Customer research provides critical intelligence that companies simply cannot do without, and in-house research teams bring unique skills and domain expertise to the table. That said, in-house teams face a number of obstacles that challenge their ability to deliver consolidated, customer-centric insights to their business stakeholders. The Advantages of In-house Customer Research Teams In-house […]
Customers love the ability to shop anywhere — online, in the store, or over the phone. What they hate is the fact that often they feel they don’t have all the information they need to make an informed decision. Or worse, they feel they’ve been misled. Retailers should consider that their customers usually aren’t wrong. […]
The other day one of my clients forwarded to me a research report citing that 68% of Chinese shoppers were “happy or overjoyed” with their shopping experiences, versus only 48% of American shoppers. While this is an interesting factoid, the data point suggests a more important topic: how to manage the complexities and risks of […]
Nobody likes to hear bad news, but successful companies recognize that negative feedback is a vital mechanism for improving their products and customer service. So when they hear that there’s bad news that customers aren’t telling them, many companies assume it is product or service-related. They should be asking another question, though. Why aren’t customers […]
Customer Insight: How Logistics Raises the Bar on Customer Expectations Ask any customer shopping online when they want their order delivered, and it’s a good bet they’ll answer ‘tomorrow’. Thanks to masters of logistics like Amazon and Zappos, customers have come to expect 2-day or even 1-day shipping, sometimes at no cost. They want things […]
Every business knows the value of keeping their customers. Yet despite companies’ best efforts customers still leave, and the reason often feels like a mystery. Why do they go? They experience a problem This is by far the biggest reason customers move on. 68% to 73% of customers stop doing business with companies because they […]
Transform your customer insights by avoiding these common errors Technology and analytics have provided companies the means to understand their customers in ways they couldn’t have imagined even a few years ago. Almost every large organization invests heavily in customer measurement programs, yet many don’t achieve the customer insight they’re looking for. Why? It turns […]
Find the difference between interesting and actionable insights By now, the notion that customer experience matters to market success is nearly universal. A 2016 Gartner survey found that 89% of companies expect to compete primarily on the basis of customer experience — up from 36% in 2012. Most companies make significant investments in customer research […]
“Customers who had the best past experiences spend 140% more compared to those who had the poorest past experiences” — Peter Kriss, Harvard Business Review Many companies conduct regular customer satisfaction research with the belief that there’s a direct link between customer satisfaction and revenue — improving the first will drive an increase in […]
Consumers are creatures of habit, often seeking out their favorite restaurant, hotel or store, because they know they’ll have a positive experience. These positive experiences make them loyal — whether it’s a perfectly grilled steak, a service associate who helps you find that perfect gift, or the ease of pre-selecting your hotel room in advance […]