February 25th, 2006 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer
More and more shoppers are parking in front of their computers instead of at the mall.
According to the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Commerce Report from ForeSee Results, customer satisfaction with the e-commerce sector improved by 1.3% in 2005 to an aggregate score of 79.6. It should be noted, however, that even with this increase, customer satisfaction with the e-commerce sector is still more than a point lower than it was two years ago, when the aggregate score was 80.8.
(more…)
February 19th, 2006 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer
On January 23, Edelman released survey findings that shows (in the U.S.) trust in "a person like me" increased from 20% in 2003 to 68% today. Opinion leaders also consider rank-and-file employees more credible spokespersons than corporate CEOs (42% vs. 28% in the U.S.). Richard Edelman says:
"We have reached an important juncture, where the lack of trust in established institutions and figures of authority has motivated people to trust their peers as the best sources of information about a company. Companies need to move away from sole reliance on top-down messages delivered to elites toward fostering peer-to-peer dialogue among consumers and employees, activating a company's most credible advocates."
(more…)
February 19th, 2006 by Brett Hurt Founder and CEO
According to Technorati’s Founder and CEO, there are over 70,000 blogs created a day with over 50,000 blog posts per hour. What are the chances that one of your customers is talking about you? High, and becoming higher every day as more jump into the global discussion. What are the chances that one of your customers or prospects will read that post?
With Google, Yahoo, Technorati, and others already providing robust blog search engines, the answer is, again, high and becoming higher.There are several companies that offer blog mining services, such as BuzzMetrics, Cymfony, and Kaava. And these are valuable services for companies, no doubt. If you are skeptical, read the Fortune story of Kryptonite, the bike lock company. This may be one of the most important articles you read all year.
(more…)
February 18th, 2006 by Brett Hurt Founder and CEO
Blockbuster is traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol BBI and is a 21-year old company with 8,500 stores located in 29 countries. Netflix is traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol NFLX and is an 8-year old company with one website and 37 shipping centers in the U.S.
As of Friday, Feb. 17, Netflix was worth $1.36 billion and Blockbuster was worth $0.73 billion, or roughly half of the value of Netflix. Huh?!
Well, just as Google is worth $109 billion while General Motors is worth $12 billion, there is an explanation for this apparent craziness. And it has to do with word of mouth and what Fred Reichheld calls “bad profits.”
(more…)
February 16th, 2006 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer
As we speak with many eCommerce companies there is a trend — the desire to become a more customer-centric company. And this is a topic usually coming from a level above the eBusiness or Web department.
It’s a topic that can even come from the CEO, as a customer-centric culture affects every division, department and function. However, it is highly influenced by the growth of the Web as customers are interacting every day with a company’s processes via the web site.
(more…)
