by twieberneit | Aug 21, 2015 | Blog |
CRM Evolution 2015 was a very vibrant conference with lots of discussion that included a number of high profile industry influencers. For me as a first time attendee it was amazing how approachable many of these people are. But then this might come with the territory. To understand these takeaways it is important to know that my reason for attending was getting into closer touch with what is going on in the CRM world outside SAP – and New Zealand. So, these are purely notes and thoughts that result from sessions, discussions with influencers, speakers and other conference attendees, and not learnings from vendor briefings. Also, this event was split into three separate conferences: CRM Evolution Customer Service Experience Speechtek I nearly exclusively concentrated on CRMEvolution and one session from the Customer Service Experience. First things first: Was it worthwhile coming all the way from NZ? This is very clearly a yes. Paul Greenberg and the team did an amazing job in lining up interesting speakers. What now are the topics that currently seem to move the industry in random order? Customer engagement (CEM), customer experience (CEX), customer journey (CJ) and how these topics relate to CRM Big Data, with a view on the Internet of Things IoT, and related to it: Predictive analytics How to do things CRM right Not surprisingly: The Future of CRM (technology as well as industry) Also not surprisingly these are all interrelated. CEM, CEX, CJ and CRM The intersection of these three topics is extremely interesting. These are also controversially discussed topics. Paul Greenberg recently, in another “stake in the ground” article, gave...
by tz4rgp | Mar 3, 2014 | Blog |
A few days ago I was asked for my top 5 tips for retailers on how to connect with their customers, limited to 100 words. For a topic that one could write a novel on … Well, here is my answer: – Help customers solving their problem. This distinguishes and makes you found by the customer – Marketing/loyalty programs offer your customers value and are not mere vehicles to gather more data points – Simplify your customers’ life, e.g. with a card wallet instead of own app that directly integrates with your CRM and POS – Relevant communications at the right time, place with the right content – without appearing intrusive. For this you need to know your customer – Consistent communications across channels and interactions, optimized for used touch point They probably need some more elaboration, especially the last one. First and foremost, the reason for any business to exist is making profit for its owners. This is not equal to producing and selling things (or providing a service) with a margin. The business will succeed only if it focuses on identifying its customers needs and then delivering solutions for these needs. It is not about pushing a product into the market (mostly, consider that needs can be created by smart businesses). This thought is well in the domain of Service Dominant Logic although I am not a strong proponent. Marketing and loyalty programs are important interaction vehicles between businesses and their customers. Both, especially loyalty programs, need to be set up to be mutually beneficial. It is not only about gathering more customer data that can be...
by tz4rgp | Apr 23, 2013 | News |
SocialMeetsCRM and AreteN Ltd are happy to announce our newly forged partnership. “Combining the solution strength of SocialMeetsCRM with the strong sales capabilities of the AreteN team will bring both of our businesses ahead and it will help SocialMeetsCRM enter an important European market and give us more momentum in our internationalization efforts. This is an exciting opportunity for us.” says Thomas Wieberneit, co-CEO of SocialMeetsCRM Ltd. AreteN will be the exclusive reseller for SocialMeetsCRM solutions in UK and Northern Ireland and initialy focus on the UK retail market, offering a uniquely integrated social mobile loyalty and couponing solution. This solution enables retail companies to efficiently get more reach via social networks while at the same time giving them the opportunity to engage with their customers on their smartphones taking advantage of toha, the mobile social networking app. Scenarios include the maintenance of loyalty cards and coupons on the phone, where thy matter to their customers, at reduced cost for the creation and management of loyalty accounts and coupon campaigns. Cards and coupons can be scanned at the POS directly from the...
by tz4rgp | Mar 26, 2013 | News |
SocialMeetsCRM is happy to announce our presence at the retail australasia Expo & Summit that takes place on May 21 and 22. Together with our partner AdvanceRetail we will exhibit our integrated loyalty and coupon solution for Retail. Offer your customers the ease and convenience of a mobile loyalty card and coupons sent directly to their smartphones and their redemption with a simple scan directly at the POS. Expand your reach and have direct communications with your customers on important social networks and smartphones leveraging our Social-Mobile Collaboration Platform and our toha app. toha is available for iOS and...
by tz4rgp | Dec 3, 2012 | Blog |
A while ago I blogged about threats and solutions in the retail industry that have their origin in rise of social media; with this post I would like to continue on this topic, focusing on possible solutions for retail companies. This blog also ties in to a recent article by Mark Tamis on Social CRM in Retail. In his article Mark describes an interesting and elaborate scenario that showcases a technology enabled, consumer and network driven decision process, using the example of buying a party dress. This example is interesting because, although the process is entirely consumer driven, the involved companies use the technology to add value to the customer, thus achieving a win-win situation. What the involved companies (a retailer and a hairdresser) are doing is establishing customer loyalty by [unordered_list style=”green-dot”] Engaging the customer Providing a superior shopping experience, combining online and offline aspects Enabling the customer to get immediate feedback from their network [/unordered_list] With this the two involved companies manage to align their interests with the customer’s interests. In other words, they are distinguishing themselves through service, instead of price. Trying to achieve loyalty through the offer of “least price” is a surefire way to death. To quote the 1986 Highlander movie: There can be only one. Although the scenario described by Mark sounds very advanced it isn’t. The enabling technologies exist and “just” need to be tied together. We are not talking Star Trek here. I really like this scenario as it depicts what could be. Still, integration is a hard business. Because of this I would like to come forward with another scenario...
