SigmaWay Blog

According to Enza Lannopollo (Researcher at Forrester), "organizations ability to protect the customer's privacy is the building block of trust and long-term relationship." According to the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) annual research report surveyed 15000 respondents, about 49% of respondents say that lack of trust limits them from downloading the app, 72% of the respondents are not happy with sharing personal data and 34% of the respondents say that lack of trust stops them from buying online apparels.
This shows that trust is one of the most important factors while buying, downloading or sharing personal data on mobile apps. Craig Piezle (executive director of the Online Trust Alliance), offered 9tips for making an effective transparency process:
1. Communicate the value to the consumer.
2. Have a clear and concise privacy policy written for the customers, not for your legal team.
3. Provide the ability for consumers to opt out.
4. Restrict any sharing with third parties.
5. Have a lawyer’s privacy policy with icons.
6. Consider having privacy policies written in multiple languages.
7. Define your retention practices.
8. Move from a compliance mindset to stewardship.
9. Embrace doesn’t track.
To know more about the benefits of using transparency and why transparency is important in today’s customer driven society. Read an article “Big Data: Protecting Privacy Is Good For Business” by Pam Baker (Author of Data Divination: Big Data Strategies) at: http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/big-data-protecting-privacy-is-good-for-business/a/d-id/1320367

It was found that, 59% of CMO's who use technology strategy, depends on marketing ops for tools, analytics, process and metrics. According to Scott Vaughan (CMO of Integrate), marketing operation (marketing Ops) focuses on customer acquisition. The marketing operations function has emerged due to the need for a more transparent, efficient, and accountable view of marketing. Its growth was driven by the proliferation of marketing technology and increased pressure from the C-suite to prove the value of marketing and contribute to the bottom-line. The Marketing Ops role is increasing in today’s world, so, some tips for Marketing Ops leaders. They are as under:
Tip 1# Lead process change by organizing around the customers: Look at your current marketing plan, technology, process and resources.
Tip 2# Drive decisions based on governed data: Apply data governance to improve quality.
Tip 3# Shape the marketing technology infrastructure: Identifying and applying right technology.
Read more at: http://marketingland.com/marketings-new-customer-nerve-center-marketing-operations-127292

In this digital world, continuous innovation in marketing is very important to have a competitive advantage. The traditional ways of marketing are no longer effective, but marketers need to build engaging ads to attract customers, which leads to the development of touchpoint marketing. Touchpoint marketing aims to build a contextual customer experience across every online and offline touchpoint. This approach can help in building loyalty and engagement of customers.

Here are some tips to make touchpoint marketing effective:

• Create an emotional customer experience.
• Move from linear marketing to the customer life cycle.
• Shift from personalized campaigns to contextual interactions.

To know more about touch point marketing, read the article link “touchpoint marketing helps you stay connected with customers” by Patrick Tripp (Senior Product Marketing Manager for Adobe Campaign) at: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/digital-marketing/touchpoint-marketing-helps-you-stay-connected-to-customers-029110.php

iGen or  Generation Z is the generation who has been born in digitalization age with smart phones in the hands. iGen is independent, stubborn, pragmatic and always in a rush. Marketers are facing problem in understanding their interest, hobbies and attitude. Gen Z wants to know everything about a product before buying. They trust friends, strangers over advertisements, blogs or information on the net. In an article by Joan Schneider (CEO of Schneider Associates), shares some tips on how to market iGeneration:

·         Personalize Everything.

·         Connect with them through social media.

·         Be strategic with advertisement.

·         Excite I Generation with content.

·         Use mobile to reach I Generation.

Marketers also need to be social, transparent and personal with this generation. To know more about this generation read an article “How to market to the Generation I” by Joan Schneider at: https://hbr.org/2015/05/how-to-market-to-the-igeneration

Every businessman wants to enter into new market for growth or better opportunities, but most of the time they won't able to succeed because of competition. An article by Samit Varma (CEO of Pizza Studio), discusses about three components which can help organization to enter into the new market:

·         Focus on consumer impact: Provide high quality, consistent product. People buy products based on their initial experience, so try to make a positive impression. Customer satisfaction is the only key for success.

·         Allow for customization: Today’s customers believe in customization, so to succeed in new market an entrepreneur need to provide customized product with quick delivery.

·         Streamline for predictability: Consistency in operations is very important for timely delivery of products. Implementing forecasting and planning can help entrepreneurs.

Read more at:   http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245813

In today's world, brands need to stand out and do something different. So, a new concept has come up. It is the concept of placing your brand in a subscription box.  Subscription box is a box that is received by subscribers periodically and contains products and samples. They can be used for customized market research and provides information about products and packaging. According to Euromonitor International, using subscription boxes will help to retain customers. Using this subscription box can reduce your marketing expenditure and help a company to reach a national audience, increase social traffic and sales. To know more about subscription box and its benefits, read the article linked by Aihui Ong (Founder and CEO of lovewithfood.com) at:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245753

According to Chris Golec (founder and CEO of Demandbase), innovations in marketing technology are solving many critical issues of B2B marketers. These innovations are taking place in advertising, personalization, conversion and measurement which are helping marketers in driving and engaging present and potential customers. Future of B2B is maintaining continuous and long term relationships with customers. Three areas where innovation in B2B taking place:

• Accounting Based Marketing (ABM): It provides a vital strategy for companies that want to create sustainable growth and profitability within their most important client accounts. ABM focuses explicitly on individual client accounts and their needs. More importantly, it is a collaborative approach that engages sales, marketing, delivery, and key executives toward achieving the client’s business goals.

• “Always-on” advertising & subscription model: B2B organizations need to advertise on a regular basis and for attracting right companies, you need to have the right content on your website.

• Best of breed vs. Single vendor: Best of breed is better because it provides best solutions for each problem.

Read more at: http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/30/the-future-of-b2b-marketing/

According to Lauren Jung (Co-Founder of Theshelf.com), customers believe influencers over Facebook, twitter post for getting information about new trends, innovations and advice for buying products. Influencers are individuals who have the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of their (real or perceived) authority, knowledge, position, or relationship. In consumer spending, members of a peer group or reference group act as influencers.

Here are some tips to make influencer marketing effective are:

•         For making influence marketing successful align with influencer who have the power to influence the buyer’s decision or inbound interest.
•         Tailor your strategy based on the influencer.
•         Try to maintain a relationship.
•         Encourage content creation from brand evangelists.

 Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245757

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is a type of e-commerce conducted through mobile devices such as mobile phones and other mobile devices with a wireless connection - including smart phones (iPhones, Google Android), tablets (iPad, Amazon Kindle) and notebooks. M-Commerce also brings new opportunities for selling online, and mobile marketing can be used to extend online reach. Four things a company must consider while developing m-commerce marketing strategy are:

·         Reach: Tap into the uniqueness of mobile-first consumers.

·         Curate: Trigger impulse purchases through well-crafted offers.

·         Entertain: Make shopping fun and easy, not just cheap.

·         Lock in: Capture the loyalty of mobile shoppers early.

Read more at: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/consumer_and_retail/learning_from_south_koreas_mobile-retailing_boom

For long term survival of an organization, they need regular and loyal customers. According to Brian Horn (Author and Co-Founder of Authority Alchemy), for building long term relationships with your customers, an organization needs to build trust. Following are the ways to build relationship and brand loyalty: • Offering returning customers a discount on services.
• Giving rewards for references.
• Offering updates.
• Really caring about your customers.
Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245439

According to a survey, for hiring a customer service worker, an employer approximately spend $8800 on hiring and training and 70% of customer service worker leave a job within 1year. Some steps for employee retention are: • Provide training to workers and motivate them.
• Evaluate the performance of the employees and give feedback.
• Implement the customer service training software.
• Give employee work from home choice, this will reduce cost per employee up to $2000.
Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245524

According to Gideon Kimbrell (CEO of InList.com, Founder of Syragon), for developing a successful multi marketing strategy an organization need to follow some steps: • Take a decision with influencers or consultants who have experience. You can also choose social media influencers for posting information.
• Have complete knowledge about your customer’s behavior, which can be used in making marketing strategy and use CRM
• Business earns loyalty by engaging customers, so use high visibility placements.
• Asses your present and potential customers value.
For building a good marketing strategy, an organization needs to focus on the customer. Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245360

Procurement officer works in the field of purchasing and focus on reducing costs for purchased material and services and thus ensuring timely delivery of goods and services. But, now their role is becoming more complex. They need to guard the brand name, use sustainable business practices and find innovative ways to develop new products and services. They also need to adopt a holistic strategy. Procurement officers need to establish collaborative outsourcing and service acquisition models and also need to find & nurture the next generation. Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/procurement/procurement-2025-10-challenges-will-transform-global-sourcing

The most important part in determining a company's stock growth is extremely difficult. But, by asking a few key questions, investors can improve the accuracy of their guesswork. Firstly, take some time to examine the market growth rate- For example, Apple less than a decade ago, was known only for computers, but now it has a market share on the phone and tablet market. To get some hints of their future prospects, you need to estimate the percentage of people who already have smartphones and the percentage of customers who will buy new smartphones etc. Secondly, a company's market share impacts in a big way on its future sales growth. Coffee-retailer Starbucks and automaker Honda are examples of companies that have used their brand name to grow their market share. Also, pricing is an important factor and needs to be considered as it has a big impact on sales revenue growth of any company. Read more at: : http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/04/100604.asp

A European Telecommunications company wanted to lower its customer service operation costs but worried from the loss of revenue by doing so. In investigating its options, the company learned that 70 percent of existing customer-service contacts could be delivered through digital solutions that had proved effective in other industries. E-care involves the delivery of customer service via web-based user accounts, social networks, mobile phone, and the Internet rather than call centers or facilities open to the public. Such digital services are increasingly demanded by customers, who are already using digital platforms to research and review products, as well as broadcast their service frustrations. And it makes sense from a financial perspective, too. It has the potential to significantly lower the cost of customer service operations while increasing customer satisfaction. Not only this, but e-care also brings a company closer to its customers. Adopting e-care is worth the effort and that virtually every consumer-facing industry that has high customer-relationship needs can benefit from it. Read more at: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/why_companies_should_care_about_ecare

The growth of e-commerce in present times has been a cause of worry for many analysts and they proclaim that traditional "bricks and mortar" shopping was going to extinct. But a new study shows the traditional shopping is still alive and well for many Americans. According to new study by global consulting firm A.T. Kearney, consumers continue to flock to physical retail locations and are actually crucial in generating online sales for retailers. According to the study, 90% of all U.S. retail sales conducted last year was done in a physical store versus only about 9% done online. Moreover, 95% of sales were accounted by retailers with bricks and mortar presence. Kearney noted that stores make a significant contribution to generating sales, even if the transaction is eventually done online. Through the five stages of a retail transaction - Discovery, Trial & Test, Purchase, Delivery or Pickup, and Returns - at some point along the chain, the majority of consumers will use a physical store. One could be in smaller mall operators. While Simon is the largest owner, smaller firms like CBL & Associates Properties Inc. (CBL), Macerich Co. (MAC) have all experienced faster funds-from-operations (FFO) growth than their bigger rival. The bottom line is Bricks and mortar stores aren't dead or even dying. Not by a long shot. For investors, that mean the owners of shopping malls, power centers and other retail real estate are in a prime position to continue paying strong dividends for years to come. Read more at: : http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/080614/why-bricks-and-mortar-retail-remains-solid-bet-spg-cbl-mac-amzn.aspx

Every business big or small requires using CRM. This includes being organized in tasks, events, meetings, emails, notes, data etc, enhancing communication between team members, better reports, metrics and analytics, customer status and need updates, communication record and history, tracking and scheduling, and availability of centralised data for easy access and data protection.

Information needs to be available to sales personnel outside the office as well which brings in the need for mobile CRM. It allows employees’ to access information anywhere improving sales performance and team information collaboration. Collection and recording of information is made easier with mobile CRM, easy updates on source cuts the waiting time of the sales personnel in getting back to the office and then updating through CRM.

read more at:  http://www.whatech.com/crm/blog/25523-smbs-do-i-really-need-a-mobile-crm

Relying on very basic customer information such as demographics to influence marketing campaigns and limited internal sources and fragmented marketing systems limits sending personalized mails to customers. For companies having multiple marketing agencies and technology partners demographics cannot alone give a complete view of audiences as it leaves other important information. Customer relationship management programs relies on basic data which excludes customer nuances and encourages the mentality that marketers own and drive customer conversation which is no longer true. Due to CRM programs customers put little effort in knowing their customers. On the other hand using resources which contains a vast array of information about the customers enables a better interaction between customers and the brand. Customer Managed Relationship is the better option over CRM these days. To achieve a personal connection with customers, marketers should follow three key rules, namely communication, consistency and trust. Witty comments, 24/7 service or multichannel experience, sending similar number of mails in similar language and color schemes in all channels, personal messages, giving consumers what they expect might do the trick.

Engaging with different channels to get a better understanding of customers and targeting customers specifically using CMR is important. Brands should use CMR based marketing strategy to consider customers purchase behavior and social engagement. Further brands can create rich, useful content to guide customers into repeat purchases. Customers now want to tell brands how to engage with them using necessary technology instead of brands driving into a conversation with customers. Thus all marketers have to listen and adapt.

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/marketing/crm-dead-now-0947236#!bibims

In the world where responding to customers online promptly has become so important having a successful social CRM has become compulsory way of business.

According to Meg Bar, a comprehensive platform which comprises of rich listening, monitoring and engaging capabilities integrated with sales, marketing, service and commerce is a priority.

According to Justyn Howard, an unequipped social medium where social help requests are mismanaged can be a reason of frustration for customers. Only putting marketing and PR professionals behind the wheel is never an efficient solution.

As Katya Constantine says social media tools like Simply Measured or Peak Analytics links the brand to the most loyal users and builds a managed relationship with them. Further, retaining those customers through client loyalty code, a prospect discount code, positive feedback notes and snail-mailed brand goodies is also important according to Stacey Acevero. Moreover, using list and group features like Clients, Prospects who have considered us, positive feedback from clients and desired client or influencers for engaging each segment is also a good idea.

Having a two way conversation with consumers instead of just pushing information to them and realising the importance of feedback by engaging customers as fast as possible is also necessary as according to Constantine and Brian Coughlin.

Further as others add that having a human touch to the conversation which follows the brand image, monitoring customer conversations for fast reply, not feeding on trolls by responding to inflammatory and controversial statements, unifying and centralizing customer related communication, posting frequently asked questions (FAQ), and giving importance to basic CRM functions is also important.

read more at : http://www.cio.com/article/2385481/customer-relationship-management/17-tips-for-achieving-social-crm-success.html 

The blend of social media and customer relationship management referred to as social CRM enhances traditional CRM and engages it with social media which tracks new leads from Twitter and Facebook into the sales funnel. According to Jon Ferrara, CEO of Nimble, realizing the importance of authentic and relevant human connections in business customer relationship management has become an integral part of our lives. Customers nowadays want to connect with the real people they do business with and get delighted and empowered resulting in a renaissance of customer management. Nowadays marketing has gone beyond just driving customers to get the order. Today customers have moved beyond commercials, glossy stick marketing materials and “Slick Willy” sales people. They now can have converse online and expect relevant conversations. Instead of pushing customers to just buy their products social businesses should become a part of the marketing and buyer funnel adding value to those conversations to become trust worthy. Markets are utilizing the new technology today where conversations happen already in public, private and in others various mediums. Companies instead of controlling conversations and employees they should educate and empower both employees and customers. Companies now empower their customer-facing team members to share content and engage on a worldwide basis, and they understand that they are selling to a community comprising influencers, editors, analysts, tech partners, third party developers, value-added resellers etc. empowering, educating and adding value results in success which breeds success.

read more at: http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/how-social-media-and-crm-work-together-successfully/