Marketing and sales
Marketing spreads awareness of your organization to its potential customers, while sales transforms them into actual customers. Read about the latest advances in marketing and sales force technologies, the different strategies each requires and the ways the two fields intersect.
Top Stories
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News
21 Mar 2023
Adobe and RainFocus pair for more data insight at events
The CX software giant pairs with the event marketing services vendor to provide customers with tools for deeper personalized experiences at in-person and online events. Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Mar 2023
How Gen Z will shape the future of customer experience
The future of customer experience is in the hands of Gen Z -- and new technologies, like generative AI and XaaS. These trends will affect consumer and enterprise markets alike. Continue Reading
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News
24 May 2021
HubSpot embraces competitor CRM systems, adds RevOps features
With HubSpot Operations Hub, users -- typically small and medium-sized businesses -- can access cloud tools most often used by large enterprise sales teams. Continue Reading
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News
14 May 2021
Salesforce rebrands CDP, adds marketing features
Salesforce finally calls its customer data platform a CDP with its latest release, adds marketer-friendly segmentation features and MuleSoft, Tableau integrations. Continue Reading
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Feature
10 May 2021
7 benefits of a personalized marketing content strategy
Customers want companies to treat them as individuals, and personalized marketing can help accomplish that. Personalization can also improve customer retention and brand affinity. Continue Reading
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Feature
30 Apr 2021
Apple iOS 14.5 App Tracking Transparency rewires martech
If your business strategy fully relied on iOS tracking for survival, your company was probably in trouble before 14.5 came out this week, marketing experts say. Continue Reading
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Tip
30 Apr 2021
6 personalization software options to know in 2021
Personalization software enables marketing teams to customize experiences for customers. There are many options to choose from with varying capabilities. Continue Reading
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News
16 Mar 2021
Salesforce users get Einstein ABM tools for Pardot
Salesforce adds Einstein AI tools for Pardot B2B account-based marketing to enable user sales teams to target entire customer account buying teams. Continue Reading
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Tip
12 Mar 2021
Top 5 personalized marketing examples and their takeaways
Personalization is a marketing tactic that is easy to get wrong. Learn from the best with five examples of successful campaigns that used personalization. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Mar 2021
4 tips for creating a personalized marketing strategy
Companies must deliver relevant content and personalize their marketing strategies if they want to see an increase in revenue and brand loyalty. Continue Reading
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Tip
01 Mar 2021
The future of personalization in marketing
One-size-fits-all messaging doesn't cut it anymore when it comes to CX. Companies need to personalize their experiences to keep up with the competition. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 Feb 2021
10 lead scoring best practices to improve sales efficiency
Lead scoring helps sales and marketing teams identify which customers to pursue based on a points system. Lead scoring aims to develop sales-ready leads. Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Feb 2021
Email marketing tools sustain old channel with personalization
Email is so 1990s. Yet as a marketing communications channel, it thrives into the 2020s with an assist from personalization technology and customer data platforms. Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Dec 2020
Advanced upselling tactics, technologies expand bottom line
Upselling technologies that segment customers, predict buying habits, analyze emotions and target campaigns arm companies with the weapons to tap new revenue streams. Continue Reading
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News
24 Nov 2020
Adobe CDP adds B2B-friendly features
Adobe CDP customers will get new features in 2021 that create workflows for marketing teams and connect to popular B2B marketing platforms -- starting with its own Marketo Engage. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 Nov 2020
6 demand-generation strategies to drive business
Among the demand-generation activities to increase awareness of a business's products and services are creating buyer personas and investing in content creation. Continue Reading
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Feature
11 Nov 2020
Customer data platform tools push personalization, privacy
Evolving CDPs help companies unify the flood of consumer data collected from disparate sources, resulting in better customer insights and compliance with privacy regulations. Continue Reading
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News
10 Nov 2020
Adobe to acquire Workfront for $1.5 billion
Adobe plans to acquire Workfront for $1.5 billion to gain ground in the customer experience management market. Continue Reading
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News
06 Nov 2020
Adobe forges data partnerships for Experience Platform
Adobe adds bidirectional feeds to Experience Platform to manage post-sale customer data from third-party sources such as customer service and loyalty program platforms. Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Nov 2020
How to write a marketing email: 10 tips
There are a number of components that make up a compelling marketing email, including content readers want, photos and videos, calls to action and mobile optimization. Continue Reading
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News
06 Oct 2020
Pega Value Finder marketing tool uses AI to find segments
The Pega Customer Decision Hub adds an AI tool for marketers to uncover new customer segments and test campaigns for audiences that humans may have written off as not viable. Continue Reading
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Answer
29 Sep 2020
CDP vs. marketing automation: What's the difference?
CDPs and marketing automation software collect customer data, automate processes and increase efficiency, but they also have features that set them apart from each other. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Sep 2020
21 lead generation tools to fill the sales funnel
While live events are on hiatus, there are other tools that businesses can use to generate sales leads, such as email tracking, marketing automation and social media. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Aug 2020
How businesses can align sales and marketing
Many organizations are moving away from siloed marketing and sales departments and instead choosing to work more closely, which can both grow a business and reduce costs. Continue Reading
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News
03 Aug 2020
Adobe AI-based Predictive Audiences added to Marketo Engage
Adobe adds Predictive Audiences to Marketo Engage. The personalization tool is geared for users who manage marketing messaging to live and online event attendees. Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Jul 2020
Combat event fatigue with a virtual event marketing strategy
Virtual events can be a great way to generate leads and improve customer retention -- but only when done right. Here are some ways that marketers can host a successful online event. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Jul 2020
9 strategies for email marketing segmentation
There are a number of strategies businesses can use to segment email marketing lists, including geographic location, purchase history, abandoned carts and forms, and gender. Continue Reading
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Tip
01 Jul 2020
How to comprehensively personalize the customer experience
A personalization strategy can increase brand loyalty and customer retention by providing relevant content to customers when they need it. Here's how to get started. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Jun 2020
Here's how sales teams use AI to increase revenue
When a business incorporates AI into its sales processes, it may improve pricing optimization, contact analytics and forecasting, ultimately strengthening its sales department. Continue Reading
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News
26 Jun 2020
Act-On now a growth marketing platform, launches upgrades
Act-On's product upgrades include a partnership with Zapier and enhancements to SMS and email messaging to customers, as well as new creation tools for edits on landing pages. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 Jun 2020
Why hyper-personalization is an essential marketing strategy
Using AI to personalize marketing strategies can be a business's golden ticket to improved customer experience. As a result, hyper-personalized marketing is essential. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Jun 2020
10 ways to improve the customer experience today
Many organizations struggle with where and how to improve CX, as the focus shifts from CRM to customer experience. Here are 10 strategies to use for a successful journey. Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2020
Magento e-commerce content tools get Adobe AI boost
Adobe connects its Product Recommendations engine to Magento Page Builder to give users a no-code AI tool that offers different products to different customer segments. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 May 2020
4 tips for creating a content marketing SEO strategy
There are multiple components to a good SEO strategy, and it's important for businesses to stay plugged in and evolve with those strategies over time. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 May 2020
Brands focus on messaging, empathy in crisis marketing mode
There is no single way for businesses to approach marketing in a crisis, but no matter how they choose to address the situation, they must be sensitive to their customers. Continue Reading
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News
20 May 2020
RevOps strategy keeps B2B sales moving during pandemic
Revenue operations purports to orchestrate the technologies governing marketing and sales and measure their effectiveness. During the pandemic, the strategy is put to the test. Continue Reading
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News
30 Apr 2020
Live conferences shift to virtual events, yield surprising results
Digital events can't replace live conference experiences, but organizers who quickly shifted to virtual event platforms report surprising benefits and expect to use them long-term. Continue Reading
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News
24 Apr 2020
Martech budgets slashed, more layoffs loom amid COVID-19
The COVID-19 economy has hit marketing jobs hard. As spending for advertising and martech stall, layoffs mount and still-employed marketers fear the worst. Continue Reading
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Tip
22 Apr 2020
5 email marketing trends to follow in 2020
When done right, email marketing can reach the right customers and be engaging. Organizations should keep email design simple and easy to read and enclose a unique call to action. Continue Reading
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Tip
27 Mar 2020
5 digital sales enablement tools to boost productivity
Sales enablement tools and processes can help sales agents be more productive. Some items in the toolbox include live chat, email automation and digital asset management. Continue Reading
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News
13 Mar 2020
Direct mail automation spikes in wake of conference cancellations
Marketers are turning to CRM-ready e-gift and direct mail vendors to send postcards and swag boxes to prospective customers they would have met with at canceled conferences. Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Mar 2020
4 ways to create an effective personalization strategy
Creating a personalization strategy can ensure that businesses offer the best possible experience to customers, with simple yet effective interactions. Continue Reading
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News
27 Feb 2020
Aprimo partners with Templafy on digital asset management
The Aprimo Connector for Microsoft Office allows users to streamline data assets through a Templafy connector to applications like PowerPoint and Word. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Feb 2020
5 terms to know before creating a sales enablement strategy
Sales enablement is important for companies to drive efficiency, maintain customer satisfaction and stay organized. Sales enablement uses different tools and strategies to do this. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Feb 2020
4 digital marketing best practices for businesses
Some digital marketing strategies for reaching customers include creating empathy and trust in marketing campaigns, personalizing content and having an omnichannel presence. Continue Reading
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News
19 Feb 2020
Microsoft CDP leads 400-plus features in Dynamics 365 update
Microsoft's Dynamics 365 2020 Wave 1 release opens up the floodgates for outside data sources connecting to Customer Insights, its customer data platform. Continue Reading
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Answer
13 Feb 2020
How does AI in sales improve staff performance?
AI can assist in many aspects of the sales process, including analyzing calls, making employees more productive and retaining talented representatives. Continue Reading
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News
12 Feb 2020
New leadership, new features for LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Sales Navigator adds features to create CRM contacts directly from LinkedIn, and content-tracking tools to see who's reading marketing materials salespeople send to customer leads. Continue Reading
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Tip
11 Feb 2020
5 tips for an effective marketing automation implementation
Successful marketing automation implementations require steps beyond those that go into the usual technology rollouts. Here are some tips to help businesses along the way. Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Feb 2020
Sales enablement best practices to enhance customer interactions
Salespeople need the right tools to build strong relationships with customers to make a sale. Read about sales enablement best practices that may enhance customer interactions. Continue Reading
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News
21 Jan 2020
HubSpot adds usability features to Marketing Hub Enterprise
HubSpot launched new features to their Marketing Hub Enterprise tool that focuses on user-friendliness and ability, while maintaining the tool's powerfulness. Continue Reading
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Feature
05 Dec 2019
Salesforce Trailblazer community must keep pace to fuel growth
Salesforce Trailhead's mission is to provide current and prospective customers with admins and developers. Growing that talent pool is crucial to Salesforce's health. Continue Reading
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News
26 Nov 2019
Aviso introduces version 2.0 of AI-guided sales platform
Version 2.0 provides artificial intelligence tools that predict deal close probabilities, guide next best actions and limit typos and unsaved changes during entry of data. Continue Reading
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News
11 Nov 2019
Upland Software extends its portfolio with CRO tool Altify
Features offered by Altify include analytics with Salesforce Einstein and Tableau, relationship map visualizations and integrations with applications in the CRO tool ecosystem. Continue Reading
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News
06 Nov 2019
Inboundgeo Marketing Suite introduces new direct mail tool
Clients' website visitors can receive direct mail with customized content within 72 hours of their visits with the new Content Derived Filtering tool, according to the company. Continue Reading
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News
14 Oct 2019
Adobe's Marketo-Magento staff merger reveals midmarket push
Adobe positions itself for the midmarket in the year following the acquisitions of marketing automation platform Marketo and e-commerce platform Magento. Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Oct 2019
Gen Z marketing strategies can benefit from new technology
Gen Z expects companies to be on the cutting edge of CX tech. New technology can help companies keep up with these demands, without having to spend a fortune on strategy or software. Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Oct 2019
Customer engagement fuels retail success
Down, but not out? It's a fitting description for the current state of traditional retail stores. But there are many ways retailers can still win against online competition. Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Sep 2019
Martech strategy, Agile marketing are trends to follow
As the marketing model changes, businesses can adopt thousands of different marketing technologies to better reach customers and improve customer experience. Continue Reading
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News
06 Sep 2019
HubSpot Marketplace updated to get free CRM users to buy apps
HubSpot introduces new features to marketing automation and CRM platform, and revamps its apps marketplace in hopes of driving revenue from newfound free-CRM customers. Continue Reading
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News
28 Aug 2019
RollWorks updates its account-based marketing platform
New RollWorks features include account suggestions, Salesforce syncing and account groups to better align sales and marketing teams' efforts for potential customers. Continue Reading
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News
16 Aug 2019
Marketing, sales tighten in LinkedIn Sales Navigator features update
Lead lists and content-sharing features added to LinkedIn Sales Navigator give frontline salespeople more leads -- and more tools to engage them. Continue Reading
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News
15 Aug 2019
Metadata.io updates boost marketing personalization, automation
Updates to Metadata's AI marketing platform include new usability features and improved automation to bolster its marketing personalization to target new and existing clients. Continue Reading
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News
09 Aug 2019
PromoteIQ acquisition diversifies Microsoft Advertising platform
Microsoft expands its advertising platform to vendor marketing with the PromoteIQ acquisition. Continue Reading
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News
06 Aug 2019
Force Marketing introduces platform for personalized marketing
Drive by Force Marketing is a personalized marketing video platform for car dealerships to increase engagement with returning and prospective customers. Continue Reading
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News
09 Jul 2019
Nintex Sign powered by Adobe available for SharePoint users
With this update, SharePoint 2013, 2016 and 2019 enterprise users have access to Nintex Sign powered by Adobe Sign for native e-signatures, in addition to other Nintex Sign updates. Continue Reading
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News
03 Jul 2019
CloudEngage updates personalization platform, chat feature
The new generation includes upgrades to its segmentation capabilities. CloudEngage's chat product has also been upgraded to save visitor details for personalization. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Jun 2019
Enosix CMO, who branded SAP Leonardo, talks martech strategy
Shawn Reynolds, the former architect of SAP's Leonardo AI brand, moves to SAP-Salesforce integrator Enosix. He discusses marketing strategy in this age of overwhelming martech choices. Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2019
Deloitte's Heat launches Heat AI for trend predictions
Heat's AI-based advertising platform uses algorithms to gather and analyze customer data and then predict social trends up to 72 hours before they peak, according to the vendor. Continue Reading
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Answer
13 Jun 2019
What are the most effective uses of AI in marketing automation?
AI is beneficial in many marketing automation processes. Organizations use the technology in chatbots, personalization, voice and visual search, frequency optimization and more. Continue Reading
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Answer
10 Jun 2019
Why use third-party marketing automation instead of native CRM tools?
Though many CRM platforms offer native marketing automation tools, many organizations find it beneficial to use a third-party application, such as Eloqua or Marketo. Continue Reading
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Tip
06 Jun 2019
4 steps to create a digital marketing strategy
This four-step approach will help organizations build a digital marketing strategy designed to increase their online presence and attract new customers. Continue Reading
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News
05 Jun 2019
RedPoint Global mashes up CDP, DMP functions in new offering
RedPoint's Digital Acquisition Platform attempts to stop ads from chasing you around the internet after a purchase by mashing up CDP functionality with third-party DMP data. Continue Reading
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News
16 May 2019
Leanplum, Amplitude unite for personalized mobile marketing
Leanplum and Amplitude have united to combine Leanplum's mobile marketing engagement with Amplitude's product intelligence for more personalized mobile marketing. Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2019
Act-On launches Adaptive Web, AI-based personalization tool
Adaptive Web, an AI marketing software tool by Act-On, makes real-time content suggestions to increase user web engagement without the direct aid of a marketer. Continue Reading
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News
07 May 2019
Salesforce announces Pardot Business Units, coming this summer
Pardot Business Units, an automated marketing platform, provides large companies with a way to coordinate and personalize marketing efforts across the business. Continue Reading
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News
03 May 2019
IBM marketing automation sell-off represents market shift
IBM divests itself of marketing automation tools, but they will likely live on as the new parent company combines them with other acquisitions to incubate a new integrated CX stack. Continue Reading
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Tip
02 May 2019
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
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Feature
15 Apr 2019
AI sales forecasting tools soothe sales-marketing rivalries
Sales forecasting vendors such as Clari extend reach into enterprise marketing, leveling the data and, with AI, solving an old problem: conflicting numbers on quarterly forecasts. Continue Reading
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News
29 Mar 2019
New Oracle Eloqua features, integrations collect actionable CX data
New integrations and updates for Eloqua, Oracle's B2B marketing tool, emphasize the importance of actionable data in delivering a positive customer experience. Continue Reading
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Podcast
27 Mar 2019
Relax, Adobe Marketo still plans to support Salesforce customers
Marketo VP Matt Zilli discusses what's next for the marketing automation platform, especially in regard to what devoted Marketo customers who use Salesforce CRM can expect. Continue Reading
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Feature
26 Mar 2019
The pros and cons of customer service AI
AI is growing deep roots into cloud-based support services, but there remains a question of whether it can provide the empathy and understanding that brand loyalty requires. Continue Reading
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News
22 Mar 2019
AWS DCX Competency vets cloud customer experience partners
The AWS Digital Customer Experience Competency for content management, e-commerce, service and marketing automation certifies partners for infrastructure and security to create cloud CX. Continue Reading
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News
21 Mar 2019
Adobe Experience Platform likely to get boost, Adoption Scoring debuts
Adobe Experience Platform (formerly Adobe Cloud Platform) focus of Summit, as analytics, AI and open-data initiatives with Microsoft and SAP converge. Continue Reading
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Answer
19 Mar 2019
3 ways the data scientist role benefits CX teams
CX teams don't traditionally include the data scientist role, but adding one can help derive more value from customer data than a CX analyst or canned analytics software can. Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Mar 2019
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
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Tip
06 Mar 2019
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
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Answer
05 Mar 2019
What are 4 essential social CRM strategies?
Social CRM continues to evolve, using additional social media channels and techniques such as social media mining, advertising and listening. Continue Reading
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Answer
25 Feb 2019
5 common customer support problems that affect CX
In customer support, common customer experience issues include lengthy hold times, scaling, failure to follow up, lack of human touch and a lack of personalization. Continue Reading
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Answer
21 Feb 2019
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
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Feature
19 Feb 2019
CEO plots course for Televerde women's prison call centers
Working at a Televerde women's prison call center outpays many inmate jobs and sets agents up for careers on the outside. CEO Morag Lucey discusses how the company keeps current. Continue Reading
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Feature
15 Feb 2019
Giving inmates a second chance as prison call center agents
Televerde staffs contact centers with incarcerated women, where they are paid the federal minimum wage. CEO Morag Lucey and COO Vince Barsolo discuss the model. Continue Reading
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Answer
30 Jan 2019
4 chatbot success metrics to bolster CX
Chatbot success can be measured using a number of metrics. Each helps improve the customer experience. Read on to learn which KPIs are beneficial for improving CX. Continue Reading
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Tip
02 Jan 2019
Trusting marketing automation with CRM functions
Marketing automation with CRM frees up resources and improves the efficiency and accuracy of campaigns and lead development, but it still requires a degree of oversight. Continue Reading
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Feature
31 Dec 2018
Assess priorities before purchasing a marketing automation platform
The promise of marketing automation is exciting, but the proliferation of tools can be intimidating. Learn how to dispel the confusion when buying a marketing automation product. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Dec 2018
6 customer intent metrics to prevent lead dropouts
Learn about the key metrics marketing teams can use to analyze customer intent, detect leads in danger of dropping out and focus energy on nurturing those leads. Continue Reading
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Infographic
17 Dec 2018
Salesforce acquisitions a big part of CRM vendor's busy 2018
Again, 2018 showed how important acquisitions are to Salesforce's growth and expansion into markets such as AI, e-commerce, integration and collaboration. Continue Reading
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Feature
07 Dec 2018
Guidelines for navigating the sales software market
Figuring out whether your organization needs sales force automation, sales enablement or sales forecasting tools can be challenging, and that's before factoring in AI. Continue Reading
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Answer
03 Dec 2018
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
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Tip
29 Nov 2018
Managers learn AI basics with Salesforce Einstein Discovery
With many successes and failures, companies create their own AI apps with the use of Einstein Discovery. Users discuss their experiences along the way. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Nov 2018
7 tips for improving marketing technology stacks
Being deliberate about integrating a new tool into marketing technology stacks will help ensure they produce ROI and makes processes more efficient. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Nov 2018
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