Affiliate Programs and Affiliate Reviews
Shades of George W. Bush and Victoria’s Secret all in one. We got fooled again last week by our own ineptitude and inability to learn from history when retailer Target’s website crashed under the weight of a highly successful marketing campaign. The last time anything remotely similar happened was when Victoria’s Secret decided to do an online fashion show.
At CRM Evolution, Brian Vellmure, founder of Initium Technology, gave a talk on the future of customer relationships. He peered well into the future, envisioning an era when the Internet anticipates customer needs and delivers advice automatically. That can only happen when companies develop sufficient knowledge about their customers — and foster the trust of those customers — to make recommendations.
By this point in the evolution of e-commerce, most e-tailers know the benefits of live engagement. Website visitors are three times more likely to make a purchase when they have the support of a sales representative. Just as in brick-and-mortar stores, interacting with a knowledgeable person in real-time creates a connection to the customer that increases profits.
Imagine a customer service agent who can do virtually no wrong. She typically answers questions in about three seconds, with an astonishing 94 percent accuracy rate. She puts callers at ease, offering them information about related issues without making them listen politely through an entire spiel or pressuring them to buy. She’s unruffled by verbal abuse, and she’s fluent in many languages.
Customer experience can make or break a company. The pressure to manage costs has never been greater, but it’s a fatal mistake to view customer service channels as a cost center. The solution? An at-home workforce that delivers excellent results. A virtual workforce is no longer a futuristic idea. It’s available today and ready to help you solve your company’s biggest customer management challenges.