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• 6 live chat benefits to consider in a CX strategy

  Live chat enables customers to solve problems quickly and agents to multitask, but it also can be difficult to implement well and requires synchronous communication. Continue Reading

• Prepare for California Consumer Privacy Act with these 5 questions

  At Oracle's Modern Customer Experience conference, a privacy professional shared tips on incorporating privacy into CX systems so businesses are ready for the CCPA. Continue Reading

• How to use live chat for lead generation

  Live chat can successfully generate sales leads -- if done right. Here are four steps organizations can take to boost brand loyalty and close the deal. Continue Reading

• Salesforce learning resources include free and paid options

  While Salesforce offers a number of free and paid customer success tools to users, nonusers can also benefit through the use of Trailhead and the Trailblazer Community. Continue Reading

• 7 customer segmentation methods to help connect the dots

  Customer segmentation is essential to marketing, enabling businesses to provide the right people with the right products -- and is a move away from bulk appeals. Continue Reading

• Definitions to Get Started

  • needs assessment
  • customer touchpoint
  • customer service charter
  • moment of truth (marketing MOT)

  • customer engagement
  • marketing-qualified lead (MQL)
  • marketing automation
  • Salesforce Customer 360

  View All Definitions

• 5 things to know about Salesforce Customer 360

  Salesforce Customer 360 -- a tool that connects customer data stored in multiple silos -- is currently in beta and will be available to all users later this year.Continue Reading

• How do you determine the right point for chatbot-human handoff?

  Customer experience can be adversely affected when chatbots don't transfer the call to a live agent at the right time. Here are some guidelines and best practices for initiating that handoff.Continue Reading

• customer segmentation

  Customer segmentation is the practice of dividing a customer base into groups of individuals that are similar in specific ways relevant to marketing, such as age, gender, interests and spending habits.Continue Reading

• 5 crucial ways to prepare for the CXO role

  Technophiles who have experience in sales and marketing, as well as social media awareness, may be best prepared for success in the role of chief experience officer.Continue Reading

• How to improve customer experience with mystery shopping

  Mystery shopping -- among other CX management tools -- enables businesses to collect the data necessary to identify customer pain points and improve CX.Continue Reading

• brand recognition

  Brand recognition is the extent to which a consumer can correctly identify a particular product or service just by viewing the product or service's logo, tag line, packaging or advertising campaign.Continue Reading

• Q&A: How to narrow down your CRM vendor choices

  SaaS consultancy Lunar goes over the dos and don'ts for choosing a CRM system, whether you're licensing one for the first time or migrating to a new system.Continue Reading

• 5 sales enablement best practices to drive growth

  Sales enablement consists of tools and processes that can help sales agents succeed in their roles, including training, resource availability and team involvement.Continue Reading

• Our rebrand: Customer experience strategy, platforms, best practices

  Customer experience strategy blurs lines between sales and marketing automation, customer service and e-commerce as they come together on next-generation customer experience platforms.Continue Reading

• What is the role and responsibility of a chief experience officer?

  The chief experience officer is an increasingly vital member of the C-suite who ensures that an organization's customers have positive interactions with the brand.Continue Reading

• Liferay digital experience platform helps company improve CX

  Jack Maina, group chief operations officer of Britam, talks about how the financial services group rebuilt the way it interacts with customers and partners using Liferay.Continue Reading

• 6 must-have roles on your customer experience team

  Customer experience is the most important differentiator between enterprise competitors today, and CX teams are essential to ensuring customer loyalty and retention.Continue Reading

• Salesforce.org's CRM for education helps UVA students succeed

  The University of Virginia is one of a number of institutions using Salesforce.org's Education Cloud CRM to recruit students, track student success and manage alumni relations.Continue Reading

• Which vendors make the best CRM for small businesses?

  Choosing a CRM for small businesses can be difficult, as the most well-known CRM vendors cater to large enterprises. Others, however, create products with SMBs in mind.Continue Reading

• outbound call

  An outbound call is one initiated by a call center agent to a customer on behalf of a call center or client.Continue Reading

• How does Salesforce Einstein Bot differ from other AI?

  Salesforce's no-code bot authoring tool competes with Google, Amazon and Microsoft, but differentiating capabilities make it potentially more useful for the Salesforce user base.Continue Reading

• How does Salesforce lead scoring benefit Sales Cloud?

  Einstein lead scoring offers a customizable workflow and strives to get better at prediction over time, and Salesforce is one of the top three vendors in the field.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Circles of Success help SMBs get up to speed

  Circles of Success participants connect with other Salesforce users to swap challenges, tips and tricks for rolling out the platform in their businesses.Continue Reading

• 8 tips for a successful Einstein artificial intelligence rollout

  You'll fail a few times before you succeed with Einstein, Salesforce customers said at Dreamforce. Once you dial it in, though, success can follow. Here are eight ways to get there.Continue Reading

• How does Salesforce Einstein Language NLP improve productivity?

  Salesforce NLP learns in a manner similar to that of the human brain, performing a variety of functions, such as semantic parsing, summarization and more.Continue Reading

• Customers buy more and more into voice shopping

  It's still early days for voice commerce and voice customer service channels. But companies are testing and investing in this new way to engage customers.Continue Reading

• Loyalty rewards program fuels convenience store's CX

  Since launching a loyalty rewards program last year, convenience store and gas station Yesway has driven 45.2% of loyalty members from the pump to the store.Continue Reading

• actionable intelligence

  Actionable intelligence is information that can be followed up on, with the further implication that a strategic plan should be undertaken to make positive use of the information gathered.Continue Reading

• Dreamforce 2018 conference highlights and key takeaways

  Salesforce will reveal new features, tools and platform updates at Dreamforce 2018 in San Francisco Sept. 25-28. Use this guide to stay up to date.Continue Reading

• lead scoring

  In the B2B industry, lead scoring is a methodology used by sales and marketing departments to determine the worthiness of leads, or potential customers, by attaching values to them based on their behavior relating to their interest in products or ...Continue Reading

• Albuquerque Amazon Alexa skill takes heat off call center

  Tens of thousands of Alexa skills -- voice-activated apps -- exist, with more to come. Learn how a city government's call center created one to help residents.Continue Reading

• partner relationship management (PRM)

  Partner relationship management (PRM) is a combination of the software, processes and strategies companies use to streamline business processes with partners who sell their products.Continue Reading

• Marketing automation platforms merge CRM and content

  Building a martech stack includes a main automation hub such as Marketo, Eloqua, HubSpot or Pardot. Then comes the hard part: picking complementary applications.Continue Reading

• emotions analytics (EA)

  Emotions analytics (EA) software collects data on how a person communicates verbally and nonverbally to understand the person's mood or attitude.Continue Reading

• Virtual agents not yet ready for primetime customer service

  Chatbots may never replace humans at call centers. But they can alleviate high call volumes and route queries to humans when they're too thorny for automated responses.Continue Reading

• What do GDPR principles mean for CRM data management?

  Avoiding General Data Protection Regulation penalties means getting your CRM compliance program in order before the sweeping regulation goes into effect late this spring.Continue Reading

• Artificial intelligence technologies a boon for customer insights

  AI can help companies shrink the gap between customer data and actionable insight by feeding intelligence into CRM, marketing automation and other operational tools. Here's how.Continue Reading

• Compare top CRM systems: SAP, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle

  The 'CRM platform wars' aren't as hot as, say, the tech battle between smartphone OS vendors. But Oracle, SAP, Salesforce and Microsoft want your business.Continue Reading

• Microsoft Dynamics 365

  Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based business applications platform that combines components of customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP), along with productivity applications and artificial intelligence tools.Continue Reading

• social CRM

  Social CRM, or social relationship management, is customer relationship management and engagement fostered by communication with customers through social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook.Continue Reading

• martech (marketing technology)

  Martech is the area of customer relationship management (CRM) concerned with creating, managing and using digital tools that make it possible for marketers to automate tasks and make data-driven decisions.Continue Reading

• RFx

  RFx (request for x) encompasses the entire formal request process and can include any of the following: request for bid (RFB), request for information (RFI), request for proposal (RFP), request for quotation (RFQ) and request for tender (RFT).Continue Reading

• churn rate

  Churn rate is a measure of the number of customers or employees who leave a company during a given period. It can also refer to the amount of revenue lost as a result of the departures.Continue Reading

• Salesforce DX

  Salesforce DX is a Salesforce product in the App cloud that allows users to develop and manage Salesforce apps throughout the entire platform in a more direct and efficient way.Continue Reading

• Top five benefits of speech analytics tools for contact centers

  Learn the top benefits of speech analytics technology for contact centers, and how speech analytics tools can lead to a better customer experience.Continue Reading

• marketing campaign management

  Marketing campaign management is the planning, executing, tracking and analysis of direct marketing campaigns.Continue Reading

• Amazon Go

  Amazon Go is an e-commerce mobile application that enables consumers to purchase items in physical stores without waiting in lines or checking out with registers.Continue Reading

• account-based marketing (ABM)

  Account-based marketing (ABM) is a business-to-business (B2B) strategy that focuses sales and marketing resources on targeted accounts within a specific market.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Commerce Cloud

  Salesforce Commerce Cloud, formerly called Demandware, is a cloud-based service for unifying the way businesses engage with customers over any channel or device.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Einstein

  Salesforce Einstein is an artificial intelligence (AI) technology that has been developed for the Salesforce Customer Success Platform. Salesforce's AI product, Einstein, is now available across the company's core cloud products, as part of its ...Continue Reading

• Four features of contact center evolution

  Contact center evolution is explored through four key features, identifying how contact centers have changed through the past, present and future.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Sales Cloud closes the data sharing gap

  Salespeople live and die by the close. Closing a sale can be an art form, but there's far more to sealing a deal than artistry. Purchase decisions are based increasingly more on customer experience than product and price. And as competition for ...Continue Reading

• phygital

  Companies are seeking to combine physical and digital (phygital) communication channels and provide customers with a seamless experience.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Customer Success Platform

  The Salesforce Customer Success Platform is the official name of the Salesforce portfolio of products.Continue Reading

• Aura framework

  Aura is a user interface framework for developing dynamic Web apps for mobile and desktop devices.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Service Console

  The Salesforce Service Console is the centralized interface in the Salesforce Service Cloud with which agents can view all relevant customer information related to a case, as well as their call queue and more.Continue Reading

• Wave Analytics Cloud not yet at its crest

  Analytics is such a fundamental part of doing business today that even providers not known for the service are jumping into the game. That's what customer relationship management provider Salesforce did when it announced the Wave Analytics Cloud in ...Continue Reading

• high-touch customer service

  High-touch customer service refers to the idea that some customer service issues are complex or high value and thus require human interaction to resolve, not just digital technologies -- such FAQ sections or online customer communities -- to solve.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Journey Builder

  Salesforce Journey Builder is a feature of the company's Marketing Cloud that manages the customer life cycle: the progression of steps a customer goes through when considering, purchasing, using, and maintaining loyalty to a product or service.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Data.com

  Data.com is the sales and lead generation component of Salesforce.com's Sales Cloud customer relationship management (CRM) platform.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Sales Cloud

  Salesforce Sales Cloud is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform for sales, marketing and customer support in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) contexts.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Marketing Cloud

  Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform for marketers that integrates email, social media and advertising communications and collaboration.Continue Reading

• SalesforceIQ

  SalesforceIQ is customer relationship management (CRM) software from Salesforce.com that is designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB).Continue Reading

• Salesforce Wave Analytics (Analytics Cloud)

  Salesforce Wave Analytics, also called Analytics Cloud, is a business intelligence (BI) application that is optimized for mobile access and data visualization.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Community Cloud (Community Cloud)

  Community Cloud is a social platform from Salesforce.com that is designed to connect and facilitate communication among an organization's employees, partners and customers.Continue Reading

• IoT Cloud (Salesforce IoT Cloud)

  IoT Cloud is a platform from Salesforce.com that is designed to take in the massive volumes of data generated by devices, sensors, websites and software applications and initiate responses in real time.Continue Reading

• lead-to-revenue management (L2RM)

  Lead-to-revenue management (L2RM) is a collection of sales and marketing processes that aims to maximize the income gained from each stage of the customer journey.Continue Reading

• CPQ software (configure price quote software)

  CPQ (configure, price, quote) is programming that helps sales representatives and self-service customers quickly generate accurate quotes for configurable products and services.Continue Reading

• sales-qualified lead (SQL)

  A sales-qualified lead (SQL) is a prospective customer that has been handed off to sales teams for further nurturing after showing enough interest in a company's products.Continue Reading

• lifestyle center

  A lifestyle center is a shopping center, or mixed-use commercial development that combines retail with other services, such as medical services, home rental units, movie theaters and other leisure or other activities.Continue Reading

• Keep consumers close with mobile location-based services

  When stores first began setting up websites, customers suddenly had more flexibility. They could compare prices and make purchases without ever leaving the house. But the online experience didn't replace the in-store experience. And now tools like ...Continue Reading

• Cloud-based CRM enters new territory for Salesforce partners

  Channel partners are pursuing increasingly sophisticated Salesforce implementation projects, helping customers integrate and optimize complex systems.Continue Reading

• CRM documentation paves way to successful release management

  As companies use a CRM system in the wild, they need to be able to make tweaks, and those changes need to be well-documented.Continue Reading

• 360-degree view of the customer quiz

  Companies constantly chase the "360-degree view of the customer," aiming to merge different data sources to provide timely, consistent service.Continue Reading

• CRM platforms alone won't give total customer picture

  Some CRM vendors have started to demonstrate the power of unified CRM platforms, enabling companies to manage customer data, analytics, financials and more from a single application and get a unified view. But many companies still struggle with ...Continue Reading

• The Multichannel mandate: Ready, set, automate

  The need to connect with customers across multiple channels has made it harder than ever to analyze customer data and provide much-needed services that improve the customer experience. This e-book series helps organizations navigate knotty ...Continue Reading

• CRM skills training essential for system management

  The right CRM training is crucial to the management and development of a CRM system. Make sure your staff has the right CRM skills to survive.Continue Reading

• 360-degree customer view

  The 360-degree customer view is the idea that companies can get a complete view of customers by aggregating data from the various touch points in which consumers interact with companies.Continue Reading

• The double-edged sword of location-based technologies

  Location-based technologies like personalization are yielding valuable consumer data, but companies need to be careful stewards of the information.Continue Reading

• Want to get into mobile marketing? Know your customer

  In this book excerpt, author and industry watcher Chuck Martin shows how customers' mobile behaviors should dictate companies' marketing strategies.Continue Reading

• inbound marketing

  Inbound marketing is a strategy that focuses on attracting customers, or leads, via company-created Internet content, thereby having potential customers come to the company rather than marketers vying for their attention.Continue Reading

• outbound marketing

  Outbound marketing is a traditional form of marketing and in which a company initiates contact with potential customers, or leads.Continue Reading

• location-based marketing (LBM)

  Location-based marketing (LMS) is a direct marketing strategy that uses a mobile device's location to alert the device's owner about an offering from a near-by business. Continue Reading

• Call center operations quiz

  Call center operations are working hard to keep up with the technology revolution. Find out why the call center is not just for telephones anymore.Continue Reading

• Salesforce AppExchange

  Salesforce AppExchange is Salesforce.com's cloud computing marketplace, through which end users can access, download and install custom software applications.Continue Reading

• Force.com

  Force.com is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) product designed to simplify the development and deployment of cloud-based applications and websites.Continue Reading

• CRM user interface guide

  This guide provides an at-a-glance look at Oracle, SAP, Microsoft and Salesforce.com’s user interfaces for their mobile client, Outlook integration and sales dashboards.Continue Reading

• Workforce management (WFM) software

  Workforce management (WFM) software is an umbrella term for desktop and mobile programs that help a business manage staff scheduling. The term originated in contact centers and other service businesses that employ a large number of workers who are ...Continue Reading

• straw man

  In general, a straw man is an object, document, person, or argument that temporarily stands in for and is intended to be "knocked down" by something more substantial.Continue Reading

• workforce optimization (WFO) software

  Workforce optimization (WFO) software is a program suite that combines recording, quality management (QM) and other call center technologies into one console with the purpose of optimizing call center performance.Continue Reading

• Five call center sales tips and techniques

  In difficult economic times, ramping up sales in the call center can provide another outlet to help companies meet sales quotas and drive sales effectiveness. We've gathered these five tips for companies looking to improve call center sales and ...Continue Reading

• loyalty card program

  A loyalty card program is an incentive plan that allows a retail business to gather data about its customers. The goal of a loyalty card program is to build repeat business by offering participating customers something that isn't available to ...Continue Reading

• transactional marketing

  Transactional marketing is a business strategy that focuses on single, "point of sale" transactions. The emphasis is on maximizing the efficiency and volume of individual sales rather than developing a relationship with the buyer. (Continued)Continue Reading

• Quality of Experience (QoE or QoX)

  Quality of Experience (QoE or QoX) is a measure of the overall level of customer satisfaction with a vendor. QoE is related to but differs from Quality of Service(QoS), which embodies the notion that hardware and software characteristics can be ...Continue Reading

• Call center metrics quiz answers

  With answers from the Call Center Metrics School quiz, learn about call center metrics like average handle time, occupancy and schedule adherence.Continue Reading

• Web 2.0 and CRM quiz

  This quiz on Web 2.0 and CRM was designed to test your knowledge of Web 2.0 technology and social networking and open your eyes to how this technology can help advance CRM initiatives.Continue Reading

• Web 2.0 and CRM quiz answers

  Test yourself on Web 2.0 and social networking and how this technology is impacting CRM, with the answers to SearchCRM.com's quiz.Continue Reading

• Call center interactive voice response (IVR) system quiz

  Call center interactive voice response (IVR) systems continue to expand their functionality. Find out how much you know about today's IVR technology with this quiz.Continue Reading

• Call center interactive voice response (IVR) system quiz answers

  Find out how you did on SearchCRM.com's call center IVR system quiz with these answers.Continue Reading

• Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction Learning Guide

  Find out about customer loyalty and satisfaction, marketing, metrics and advice on the best ways to retain customers. This SearchCRM.com guide will lead you through defining, measuring and maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Also, learn ...Continue Reading