Customer analytics
Customer analytics help shape customer experience and improvements to sales, marketing and customer service approaches. More importantly, the insights analytics uncover can spot opportunities to upsell and better compete, creating bottom-line growth.
Top Stories
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Answer
21 Sep 2022
How can analytics improve content management?
Customer data and behavior analytics from tools like Google Analytics can give content managers insight into the kind of content site visitors want. Continue Reading
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News
16 Feb 2022
Salesforce, Tableau unveil trio of new integrations
As part of its Spring '22 Release, the CRM giant added three new tools powered by the analytics vendor's augmented intelligence capabilities. Continue Reading
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Tip
06 Jun 2022
5 customer journey phases for businesses to understand
The customer journey contains several stages -- from the presale stage of awareness to post-sale advocacy -- and understanding each phase is key to business success. Continue Reading
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Tip
01 Jun 2022
Compare pros and cons of live chat vs. phone support
Phone support offers personalized experiences, but live chat agents can answer simple inquiries more quickly. See how these service channels stack up against each other. Continue Reading
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Opinion
31 May 2022
The Readability Consortium's lessons for marketing content
The University of Central Florida, Adobe and Google band together to study digital readability. Those who create marketing content can get an edge if they pay close attention. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 May 2022
Understanding the 3 types of CRM systems
To get the most out of a CRM system, organizations must decide whether an operational, analytical or collaborative CRM system is right for them. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 May 2022
7 reasons why businesses need mobile apps
Mobile apps can build loyal customer bases, provide insightful customer data and more. Businesses should understand the many ways these apps can enhance CX. Continue Reading
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News
25 May 2022
Lob launches direct mail automation platform
As direct mail makes a comeback, longtime API vendor Lob launches a web front end to automate physical mail campaigns directed by marketing automation data. Continue Reading
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Tip
24 May 2022
What are the benefits and challenges of CRM?
CRM platforms can boost CX with business insights if sales agents use them properly. Sales leaders should know the benefits and challenges of these platforms before purchasing. Continue Reading
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News
24 May 2022
Pegasystems acquires process mining tech, partners with CDP
Pegasystems partners with Celebrus CDP and Google Cloud to expand the reach of its CX tools and acquires Everflow, a process mining tech company. Continue Reading
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News
20 May 2022
Oracle plugs customer data platform into customer service
Oracle Service adds Unity CDP integration to afford contact center agents a historical view of customer interactions and new features. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 May 2022
The future of DMPs in a post-cookies world
DMPs are still important in marketers' jobs, but the move away from third-party cookies threatens the DMP's future. Here's what marketers and DMP providers need to know. Continue Reading
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News
16 May 2022
Customer experience technology's next phase as teams regroup
In this Q&A, Eastern Bank CX head Rich Dorfman discusses how the pandemic shifted approaches to tech, transformation, and measurement of customer and employee experience. Continue Reading
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Tip
13 May 2022
5 upcoming CCaaS trends to watch
As organizations plan to increase CX spending over the next few years, they should pay attention to CCaaS trends, like agents changing workspaces and integrations with UCaaS. Continue Reading
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News
11 May 2022
Zendesk enhances CRM, low-code customer service chatbots
Zendesk's Answer Bot moves past the knowledge base and gets a low-code interface so that business users can orchestrate automated conversations. Continue Reading
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News
10 May 2022
SAP reboots Service Cloud, adds retail recommerce
SAP venture-backed Feather by SAP integrates marketplaces for retail users to give their customers a place to resell goods they've bought from them. Continue Reading
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News
06 May 2022
Square exec discusses metaverse, electronic payment trends
Millions of physical and online merchants use Square's payment processing services. We discuss retail tech trends with Roshan Jhunja, Square head of retail. Continue Reading
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Tip
03 May 2022
Best practices for initiating chatbot-to-human handoff
Contact centers perform a balancing act between AI and human agents. Support teams must train bots on chatbot-to-human handoffs and design AI aware of customer frustration. Continue Reading
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News
02 May 2022
Metaverse shopping 101, from Forever 21's Roblox store creator
The founder of the agency behind Forever 21's Shop City explains what it is -- and what it isn't -- and what retailing in the metaverse will eventually look like. Continue Reading
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News
29 Apr 2022
Contact centers struggle to improve employee experience
AI, better workforce management tools and conversation intelligence are key technologies to help customer service teams get through the current rough patch. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Apr 2022
How the convergence of UCaaS and CCaaS affects businesses
The UCaaS and CCaaS markets began to converge so organizations could handle internal and external communications on one platform. But integration requires planning and consideration. Continue Reading
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Opinion
28 Apr 2022
Smart brands will change approach to marketing email, cookies
You'd think marketers got the hint to move past third-party cookies and marketing emails once Google, Apple and regulators all stepped in to protect consumers. Not yet. Continue Reading
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News
27 Apr 2022
Salesforce-Slack sales, marketing, service integrations in beta
Slack integration apps for Salesforce Service Cloud, Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud move into beta; MuleSoft takes on API management and governance. Continue Reading
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News
27 Apr 2022
Qualtrics hardwires sentiment analysis into contact center tools
Qualtrics beefs up its contact center offering by embedding new sentiment detection tools as well as social listening across review sites, social media and other digital channels. Continue Reading
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News
25 Apr 2022
AI virtual assistant grooms skier experience at Snowbird
Using an AI-powered chatbot designed with the friendly likenesses of avalanche dogs, the famed Utah ski resort is able to quickly respond to customers' questions. Continue Reading
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News
22 Apr 2022
Retailer: Informed humans still the hottest e-commerce trend
Sweetwater, the largest online audio gear and musical instrument retailer, uses AI to augment -- not replace -- its agents. Mike Clem, chief growth officer, explains why. Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Apr 2022
What is Adobe Experience Cloud? CRM platform overview
Adobe Experience Cloud -- the vendor's CRM platform -- includes tools to help medium and large enterprises manage all facets of their customer engagement strategies. Continue Reading
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News
15 Apr 2022
Marketing to Gen Z takes new tech, channels, strategies
Gen Z consumers will change the world. Savvy, nimble brands know to give them digital platforms for sharing their values as corporate America catches up to their worldview. Continue Reading
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News
12 Apr 2022
'CRM Analytics' Salesforce's new name for Tableau CRM
Salesforce refreshes the sales analytics package formerly known as Einstein Analytics by adding CRM-native features, a Slack app and vertical-specific integrations. Continue Reading
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News
06 Apr 2022
Salesforce Marketing, Service Clouds add, rename features
Salesforce partners with Genesys, Google for telephony; adds AWS Contact Lens natively, among a raft of new features. Some are available now; some are coming in Summer '22 release. Continue Reading
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News
30 Mar 2022
New Google Cloud retail tool targets search abandonment
The new tool is aimed at providing better results for online shoppers. It understands user intent and context, provides results for broad inquiries, and includes semantic search. Continue Reading
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Tip
30 Mar 2022
Call center compliance checklist for hybrid workforces
As many call centers embraced remote work amid the COVID-19 pandemic, compliance became difficult to monitor. A checklist can help call center managers maintain proper compliance. Continue Reading
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Feature
30 Mar 2022
Why you need a total experience strategy to drive CX and EX
More companies are using a 'total experience' approach to win customers and support employees in the post-pandemic economy. But they won't find a single platform that does it all. Continue Reading
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News
29 Mar 2022
It's coming: The wild world of metaverse shopping
Gap and PacSun lead the way in NFT experiments, as retailers and analysts ponder the revenue potential of selling virtual products in the metaverse. Continue Reading
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News
28 Mar 2022
Recommerce, rebuilt digital experiences top of mind for stores
Brick-and-mortar retailers look to technology to compete with online counterparts and mold digital experiences to what resonated with consumers during the past two years. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Mar 2022
UCaaS vs. CCaaS: What's the difference?
UCaaS and CCaaS feature overlapping communication channels, such as cloud calling and messaging, but CCaaS comes with additional tools that can support a contact center. Continue Reading
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Guide
24 Mar 2022
Contact center of the future is now
AI, machine learning, NLP, advanced analytics, cloud-based tools and workforce management software are transforming the simple call center into multidimensional contact centers. Continue Reading
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News
23 Mar 2022
Oracle amps up field service management mobile app support
As customer service and field service converge, software giants still build functionality for techs visiting homes and businesses to work on devices and machines. Continue Reading
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News
22 Mar 2022
Amazon Connect updates contact center workforce management
AWS's Amazon Connect contact center as a service platform adds machine learning workforce optimization to predict customer contact volume, as well as staffing numbers to cover it. Continue Reading
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Tip
22 Mar 2022
Will Google kill third-party cookies?
The end of third-party cookies has been on the horizon for years. For marketers, this termination means finding new strategies and alternatives to third-party data. Continue Reading
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News
21 Mar 2022
Google, Twilio release CCaaS tools and integrations
Google Contact Center AI Platform bundles its own tech with partners' for a complete contact center package. Twilio, meanwhile, releases Flex Conversations. Continue Reading
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Tip
18 Mar 2022
How do experience maps vs. customer journey maps differ?
Customer experience maps and customer journey maps serve as the blueprints for buyer interactions. Despite these maps' similarities, they play different roles in organizations. Continue Reading
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News
16 Mar 2022
Adobe Experience Cloud messaging collaboration in the works
Adobe reveals potential roadmap features in development, which include a chat client that might span Adobe Experience Cloud apps and foster collaboration across teams. Continue Reading
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News
15 Mar 2022
Salesforce AppExchange revamps user search, discovery
Salesforce updates AppExchange partner marketplace to add more effective search and surfacing of more appropriate results for users, as the app count tops 7,000. Continue Reading
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News
15 Mar 2022
HubSpot gives customer service platform a makeover
HubSpot's refreshed contact center platform features self-service automation and Twilio telephony. The company hopes a fragmented market and user loyalty will spur its growth. Continue Reading
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News
09 Mar 2022
Adobe Target adds more granular personalization features
Adobe's personalization engine adds AI tools and CDP connections for marketers to experiment with their cross-channel marketing campaigns for specific audiences. Continue Reading
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Tip
03 Mar 2022
First-party vs. third-party cookies: What's the difference?
First-party cookies track user engagement, while third-party cookies are central to many marketing and sales strategies. Yet the two types are more similar than one might think. Continue Reading
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News
02 Mar 2022
Salesforce releases Tableau CRM telco churn prediction AI
For telcos that use Communications Cloud, Salesforce adds an AI-powered tool that predicts customer churn, part of its vertical strategy in the wake of its Vlocity acquisition. Continue Reading
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Opinion
23 Feb 2022
Zoom CCaaS a big bet on the future of customer service
Zoom already integrates with the most popular contact-center-as-a-service platforms. So why has Zoom come out with a CCaaS of its own? Continue Reading
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News
14 Feb 2022
Salesforce Safety Cloud debuts for event vaccination proof
Salesforce launches new cloud to aggregate COVID-19 testing and vaccine information for users hosting customer and employee events, with more to follow later in 2022. Continue Reading
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News
11 Feb 2022
Google boosts AI customer experience
Two bits of CX news from Google: Cloud Platform expands customer success operations globally, and users find the search behemoth's AI a fit for customer experience deployments. Continue Reading
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News
09 Feb 2022
Adobe Journey Optimizer adds mobile marketing capabilities
Adobe adds marketing personalization and messaging orchestration capabilities to Experience Cloud for B2B and B2C users whose customers favor smartphones. Continue Reading
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News
08 Feb 2022
Pegasystems releases contact center agent-assist tools
Pegasystems adds voice recognition and natural language processing agent-assistant 'copilot' tools for contact centers, based on 2021 acquisition of Qurious.io. Continue Reading
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Tip
07 Feb 2022
How to manage remote call center agents
Managing remote call center agents can be difficult -- but with the right tools in place, supervisors can effectively lead their agents from a distance. Continue Reading
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News
26 Jan 2022
Salesforce expands CRM maps for sales-team territories
New patterns for selling -- salespeople travel less and use more digital channels to meet with customers -- drive new map features for Salesforce Sales Cloud. Continue Reading
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News
25 Jan 2022
Google debuts Topics, its latest third-party cookie replacement
Topics, a replacement for browser tracking cookies, is Google's latest idea to preserve browser privacy while preserving the value of its digital ad platform. Continue Reading
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News
21 Jan 2022
Adobe, Salesforce release tools to enhance retail experience
Adobe to open beta program for store-pickup features developed in partnership with Walmart; Salesforce debuts Datorama features for retailers. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jan 2022
Genesys CEO on the future of contact center tech
In this interview with Genesys CEO Tony Bates, we discuss the intersection of empathy and technology, as well as the future of video in the contact center tech stack. Continue Reading
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Feature
13 Jan 2022
Call center vs. contact center: What's the difference?
Call centers and contact centers provide customer service in different ways. Decision-makers should understand which option best fits their organization's needs to optimize CX. Continue Reading
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News
12 Jan 2022
Customer data platform market heats up again
As companies plan for the post-pandemic reality, customer data platforms are expected to be a bigger part of marketing workflows and other emerging use cases. Continue Reading
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News
11 Jan 2022
Instacart, McDonald's, Target share digital marketing strategies
Customer experience leaders discuss strategies to accommodate customers who want contactless shopping, those who want in-person sales, and everything in between. Continue Reading
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News
10 Jan 2022
IBM ports weather data to AWS Data Exchange feed
Marketers can now tap IBM's Weather Company data feed at the AWS Data Exchange. The question is, will they know how to use it proactively to execute timely campaigns? Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Dec 2021
Why marketing personalization has yet to pay off
Forrester analyst discusses why personalization investments aren't paying off, what marketers can expect in 2022 in technology -- and in the job market. Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Dec 2021
How bad writing, templates and chatbots kill customer service
Leslie O'Flahavan, a writing coach specializing in contact center communications, discusses how humans, AI and bots can work together to provide good customer service. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 Dec 2021
Top 5 challenges in field service management
Many organizations overlook field service management in their customer service strategies, yet this area -- and its challenges -- are critical to CX success. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 Dec 2021
Call center security best practices to protect customer data
If customers know an organization can keep their data safe, they have more positive experiences. These best practices can help establish trust and keep data safe in call centers. Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Dec 2021
10 sample customer service email templates
Email remains an important channel for companies to communicate with customers. Here are some email templates for customer service teams to use in common scenarios. Continue Reading
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News
16 Dec 2021
Biden targets federal CX improvements with executive order
President Biden issues a detailed executive order that lays out agency-by-agency federal digital experience improvement mandates -- and builds accountability into the process. Continue Reading
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News
15 Dec 2021
ServiceNow-Qualtrics partnership tackles total experience
ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott bought Qualtrics when he ran SAP, which spun it off after he left. McDermott renews his pursuit of Qualtrics, this time with a partnership. Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Dec 2021
Top customer service certifications and courses
Here are some customer services courses to help frontline employees provide customers with a better experience. Continue Reading
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Feature
13 Dec 2021
5 examples of bad customer service and how to avoid them
Having a plan in place to handle, or hopefully avoid, bad customer service encounters is crucial to driving customer loyalty and retention. Continue Reading
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News
09 Dec 2021
Automating customer service empathy a work in progress
Bots and AI tools can help clean up customer service texts, emails and chats -- and make them more consistent. But finding empathy is still mainly the purview of humans. Continue Reading
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Tip
09 Dec 2021
How to train agents on call center fraud detection
Poorly trained call center agents are easy targets for bad actors. Organizations must prepare for call center fraud with proper agent training and anti-fraud technologies. Continue Reading
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Feature
03 Dec 2021
8 tips to build and manage a customer service team
While customer service has its challenges, managers can build, run and maintain great customer service teams with good communication, up-to-date training and shared goals. Continue Reading
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News
03 Dec 2021
Amazon Connect adds quick bot setup, call summarization
AWS' Amazon Connect CCaaS offering comes into sharper focus with new features for contact center managers, agents and data scientists setting up bots. Continue Reading
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News
02 Dec 2021
More marketing personalization from AWS, Pegasystems
AWS and Pegasystems add AI tools to their cloud offerings that enable deeper personalization and journey orchestration for marketers and e-commerce sellers. Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Dec 2021
10 customer service best practices to follow
As customer service evolves into a multidimensional force, agent training and experience, performance analysis, virtual assistance, customer sentiment and net promoter scores rule. Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Dec 2021
10 examples of AI in customer service
AI and AI-enhanced tools drive efficiency and cost reduction throughout the customer service team. Continue Reading
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Feature
30 Nov 2021
13 customer retention strategies that work
As the cost of acquiring new customers exceeds the cost of retaining existing customers, implementing an effective customer retention strategy should be a top priority. Continue Reading
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Feature
30 Nov 2021
What are the different types of contact centers?
Choosing the right type of contact center depends on understanding the options available and the needs of the organization. Continue Reading
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News
29 Nov 2021
Technology drives holiday shopping for retail, e-commerce
Black Friday e-commerce sales maintained 2020 gains. Retail traffic is up but hasn't rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Technology, supply chain, COVID-19 variants all factors. Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Nov 2021
15 customer service skills and how to develop them
Some customer service skills include problem-solving, empathy, product knowledge and patience. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Nov 2021
The future of customer service: 12 trends to watch
Advanced technologies continue to shape customer service goals to streamline digital workflows, increase positive experiences, lower agent turnover and improve contact center ROI. Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Nov 2021
6 ways to build customer loyalty for your business
Creating and implementing an effective customer loyalty strategy involves communicating and understanding customers' needs. Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Nov 2021
8 customer service challenges and how to resolve them
The most important skill for a customer service agent to learn is empathy. That, plus a well-crafted customer service plan, can solve nearly any problem that arises. Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Nov 2021
Cisco customer experience manager: What makes good tech CX
Cisco users buy its hardware and apps through partners, mostly. Cisco's customer experience architect discusses how the company forges customer relationships. Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Nov 2021
9 steps to create a customer service plan
Crafting a customer service plan is a key step to improving customer satisfaction and building loyalty for an organization. Continue Reading
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News
16 Nov 2021
Genesys, Google bolster contact center connections
Genesys and Google broaden multi-year partnership to include running Genesys applications on Google Cloud with Kubernetes; Genesys embeds apps in Chrome browser. Continue Reading
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Feature
11 Nov 2021
Augmented reality emerges in customer experience tech
For customer experience, augmented reality is more common than virtual reality. Marketing and field service are the early adopters of AR, with sales and e-commerce trailing. Continue Reading
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News
04 Nov 2021
Salesforce expands consumer packaged goods cloud
Salesforce to add features next year that help consumer goods manufacturers plan, track and analyze effectiveness of promotional spending with retailers. Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Nov 2021
The 3 types of chatbots for beginners and how to build them
Various types of chatbots exist, but three types, in particular, are easiest for beginners to learn and build independently. Find out more in this chapter excerpt. Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Nov 2021
Beginner's guide to essential chatbot best practices
In this Q&A, author Andrew Freed lays out key chatbot best practices for beginners, the biggest challenges and how organizations can tell when to adopt chatbot technology. Continue Reading
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News
02 Nov 2021
Microsoft Customer Experience Platform debuts
Microsoft introduces a number of CX tools, including the Customer Experience Platform, voice and SMS integrations, and technology for stores to connect physical and digital spaces. Continue Reading
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News
01 Nov 2021
Zendesk to acquire SurveyMonkey parent Momentive
Zendesk's burgeoning customer experience platform, which grew out of a customer service technology stronghold, lands key tech to gather customer feedback. Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Oct 2021
What does a customer service manager do?
Customer service managers are an integral part of contact centers. They are the team leader, trainer and policy maker. Continue Reading
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News
28 Oct 2021
Salesforce Field Service adds scheduling, Lightning web tools
Salesforce turns its attention to field service technology development, bringing mobile app and web experiences more in line with consumer-grade customer service. Continue Reading
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Answer
26 Oct 2021
How do you create a chatbot and connect it to Salesforce?
Salesforce users have two ways to create a chatbot: using an outside platform and connecting finished creations through Salesforce Lightning, or writing it in Salesforce Einstein Bot. Continue Reading
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News
22 Oct 2021
Genesys contact center cloud gets acquisition boost
Olivier Jouve, executive vice president of Genesys Cloud, and Mike Szilagyi, a senior vice president at Genesys, discuss how customer service will recalibrate after last year. Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2021
Twilio releases Engage marketing automation platform
Twilio's customer experience platform -- with the Segment CDP as a foundation -- adds a marketing component to its API-driven sales and service clouds popular with developers. Continue Reading
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News
12 Oct 2021
HubSpot CRM adds B2B online payments processing
HubSpot CRM adds no-code Stripe online payments as well as data governance and enhancements to Operations Hub such as analytics and a Snowflake integration. Continue Reading
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News
06 Oct 2021
Qualtrics releases Experience ID customer profile platform
Qualtrics Experience ID isn't labeled as a customer data platform, but it's not far off from one, as it aggregates customer info into individual profiles. Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Oct 2021
Benefits of moving to a cloud contact center
Cloud contact centers have various benefits for organizations, including cost savings, more interaction channels and staying with -- if not ahead of -- the competition. Continue Reading