For full functionality of this publication it is necessary to enable Javascript.

Click here to see instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.


<--

 

Don’t Neglect Your Outbound Marketing

Marketing automation is great, but you have to make calls, too.

BY HENRY SCHUCK, COFOUNDER AND CEO, DISCOVER.ORG

 

Just How Important Is Customer Service to Customer Loyalty?

It turns out other factors are bigger. But here’s why it matters.

BY MICHAEL CHOLAK, VICE PRESIDENT, ANALYTICS SOLUTIONS, CONVERGYS CORP.

 

Stop Your Customers From Going Dark

Bombarding customers with irrelevant messages doesn’t help. Forget focusing on meeting quotas and focus instead on the customer experience.

BY CHARLES NICHOLLS, SVP, PRODUCT STRATEGY, HYBRIS SOFTWARE AND SAP CEC

 

How to Solve the Customer Experience Puzzle

You can’t do a jigsaw puzzle without the box; likewise, you can’t satisfy today’s omnichannel customer without a sound strategy.

BY YVONNE BA, SENIOR MANAGER, PRODUCT MARKETING, GENESYS

 

4 Steps to Using Automation to Transform Your Enterprise

Leave decision-making to humans, but automate (or eliminate) the processes that lead up to it.

BY ANNA CONVERY, CMO AND EVP OF STRATEGY, OPENSPAN

 

Choose the Right CRM Solution for Your Small Business

Mobility, flexibility, and automation will help you get the most out of your system.

BY JAVIER PERALTA, UK COUNTRY MANAGER, FORCEMANAGER

 

Pulling Back the Curtain on “Content in Context”

Lots of vendors claim to offer it, but make sure you’re actually getting what you pay for.

BY DOUG WINTER, COFOUNDER AND CEO, SEISMIC

 

Do You Feel Your Customers’ Pain (Points)?

A study finds that agent knowledge is the biggest customer service headache. Here’s how to spell relief.

BY ANAND SUBRAMANIAM, VP, WORLDWIDE MARKETING, AND MEENAKSHI SHARMA, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, eGAIN CORP.

Editorial Director 

David Myron  dmyron@infotoday.com

 

MANAGING EDITOR

Chris Cronis  ccronis@infotoday.com

 

news EDITOR

Leonard Klie  lklie@infotoday.com

 

Senior Designer

Laura Hegyi  lhegyi@infotoday.com

 

Associate editor

Maria Minsker  mminsker@infotoday.com

 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Oren Smilansky  osmilansky@infotoday.com

 

Proofreader

Greg Edmondson

 

Contributing Writers

Donna Fluss, Barton Goldenberg, Esteban Kolsky, Marshall Lager, Brent Leary, Robert Wollan

 

Editorial Advisory Board 

Lior Arussy, 

President, Strativity Group;

 

Barton Goldenberg,

President, ISM, Inc.; 

 

Paul Greenberg,

President, The 56 Group, LLC;

 

Sheryl Kingstone, 

CRM Program Manager, Yankee Group;

 

Denis Pombriant, 

founder and Managing Principal,

Beagle Research Group;

 

Ray Wang, 

Principal Analyst and CEO,

Constellation Research

 

Advertising Sales/print & online

Vice president and Group Publisher

Bob Fernekees 1-212-251-0608 x106  bfernekees@destinationCRM.com

 

west coast ad director

Dennis Sullivan 1-203-445-9178  dennis@destinationCRM.com

 

East/MIdwest Ad Director

Adrienne Snyder 1-201-327-2773  adrienne@destinationCRM.com

 

Marketing

Director of Marketing

Tom Hogan, Jr.  thoganjr@infotoday.com

 

Director of Web Events

DawnEl Harris  dawnel@destinationCRM.com

 

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT 

President and CEO

Thomas H. Hogan  thogan@infotoday.com

 

Chairman

Roger R. Bilboul

 

Vice President, Administration

John Yersak  johny@infotoday.com

 

Vice President, Content

Dick Kaser  kaser@infotoday.com

 

Information Technology

Vice President, information Technology

Bill Spence  spence@infotoday.com

 

Production

production Manager

Norma J. Neimeister  nneimeister@infotoday.com

 

Ad Trafficking Coordinator

Jacqueline Crawford  adsubmit@infotoday.com

CRM (ISSN: 1529-8728; USPS: 17233) is published monthly by CRM Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055 USA; Phone: (609) 654-6266; Fax: (609) 654-4309; Internet: www.infotoday.com. Registered in U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. 

Periodicals postage paid at Vincetown, N.J., and additional mailing offices.

©Copyright 2015, CRM Media, a division of Information Today, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part in any medium without the express permission of the publisher. Printed in USA

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CRM magazine, P.O. Box 3510, Northbrook, IL 60065

Rights and Permissions
Permission to photocopy items is granted by Information Today, Inc. provided that a base fee of $3.50 plus $0.50 per page is paid directly to Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), or provided that your organization maintains an appropriate license with CCC. 

Visit copyright.com to obtain permission to use these materials in academic coursepacks or for library reserves, interlibrary loans, document delivery services, or as classroom handouts; for permission to send copies via email or post copies on a corporate intranet or extranet; or for permission to republish materials in books, textbooks, and newsletters.

Contact CCC at 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923; (978) 750-8400; Fax: (978) 646-8600; www.copyright.com. If you live outside the USA, request permission from your local Reproduction Rights Organization. (For a list of international agencies, consult www.ifrro.org.)

For all other requests, including making copies for use as commercial reprints or for other sales, marketing, promotional, and publicity uses, contact the publisher in advance of using the material. For a copy of our Rights and Permissions Request form, contact Lauree Padgett, lpadgett@infotoday.com.

Online Access Visit our Web site at www.destinationCRM.com

Searchable archive of all articles with digital document delivery: www.iti-infocentral.com

Contents also available online under direct licensing arrangements with EBSCO, NewsBank, ProQuest, and Gale and through redistribution arrangements with information service providers including Dow Jones Factiva, LexisNexis, OCLC, STN International, and Westlaw.

Subscription Information 
Subscriptions: Free to qualified recipients within the U.S. Subscription rates for nonqualified subscribers: U.S. subscription rate—$59.95; Canada and Mexico—$79.00; overseas delivery—$112.00 All rates to be prepaid in U.S. funds. Subscribe online at www.destinationCRM.com

Back issues: $9.00 (U.S.) and $10.00 in Canada and elsewhere per copy.

Change of Address: Mail requests, including a copy of the current address label from a recent issue, and indicating the new address, to CRM magazine, P.O. Box 3510, Northbrook, IL 60065-9857 or call (847) 291-5213.

List Rental American List Council
Postal list: 1-609-580-2793; www.alcdata.com
Email list: Cathy Relyea, 1-914-524-5244; cathy.relyea@alc.com

Reprints For quality reprints of 500 copies or more contact Dennis Sullivan, West Coast, (800) 248-8466 x538 or dennis@destinationCRM.com; Adrienne Snyder, East/Midwest, (201) 327-2773 or adrienne@destinationCRM.com.

Disclaimers Acceptance of an advertisement does not imply an endorsement by the publisher. Views expressed by authors and other contributors are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. While best efforts to ensure editorial accuracy of the content are exercised, publisher assumes no liability for any information contained in this publication. The publisher can accept no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or the loss of photos.

Privacy Policy Occasionally, we make a portion of our mailing list available to organizations whose products or services we think might be of interest to our customers. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please send a copy of your mailing label with a request to be removed from the third-party mailing list to CRM magazine Customer Service, P.O. Box 3006, Northbrook, IL 60065, or call 1-847-291-5213.

Editorial Office 237 West 35th Street, Suite 14A, New York, NY 10001; (212) 251-0608; www.destinationCRM.com

CRM magazine’s monthly PR editorial email update:
Contact David Myron at dmyron@infotoday.com