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digital customer experience dinosaur

The Digital Customer Experience: Are You a Dinosaur or a Master?

Digital touch points permeate every aspect of consumers’ lives these days, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that expectations are very different than they were even a few years ago. Providing the right digital customer experience takes much more than just adding a virtual agent to your website or even creating a mobile app—you have to be ready to transform your business from a digital dinosaur to a digital master.

customer on phone experiencing proactive communication

Proactive Customer Communication in 5 Simple Steps

The concept of anticipatory service has been around for decades (Ritz-Carlton has built a brand around it), but while today’s customers are still delighted by that level of attention, what they really want is for you to make their lives easier. And that takes proactive communication. Follow these five simple steps to get started.

astute social listening dashboard

Product Updates: May 2017

See what new enhancements have been added to Astute Social this month.

consumer checking product information on phone in store

4 Crackerjack Ways to Get Ahead in the CPG Industry

The CPG industry faces serious challenges. How can CPG companies stay competitive against the odds?

Three People in Suits Around Table

How to Get Your C-Suite to Buy-In to the Customer Experience

How can you push your CX program to the key decisionmakers in your organization? Here's a quick cheat sheet.

astute social screenshot trigger groups

Product Updates: April 2017

From adding multiple sources of information in Astute Knowledge to multiple trigger lists in Astute Social, learn about all the latest features and updates to Astute products.

5 Tips on Embracing Chat in Customer Service

Chat can help lower the barriers to first contact, increase conversion, and help brands develop genuine relationships with customers.

woman shopping online at home

3 Surefire Ways to Drive Better e-Commerce Engagement

With the advent of online shopping and e-commerce, consumer expectations have only increased. Your customers expect to have their questions answered as they shop -- regardless of device, channel, or time of day. To help you address their growing expectations, we've put together three tips for how to provide a better e-commerce engagement and keep your customers coming back.

Person mapping in-app experience

Customer Effort Score: A Customer Experience Metric You Should Measure

A closer look at one of the key customer experience metrics every brand should measure and strive to increase.

dad showing steering wheel to daughter

Dads Love Minivans Too: Trends Shaping the Auto Industry

The experts have been predicting for years that disruptors like car sharing and Millennials would knock the auto industry off its feet, yet sales increased again in 2016. Maybe it’s not that consumers don’t want cars anymore—maybe they just view them differently.

different devices representing omnichannel experience

A Brief Look at the Basics of Omni-Channel

Omni-channel is not an easy concept to grasp. Everyone seems to have their own definition, and it doesn't come with any black-and-white metrics to tell you whether you're getting it right. But it's is a critical piece of the service experience that today's customers expect, and you need to understand the basics of what it is and how it works.

reviewing charts and graphs to find hidden data

Hidden Data: What It Is and How to Overcome It

What about the insights and customer feedback that aren't crisis-level? This data can be hidden and the insights lost.

view from an airplane window

9 Characteristics of a First-Class Voice of the Customer Solution

Simply getting a VoC solution doesn’t deliver results. You need to find the right VoC solution. Here’s what to look for.

man stretching before sunrise

Improving Your Agent Efficiency in Six Simple Steps

Customer service has always been seen as essential to establishing brand loyalty, yet many consumers will tell you companies have lost sight of that. Due to quick access to more information from the internet, consumer expectations have shifted. Companies must find ways to meet their expectations, fluid as they may be, and find ways to keep up as they continue to change.

video chatting for customer service as an opportunity to gather data for voice of the customer voc program

Your VoC Program: 3 Essential Elements to Be Successful

Companies are beginning to implement voice of the customer (VOC) programs to reveal customer expectations and improve the customer experience. To get the most value from these programs, it isn’t enough to just implement them and hope for the best.

astute social screenshot command center social media trends reporting and analytics

Product Updates: February 2017

From the Command Center in Astute Social to home page charts in ePowerCenter, find all the latest product features and updates here.

customers in restaurants changing experience

The Changing Customer Experience, Part 5: New Trends in Restaurants

The U.S. restaurant industry is expected to post sales of over $780 billion in 2016 and employ over 14 million people (that’s 1 in 10 working Americans). Yet around 60% of new restaurants fail within the first year and almost 80% within five years. It’s a volatile industry, where vocal opinions or changing preferences can make or break a business if it can’t keep up.

7 Deadly CRM Sins That Mean It’s Time to Switch

Having agents who are knowledgeable, professional, and well-trained is a step in the right direction. But consider a crucial element: your CRM system. The software you choose ultimately makes the difference in the consumer experience. Rather than simply collecting data, your CRM should help you build relationships with your customers.

medical professionals using technology for healthcare customer experience

The Changing Customer Experience, Part 7: New Trends in Healthcare

Most healthcare providers don't think of themselves in the business of customer service— or even see their patient as customers in the first place. But liquid expectations are encouraging consumers to demand the same exceptional customer experience they enjoy in almost every other industry. Healthcare is finally joining the “Age of the Customer.” Here are four CX trends that healthcare industry providers need to be aware of.

cash and debit card for consumer pci compliance

Are You PCI Compliant? 12 Requirements for Customer Data Security

Keeping your customer's confidential information private and secure is a substantial part of earning your customer's loyalty and trust. In fact, all companies who accept, process, store or transmit credit card information must maintain secure environments under compliance of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Even if you use a service like PayPal or only accept credit cards over the phone, your organization will be held to PCI requirements.

Spotlight on FSMA: What You Need to Know

After years of drafting, public commentary, and waiting periods, the FDA has published seven FSMA regulations, two of which were put in effect this month. Read on for a quick overview of the Food Safety Modernization Act and its implications for customer service professionals.

reviewing financial services cx trends on laptops

The Changing Customer Experience, Part 6: New Trends in Financial Services

It’s the age of the customer and the financial industry’s traditional differentiators, like network size and infrastructure, are disappearing. Products don’t vary much from company to company, and neither do prices. So how can banks stand out from the crowd? Through the customer experience. Here are four CX trends that financial services brands need to know.

Call Center Best Practices: 4 Things You Need to Know About Customer Loyalty

Did you know it costs at least five times more to acquire a new customer than to keep a current one? Successful companies are prioritizing customer retention, and they’re turning to call centers to lead the charge.

What Is Consumer Engagement?

It’s not enough to just talk about your brand and hope it gets noticed—statistically, it won’t—you have to talk TO someone. You have to do more than get and keep their attention; you must also convince them to take an action in response. In other words, if you’re not engaging consumers, you have very little hope of turning them into loyal customers.