Real-Time Analytics: The Key To Unlocking Customer Insights & Driving The Customer Experience finds that customer analytics are essential for improving customer experiences across all marketing, selling and service channels an enterprise relies on.’ Here, BARE International shares an article by Louis Columbus for Forbes on How to Improve Customer Experiences with Real-Time Analytics.

‘Fascinating insights are from a new study conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services in conjunction with SASIntel and Accenture Applied Intelligence. The study is a quick, insightful read of 16 pages that combines survey findings and enterprises’ marketing results. The methodology is based on interviews with more than 560 business leaders drawn from the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and the Harvard Business Review audience of readers in February and March 2018.

“The expectation of consumers today is that everything exists in the world of the now and that their interactions will be personalized,” says Jeff Jacobs

The study finds that banking, retail, and telecommunications have the greatest upside growth potential from adopting customer analytics. The following are the ways enterprises are using real-time customer analytics to improve revenue:

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‘Business coach and consultant Dan S. Kennedy and customer retention expert Shaun Buck present a systematic approach to help you keep, cultivate, and multiply customers so you replace income uncertainty with reliable income through retention and referrals.’ Here, BARE International shares an excerpt by Dan S. Kennedy for Entrepreneur on 5 Ways to Grow the Value of Each of Your Customers.

‘Businesses that fail to fully monetizing their customers often fail outright, and many more will in the challenging years ahead. This is so because nothing is more difficult or costly than new customer acquisition.

There are five specific ways to create the maximum possible customer value:

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‘Traditional retailers are feeling the heat. Even as competition intensifies, shoppers’ visits to retail stores are declining every year, leading one industry veteran to ominously ask his peers, “Is anyone not seeing large traffic declines?”’ Here, BARE International shares a study by Emma Sopadjieva, Utpal M. Dholakia, Beth Benjamin for Harvard Business Review on 46,000 Shoppers Shows That Omnichannel Retailing Works.

Online retail, on the other hand, is thriving. Retail sales through digital channels (including mobile sales) increased by a massive 23% in 2015. Much of these gains have gone to online retailers. Amazon is the biggest beneficiary, now accounting for 26% of all online retail sales. What is more, as it continues to expand aggressively into new categories like grocery and fashion, Amazon’s existential threat to traditional retailers is greater than ever.

Just ask Alexa. Read more

About a week ago, Forbes published their annual list of The World’s 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams: “No sports league is as profitable as the NFL… and no one banked less than $26 million.” Four NFL teams made the top 10, with the other six being split across three other major sports. What is the National Football League doing differently to increase their loyal fans and profits?

They invest in their customers’ experiences, in and out of the stadium to start with. Here, BARE International shares an article by Steve Olenski for Forbes on how the NFL is Tackling Customer Experience.

‘Today’s brands know they have to have a successful game plan when it comes to creating and maintaining the customer experience (CX).  That’s because companies realize that is the playing field that involves a significant level of competition with customers at stake.

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‘The race to own customer experience is on! Companies are recognizing the importance of delivering an experience that makes them stand out from their competition. Some are learning the hard way. Here, BARE International shares an article by Shep Hyken for Forbes on Customer Experience Is The New Brand.

Last year United Airlines had a brand crisis, in which $1.4 billion in value was wiped out overnight when a passenger’s experience went viral on social media. And, you may not have heard about Juicero, but it fell victim to brand crisis when it was discovered the proprietary juice packets needed for its $699 juicer weren’t so proprietary, resulting in the company dropping the price of the juicer to $200, and then ultimately going out of business.

Be it customer service, product quality or just the way the customers feel about the companies they do business with, customer experience rises to the top of whether or not the customer will decide to keep doing business with a brand.

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The figures that show 80% of companies believe they are providing superior customer service, while only 8% of their clients agree with them. Confused about what customers really want? Want your business to be in that 8%? Here, BARE International shares an article by Mark Taylor for SuperOffice on 3 Ways to Exceed Expectations.

‘Customer expectations are difficult to meet. The higher they are, the more unlikely you are to exceed them. So, how do you exceed customer expectations? We will now cover the 3 main areas where most companies go wrong and discuss how to exceed customer expectations and provide examples of good customer service and how to improve them.

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‘Fireworks aren’t just a July 4th spectacle; they’re also a surefire way to win in business. We love the 4th of July because it crescendos into something epic, memorable, beautiful. It stirs the soul with a sensory experience that we don’t soon forget. 

Some businesses, believe it or not, create a similar effect. Here, BARE International shares an article by Peter Kozodoy for Inc on The Hidden Business Strategy Behind July 4th Fireworks.

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Omnichannel. Multichannel. Cross channel. What is the difference and which is more effective at engaging and delighting your customers? Here, BARE International shares an article by  for Forbes on What Does Real Omnichannel Service Look Like?

‘Omnichannel emerged as a term for B2C retailers, describing the ability for customers to have a consistent experience over traditional channels and new, information-rich digital channels. In the world of CX, it has come to mean that customers can move from channel of engagement to channel of engagement while always progressing along the customer journey. That means seamless journey continuity, from first touch to checkout, support, returns, and beyond.

There is a hierarchy of customer communication, and they mean different things for customers and agents…

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Thanks to technology (define ‘Instagram-worthy’?), we see exponential change in what defines an ‘experience’ when you’re shopping. Here, BARE International shares an article by Harley Finkelstein for Forbes on 5 Trends That Change The Way Your Customer Shop

‘A few weeks ago, my wife pulled me into a big name department store to look for an engagement gift for a friend. I rarely set foot in department stores anymore and I thought the experience might be nostalgic, even fun. Within seconds I was full of regret. Trying to navigate floors and floors of haphazardly organized, uncurated stock in search of a specific product wasn’t just frustrating, it was defeating—second only to the difficulty in trying to flag down an actual salesperson to help us out.

There’s no excuse for a shopping experience like that any longer.’

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As we come upon a long weekend in the United States that is often synonymous with barbeques and retail sales, we at BARE remember and celebrate the service men and women who fought and continue to serve for our country. Our deepest gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice of our fallen heroes. BARE International shares an article and infographic from John S Kiernan of WalletHub on 2018 Memorial Day Facts.

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