Recently I read an article on National Retail Federation's "Halloween Headquarters" that 1 out of 6 millennials will dress up their animal for Halloween versus 13% of adults. With the rise in cat lovers and hipsters, I wasn’t surprised. I’m not going to lie, I once had a Pomeranian named Armani
Do you ever stop and think about why it’s so hard to get really great customer service? As consumers, most of us are making transactions all day long, but it’s rare that someone actually surprises or delights us. More often, we rack up negative experiences. Think of what it’s like
One of my new favorite activities is perusing the memorable transcripts from our Live Chat program. Lida: Hi! Welcome to Live Chat! I'm here to help. Lida: May I please have your name and company? Visitor: My name is Bill Smith and I'm with ABC. Visitor: how many offices do
I’m still old school enough to enjoy reading the local News & Observer on weekends. I even like flipping through pages that leave my fingers smudged from newsprint. I was reading an editorial piece a while back, and a phrase leapt out at me. A correspondent wrote, “We are in
If a data lake isn’t a data warehouse, as I proposed in my last post, then it behooves us to better understand more about this “new” data lake structure. In the fifth and final post in this series titled, Big Data Cheat Sheet on Hadoop, we’ll highlight some of the
I realized a little while ago that I may have more loyalty cards and memberships than the average person. (And that I more actively prove my loyalty than the average person). But as anybody who has ever signed up to a mailing list or for a store card knows, having
In response to my last post—Marketers ask: Why do we need Hadoop if we’re not doing big data?—a Twitter follower asked this question: It’s a fair question. Typically, marketers are more interested in the car (in this case, big data) than they are in the engine (Hadoop). But Hadoop is
If you know me, you know two undeniable things (other than my love for froyo): I consider shopping a sport and I am an Analytics geek. Being an Analytics geek means that I see potential for using data everywhere, and never more than when it’s my data as a customer.
SAS recently held the Detroit Automotive Analytics Executive Forum to bring together leaders from the Industry. We heard from an experienced group of leaders on the future of the automotive industry, best practices for analytics success, innovative retail analytics, customer experience analytics, the connected vehicle, and competing on analytics. Following
In the movie Minority Report, while the leading actor walks through the mall and experiences personalized greetings all around him, there is a clear flash of how the future of marketing may look: a customer journey marked by relevant and personalized experiences. Getting back to the reality of today, the typical
"Our corporate data is growing at a rate of 27% each year and we expect that to increase. It’s just getting too expensive to extend and maintain our data warehouse.” “Don’t talk to us about our ‘big’ data. We’re having enough trouble getting our ‘small’ data processed and analyzed in
Why are they thinking that? And how is their customer experience different with mobile? As the world is going mobile, those were the questions on our mind as we kicked off an important research project with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (the Research). We were motivated to zero in on those
Recently, I was given the opportunity to present a session titled, An Executive’s Cheat Sheet on Hadoop, the Enterprise Data Warehouse and the Data Lake at the SAS Global Forum Executive Conference. During this standing-room only session, I addressed these five questions: What can Hadoop do that my data warehouse can’t?
Our customers are networked - they connect with people, places and things that matter to them. That concept and understanding what to do about it holds the key to how organizations can improve customer experiences. It's a matter of networking your organization, so making it more agile, more enabled and
Who is your best customer? The answer to this question can vary dramatically depending on your industry. A retailer’s best customer is someone who comes back to their store over and over again. A gym owner’s best customer could be considered consumer who pays their monthly on time but never
The Fitbit. I wasn't convinced I really wanted one until a coworker showed me a staggering number of pounds lost on a very colorful dashboard. In her sweet Texas drawl, she explained, “It’s all here. My sleep patterns, amount of water I drank, calories eaten, and even steps taken.” One little
Collecting and counting points in order to reach a threshold - and ultimately receive some sort of reward - these are the loyalty programs we know of today. Recently I have read a lot about how brands are looking to overhaul their loyalty programs - to reach more customers and
¿Sabía que sólo el 53% de las empresas creen que la gestión de experiencia de cliente proporciona una ventaja competitiva? Estas empresas ya entendieron que sus clientes son su activo más importante y están dispuestas a hacer lo que esté en sus manos para hacerlo feliz ¿Le gustaría que su
You've probably heard many times about the fantastic untapped potential of combining online and offline customer data. But relax, I’m going to cut out the fluff and address this matter in a way that makes the idea plausible and its objectives achievable. The reality is that while much has been
In today’s digital world, even the most dedicated customers can have different needs and preferences at different times and places. And while customers can certainly be fickle, that’s not what always drives the situationally-dependent nature of the customer relationship. It’s life today that makes it so complex. Think of your own customers
Providing a great digital customer experience is more and more important, and yet many brands seem not to care by providing less than stellar experiences over and over again. It's like déjà vu, a French term that means “already seen,” which is used to describe the sensation that you have already experienced something that
It seems like everyone is searching for ‘best practice’ these days. We are constantly looking to learn from what is being held up as good, leading and perhaps even the best itself. While this is a valid exercise, I believe we are missing an opportunity to take a closer look
Television is a great equalizer – everyone has one or surely knows what it is, making it easy to relate to. For instance, just about anyone could tell you their favorite program. In my case right now, it would have to be a tie between Scandal and Modern Family. So as a devotee
Things haven’t changed as much as you’d think. Some 14 years ago, as a young whippersnapper in customer analytics PR, my interviews often centered on tearing down silos and building a 360-degree customer view. Still do. But while we mulled over the mechanics of understanding the customer through analytics, we
Crear una experiencia de cliente incomparable, requiere de una serie de elementos como entender de manera integral al cliente, usar el conocimiento para definir y adaptar productos y comunicaciones de manera estratégica, interactuar con los clientes y agentes de manera más efectiva y ofrecer un servicio mucho más personalizado. Cada
This is a follow up to last week’s blog on understanding your customers’ perceptions of quality. As the world’s largest manufacturer of PCs and tablets, Lenovo is always looking for areas to reduce costs while increasing quality and customer satisfaction. Six months ago, Lenovo implemented the Lenovo Early Detection (LED) system
You may not have known it, but April 9 is Internet of Things Day – a day touted by its organizers as a worldwide event bringing together makers, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and citizens to discuss, design and develop the emerging Internet of Things (IoT). While it doesn’t have quite the
People are talking about your products. But more importantly, they’re listening. Facebook, Twitter, review sites, and product forums are just a few of the sources that a savvy customer checks when making a buying decision. This reality has fundamentally changed the definition of quality. It’s no longer sufficient to conform
Well okay maybe you can't hear us, but at least you can read what we have to say. Although, I'm not ruling out an occasional video or podcast entry. One of the best kept secrets at SAS is the incredible domain expertise that comes to work here everyday, ready to
Personalization - it's all the rage! And it's no wonder because people are coming to expect a personalized experience both online and offline, driven in part by the mobile experience. Analytically-driven marketing software makes personalization possible and examples abound of organizations that are doing quite well at it. But here's the catch
