Bobby Fan says, “In an advertising and content-cluttered digital landscape, how can a marketing professional cut through the noise? In my experience as the director of marketing for a global Fortune 500 company, the answer is easy to identify yet challenging to achieve: connect with the customer. Why do I include “easy” and “challenging” in the same sentence? Because the idea of focusing on the customer’s viewpoint is decidedly not new in the marketing landscape, but creating a campaign that focuses on the values of the consumer takes commitment and research. From... [...]

Courtney Eckerle says, “Mike Loveridge, Digital Marketing Manager, Humana, runs the conversion rate optimization program at Humana, which is comprised of a team of 15 testers and supporting staff. In his interview at the MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2015 Media Center, Mike explained that the team has spent the past year getting a process in place that would walk a tricky tight rope: keeping costs down, while improving the quality of the test. Locking down this process can be difficult in an enterprise-grade company, Mike said, but especially in the insurance industry with government regulations“. Learning... [...]

Aaron Agius says, “Exceptional insights create exceptional businesses. How exceptional? Let’s look at a real case study about what happens when you can read your customer’s minds: Let’s talk about Steve Jobs. Jobs knew his customers well. He could anticipate their needs, exceed their expectations and secure their loyalty. But he didn’t always have this uncanny knack for reading his customer’s minds. For 30 years, he missed the mark. Apple II, Macintosh and PowerMac all suffered low market share throughout the 1990s. Then he came upon the idea of creating a familiar product... [...]

Michelle Moorehead says, “2016 marks the year the CMO will take control of the customer experience — or risk facing significant coordination challenges (and potential headaches) with some other fledgling executive who sees the opportunity to own it. Savvy CMOs will lead the charge to convert superior experiences to growth. This includes driving change above and below the visibility line: from aligning experiences with the brand promise to transforming operations to deliver high-value, personalized experiences. Customer expectations around personalization will continue to grow in 2016, but... [...]

Jack Simpson says, “I attended the Adobe Symposium 2015 in London a couple of weeks ago and caught up with John Travis, Adobe’s VP of EMEA Marketing.  We spoke about customer experience: Its increasing importance within marketing, the way it is impacting the way we do business as a whole, and what brands can do to create a consistently positive experience for their customers. Read on to find out what we discussed, or to advance your own skills in this area book onto our creating superior customer experiences training course. What are some of the trends you’re seeing when it comes to... [...]

Rainmaker team says, “In the fifth part of the membership series on The Mainframe, hosts Tony Clark and Chris Garrett outline strategies for keeping your customers sticking around and holding their interest. Listen in to hear all the details. In this episode of The Mainframe: How your sales tactics could be costing you a great deal of money and respect The key factors that turn a buyer’s remorse situation into a long-term, loyal customer advocate What you need to implement for your members to achieve what you promised and produce fantastic case studies”. How to Earn Long-Term Customer... [...]

John Van Akkeren says, “The journey from product idea to commercialization is full of opportunities, challenges, risks and rewards. The best road to a successful, end-to-end product introduction is paved with constant customer touchpoints and a deep empathy for their wants and needs. Sounds basic, but in reality, staying in lockstep with customers is an iterative process that must be integrated into every phase—from product planning, discovery, design and development to manufacturing and delivery. Boosting The Customer’s Voice Here are 10 tips for making sure your customer’s voice comes... [...]

Andrea Johnson says, “MarketingExperiments’ Marketer’s Creed, Article 1, states: “People don’t buy from companies, from stores or from websites; people buy from people. Marketing is not about programs; it is about relationships.” NextAfter, an organization dedicated to helping nonprofits discover what truly makes donors give, put this concept to the test during an end-of-year fund-raising push. Tim Kachuriak, the company’s Chief Innovation and Optimization Officer, is so passionate about this cause that he cut his family vacation short and flew cross-country to join us in the... [...]

Ken Calhoon says, “It’s impossible to have great customer experiencewithout digital transformation in the age of the customer. Most of us think first about the front-end experience when challenged with improving digital customer experience. We naturally gravitate toward the direct human interface: web features and functionality, design, native mobile apps vs mobile web and more. This is the glitz of digital customer experience and there is no relaxing here—your competitors and peers continue to raise the bar. Look at online retailers for example. Companies like Amazon and Etsy scored... [...]

Gabrey Means says, “As a service-based business, while landing new clients is a critical part of the mix, relationships built and nurtured over time is where the real juice is — offering a level of stability and scaleability that’s essential to long-term health and success. Such relationships take care and feeding and are built on more than just a single campaign or project win. They’re the output of trust, partnership and a track record of producing stellar work together. As former marketing leaders for global F500 brands, we were once the clients ourselves, and we’ve... [...]