness or a no-show;
63 percent wait two or more days each year in their homes for service or deliveries;
57 percent believe the company providing the service is at fault — not the actual field technician; and
37 percent of consumers believe the standard wait window is four to eight hours because companies “take advantage of the fact that people will most likely wait for the service/delivery because they want or need it.”
Pretty damning stats — if you provide field service, do these numbers surprise you?
Losing nearly 20 percent of customers due to showing up late or not at all is a large number, especially in today’s economy when organizations say they are doing all they can to keep their consumers loyal.
What are you doing to try and improve the punctuality your field technicians have when they’re going on customer calls?
It may seem buddy-buddy when your CRM vendor refers to you as their “partner.” But you, as a customer, aren’t a partner, said Gartner analyst Jane Disbrow — You are a source of revenue. Disbrow’s presentation today at Gartner’s CRM Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona served to alert CRM users of the potential pitfalls they may encounter when signing on for new software or trying to update terms and negotiations.
Software discounts are hot right now, Disbrow said, adding that clients often try to wow her with the great deals they think they have scored with vendors. However, sometimes discounts require a bit of reading between the lines, she said.
“Sometimes the best discounts are often the worst deals I see,” Disbrow admitted to attendees. “They end up being products that [customers] don’t use. They end up being shelfware.” So as a cautionary note, be sure to know what are looking for when shopping around. It’s like the idea: “Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach.” Offers, promotions, and discounts are appealing, but you might end up with something you don’t really need.
“Often people just think ‘We have to buy new software,’ but they don’t think of the additional aspects,” Disbrow said. There are many (hard and soft) hidden costs involved with implementing new projects that must be taken into account:
Training costs,
Customization of code,
Implementation time and manpower,
Database management, and
Data conversion.
Not only are those important to look out for, but Disbrow said that customers need to be aware of the silent software-as-a-service “Gotchas.” Many people think that SaaS lets you scale up and down with users whenever you’d like, she said. However, that’s truly not always the case. On-demand applications can bring along a tailwind of additional expenses including:
Associate Editor Jessica Tsai (@jesstsai) was on location in New York this afternoon at the Digital Strategies Conference, an event sponsored by Clickability (@clickabilityinc), a provider of on-demand Web content management. Below is her tweetstream from the event, which was live-twittered on our @destinationCRM channel. You can look for her news story on Thursday on destinationCRM.com.
W 9/9/09, 3:27 Panel: “Lev[eraging] your Nat’l Brand for a Local Audience”: ………………………………Brian Buchwald, Greg Gittrich, Robyn Peterson; Mod: Matthew Barkoff
W 9/9/09, 3:54 Next panel: “Digital Monetization Strategies: How do I Break My Ad Revenue Addiction?”
………………………………Panelists: Gordon Crovitz, Cathryn Cronin Cranston, Michael Wolff, Bill Grueskin
W 9/9/09, 5:14 “Everything U Need to Know about Social Media but Were Afraid to Ask” ………………………………Auren Hoffman, Mike Glickenhaus; Mod: Robert Carroll
W 9/9/09, 5:42 Now: Digital Strategies in Action: The Tribeca Film Festival Case Study w/ COO Jon Patricof
W 9/9/09, 5:57 Panel: Executive Best Practices: What Must Media Execs Do Today to be a Force in the Future?
W 9/9/09, 6:11 Panelists: Chris Grosso, Chris Hendricks, Colin Crawford, Ravi Maira; Mod: Jeff Freund, CEO
By Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal, Beagle Research Group
Market analysis firm IDC figures the market for service and support software will reach $4.2 billion before the end of the first Obama administration. That’s reason enough for software vendors to want to be all over the market like a cheap suit, like white on rice, like a junkyard dog. But as the market moves from on-premises to on-demand you can expect the revenue potential to go way down. That’s the beauty of on-demand computing — score one for the customer.
But whether there are four billion of those dollars or just one billion, that’s still real money — and enough to motivate the behavior of lots of people — so it was no surprise that both Salesforce.com and Oracle shored up their service and support offerings this week. What was fascinating to me is that, despite all the secrecy surrounding each company’s announcement, which I witnessed first hand, the two CRM titans managed to make similar announcements within a day of each other.
I attribute the coincidence to the simple logic of the situation: Each company has built out very good offerings in sales and marketing, so it was time that each gave some extra attention to service and support.
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