Multichannel

Twitter is the ‘least effective’ customer service channel for UK brands

Despite the fact that 76% of UK organisations run a Twitter account, only 39% of them are able to answer customer service questions asked directly through the channel.

It seems that although the move to social has generally seen brands able to communicate in a more personalised and timely manner with followers, they are still struggling to provide adequate customer service through Twitter.

These findings come from the recently released Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study which evaluated 100 UK companies on their ability to provide answers to 10 routine questions via the web, as well as their speed and accuracy when responding to email, Twitter and via the website.

The results are patchy at best…

Moments and journeys: how to use the voice of the customer in a multichannel world

Consumer behaviour is changing more rapidly than ever. Claims of desktops gathering dust and email on the way out may be over-stated but we are certainly living in a mobile enabled world of instant gratification.

It is no surprise that this is having a fundamental impact on how consumers and brands interact. Many brands have embraced live chat in recognition of a consumer appetite for instant messaging.

And we moved away some time ago from talking about online as one entity or one customer channel to talking about multiple digital touch points in recognition of the increasing fragmentation of customer facing channels and the rise of mobile.

The challenge facing brands now is how to understand this new omnichannel consumer, the type of consumer who flits from one channel to another and who in fact does not think about a ‘website’ or an ‘app’ anymore but is so comfortable with it all, that to them, it’s just ‘shopping’.

Three tips for perfecting the mobile customer experience

With our growing need to become more mobile than ever, it’s no surprise that mobile device sales are through the roof.

In fact, more tablets were sold per day in the last quarter of 2013 (854,000) than there were babies born per day (approx. 370,000).

This rise in mobile sales is no coincidence, and businesses need to understand exactly how their consumers are using mobile and how it ultimately impacts sales.

Optimize your offline marketing online: lessons from Planet Fitness

“So, what do you do for a living?”

“I lift things up and put them down.”

If that exchange isn’t ringing a bell, perhaps Planet Fitness’s commercial catchphrases will: “Not his planet, yours.” “No Gymtimidation, no lunks.” “We’re not a gym, we’re planet fitness.” “Lunk alarm.”

These catchphrases are all part of a $10-12m offline marketing campaign by Planet Fitness, the fastest-growing gym in America. 

The TV ads are funny and focused, they have real viral star quality. They’re aimed at the pain points of inactive people, who tend to feel insecure or annoyed by showiness at the gym.

They’re aimed at people who have been uncomfortable at gyms and thought, “This just isn’t for me.”

So far so good on the marketing front. The ads are memorable, targeted and appealing. Unfortunately, when you follow the campaign online, the wheels start to come off.

Delivering a sweeter customer experience

Whether you planned a romantic evening out or ordered your sweetheart’s gift last minute, it’s clear that Valentine’s Day this year went digital.

NRF reported that more than 26% of consumers planned to shop online for their loved ones.

In fact, online shopping showed significant growth during the week before Valentine’s Day this year compared to last year, particularly with department stores where online sales grew 34%.

32% of UK consumers make purchases on a smartphone: stats

UK consumers are far ahead of Europe in terms of using smartphones for online shopping.

Out of 18 European countries surveyed, the UK has the highest percentage of people who make a monthly purchase on their smartphones, with 32%. This is compared to just 8% in France, 15% in Germany and 19% in Sweden.

These findings come from the latest TNS research commissioned by Google, which explores the growing importance of online platforms in the consumer journey, from research to purchase. 

The research also looks more broadly at internet usage across devices. Here is the online state of the UK in 2014, compared to last year: 

Future customer experience will be all about the personal touch

The continued growth of ecommerce is nothing new. But what is new and critical for businesses to understand is the role of the touch-integrated customer experience.

Today, the first device a child interacts with is a touch device, whether a smartphone, tablet, phablet or even wearable technology, and consumers of the future will expect the motion of touch integrated fully into every experience they have.  

As a result, the next challenge for businesses will be completely integrating touch into the shopping experience.

More than 40% of online adults are multi-device users: stats

This comes from a new multi-device study, conducted by Facebook in collaboration with GfK, revealing people’s behaviour when it comes to moving across devices (smartphone, tablet and desktop) on a day-to-day basis.

It’s becoming increasingly common practice to switch to a different device, even though we may have started a task on a different one all together.

While sat at home, it’s far easier to research a product we’ve seen on television via the smartphone that’s sat within arm’s reach, than it is to walk ALL the way to another room to fire up a desktop computer and wait minutes for it to boot up. It’s a wonder we ever bought anything online before the advent of smartphones.

However for the actual purchase or completion of more seemingly complicated task, we prefer a larger screen and therefore we’re more likely to finish the task on a tablet, laptop or desktop computer.

Here are some more stats from the study, plus bonus ‘real-life’ photographic examples of multi-device use.

The home of the future, today. How smart is that?

Qualcomm has been busy diversifying beyond chips and they now have an impressive range of software and even a smart watch.

Its smart home demo was one of my Mobile World Congress highlights and shows how technology will make our lives even easier in the coming years.

Creating a single view of customers: five top tips

Creating a single view of customers across channels has long been the goal of the ambitious retail marketer.   

By being able to track and analyse consumer interactions across in-store and online, a retailer can create a new level of insight into their customers and therefore market to them with an unprecedented level of accuracy and insight. 

In addition, data has shown again and again that customers who interact with a brand on more than one channel are more valuable and loyal than their single channel counterparts.

However, a single view of customers isn’t as simple as just connecting online and offline databases of information. It requires significant investment in new hardware, software, staff capabilities and processes.

Before launching any project of this scale, retailers need to be aware of the possibilities and pitfalls. 

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