thomas.wieberneit@aheadcrm.co.nz
It is this time of the year again – your favourite articles of 2022

It is this time of the year again – your favourite articles of 2022

Happy New Year to everyone! Apart from all the political suff that I do not want to dive into, the year 2022 has seen a lot of exciting events and topics, from the rise and fall of the Metaverse, to lots of defaulting crypto companies. Towards the end of the year, chatGPt stirred up quite some waves. Not to forget the long story of Elon Musk taking over and handling Twitter … In more conventional areas, we have seen more of a renewed interest in affordable CX suites. Earlier in the year, also CDPs have been a big topic. Tips for good engagement to achieve customers having a positive experience is also always a topic. (Nearly) all of this is reflected in the 2022 top ten of my blog, which has seen a good number of visits.  A big and heartfelt thank you to all my readers! Here are your top ten articles of 2022. #10 How to engage for customer experience and success #9 How to create value with a CDP #8 The impact of the supply chain on the customer experience #7 A great human – bot conversation with lots to learn #6 How (and why) a marine consultancy made Zoho core of their business #5 The almighty Metaverse – its Rise and Fate #4 How to make Zoho a business’s operating system #3 How to Zoho’matize a business #2 Don’t mess with Zoho – A Zohoday 2022 recap #1  Metaverse – the return of the Undead All of these are well worth revisiting. Thank you again for your readership. I wish you all the best for 2023. Exciting times are lying ahead of...
How trust is the foundation of the data driven supply chain

How trust is the foundation of the data driven supply chain

In the course of the last year or three, I have written a few times about the supply chain and how it affects the customer experience, sometimes badly so. In my last article ‘the impact of the supply chain on the customer experience’, I explained some of the issues and laid out a couple of high level solutions. Let me elaborate a little on what I wrote then. Of course, there are challenges in two main areas: The demand sideThe supply side The customer expectations are quite simple: A customer expects that things just work, that the vendor, and information given by the vendor, is reliable, accurate and comes timely; that deliveries after order are coming reasonably fast and that there is transparency about the order and delivery status. This is all quite abstract, so let us fill this with life. An example to the contrary goes as follows: You buy something, e.g., some whiteware, from a brand with a very high reputation; you are asked for upfront payment (several thousand dollar, remember, high reputation), get an approximate delivery date two months out – along with a warning that there may be a delay of a month or so. So far, so good. I could live with that although even the two months should be explained … Now, imagine that one month into the wait time you get an e-mail notifying you about a changed delivery date, pushing it out by a month. Well, not nice, but also not out of the range of expectations. After all you got told so. However, the next month you get a similar...
The impact of the supply chain on the customer experience

The impact of the supply chain on the customer experience

There are a couple of lessons that the pandemic taught us, apart from that there are different opinions about whether Bill Gates makes us all drones via the vaccines … The most important one is that there is a need to not only look at the demand side but to also look at the supply chain when one wants to improve the customer experience, especially when the customer intention is a purchase. You now might say that the experience happens at the touch point, which is for example the e-commerce site. However, this is only partly true. It is important to make sure that the front end provides the right information, with good performance and without too much distraction, and to have a smooth and comfortable checkout process. In other words, provide a great e-commerce site. Still, this is only half of the story. And this is, where the supply chain comes into the picture. Detour – what does the customer expect? On the base level, a customer expects that things just work, that the vendor, and information given, is reliable and accurate, and that deliveries after order are coming fast and that there is transparency about the order and delivery status. On top of that, customers justifiably expect that the overall process is easy for them and that their time and effort are valued by the vendor. This includes that the process works across devices and channels, without undue hassle. Lastly, the occasional surprise cannot harm. How about over-delivery to promise? How about proactive information? Of course, on the base level it is not possible to win a...
How to make an impact on CX – with your supply chain

How to make an impact on CX – with your supply chain

Amazon is surely an example for a company that has the reputation for good CX. Where does it come from? After all, the site is ugly. Too much advertisement, too. But then Amazon has outstanding supply chain and logistics. Customers like having alternatives even when they buy habitually. Amazon was good at delivering in 2-days and forgiven for not doing so during the pandemic. So they established their reputation before disruption upset it. Amazon also focuses on consumer experience. Many other firms don’t manage their supply chains that far forward. We are discussing with Steve LeMay, Associate Professor of Marketing and Logistics at the University of West Florida, and Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Logistics at Mississippi State University. Steve has a long history in researching supply chain, supply chain ethics and circular closed-loop supply chains. And he is the person who knows Paul Greenberg longest – apart from Paul’s brother … This makes him the perfect guest to talk about the impact that supply chains have on CX, and how to make sure that they contribute to a good CX. Have there be learnings from the Covid crisis? Or from the 2021 blockage of the Suez Canal? Which ones? Are they being implemented? Are lean supply chains too lean? How to make them lean and resilient? What is the state of research? Steve shares a wealth of experience and examples in this episode, which make it well worth reviewing it. Enjoy the last CRMKonvo of the year 2021. CU again on the other side of New Year’s...