 OUR TAKE -
Healthy Skepticism
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It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.
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Carl Sagan
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Last Friday, I referenced a Wall Street Journal article about bloggers that are paid to pitch. It has become pervasive enough to draw the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and the potential need for regulations. It is an issue of credibility among online reviews calling in question the effectiveness of what many in the industry are calling CRM 2.0 or Social CRM.
The online edition of the San Jose Mercury reacted with the following dose of reality: "So, besides the fact that it's tough to imagine how the FTC would enforce such regulations on the wild, wacky blogosphere, here's a dab of duh: One looking for non-biased reviews on certain products should check the source. Just like you're supposed to check the source of most things you read, see, hear, feel, taste and consume. Same with the opinions of people on whom you are relying to give you the best possible information before you buy something. A little healthy skepticism never hurt anyone."
There will always be those on the fringe gullible to anything that sounds too good to be true. But even the most sophisticated buyers may not have the tools or resources to accurately determine genuine customer input.
For me, I have yet to go "all in" with regard to any online review. Is that healthy skepticism? Or, as I think, is it a bigger trend of rendering customer input almost useless . . . . or worse counterproductive? That's my take. What's your take?
Gary Lemke, Publisher
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As of 3:59 p.m. on 4/24/09 |
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Article: Your Most Loyal Customers Demand the Best Experiences
If this recession hasn't been enough to make companies understand the importance of a good customer experience, there's probably little else that will do the trick. Last year, Bruce Temkin, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, examined the relationship between experience and loyalty in the report, "The Business Impact of Customer Experience." Even then, back before we knew we were in a recession -- in other words, before the government's official notice that this recession had begun -- even then, customer experience had a high correlation with loyalty. This year, across all industries, the correlation was even stronger, providing tangible support for the notion that attracting long-term customers requires more than slashing prices.(DestinationCRM
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