CX Demo

Author: Franz Malten Buemann

  • The Impact of COVID on Contact Centers: from the Experts

    As part of our State of the Contact Center in 2020 Industry Report, we asked industry leaders and influencers what surprised them the most about the pandemic.
    We were surprised at the similarities between each of their responses. The pandemic has forced a rapid change in an industry that has been long dragging its feet.
    Here’s how COVID-19 impacted contact centers — and the CX industry as a whole — as told by the experts:

    Read the Full Report, FREE:
    Download The State of the Contact Center in 2020 Industry Report

    Contact centers pivoted practically overnight…

    “What has been most surprising has been how quickly contact centers have managed to pivot toward a more virtualized delivery model in a short period. My view is that the home-working model has been latently gaining steam over the past few years, but the pandemic has thrust it into the limelight. That so many CX professionals have been able to incorporate this approach into their operations is impressive, to say the least.”
    — Peter Ryan, Ryan Strategic Advisory

     
     

    “When looking back at it, we only had about ten days to get all the hundreds of our call center associates home. The speed that we had to operate to stay viable was pretty surprising. I was also surprised by how many call centers were unprepared for the move to work from home. I don’t want to make light of a difficult situation, but for all the managers and executives that for years pushed back on moving to the cloud, found themselves in a really tough place.”
    — Thomas Laird, CEO, Expivia

    Whether they were prepared for it or not…
     
    “Organizations had planned on years of eventual transformation to become more customer-centric but were able to dedicate resources to do so in months or even weeks. Once the need was pronounced, brands could meet customers’ needs and saw the impact immediately. Creating digital ordering, delivering hybrid experiences, and revamping their organizational charts suddenly weren’t obstacles; they were opportunities to serve customers better.”
    — Jeannie Walters, CX Expert & Speaker, CEO of Experience Investigators

     
     
    “COVID-19 brought about a “perfect storm”—a surge in service requests coupled with a shift to a remote workforce—that forced businesses to rethink their entire approach to their contact centers. What surprised me most is how quickly they responded. Contact centers that have been hesitating on technology upgrades for years transformed their operations in a matter of weeks because it was a matter of survival. COVID-19 was a wakeup call for organizations that had been pushing back upgrades to their contact center technology.”
    — Travis Jones, SVP North America at Logic20/20

     

    Those that were prepared, thrived…
     
    “The pandemic forced many customer service organizations to handle an exponential increase in call volumes while doing so across a distributed base of agents. Companies who had invested in migrating to more flexible applications — and who had the foresight to deploy technology that enabled them to process large call spikes — thrived. And those who did not found themselves scrambling or unable to provide the level of support to meet their customer’s expectations.”
    — Rod Rodier, VP Sales, Lightyear.ai

     
     
    We saw rapid innovation across the board…
     
    “We’ve all heard the saying, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention,’ but it’s also at the heart of innovation and ingenuity. We’ve seen virtual service and self-service technologies quickly implemented due to limited in-person service options. Many companies have optimized case routing, service calls, and can now handle common service calls through virtual methods. These significantly reduce customer service costs and improve time to resolution, leading to better customer experiences.”
    — Flavio Martins, Sr. Product Manager, CX Expert, and Author at winthecustomer.com

     
     
    But some things haven’t changed…
     
    “Consumers’ buying habits have changed almost overnight, forcing companies to pivot to new ways of doing business, like working remotely, offering delivery, adopting new technology, and finding new ways to offer customer support. But some things haven’t changed: customers are still doing business with companies even if the way they do business has changed. If they have a problem or a question, they still want the solution as quickly as possible, and in the way they want it.”
    — Shep Hyken, CS & CX Expert, Keynote Speaker, and NYT Bestselling Author at hyken.com

     
    How Has COVID Changed the Contact Center?
    We’ll be diving into the future of contact centers and the path ahead for the CX industry in much more detail over the coming weeks, as part of our comprehensive Contact Center Trends 2021 Industry Report.
    We don’t want to reveal all the juicy bits just yet. However, we repeatedly heard one theme that we want to share: the COVID crisis has created a more ‘human’ and ‘empathetic’ contact center for both employees and customers. And long may it continue!
     
    “I believe COVID will have a human empathic impact on the CX industry and contact centers. As people who have been touched or have known personally someone affected by COVID. Support matters may be looked at more sincerely and authentically with a true “Walk in the customer shoes” mentality.”
    — David Beaumont, Customer Service and CX-Expert at The Customer Service Experience

     
     
     

    “Two things stood out to me. The first is how many CX professionals got laid off at the outset of the pandemic — and then how quickly they were hired elsewhere! Suddenly, customer insights became the golden ticket! The second is the realization by so many businesses that change is possible!
    The hope is that the following are lasting: (1) the employee experience will be top of mind for CEOs and executives; (2) customer insights remain the most-sought-after information by the C-suite, which means that customers are also top of mind; and (3) change remains a real possibility, i.e., stop fighting change because you can; it’s possible, and it’s more often than not necessary for survival.”
    — Annette Franz, CEO at CXJourney Inc., Keynote Speaker and Official Forbes Coach

     
     
    “The COVID-19 global pandemic has challenged contact centers in ways that other crises have not. Contact center agents had to up their listening and their empathy beyond what they had ever faced before. I predict that all the leaders, managers, team leaders, and agents will look back and realize how much they grew from the empathy and compassion they gave and how it helped their customers — their fellow human beings.”
    — Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, Author, CX Expert & Leadership Coach

     
     
    The post The Impact of COVID on Contact Centers: from the Experts first appeared on Fonolo.

  • Pardot’s First-Party Tracking Open Beta: Everything You Need to Know

    In January 2020, the world’s most popular internet browser, Google Chrome, announced that it would stop supporting third-party tracking cookies entirely within two years. By eliminating third-party cookies, Chrome will be guarding its users against nefarious cross-site request forgeries and data privacy breaches. 
    However, third-party cookies have long been used by marketers for web analytics and deeper insights into customer journeys. In a world without third-party cookies, marketers will need to adapt their approaches and focus on first-party cookies, which are tracked with clear customer permission. 
    That’s why Pardot has developed a new first-party tracking service that allows our marketing customers to keep providing personalized experiences based on their customers’ journeys and keep delivering relevant content at the right time. This service is currently in open beta — so all of our customers can opt in and start preparing for the end of third-party cookies.
    In this post, we’ll explore what first-party context is, why it’s important, and other considerations you should take into account. We’ll also share how to get started with our new open beta. For even more context, check out this blog post about the browser privacy race.

    Understanding First-Party Context

    First-party context is an important concept, and it plays a large role in the way web data is exchanged between services. It depends on two factors:

    The relationship between the service and the website
    The type of cookies being used

    In a first-party relationship, the service and the website share an Extended Top Level Domain + 1 or ETLD+1 — which is the part of your website domain that your company controls. For example, if your website is www.example.com, then your ETLD+1 is example.com. If a service you use on your website also shares example.com, then it’s considered a first-party service, over which you have control. If your website www.example.com uses files hosted on files.example.com, then files.example.com is a first-party resource.
    The purpose of any type of web cookie is to store user activity data within the user’s browser that websites can then use to provide relevant services. Cookies are used to save user preferences or shopping cart information in case the page is refreshed or abandoned. First-party cookies are cookies operated by the website itself. Third-party cookies are cookies operated by a third party, like an advertiser. 

    Setting Up Pardot as a First-Party Service

    With the upcoming end of third-party cookies, we’re asking our customers to set Pardot tracker domains as first-party services. This is important for the following reasons:

    Pardot tracker domains are used to host marketing content. By giving them the same domains as your websites, you’ll maintain consistent branding and assure your users that your marketing assets are under your control. 

    If your main website is www.example.com and you then ask users to go to www.notexample.com to download a whitepaper, it creates an inconsistent experience at best. At worst, your customers might worry it’s a phishing attempt.

    Web analytics data allows B2B marketing teams to provide personalized recommendations and serve the right content at the right time. With first-party context, you can track engagement across subdomains faster. 

    First-party cookies are a critical part of maximizing progressive profiling on your site and on Pardot-hosted landing pages, as they allow you to confidently verify users before auto-filling potentially sensitive information.

    What is Pardot’s Position on Web Tracking?

    Pardot’s goal is to provide our customers with privacy-friendly services that help distinguish their analytics from internet-wide trackers and help fulfill their privacy obligations. Trust is our core value, and privacy is a key part of trust. 
    While cookies are an important part of creating personalized customer journeys, we recommend that our customers always share transparent information with their users about how their data is being used. It’s best to always allow your web user to control whether you collect their data or not. Privacy is always more important than personalization. 
    Pardot will never resell, share, or capitalize on user data. Our customers maintain control of this information if they ever decide to terminate our service. As attitudes and policies on digital marketing and privacy change, we’re committed to keeping our customers informed about new developments and adapting our services to their needs and their users’ needs.

    Using Pardot’s First-Party Tracking Service

    When using Pardot’s first-party tracking service, it’s essential to maintain both tracking alignment and tracking coverage.
    Tracking Alignment
    First, align your website and your tracker domain to maintain first-party context. The following scenario shows why this is so important:

    Imagine a web user is interacting with three websites. One of the sites doesn’t maintain first-party context because the website and the ELTD+1 don’t align. 

    The first visit by the web user generates activity with no issues because the website and tracker domain do share the ETLD+1 of “firstbrand.com.”

    The second visit by the web user doesn’t generate any activity, because the website is on “firstbrand.com” but the tracker domain is on “secondbrand.com.”
    The third visit by the web user again creates the visitor activity as expected, because both the website and tracker domain share the ETLD+1 of “secondbrand.com”

    Overall, you should make sure anything you want to track has a domain URL that aligns with the website ETLD+1.
    Tracking Coverage
    Tracking coverage is a bit more complicated than tracking alignment, and it’s also more important. Since third-party cookies are no longer available, you’ll only be able to anonymously track a visitor across your sub-domains. However, if your web user chooses to identify themselves on multiple websites, then you’ll be able to see their full engagement.
    Again, imagine a web user is interacting with three websites — only this time, all the sites have full tracking alignment.

    The web user decides to visit three of your websites across two branded domains. Since two of these websites are hosted on “firstbrand.com”, the visits are linked to “visitor 1”.
    Their visit to “secondbrand.com” is then linked to “visitor 2,” because there are no third-party cookies to link them together.
    In their second round of visits, the web user decides to fill out a form on “www.firstbrand.com.” This results in the web user becoming a prospect and “visitor 1” activity is linked to “prospect 1.”
    In their third round of visits, the web user decides to fill out a form on “go.secondbrand.com” using the same information. With this information, precious data from “visitor 1” and “visitor 2” are then linked to “prospect 1.”

    At the end of the customer’s rounds of visits, a marketer will have a complete view of their journey. The important takeaway is that marketers will need to engage customers across different domains to achieve this when third-party cookies are no longer available.

    How to Join Pardot’s First-Party Tracking Open Beta

    All Pardot customers are invited to join our first-party tracking open beta. During the beta, you’ll have the opportunity to provide direct feedback to help improve the feature. 
    Here’s how to get started:

    Review the considerations and create a plan for migrating. The change requires placing new tracker codes on your websites and aligning your tracker domains properly — so be prepared. Please note that old tracker codes will continue to work until you swap them out, so you can change them at your own pace. 
    Review your Pardot hosted content for domain alignment and align where possible. You may need to add new tracker domains. 

    When you’re ready, go to your account settings page and check the box for Enable first-party tracking. 

    Configure your tracker domains with default campaigns.
    Generate the appropriate tracker codes for your tracked websites and swap them out.

    If you only use one website domain or already align your tracker domains, switching to first-party cookies should be simple. Others may want to prepare for the switch in phases. Keep in mind that we recommend activating third-party cookies to start out with, especially if you use multiple website domains. You can turn them off once you’re ready to make the full switch to first-party. 
    Still not sure if you’re ready to join the open beta? Check the following documentation for more details about the set-up process.

  • Can Salesforce Do Project Management?

    Salesforce today offers so much more than just CRM features. However, if you want to manage projects directly in Salesforce, you will be disappointed to find out that there is no full project management functionality. Instead, you have these options: Available but limited Salesforce features… Read More
    The post Can Salesforce Do Project Management? appeared first on Salesforce Ben.

  • Create Quick Salesforce UI Mockups: Lightning Design System Plugin for Sketch

    The Lightning Design System is a framework for building dynamic user experiences on the Salesforce Platform and it now has a free plugin for Sketch. Sketch is a design toolkit built to help you create wireframes, mockups, sample screens & more. With the plugin, you… Read More
    The post Create Quick Salesforce UI Mockups: Lightning Design System Plugin for Sketch appeared first on Salesforce Ben.

  • Any free alternatives to Dlvr.it? Free RSS congregation and FB page posting?

    Hi, all I came across the free rss content congregated and one FB page auto poster awfully useful. However, does anyone know of a free alternative?
    submitted by /u/jonpeter20 [link] [comments]

  • How AI Solutions Can Help Contact Centers Succeed in the Pandemic Economy

    The post How AI Solutions Can Help Contact Centers Succeed in the Pandemic Economy appeared first on UJET.

  • [New Feature] Hyperpersonalize your Google Ads and Adform campaigns with real-time customer data and AI predictions

     

     

    Use data stored in the SALESmanago Customer Data Platform to improve the personalization of your ad campaigns and reach your customers with offers perfectly matched to their behavior and buying habits anytime when they browse the Internet. We introduce integrations with leading advertising systems – Google Ads and Adform.

     

    Google Ads and Adform enable you to target specific audiences based on their data or browsing history, and generate paid website traffic. Good targeting and personalization of ads are the keys to generating more visits on your website, which translates into the higher conversion of your store.

     

    Thanks to the integration of these platforms with SALESmanago, you are now able to use detailed information collected on each of your customers to create audiences and display ads on any site in their ad network as a part of your omnichannel marketing campaigns or in your automation processes.

     

    Google Ads and Adform integrations allow you to:

     

    Use transactional and behavioral data of your customers, saved in their 360º profiles, to create and manage ad audiences in Google Ads and Adform DMP Platform. 
    Create advanced audience groups by using extensive capabilities to choose specific groups of contacts, e.g. based on Purchase, CLV & Customer Churn Prediction, tags and details, behavioral segments, and many other options. 
    Conduct remarketing or win-back campaigns to individual customers who were on your website and met key characteristics and actions defined in Workflows and automation rules.
    Supplement your omnichannel communication strategy with additional channels to deliver personalized offers at different stages of the customer’s life cycle.

     

    Start displaying perfectly tailored ads

     

    The integration process is really simple. You need to only find the right platform in the Social Media tab in SALESmanago and provide login data to your Google Ads or Adform accounts.

     

    With that, all existing audiences defined in a given platform will be displayed in SALESmanago and you will be able now to edit them or add new ones.

     

    When you add a new audience you can choose if you want to select contacts from your database manually, with all the filtering options such as tags, contact details, dynamic segments, AI predictions, etc., or whether this audience should be managed with automation processes. In this case, you have now new action in the Automation Rules and Workflows features available for you, that enable you to add or remove contacts from a specific audience on Google Ads or Adform, similarly to how it was already possible for Facebook Custom Audience integration.

     

    In both cases, SALESmanago contacts are matched with advertising software based on their email address or phone number.

     

    How can you use integrations with Google Ads and Adform in your campaigns?

     

    There is a variety of use cases in which the implementation of this additional communication channel can become substantial in driving revenue from your existing customers.

     

    You can create new audiences anytime you would like to conduct a single campaign supporting your omnichannel manual campaigns:

     

    announcing new product premieres based on the customer purchase history
    activation of customers with the high churn prediction value
    targeting customers who did not open the emails with special offers
    cross selling campaigns based on customer’s transactional history

     

    However, you can also use automation processes to decide when the ads should be displayed depending on the different customer activities across their journey:

     

    abandoned cart recovery campaigns for customers who did not agree to receive emails
    conducting the onboarding process for the new customer with ads reminding of the activities they have to take to fully use the product they bought
    retargeting customer with ads educating on the products the customer asked for on live chat or over the phone
    win-back campaigns based on RFM segmentation offering other added values for next purchase to customers with different value

    marketing automation

    marketing automation

  • UC Trends 2021 – Contact Center Roundtable

    The post UC Trends 2021 – Contact Center Roundtable appeared first on UJET.

  • Breaking News: Dreamforce 2020 to Go Ahead

    The wait is over – Dreamforce will be going ahead in 2020! Salesforce has gone back to the drawing board and rebuilt Dreamforce for today’s all-digital, work-from-anywhere world. Dreamforce to You 2020 is a reimagined, virtual experience for learning, innovation, and inspiration that will commence… Read More
    The post Breaking News: Dreamforce 2020 to Go Ahead appeared first on Salesforce Ben.

  • 7 Huge Trends Retailers Need to Know for Holiday 2020

    Of all the years in recent memory, 2020 will stand out as one the most challenging and unexpected. Industries worldwide have risen to meet their new realities and adapted admirably. 

    But it’s not over yet. With the holiday season around the corner, retailers are feeling the pressure as they navigate one of the most demanding periods in a post-COVID world. 

    For this reason, we’ve put together some insightful trends and predictions from industry experts that can help you prepare your business for the shopping season and not just survive but thrive!

    A Complete Guide to Customer Perception

    The shopping season will start earlier

    Amazon’s decision to host Prime Day in October will kickstart the holiday shopping period sooner. According to Salesforce, With Prime Day and Cyber Week so close together (only 50 days apart), consumers will likely begin their shopping earlier to take advantage of the deals!

    Radial’s consumer insights survey indicated that 39% of shoppers intend to start their holiday shopping in October and early November, while 30% say they will begin on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

    FACT:
    In response to the Black Lives Matter campaign, 21% of shoppers will shop at either black-owned businesses or brands that have expressed support for the movement. — 2020 Holiday Shopping Trends Report, Tinuiti

    Holiday spending on gifts will decrease

    With the pandemic still looming overhead, consumers are widely mixed in their financial concerns for the holiday season. In a report by Morning Consult, only 20% explicitly expressed worry regarding finances during this period, and 67% say they plan to reduce their general spending for their holiday shopping.

    According to @MorningConsult, 67% of shoppers plan to reduce their general holiday spending in 2020. How is your store preparing for this year’s shopping season? #retail2020 #trends #retailtrendsClick To Tweet

    Furthermore, the same report states one-third of respondents intend to reduce their spending over the holidays, while almost one-quarter (24%) say they will have a budget for purchasing gifts. 

    E-commerce shopping will increase

    Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has made online shopping more popular than ever. In May of this past year, Criteo produced a study stating that 88% of surveyed US consumers planned to shop for gifts online and send them to recipients. 

    How to Prepare your Call Center for Cyber Monday and Black Friday

    Following suit, Salesforce predicts that “up to 30% of global retail sales will be made through digital channels this upcoming holiday season.” It’s no question that having a strong digital presence will be critical for retailers in the coming months!

    FACT:
    51% of US survey respondents say they plan to explore new brands during the holiday shopping season, rather than relying on their go-to brands. — Morning Consult

    Digital channels are the new consumer destination

    With consumers avoiding brick-and-mortar shops, many have turned to apps to browse and make purchases. Criteo states that 51% of survey respondents downloaded at least one shopping app during the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, 33% say they use one or more shopping apps multiple times a week!

    It seems that having an omnichannel presence will be more advantageous than ever for retailers — and personalized customer experiences will play a big part! Salesforce predicts that 10% of mobile orders will be through social media channels, which factors in personalization and localization.

    Expect more delivery delays this year

    It’s been a tough year for most industries, but few were hit as hard as delivery services. And with the shopping season around the corner, Salesforce predicts that potentially 700 million gifts and parcels are at risk of not arriving in time for the holidays. That will likely be caused by traditional delivery providers exceeding capacity by 5% worldwide between Cyber Week and Boxing Day.

    Why Active Listening is the Best Customer Service Skill

    Holiday gatherings and travel are at a low

    To no one’s surprise, 2020 will continue to see stunted travel trends throughout the holiday season. Morning Consult states that 68% of US respondents will be travelling less this holiday season, and only 53% say they expect their family gatherings to happen as planned.

    Furthermore, Criteo says that 62% of study respondents are looking forward to travelling again, while 64% say they “will be wary of planes and trains for some time.”

    Consumers are exploring new brands

    To end on a positive note, consumers seem more open than ever to new products and brands! This is likely due to the pandemic interrupting their regular shopping habits, forcing them to consider other alternatives. 

    According to Criteo, 33% of respondents discovered small merchants they didn’t previously know about, and 83% intend to continue purchasing from new stores they’ve found.
    The post 7 Huge Trends Retailers Need to Know for Holiday 2020 first appeared on Fonolo.