THECOMMSISSUE
23
COMMUNICATIONS TAKES
RETAIL CENTRE STAGE
W
hether you’re talking about Best-in-class organisations were found to revealed that less than three quarters (72%)
connectivity and data transfer, be reaping bene½ ts from customer feedback considered industry accreditations – both at
or just all forms of essential management programs. The leading companies company and engineer level – either ‘important’
interactions between retailers and their were more than twice as likely as their or ‘very important’ when performing due
suppliers, business partners and customers, counterparts to have an established process diligence.
communication technnology increasingly takes that tracks customer feedback across all A further 43% also did not place much
centre stage. departments and channels. importance on quality and security standards
The communications of any retailer Gary Edwards, Empathica client services such as ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 or customer
– supported by its technology based executive vice president said: “The harsh references (28%).
infrastructure – is perhaps most key in uncertain reality of a global economic recession has put Nearly half of respondents (45%) placed
economic times, to attracting and retaining companies under more pressure than ever to importance on the ability of a provider to offer
customers. In fact, best-in-class companies for improve customer satisfaction and retention.” a ‘one stop shop’ of services. However, the area
customer feedback are 18 times more likely to Aberdeen Group’s Jeff Zabin added: of due diligence which the retail sector deemed
increase customer satisfaction, and 44.5 times “Our ½ ndings show the improvements that least important was in relation to if the service
more likely to increase customer retention, companies have realised as a result of customer provider had access to manufacturer technical
according to a customer experience report feedback initiatives. By putting in place the assistance centres, with less than 1 in 3 (30%)
based on the analysis of 150 enterprises, by right technologies, organisational resources, rating this as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.
Customer Experience Management (CEM) business processes, and performance metrics, Commenting on the ½ ndings, Peter Titmus,
programme provider, Empathica and co- organisations can leverage customer satisfaction Networks First managing director warned:
sponsored with researcher, Aberdeen Group. to grow and succeed during these dif½ cult “Without manufacturer backed technical
The report, “The Return On Investment times.” assistance support, you can’t be sure your
on Customer Feedback: Why it Pays to Listen At the same time, the technology equipment is fully registered and therefore
to the Voice of the Customer,” categorised infrastructure that forms the backbone to meeting legal requirements. It also puts you at
organisations based on their use of customer all interactions, be it customer feedback, risk of not getting the appropriate technical
feedback in relation to four main performance an e-commerce website or sales data updates as they become available or having the
criteria: customer problem resolution, customer from tills, comes under additional pressure necessary support when required. The retail
satisfaction, customer retention and customer to support essential business operations. sector really needs to be thinking about how
advocacy. Companies were then divided into Research commissioned by Networks First, critical it considers its IT networks and putting
best-in-class,” “industry average” and “laggard” an independent provider of support services far more emphasis on due diligence in this
categories based on the analysis. for network infrastructures to the retail sector, area.”
121CARHIRE.COM PERSONALISES WEB COMMS
UK-based 121carhire.com offers value car The company heard about a new checkout pages. For each of those pages,
rental in over 7,000 locations around the e-commerce software product, called content was personalised for eight different
globe, including major cities by searching WebLegend from 7 Billion People that buying types. After just a few days, sales
suppliers in over 115 countries to ½ nd their provides online shoppers with a personalised conversion rates from WebLegend-personalised
customers car rental deals. web experience in real-time, by analysing pages were 70% higher than the standard rate
The company has seen extraordinary customers’ clickstreams and determining previously experienced by the company. This
growth over the last few years and is known behavioural/psy-chological “Portraits”. This was accomplished without additional website
for using leading algorithms for search engine Portrait data is fed into a neural network, visitors or out-bound marketing expenditure.
optimisation and marketing and other where it is quanti½ ed into actionable attributes. Doug Scott, a director of ASAP Ventures,
innovative e-commerce technologies. These attributes are then delivered back to 121Carhire.com’s parent company told Retail
In order to continue that growth, the user in the form of on-the-¾ y website Technology: “WebLegend had an immediate
121carhire.com was looking for ways customisations, suited to the preferences of impact on conversions, and therefore a direct
to improve the conversion rates once each individual. WebLegend is designed to effect on revenue and pro½ t. Personalisation
customers were attracted to its site, in enable the website to be trans-parently and of web content by customer is the Nirvana of
anticipation of signi½ cant increases to the dynamically modi½ ed for every shopper. e-commerce. Working with 7 Billion People
bottom line, average purchase value and WebLegend was implemented on further cements our focus on customer
customer loyalty. 121carhire.com, particularly focusing on the experience and customer satisfaction.”
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2009 RETAIL TECHNOLOGY
23-32 The Comms Issue.indd 23 18/9/09 9:05:55 am
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