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Freebie-nomics
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Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy.
-
Groucho Marx
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Businesses are hungry (see hunger revisited). No doubt about it. And that hunger has, in many instances, created a better customer experience. There are many great motivations, reasons, and drivers for this positive change. But heavy discounting and "freebies" is typically not the way to go in the long run. Consider this reader response:
"The downside for the providers is, in an effort to provide better service and retain customers they are losing money. I have received discounts, freebies, etc from companies I frequent, and I will continue to frequent, even without the incentives. So, for their already loyal customers they are giving money away. I don’t know what effect it is having to retain/gain new customers. Going forward, my expectation is that if we return to times of irrational exuberance, we will go back to mediocre-at-best service. But I believe that is a long way away, so we should enjoy this level of service for a while."
Discounted or free incentives may be good to lure the new customer but isn't it interesting to watch businesses give away more than is required especially to their loyal base that has established a higher level loyalty affinity?
That's my take. What's your take?
Gary Lemke, Publisher
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| Stock Ticker |
| NetSuite | 8.23 |  | 0.3 |
| APAC | 2.05 | | 0.07 |
| NICE | 20.86 | | 0.31 |
| Salesforce | 30.13 | | 0.11 |
| SPSS | 23.81 |  | -0.3 |
| ClickSoftware | 2.76 | | -0.05 |
| LivePerson | 1.79 | | -0.04 |
| Pegasystems | 13.65 | | -0.32 |
| Amdocs | 16.23 | | -0.46 |
| Oracle | 14.53 | | -0.43 |
| SAP | 32.13 | | -0.98 |
| Chordiant | 2.1 | | -0.07 |
| Sykes | 13.74 | | -0.47 |
| ICT | 4.05 | | -0.17 |
| Vignette | 6 | | -0.27 |
| Astea | 2.02 | | -0.1 |
| Tekelc | 11.77 | | -0.59 |
| SupportSoft | 1.57 | | -0.08 |
| Teletech | 8.49 | | -0.49 |
| HP | 27.08 | | -1.57 |
| Selectica | 0.33 | | -0.02 |
| CDC | 0.75 | | -0.05 |
| eLoyalty | 4.12 | | -0.28 |
| Epicor | 2.72 | | -0.21 |
| NCR | 6.9 | | -0.57 |
| RightNow | 6.8 | | -0.57 |
| Interactive | 8.11 | | -0.69 |
| Convergys | 5.79 | | -0.52 |
| ATG | 2 | | -0.25 |
| Unica | 3.94 | | -0.5 |
| Rainmaker | 0.48 | | -0.07 |
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As of 3:59 p.m. on 3/5/09 |
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 NEW IN CRM
Article: The Best Way To Manage Customer Relationships
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Article: Contact Centers in the Web 2.0 World
The world of customer service is changing. The accepted wisdom used to be that for every unhappy customer, you could count on 11 more customers (or potential customers) hearing about the unfortunate situation. But now, without even picking up the phone, just a few clicks on a keyboard and an Internet connection can spread one person's opinions to millions of people worldwide. Web 2.0 is transforming the way people are expressing themselves. People are using the Web to broadcast their frustrations, look for companionship, and seek solutions to their problems by tapping into the power of online communities. Consumers are becoming accustomed to and demanding instant access and rapid results, including immediate resolution of any issue or question. This demonstrates how the Internet and Web 2.0 social networking applications are changing the dynamics of customer service in the 21st century.(DestinationCRM
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News: Cellular Phone Provider to Implement Verint
Verint announced that a leading cellular phone provider will be implementing several of the Impact 360® workforce optimization (WFO) solutions from Verint Witness Actionable Solutions. Already a Verint customer, the organization’s deployment will include an upgrade to Impact 360 Quality Monitoring, along with two additional WFO solutions – Impact 360 Workforce Management and Impact 360 Customer Feedback. The organization provides customers with a variety of flexible cell phone programs. As a result, customer demand and growth have driven it to both embrace a workforce optimization strategy, as well as invest in contact center technology that can help support its focus on service quality, consistency and the delivery of high-caliber customer experiences. (Verint
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News: Calabrio Compliance Recording and Quality Management V2.7
Calabrio announced today a new version of Calabrio Compliance Recording and Quality Management, version 2.7, which features a redundant CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) service option for greater reliability, enhanced archival options to strengthen PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance, and knowledge worker recording that does not require an underlying contact center ACD (Automatic Call Distributor). Calabrio also announced the availability of Calabrio Workforce Management software, version 8.3.3. Both products include expanded language support.(Calabrio
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Article: Time to Rethink Customer Loyalty
Most businesses understand the tremendous value associated with highly loyal customers. That is why businesses of every size and shape have implemented loyalty programs to keep their best customers coming back again and again. Unfortunately, this traditional loyalty model has grown tired and provides little differentiation in the market today. As a result, it’s time to rethink customer loyalty. Unfortunately for many businesses, any advantage that was originally gained through loyal programs has quickly eroded. The result is a business environment where every restaurant, gas station and pet store has some form of loyalty card or program.(CustomerThink
)
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