Small businesses can generate ROI if they integrate email marketing with client engagement platforms. These tools are applications that can be integrated into a business website, email campaigns, or social marketing software – enabling clients to interact with a business from anywhere at any time. Some examples of these tools are online payments, online scheduling, file sharing, electronic forms and signatures, event registration, surveys and more. If email marketing is done in a right way then it can generate ROI and increase customer engagement.  To know more, follow (Ran Oelgiesser, Chief Marketing Officer of vCita)’s article link: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/boosting-email-marketing-campaigns-with-client-engagement-platforms-and-scheduling-tools/1236

According to a recent survey by Dimension Data, it was found that for younger Generation Y consumers, electronic messaging, social media and smartphone applications are preferred over traditional voice calls when interacting with a company. Technology is providing a way of overcoming limitations of the past. Cloud technology will be the game changer in customer service. In another survey by Dimension Data, it was found that 77.6% said cloud technology had helped cut costs to serve customers, another 65% already using cloud-based technology solutions agreed that it had provided access to new and enhanced functionality. For 64.8% of the respondents, the technology had improved flexibility. Read more at: http://www.rcrwireless.com/20141201/opinion/reality-check/reality-check-taking-customer-service-cloud-tag10

According to a survey in UK, it was found that 84 per cent of 18-34 year olds are happy to share their personal data with brands by registering and logging into sites with their identities from social networks. Consumers are worried about sharing personal information out of fear that companies will not use it properly. So, it's important to show consumers how you value data privacy and be clear on exactly how their data will be used. It is essential for companies to give a clear notification to consumers about how their personal data will be used. To know more, follow Patrick Salyer (CEO of Gigya)’s article link: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-data/data-collection-all-consumers-want-is-transparency-relevance-and-convenience/1238

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is the buzzword in today’s world. CLV has the ability to measure by sector, product type and purchase occasion. CLV is also linked with brand loyalty and ease of brand switching. It is dependent on many factors, from customer personality types to the ability for a brand to differentiate the experience it offers. According to a study by Sitecore, it was found that in the retail sector people expect customer loyalty to be low. The automobile sector faces challenges when it comes to growing CLV, as customer demand is typically driven by a range of factors; technological advancements, public opinion, cost, life stage and fashion. The media and technology and telecoms industries also face a similar challenge. In a nutshell, it was found that 64% of brands believe improving customer experience is the route to focus on CLV and move customers towards the ideal bracket of remaining loyal. To know more, follow Shawn Cabral (VP Corporate Marketing at Sitecore)’s article link: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/customer-experience/how-do-sectors-compare-when-it-comes-to-customer-lifetime-value/1228

Companies need to provide easy access across platforms and services including the cloud, mobile devices, customer portals, social platforms, and the Web. On the other hand they must protect customer security and ensure that customers get what they pay for. Businesses must reassess their approach to identity management in order to prosper in fast-paced environment. Identity and access management (IAM) tools enable or deny access based on some criteria, and users, employees and partners. Companies who are looking to support innovative services for customers can leverage identity relationship management (IRM) platforms. IRM can support multiple devices, react to context, and scale up to accommodate millions of users at a time without any performance degradation or service disruption. To know more, follow Neil Chapman (Senior Vice President & Managing Director EMEA)’s article link: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/customer-experience/harness-identity-management-to-thrive-in-the-age-of-the-customer/1229

Marketing is the most important aspect in business world. But, companies over market and under market their products. Overmarketing makes things worse. If you undermarket, you lose sales and if you overmarket you can turn prospect customers. The most common form of overmarketing in today’s world of email is sending too many messages to the same customer. Successful marketing can be described as giving the right message to the right customer at the right time through the right medium. CRM strategy prevents companies to over market their products  Rick Cook (writer of technology) writes in his article about some points to follow when implementing a successful marketing strategy. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/how-crm-prevents-overmarketing-62584

Successful adoption of CRM system begins when companies make a good strategy to adopt CRM. It begins when implementation team begins training as soon as the product decision is made. Another aspect is the adoption of training and for training it is advisable to consider each group of users that will adopt the new system. A CRM training strategy can make or break a CRM system. Companies have to make sure users are properly prepared to adopt the new system by beginning the training early, customizing training to each user group, and re-training on a regular basis. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/is-your-crm-training-strategy-good-enough-64696

Organizations forget the benefits of a customer relationship management (CRM) solution. They forget the benefit of having a centralized database in which they can store customer information. In this age of Big Data, the centralized database would not only help the sales team but also other departments. Management will be able to review customer records from one location when their time is limited. Organizations can train the users in one system rather than in multiple systems. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/centralized-data-for-crm-64692

Gartner has predicted that by 2020, customers will manage 85% of the relationship with an enterprise, without interacting with a human. 43% of respondents in a recent AYTM survey (rising to 62% when aged 18-24) feel they can solve service issues on their own if companies put better self-service tools in place. Companies have tools like automated customer service interactions, email response systems and intelligent agents. In the future, self-service technology promises greater capabilities such as retailer-specific mobile alert applications; entirely new personalized experiences; and data management. To know more, follow Rod Brown (co-founder and CEO of MCADO)’s article link:  http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/who-s-serving-you-providing-enhanced-service-in-a-digital-age/1211

According to a report from Fracti, it was found that one in five consumers say that reflecting their identity is the most important reason why they share content online. Identity ranked as the third-most important reason for sharing content, after wanting to entertain (44% of respondents) and wanting to educate (25%) according to a recent survey in the United States. Read more at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/26546/how-identity-influences-content-sharing-infographic?adref=nlt112514

The best way to know a customer is by looking into customer profile. But what is a customer profile. A customer profile is a picture of your ideal customer, the one you want to target your marketing and sales.  CRM system helps to keep track of customers' characteristics. An organization must consider some points in order to visualize an ideal customer. To know more, follow: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/profiling-the-ideal-customer-64693

Loyalty programs are important nowadays as there is stiff competition among companies to win customers. According to a research by Gartner, it was found that 50 per cent of customers cited loyalty programs as the key differentiator between brands. It also shows that these schemes play a key part in the decision process, and therefore right type of engagement is vital in building long-term relationships with customers. Brands also need to consider consistency of message with consumers now using a number of different ways to communicate with providers. In this article by Adam Goran (Divisional Director for Customer Engagement at Grass Roots Group), writes about some key rules of engagement that brands should follow to revive their customer loyalty programs. To know more, follow:  http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/customer-experience/how-not-to-lose-friends-and-alienate-people-key-rules-of-customer-engagement/1206

Today’s consumers are always connected by mobiles. According to a report by Forbes it was found that 90 percent of mobile searches lead to action, more than half lead to sale, and 74 percent of people use their mobile phones for shopping. Mobiles are used for connecting with consumers to stay ahead in competition and is also used to enhance consumer loyalty. Companies can tailor their mobile marketing by using subscriber data – known as “mobile context” – to offer messaging that drives customer behavior. Mobile context means mobile usage patterns, shopping behaviors and brand affiliations to build a model that predicts what offers will motivate a user. To know more, follow article link by Todd Thayer (Syniverse Vice President of Product Management, Enterprise and Intelligence Solutions): http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/mobile-digital-marketing/for-better-customer-engagement-it-s-time-to-go-mobile/1202

According to advertising industry, effective frequency is the number of times a person is exposed to an advertising message before a response is made and before exposure is considered wasteful. In advertisement industry, finding the optimal frequency of an ad is the key. In mobile advertisement industry, repeated exposure to ads, specifically at key points in the purchase cycle can positively change consumer awareness and over exposure can create negative sentiment. In case of mobile ad, higher frequency is needed. To know more, follow: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-advertising/re-defining-mobile-advertising-frequency/1205

An organization can convert information into customer intelligence to strengthen relationships and maximize profits by integrating Knowledge management (KM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Knowledge management (KM) is the practice of identifying, capturing, distributing, and using information for a company’s benefit and CRM is all about data. The more information a CRM system receives, the better it performs. When a CRM system is integrated with the KM system, it creates an environment in which employees can share insights for the benefit of the company and the customer and customer knowledge remains with the company regardless of turnover or job changes. KM integration helps only if the database is properly maintained and employees actually use the application. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/knowledge-management-can-make-your-crm-project-a-success-64662

Nowadays organizations are adapting mobile as a marketing channel to meet the needs of consumer behavior. To increase customer loyalty, organizations are making mobile specific sites, device optimized applications, innovative user experiences. But, due to fragmented landscape, multiple operating systems, consumer identification, privacy and security features marketers cannot reach their target customers. These challenges will always be there for marketers but time has come to explore different avenues. So, location based marketing has become important to marketers. To know more about location based marketing, follow  Pravin Kumar Shanmugam (Digital Consultant at Mindtree)’s article link: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/add-location-in-to-your-existing-marketing-strategy/1200

Mobile plays an important role in today’s marketing world. So, we need to answer some questions like timings to push mobile messages, how long the notifications be and what should be the messages. In a recent survey it was found that the average click rate—defined as the percentage of users who actually clicked a push notification upon receiving it from an app—was 5.5% across all messages and the click rate for individual notifications varied widely based on the content of the messages and when they were sent. Read more at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/26511/best-practices-for-sending-mobile-push-messages

Earlier it was easy for marketers to advertise as there were few TV channels, newspapers and magazines. In this digital age, marketers need to identify and communicate benefits to consumers. Greg Satell writes in his article about some principles that will guide the marketers in today’s world. Read more at: : http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2013/04/16/4-principles-of-marketing-strategy-in-the-digital-age/

Organizations must sell their products in such a way that it improves the lives of people and to do that you have to make a person feel – not think. Emotional branding is all about feeling and that feeling doesn't even need to be directly connected to the brand. Jeannette de Beauvoir (principal at Harbor Marketing Associates), writes in her article about some tips on how to launch an emotional branding campaign for your company or product. Read more at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/26405/five-tips-for-effective-emotional-branding

In a recent survey it was found that 64% of respondents believe mobile is a critical channel for engaging customers and 39% of respondents say they have either not tried to integrate their mobile strategy or do not have a mobile strategy to begin with. To know more, follow: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/26504/the-state-of-mobile-marketing-strategy