SAP has helped companies such as VW, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Monsanto and others monitor, track and act on every customer interaction across "all touch points." The application tracks customer activity from the moment an online sale occurs and stores all the information in a centralized portal based on the SAP.com Workplace. This ensures that customer service representatives will work with consistent information, regardless of whether they are contacted online or via telephone. Assess your CRM effectiveness with the SAP CRM Value Calculator. It will show you where your company stands in terms of "CRM maturity" and how you can increase profits by moving your CRM infrastructure along the continuum from isolated customer interactions to enterprisewide, results-oriented customer relationship management.
When voice-activated avatars become available for less than a dollar a day, it's time to rethink online customer service. SitePal allows you to easily create speaking, animated characters (avatars) for your website or eBay auction listings. Your virtual customer service representative can be programmed to meet and greet potential clients, to tout the benefits of your products or services or to rattle off your elevator pitch -- all with the goal of moving visitors closer to a desired action while saving your precious time and resources. You can customize your rep's appearance, use your own speaking voice and even upload your own backgrounds. The average character rings in at around 60k, so they are viewable on both dial-up and broadband connections.
At the time of writing, the avatars boast huge upticks in conversion rates for clients, probably because they are both novel and entertaining. The basic service, which includes a one-year license for 5 "scenes" (a scene is the combination of a character, an audio message and a background), runs $119.95(US). Premium services, such as the ability to change messaging on the fly via a Web-based interface or by telephone or the use of an artificial intelligence engine that will enable your character to respond to user questions, are available for an extra fee. Clients include Coca-Cola, L'Oreal and Verizon; visit the site to see SitePals in action.
One of the leading providers of analytic software, SPSS is in the field of "predictive marketing." SPSS offers data mining tools for a variety of marketing and operational uses, for statisticians, finance people, scientists, you name it. And there's a bonus - at the site you will find dozens of white papers and demos covering everything you ever wanted to know about predictive analytics.
Walker Information provides services that measure, interpret and manage customer loyalty, such as projecting retention of a customer base; identifying customers that are at risk; and pinpointing strategies and tactics that will retain them or "win back" those who have left the fold. Services range from a full-fledged agency type relationship to simple, DIY and pay-as-you-go survey tools. Walker also publishes two no-cost items well worth your review: 1) extensive Loyalty Reports on the health insurance, financial services, food and drug, information technology and telecommunications industries; and 2) a monthly newsletter entitled "Stakeholder Power," which provides monthly insights on building business loyalty.
Everybody loves a treat - whether it's the lollipop after the shot in the doctor's office or a special thank you for being a customer. Webloyalty.com automates the process of treating your customers after completing a purchase on your website. After purchase, customers see a thank you page that offers them $10 dollars off on their next purchase at your site plus 30 days of complimentary access to a package of discounts and services offered by members of the Webloyalty.com network. Members include Wallet Shield credit card monitoring and theft protection, Reservation Reward entertainment discounts and the like. Webloyalty.com makes their money by banking on the fact that the customer will decide to pay them $10(US) per month for this service suite once the gratis 30 days are up. Clients include Drugstore.com, Classmates.com, American Greetings and Lane Bryant.
This whitepaper discusses the factors behind the decline in traditional marketing and shows the reasons why marketing professionals are investing in interactive marketing efforts.
This free tool measures the marketing effectiveness of your website. Based on traffic, SEO, social popularity and technical factors receive a score and improvement advice.