Despite businesses often being based on creating desirable experiences, products and services for consumers, many fail to consider the end user in their planning and development processes. This book is here to change that. User experience research, also known as UX research, focuses on understanding user behaviours, needs and motivations through a range of observational techniques, task analysis and other methodologies. User Research is a practical guide that shows readers how to use the vast array of user research methods available. Written by one of the UK's leading UX research professionals, readers can benefit from in-depth knowledge that explores the fundamentals of user research. Covering all the key research methods including face-to-face user testing, card sorting, surveys, A/B testing and many more, the book gives expert insight into the nuances, advantages and disadvantages of each, while also providing guidance on how to interpret, analyze and share the data once it has been obtained. Now in its second edition, User Research provides a new chapter on research operations and infrastructure as well as new material on combining user research methodologies.

If leaders aren't integrating their digital offerings into a philosophy of Customer Success, they will be defeated in the next decade, because technical excellence and other traditional competitive advantages are becoming too easy to imitate. The Customer Success Economy offers examples and specifics of how companies can transform. It addresses the pains of transforming organizational charts, leadership roles, responsibilities, and strategies so the whole company works together in total service to the customer. Shows leaders how their digital implementations will make them more Amazon-like Helps you deliver recurring revenue Shows you how to embrace customer retention Demonstrates the importance of "churning" less Get that competitive advantage in the most relevant and important arena today--making and cultivating happy customers.

This book focuses on the implications of digitalisation in the mobility service industry. Based on an analysis of more than 450 survey responses, it explores and assesses mobility in the age of digitalisation. The content covers both changes in the relationship between the company and its customers and a potential paradigm shift among leading companies. The findings suggest that a shift from traditional mobility management to a more customer-centred management perspective is both widely accepted and increasingly necessary. Nevertheless, the inclusion of services that are not primarily concerned with overcoming spatial distances is considered to be less attractive. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to researchers and professionals who are involved in digitalisation in the mobility service industry.

Virtual Worlds and E-Commerce: Technologies and Applications for Building Customer Relationships presents various opinions, judgments, and ideas on how the use of digitally created worlds is changing the face of e-commerce and extending the use of internet technologies to create a more immersive experience for customers. Containing current research on various aspects of the use of virtual worlds, this book includes a discussion of the elements of virtual worlds; the evolution of e-commerce to virtual commerce (v-commerce); the convergence of online games and virtual worlds; current examples of virtual worlds in use by various businesses, the military, and educational institutions; the economics of virtual worlds: discussions on legal, security and technological issues facing virtual worlds; a review of some human factor issues in virtual worlds; and the future of virtual worlds and e-commerce.

This book is about building and delivering great customer experiences. Many companies neglect this, but the physical execution and emotional impact of customer experiences, companies and brands may ultimately determine customer satisfaction and loyalty and commercial success. With the use of compelling examples and cases the authors show that this is key for all companies and organizations.

"There are not many people who understand the new paradigm of the Customer Experience. The emerging gurus on the subject are Colin Shaw and John Ivens with their holistic approach. We will all have to embrace the paradigm they are unlocking and focus on our Customer Experience if we are to be successful in the future. At Microsoft we understand the importance of this and are committing ourselves to this new world."

Steve Harvey, Director of People, Profits & Loyalty, Microsoft

"Many business books look at new companies and how they have become successful. This book bases itself in the reality in which most business people find themselves daily – working in companies which have been established for some time and who are faced with legacy systems, legacy processes, legacy people, legacy channels and an existing culture. It focuses on how you can change an existing organisation in order to build and deliver Great Customer Experiences. Shaw and Ivens are the gurus of the Customer Experience. Whilst we have all recognised the importance of service in the past, their book moves business thinking on apace. It is about more than just customer service, it is about the whole Customer Experience. Their 7 Philosophies for Building Great Customer Experiences explicitly outline the building blocks that are the foundation of good business."

Liam Lambert, Director & General Manager, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London

"John and Colin’s innovative approach deserves applause - their thought leading book is at the cutting edge. Their 7 Philosophies for Building Great Customer Experiences underpin Hilton’s own philosophy on how to delight our customers. My endorsement reflects the importance I personally place on the Customer Experience".

Mike Ashton, Senior Vice President, Hilton International Hotels

"This book hits the strikezone of how marketers, and organizations overall, need to be thinking to win today. It's a clear roadmap for building a high performance organization crystallized around the customer. Importantly, Shaw and Ivens recognize that emotions are at the core of all relationships -- it's no different with customers than our family & friends -- and truly engaging and successful brands."

Barry Herstein, Chief Marketing Officer, Financial Times Group, New York

"The Customer Experience will be a critical differentiator in today's commoditising economy. Colin and John's thought provoking book is essential reading for anyone wishing to create engaging and memorable Customer Experiences. This simple and readable book is littered with the views and thoughts of senior business leaders on the Customer Experience. It not only explains the theory of the Customer Experience but also provides practical advice and insights on how you can begin building and delivering Great Customer Experiences".

Peter Scott, Customer Service Director, T-Mobile

This book explains how startups and brands in general can achieve a high level of customer experience (CX) in today's dynamic and competitive times. A well-structured and easy to apply customer experience framework defines customer experience as the start and end point of all business activities. The framework steps and tools (such as NPS, Empathy Map, Customer Journey, Golden Circle, Design Thinking, A/B-Testing) are designed to have a maximum impact on successful company building and the customer experience, which is key to generate first and repeat buyers that become fans of the company. The tools originate from different disciplines, such as management, design, digitisation or psychology - as only an interdisciplinary approach enables superior insights for initiating the right customer activities in today's highly competitive times. With this book, it is possible to look at customer experience systematically and derive your own strategy towards success. The following are the main contributions of this book: * Provides a clear step-by-step guide to create a customer experience-centric company * Introduces most impactful tools that managers can use to successfully complete every step of our framework * Guides managers through the process of creating a start-up, which is less about magically coming up with innovative business ideas, but rather about applying proven principles in a new context

A comprehensive guide to a burgeoning field, this book shows how to design and implement a future-proof post-sales service program focused on proactively addressing customers' needs in a personalized way. For too long, companies have detached from customers after the moment of purchase and done post-sales service in a way that is reactive, generic, and not scalable. Empowered by the boom in data availability and analytics, future-ready companies will offer their customers proactive personalized post-sales service and reap tangible benefits, including higher customer satisfaction and retention and less negative word of mouth - leading to increased sales and customer lifetime value. As the stories in this book demonstrate, companies like Amazon, Adobe, Garmin, and Liberty Global are leading the way, but companies do not have to be global giants to capitalize on the techniques presented in this guide. To excel at customer experience (CX) management, companies need to implement the best customer feedback and data collection and management practices, develop state-of-the-art analytical models, and have the willingness to act. This book's strong vision and actionable roadmap, illustrated with real-life success stories, make this a compelling read for CX and customer analytics leaders, practitioners, and students alike.

This book presents case studies of South Asian companies that have strategic business implications, highlighting the complex interplay of business and social dynamics in South Asia. This region is a wide agglomeration of very different countries that share somewhat common cultures and issues and yet it is torn apart by religion and politics. There is an abundance of local entrepreneurship but a widespread institutional void. The book investigates how local companies survive and thrive in this environment and discusses those companies that have withstood the competitive pressure of MNCs, depicting their management and business practices. In today's world, where multinationals are so omnipresent that their management and business practices are considered as the de facto recipe for success, there is a need to have an alternative view that challenges the ubiquitousness of multinational management practices. The case studies in this book focus on the business and management practices of local organizations in South Asia and thus provide that alternative viewpoint of how to achieve success in South Asia. Exposing readers to a local perspective on doing business in South Asia, it is a valuable resource for students and practitioners of management.

This book highlights the importance of understanding how trust and indigenous African cultural institutions enhance the development of entrepreneurial networks and relationships in Africa. Drawing on institutional theories, the author re-examines the way that entrepreneurial behaviour can be shaped, with a focus on trust, networks and the development of relationships. Analysing a combination of existing literature and empirical data from 50 internationally trading SMEs in Africa, this book reflects the growing interests of entrepreneurs, investors and corporate executives to develop trust and relationships with customers in order to invest and grow. By addressing the need for a greater understanding of how social and cultural institutions in Africa affect the continent's economy, this book not only offers theoretical frameworks, but also future implications for practice and policy, and will provide essential reading for those studying emerging markets and globalisation, African business, and entrepreneurship more generally.

Today, consumers have more choice than ever before. It's no longer enough to simply provide a service - companies who want to stay in business must also provide impeccable service with such consistency, integrity and creativity that people who experience it will not only keep coming back for more, but recommend your business to their friends, families, and colleagues. The Customer Rules is entirely focused on one ultimate goal: to help you, no matter what your position or job title, secure the most revenue-boosting asset you could wish for: a reputation for excellent service. Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations at Disney World - a company which has redefined what a business can do for their customers - shows you how: from why you should 'Never say no - except No Problem' to asking yourself 'What Would Mum Do?'. His 39 easy-to-follow rules apply to any industry and any company, large, small, public, private, online or High Street. The principles revealed in this book, tried and tested in one of the world's happiest environments, can give you everything you need to truly connect with your customers.

Brand Real is a business strategy guide for making a brand's promise stand up at every customer touch point. Packed with proven, repeatable management practices, the book shows how to establish a clean brand architecture while avoiding the needless complexity that has tripped up many promising companies. Author Laurence Vincent presents cautionary tales of supposed brand superstars as well as instructive case studies of genuine brand giants like American Express, Apple, Cisco, Google, Qualcomm, Virgin, and others. Readers will learn how to connect the outward-facing elements of their brands--logos, advertising, imagery, communications--directly to the core elements of business strategy. Most importantly, they'll explore the correlation between a succinct, efficient brand and powerful, lasting connections with their customers.Companies are becoming increasingly creative in their branding strategies--building identities ranging from the warm and fuzzy to the ultra cool and edgy. But it seems many of these enterprises forget that a brand, at its heart, is a promise to deliver. Brand Real ensures your customers' experiences lives up to that promise and that their loyalties stay with you.

In an age where even the best products are quickly imitated, businesses must constantly find new ways to outpace competitors. Successful companies differentiate themselves not just with superior products, but also by how they behave toward their customers at every touchpoint: service, product development, marketing, branding, bids and proposals, presentations, negotiations, and more. Behavioral Differentiation is emerging as the ""final frontier"" in competitive strategy, and "Winning Behavior" shows how leading companies use it to exceed expectations and outperform competitors. This eye-opening book offers case histories and examples from companies like GE, Volvo, EMC, Ritz-Carlton, Wal-Mart, and Harley-Davidson, plus interviews with executives like George Zimmer (Men's Wearhouse), Colleen Barrett (Southwest Airlines), and Gerry Roche (Heidrick & Struggles). In today's ultracompetitive business landscape, product quality and competitive pricing are prerequisites for staying afloat. Winning Behavior reveals the secrets the best companies use -- and any business can use -- to stay at the pinnacle of success in their industry.

In their book Winning Behavior, Terry Bacon and David Pugh showed how great companies outperform good ones through ""behavioral differentiation"" -- going beyond superior products and dependable service to connect with customers at every touchpoint. The Behavioral Advantage broadens the concept, applying behavioral differentiation to the business-to-business arena. The best B2B companies depend on a multifront approach to business interaction, and The Behavioral Advantage reveals the secrets behind what is essentially a chess game with competitors. To win the game, companies must develop a carefully plotted opening game, with all internal values, policies, practices, and behaviors fully aligned. A smart and efficient middle game lets the company build and strengthen its position, and the endgame assures victory and lays the groundwork for future business. Just as individual customers do, B2B customers remember those companies whose behavior consistently and significantly outshines even strong competitors. These firms create a lasting advantage -- and reap the profits that come with it.

Twitter, smartphones, and self-service kiosks are taking over, and tech-savvy business dealings are no longer an advantage--they're a requirement. With entertaining humor and inarguable logic, author Micah Solomon offers surefire strategies for success by exploring the timelessness of customer service (i.e., what hasn't changed), the high-tech tools that could give you a customer service advantage, and the systemic social shifts that are changing your customer's expectations of the way you do business. You'll learn inside secrets of wildly successful customer service initiatives, from internet startups to venerable brands, and how to turn casual customers into fervent supporters who will spread the word far and wide--online and off. High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service does this by teaching readers the six major customer trends and what they mean for business; the eight unbreakable rules for social media customer service; how to effectively address online complainers and saboteurs on Yelp, Twitter, TripAdvisor, and other forums; how to understand and leverage the rising power of self-service; and how to build a company culture that breeds stellar customer service.With special features including lessons from the latest newsworthy customer service blunders, you'll be equipped to retool old-fashioned customer service and turn time-strapped, screen-addicted, value-savvy, and socially engaged critics into fervent loyal customers who help your business thrive.

"From seasoned veterans to first-timers, any instructor, trainer, manager, consultant, or coach charged with improving customer service will find "The Customer Service Activity Book" a powerful resource. The activities can easily be used as a complete customer service training program or customized and used individually to address areas of concern.

"The Customer Service Activity Book" presents an array of dynamic and engaging activities that:

* Reinforce what good customer service is -- and is not

* Demonstrate how to work together most constructively and efficiently

* Prove the value and the importance of ""sharing the load""

* Show how to increase productivity and performance while enhancing relationships with customers

Assembling 20 years of sales and customer service experiences in a wide variety of industries, "The Customer Service Activity Book" is a treasure trove of exercises for enhancing the quality of any customer service training program."

Our two organizations, Northern Telecom Europe Limited and Oracle Corporation UK Limited, share a number of things in common. Both are striving to become world class in markets where technology is moving fast and market change is moving even faster. Both are responding urgently to the challenge of meeting the current requirements - and anticipating the future needs - of customers at the international, national and local level. We both recognize that customer and employee satisfaction now rank with market share as measures for business success. We accept that there are clear links between delighted customers and profitability, customer loyalty and long-term survival. We are committed to achieving excellence, both as business partners and as employers. There is already strong co-operation between the growing number of professionals in this field as they work together and exchange experiences for benchmarking and best practice studies. In this spirit of collaboration, we have encouraged Peter Donovan and Timothy Samler to share some of our early experiences with our customer-driven programmes and to stimulate further debate. Their book provides a wealth of guidance for any organization that has set its sights on delighting its customers and becoming customer-driven. The ten step approach to delighting customers breaks new ground and offers a blueprint for others to follow. It exemplifies the practical approach that is taken throughout the book.

What to Say to a Porcupine uses the format of Aesop's fables to illustrate fundamental principles of customer service in a quick and lighthearted way. What do a demanding colony of porcupines, an upscale restaurant run by hyenas, and a famous medieval knight have in common? They are all part of one of the most engaging books on customer service in existence. In this book, you'll explore how: great service is all about going the extra mile, as learned by a group of rabbits running an express mail delivery service in "By a Hare"; there's a better way to great your customers, as one grizzly honey-shop owner discovers in "Bear with Me"; and how to handle difficult conversations with customers in a positive, constructive manner, as demonstrated in this book's titular story "What to Say to a Porcupine." Each story is followed by a short discussion, illuminating topics ranging from the best tips for building customer relationships to how to motivate a service team. Fun, quick, and constructive, What to Say to a Porcupine provides all customer service professionals with easy-to-remember lessons for delivering superior customer service.

"To get a competitive edge in a world of commoditized service, companies have to convert their reactive, cost-oriented contact centers into predictive, engaged, revenue-generating, real-time profit centers. A real-time contact center provides an outstanding customer experience, enhances loyalty, increases sales, reduces expenses, and streamlines information flow between the center and the company at large -- all of which adds up to substantial bottom-line improvement.

The Real-Time Contact Center is a practical guide to building a service infrastructure that will simultaneously exceed your customers' expectations, and build revenues. This timely book will help you:

Establish the business case for transforming your contact center into a real-time profit center.

* Sort through the technologies and systems that enable real-time contact centers, and learn the best ways to use them.

* Build profitable relationships with sales and marketing.

* Strengthen your self-service applications to improve their efficiency and to reduce dependence on service representatives, enabling significant cost reductions.

* Hire, train, and motivate staff to keep your contact center at the top of its game.

* Make smart, ethical decisions regarding offshore outsourcing.

The book is packed with step-by-step implementation plans for migrating from your current model to the real-time contact center, and offers a complete package of winning strategies, practical guidelines, and best practices. Each chapter includes self-assessment checklists for use by all the crucial players in your contact environment. The Real-Time Contact Center analyzes the business trends that are driving change in the contact center market, and provides vendor names and a market overview of key call center technology, systems, and applications. The book also discusses how to optimize management and processes to ensure your people are well positioned to deliver extraordinary service with every interaction.

Most importantly, The Real-Time Contact Center will show you how to make this crucial transformation without disrupting your current service initiatives. With the powerful tools and practical recommendations in this book, you will transfer quickly and seamlessly to a world-class contact center that's designed to generate substantial revenue, delight your customers, reduce expenses, and make your organization the envy of its industry."

First impressions are often lasting impressions. How customers are treated on the phone can quickly turn them into either an ex-customer or a customer for life. This thorough, quick-reading guide shows anyone who uses the phone -- from salesperson to manager to secretary -- how to treat it as a service tool that directly impacts on company profits. Readers will be able to double their effectiveness when they learn how to: * handle irate customers * end those ""endless"" calls * take meaningful messages * handle conference calls and transfer calls * screen calls and ask focused questions * use the phone during emergencies * improve their voice effectiveness With worksheets, checklists, and fill-in forms, this desktop primer will inspire fabulous phone service.

This new book focusses upon customer care in relation to Human Resource Management issues and strategic planning. It addresses the objective of customer loyalty and retention in relation to business success and shows how this can integrate a company's strategy with regard to Marketing, Human Resource Management, Quality and Management of Change. This is an innovative book in a topical area that draws upon case study material.

"Cancelled flights, damaged goods, botched bills, locked-up software--these are the service screw-ups that leave customers angry, disgusted...and determined to never buy from you again! But these mad-as-hell customers can be wooed back through skillful, planned ""service recovery."" And, surprisingly, customers who experience world-class Knock Your Socks Off service recovery become your most loyal customers--and are a source of continuing business for years to come. Building on the popular, breezy approach of the Knock Your Socks Off Service series, the authors provide managers with an upbeat primer on creating a first-class recovery system. Enlivened by John Bush's witty illustrations, the book explains: * The economics of recovery--what it costs when you lose customers, and how little it can cost to win them back * The processes, policies, and technology a company must have to ensure an effective, real-time recovery system * The manager's role in sustaining an outstanding recovery system--through training, coaching, empowering, supporting, inspiring, and rewarding great service providers."