Customers

A recent story chilled me to the bone. The headline supplies all the reasons: "Saudi Arabia's Grand Plan to Move Beyond Oil: Big Goals, Bigger Hurdles." At first glance, this doesn't ring any CRM bells, but maybe it should. Why would any business or business-state contemplate moving out of its sweet...

Advances in technology -- including speech analytics, metrics, a wider array of scrabble data, and perhaps even big data -- are making gamification a must-have tool in CRM, call centers, collections, sales and other business areas. Technological advances have enabled the design of games that offer e...

ShippingEasy has launched Automated Email Marketing as an addition to its customer management module. This new tool has a powerful rules engine that helps users increase sales, the company said. Among other things, it can set up a trigger to send an email to first-time buyers immediately after an or...

The joint platform will target B2C and B2B firms in retail, telecommunications and resources. "Personalized experiences for customers across all aspects of their interaction with a company are a big challenge for many companies," said Nucleus Research analyst Rebecca Wettemann.

Tushar Makhija is vice president of revenue at Helpshift. In this exclusive interview, Makhija underscores the importance of establishing effective ways to connect with customers.

Music can enhance the customer experience even in nontraditional retail environments, suggests a study released Thursday by Mood Media and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers. The study was conducted in France. Customers had a more favorable experience in five business locations -...

I spent last week at Oracle's customer event, OpenWorld 2017, in San Francisco. When I wasn't drinking from an information fire hose, it was alternately fascinating and exhausting. There were major announcements in database, blockchain, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and other stuff I'm ass...

Helpshift's new Web Chat application uses AI to help companies release scalable chatbots that can automate customer service through real-time interactions. The new AI-based tool, released last week, will boost Helpshift customers' ability to provide enterprise-grade support to their customers, the c...

Insite Software's new InsiteCommerce Mobile App is the first fully configurable white label mobile app built for leading manufacturers and distributors, the company said. The app supports everyone involved in the B2B e-commerce experience, Insite said -- from customers to channel partners, to field ...

Brick-and-mortar retailers have been finding it difficult to offer pricing that's competitive with e-commerce sites, which have the advantage of massive scope and scale, according to a new Frost & Sullivan report. E-commerce will account for nearly 18 percent of the total retail market by 2025, ...

Omnichannel support and communications are becoming essential for brands, as consumers' increasing use of mobile devices to make purchases and access content fuels their demand to be able to connect with companies when and how they want. However, brands lack the necessary expertise and infrastructur...

The customer service robot market will be worth $88 million by 2022, according to Tractica. Annual shipments are expected to increase from 2,730 units in 2016 to nearly 4,800 in 2022. The robots will be both humanoid and non-humanoid. However, telepresence robots, chatbots, and stationary customer i...

"Channel data management is about providing high-tech companies with all the data and information they need to effectively manage their distribution channels, sales and marketing," said Zyme CCO Ted Dimbero. "Traditionally, companies have relied on managing the channel fairly blindly. They may get m...

Eighty-nine percent of survey respondents said they would recommend an app if a customer support agent proactively contacted them while they were experiencing problems. On the flip side, 47 percent of respondents said they would delete apps that did not provide good customer support.