Dear Reader,
Welcome to the Summer 2008 edition of helpdesk.com's
quarterly newsletter -- Service & Support News -- the premier
newsletter for help desk, CRM, and IT professionals.
This month's feature story explores customer loyalty programs and the value (or arguably lack of value) they add to retention and satisfaction. Enjoy!
-------------
FREE Help Desk & CRM Software Download!
-- Sponsor Advertisement --
ITIL Heroes’ Handbook
An interesting ITIL handbook for those who don’t have the time. It has a clear focus on implementing ITIL Service Support
with best practices from winning customer environments. When you are done reading this informative handbook,
you too will be an ITIL hero!
FEATURE STORY
Lollipop Loyalty
As rewards programs proliferate, your best customers want -- and deserve -- more consideration.
(Source: destinationCRM)
Excerpt: Customers are spoiled -- and they have every right to be. Most of them have very little allegiance to just one store or brand, especially when prices are so comparable. As a result, companies are turning to loyalty programs to keep customers coming back. According to research firm Colloquy, U.S. membership in loyalty-rewards programs had reached a whopping 1.3 billion by the fourth quarter of 2006. Or, looking at it another way, the average American household belongs to 12 different loyalty programs. However, Colloquy's study also found that, of the 12, only approximately 4.7 qualified as what the firm deemed "active participation."
THE SURVEY SAYS...
According to our most recent helpdesk.com web site survey:
UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS
The 9th Annual Call Center Week
June 22 - 26, 2008
Flamingo Hotel, Las Vegas, NV
3rd Annual Customer Contact Asia Pacific Summit
June 26 - 27, 2008
Manila, Philippines
Call Centre Week Canada
August 18 - 21, 2008
The Grand Hotel & Suites, Toronto, ON
Customer Self Service Conference
August 18 - 21, 2008
San Diego, CA
Destination CRM 2008
August 19 - 20, 2008
New York, NY
Government Contact Centres Week
August 26 - 29, 2008
Hotel Realm, Canberra, ACT
Gartner Customer Relationship Summit
September 8 - 10, 2008
Washington, DC
>> More events
-------------
RECENT INDUSTRY ARTICLES
Managing Daily Staffing and Service in the Support Center
(SupportIndustry.com)
Abstract: This article will outline the steps of tracking support center performance within the day to ensure that the plan is actually working based on the realities of the day...
Aligning KM investments with critical business initiatives
(KM World)
Abstract: In September 2007, AMR Research conducted a detailed survey of 350 IT and business leaders across all industry sectors in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany to better understand spending plans, adoption, growth and business drivers for knowledge management (KM) platforms and applications. Here is a look back at the data through the lens of a possibly tighter economic environment...
Turn Your Contact Center Into A Profit Center
(Aberdeen Group)
Abstract: Contact centers are becoming heavily involved in sales activities, according to a recent research report by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE:HHS). Best-in-Class organizations have an average cross/up-sell of thirty-four percent (34%) in the contact center. This fact was unearthed after an April and May survey of over 140 companies and revealed in the benchmark report “Cross-selling and Up-selling in the Contact Center” (May, 2008)...
71 Aiken Street, Unit L-12 , Norwalk CT, 06851 | 203.846.6083