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• 5 tips for an effective marketing automation implementation

  Successful marketing automation implementations require steps beyond those that go into the usual technology rollouts. Here are some tips to help businesses along the way. Continue Reading

• 6 ideas to consider before making a C/4HANA SAP cloud migration

  Moving to SAP's C/4HANA platform may lead to improved CX. However, companies should make some considerations before starting an on-premises to SAP cloud migration. Continue Reading

• 5 common call center terms to know

  Businesses interact with customers in a variety of ways, including via phone calls and chatbots. Here are some call center terms that define these interactions. Continue Reading

• virtual agent

  A virtual agent (sometimes called an intelligent virtual agent, virtual rep or chatbot) is a software program that uses scripted rules and, increasingly, artificial intelligence applications to provide automated service or guidance to humans. Continue Reading

• chatbot

  A chatbot -- sometimes referred to as a chatterbot -- is programming that simulates the conversation or "chatter" of a human being through text or voice interactions. Continue Reading

• Definitions to Get Started

  • virtual agent
  • chatbot
  • contact center
  • actionable insights

  • cost per engagement (CPE)
  • owned media/earned media/paid media
  • BOPUS (buy online, pick up in-store)
  • real-time analytics

  View All Definitions

• contact center

  A contact center -- also referred to as a customer interaction center or e-contact center -- is a central point from which all customer interactions across various channels are managed.Continue Reading

• actionable insights

  Actionable insights are conclusions drawn from data that can be turned directly into an action or a response.Continue Reading

• What chatbot evaluation metrics do you use to measure performance?

  Chatbots are an important contact center component -- as is measuring their performance. Learn how to measure chatbot performance in your organization.Continue Reading

• cost per engagement (CPE)

  Cost per engagement (CPE) is an advertising pricing model in which digital marketing teams and advertisers only pay for ads when users interact with their campaign in some way.Continue Reading

• owned media/earned media/paid media

  Owned, earned and paid media are three different types of advertising content used by digital marketing teams to create a complete and effective marketing strategy.Continue Reading

• What are the differences between CRM, CDP and DMP platforms?

  Sales and marketing terms are like alphabet soup, and the different acronyms can get confusing. Find out the difference between three major platforms: CRM, CDP and DMP.Continue Reading

• What is the role of a customer success manager?

  The customer success manager is an essential CX role that takes a proactive approach to ensuring customer loyalty and retention, balancing out automated CRM functions.Continue Reading

• BOPUS (buy online, pick up in-store)

  BOPUS -- or buy online, pick up in-store -- is a business model that allows consumers to shop and place orders online and then pick up their purchases in the brick-and-mortar store, often within the same day.Continue Reading

• real-time analytics

  Real-time analytics is the use of data and related resources for analysis as soon as it enters the system.Continue Reading

• These are the ABCs of marketing in the digital age

  Audience understanding, behavior analysis, marketing convergence and accessible design are the ABCs of marketing in the digital age, according to Microsoft's Purna Virji.Continue Reading

• The contact center of the future is here

  What started as a call center phone bank has morphed into a multipurpose operation aided by AI. This guide explores the contact center as it evolves into a critical CX force.Continue Reading

• Best practices for initiating chatbot-to-human handoff

  Customers can become frustrated with chatbots, so it is important for contact centers to design AI that can recognize this and perform a timely handoff to live agents.Continue Reading

• Evolving contact center services reshape engagement strategies

  As consumer expectations increase the need for more satisfying omnichannel engagements, the role of the contact center takes on greater importance and complexity.Continue Reading

• social media influence

  Social media influence is a marketing term that describes an individual’s ability to affect other people's thinking in a social online community.Continue Reading

• The difference between autodialers and predictive dialers

  Some people don't know that a predictive dialer is a type of autodialer. There are, in fact, five broad categories of autodialers contact centers need to know about.Continue Reading

• 8 live chat best practices for organizations to consider

  Organizations find that live chat can be a means to improve customer experience -- when implemented correctly. Here are some best practices to put into action.Continue Reading

• 10 things to know about Google Cloud Contact Center AI

  Google has partnered with more than 90 different companies to roll out its contact center AI. This article lists 10 important things you need to know about the program.Continue Reading

• The art and science of digital experience management strategies

  Businesses need a well-rounded view of customers to provide innovative, personalized digital experiences. In this handbook, learn the techniques and tools of the trade.Continue Reading

• Digital CX vs. customer experience: What's the difference?

  While similar, digital CX and customer experience are different. The former focuses on digital communication tool experiences, while the latter is the overall brand perception.Continue Reading

• Customer data management tools shape personalization, boost CX

  In this guide, learn about the many tools, including customer data platforms, that collect and analyze data from disparate sources and provide a single, 360-degree customer view.Continue Reading

• 5 Gen Z marketing trends for businesses to consider

  Those born after 1995 are driving trends online for themselves and older generations. These shared experiences are important for marketers to understand. Here are some tips.Continue Reading

• customer experience (CX)

  Customer experience (CX) is the sum total of customers’ perceptions and feelings resulting from interactions with a brand’s products and services.Continue Reading

• How to create a great customer experience strategy in 6 steps

  In today's business landscape, a powerful CX strategy is key to gaining customer loyalty and a competitive advantage. Here's how to deliver a great customer experience.Continue Reading

• Customer service vs. customer experience: What's the difference?

  Customer service is an age-old concept, but where does it fit into the customer experience? Here's how the two are different and where they intersect.Continue Reading

• relationship marketing

  Relationship marketing is a customer relationship management strategy designed to encourage strong, lasting customer connections to a brand. The goal is to generate repeat sales, encourage word-of-mouth promotion and gather customer information.Continue Reading

• call center

  A call center is a centralized department to which phone calls from current and potential customers are directed.Continue Reading

• AI converts consumer analytics into potent sales weapons

  Surveys, social media monitoring and loyalty cards are just some of the ways to collect customer data. Consumer analytics can help businesses analyze that data.Continue Reading

• The evolution of call centers to experience centers

  The call center has evolved over the years, moving from phone-based systems to multichannel contact centers. The next move is toward a customer experience center.Continue Reading

• What are the most effective uses of AI in marketing automation?

  AI is beneficial in many marketing automation processes. Organizations use the technology in chatbots, personalization, voice and visual search, frequency optimization and more.Continue Reading

• Multipronged digital customer experience strategy enriches CX

  The digital experience is an everyday facet of life. Learn how businesses are using tools and technologies to engage consumers and devise and manage effective CX strategies.Continue Reading

• 5 tips for creating customer journey maps from buyer personas

  Comprehensive customer personas are important tools in coping with the increasing complexity of customer journey mapping. Here are some tips on how to do it best.Continue Reading

• 4 steps to create a digital marketing strategy

  This four-step approach will help organizations build a digital marketing strategy designed to increase their online presence and attract new customers.Continue Reading

• 6 live chat benefits to consider in a CX strategy

  Live chat enables customers to solve problems quickly and agents to multitask, but it also can be difficult to implement well and requires synchronous communication.Continue Reading

• brand ambassador

  A brand ambassador is an advocate of a particular company's products and services. In marketing, brand ambassador may actually be a paid position and job title.Continue Reading

• Prepare for California Consumer Privacy Act with these 5 questions

  At Oracle's Modern Customer Experience conference, a privacy professional shared tips on incorporating privacy into CX systems so businesses are ready for the CCPA.Continue Reading

• customer lifecycle

  In customer relationship management (CRM), customer lifecycle is a term used to describe the progression of steps a customer goes through when considering, purchasing, using and maintaining loyalty to a product or service.Continue Reading

• customer acquisition cost

  Customer acquisition cost is the fee associated with convincing a consumer to buy your product or service, including research, marketing and advertising costs.Continue Reading

• How to use live chat for lead generation

  Live chat can successfully generate sales leads -- if done right. Here are four steps organizations can take to boost brand loyalty and close the deal.Continue Reading

• How to gather and evaluate customer sentiment

  Businesses can harvest customer sentiment from a number of places, including social media, surveys, likes, comment cards, contact centers and word of mouth.Continue Reading

• marketing-qualified lead (MQL)

  A marketing-qualified lead (MQL) is a website visitor whose engagement levels indicate that he is likely to become a customer. Continue Reading

• Salesforce learning resources include free and paid options

  While Salesforce offers a number of free and paid customer success tools to users, nonusers can also benefit through the use of Trailhead and the Trailblazer Community.Continue Reading

• 7 customer segmentation methods to help connect the dots

  Customer segmentation is essential to marketing, enabling businesses to provide the right people with the right products -- and is a move away from bulk appeals.Continue Reading

• 5 things to know about Salesforce Customer 360

  Salesforce Customer 360 -- a tool that connects customer data stored in multiple silos -- is currently in beta and will be available to all users later this year.Continue Reading

• How do you determine the right point for chatbot-human handoff?

  Customer experience can be adversely affected when chatbots don't transfer the call to a live agent at the right time. Here are some guidelines and best practices for initiating that handoff.Continue Reading

• customer segmentation

  Customer segmentation is the practice of dividing a customer base into groups of individuals that are similar in specific ways relevant to marketing, such as age, gender, interests and spending habits.Continue Reading

• autoresponder

  An autoresponder is a computer program that automatically sends an email, SMS or a series of emails to a contact list subscriber based on time or event triggers.Continue Reading

• marketing automation

  Marketing automation is a type of software that allows companies to effectively target customers with automated marketing messages across channels including email, websites, social media and text messages to generate sales leads.Continue Reading

• 5 crucial ways to prepare for the CXO role

  Technophiles who have experience in sales and marketing, as well as social media awareness, may be best prepared for success in the role of chief experience officer.Continue Reading

• How to improve customer experience with mystery shopping

  Mystery shopping -- among other CX management tools -- enables businesses to collect the data necessary to identify customer pain points and improve CX.Continue Reading

• 10 ways to improve the customer experience today

  Many organizations struggle with where and how to improve CX, as the focus shifts from CRM to customer experience. Here are 10 strategies to use for a successful journey.Continue Reading

• brand recognition

  Brand recognition is the extent to which a consumer can correctly identify a particular product or service just by viewing the product or service's logo, tag line, packaging or advertising campaign.Continue Reading

• needs assessment

  A needs assessment is an exercise that identifies the difference between a current condition/state and the desired condition/state. Improvements can then be made to improve performance or fix a deficiency.Continue Reading

• moment of truth (marketing MOT)

  A moment of truth is marketing lingo for any opportunity a customer (or potential customer) has to form an impression about a company, brand, product or service.Continue Reading

• showrooming (reverse showrooming)

  Showrooming is the practice of examining a product in a brick-and-mortar store, then purchasing it online for a lower price.Continue Reading

• Q&A: How to narrow down your CRM vendor choices

  SaaS consultancy Lunar goes over the dos and don'ts for choosing a CRM system, whether you're licensing one for the first time or migrating to a new system.Continue Reading

• 5 sales enablement best practices to drive growth

  Sales enablement consists of tools and processes that can help sales agents succeed in their roles, including training, resource availability and team involvement.Continue Reading

• Our rebrand: Customer experience strategy, platforms, best practices

  Customer experience strategy blurs lines between sales and marketing automation, customer service and e-commerce as they come together on next-generation customer experience platforms.Continue Reading

• What is the role and responsibility of a chief experience officer?

  The chief experience officer is an increasingly vital member of the C-suite who ensures that an organization's customers have positive interactions with the brand.Continue Reading

• Liferay digital experience platform helps company improve CX

  Jack Maina, group chief operations officer of Britam, talks about how the financial services group rebuilt the way it interacts with customers and partners using Liferay.Continue Reading

• 6 must-have roles on your customer experience team

  Customer experience is the most important differentiator between enterprise competitors today, and CX teams are essential to ensuring customer loyalty and retention.Continue Reading

• CRM (customer relationship management)

  Customer relationship management (CRM) is the combination of practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle, with the goal of improving customer ...Continue Reading

• 6 tips for driving adoption of self-service platforms

  Self-service platforms should be visible to customers, emphasized across all channels of communication and well-promoted. These and more tips are discussed here.Continue Reading

• Salesforce.org's CRM for education helps UVA students succeed

  The University of Virginia is one of a number of institutions using Salesforce.org's Education Cloud CRM to recruit students, track student success and manage alumni relations.Continue Reading

• How do you create a chatbot and connect it to Salesforce?

  There are two ways for Salesforce users to create a chatbot -- the easy way and the hard way. Read on to discover what your options are in the creation process.Continue Reading

• Which vendors make the best CRM for small businesses?

  Choosing a CRM for small businesses can be difficult, as the most well-known CRM vendors cater to large enterprises. Others, however, create products with SMBs in mind.Continue Reading

• customer service and support

  Customer service and support (CSS) is the part of a company's customer relationship management (CRM) department that interacts with a customer for their immediate benefit, including components such as the contact center, the help desk, and the call ...Continue Reading

• outbound call

  An outbound call is one initiated by a call center agent to a customer on behalf of a call center or client.Continue Reading

• How does Salesforce Einstein Bot differ from other AI?

  Salesforce's no-code bot authoring tool competes with Google, Amazon and Microsoft, but differentiating capabilities make it potentially more useful for the Salesforce user base.Continue Reading

• Mystery shopping software key to CX management

  Businesses use mystery shopping platforms, comment cards, brand reputation management and more to identify customer pain points and improve customer experience.Continue Reading

• How does Salesforce lead scoring benefit Sales Cloud?

  Einstein lead scoring offers a customizable workflow and strives to get better at prediction over time, and Salesforce is one of the top three vendors in the field.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Circles of Success help SMBs get up to speed

  Circles of Success participants connect with other Salesforce users to swap challenges, tips and tricks for rolling out the platform in their businesses.Continue Reading

• chat channels

  Chat channels are technologies enabling companies to engage with customers in live conversations.Continue Reading

• 8 tips for a successful Einstein artificial intelligence rollout

  You'll fail a few times before you succeed with Einstein, Salesforce customers said at Dreamforce. Once you dial it in, though, success can follow. Here are eight ways to get there.Continue Reading

• conversational commerce (voice commerce)

  Conversational commerce is the process of interacting with a brand or buying a product or service through non-traditional channels, such as voice assistants, SMS text and online and social media chat.Continue Reading

• How does Salesforce Einstein Language NLP improve productivity?

  Salesforce NLP learns in a manner similar to that of the human brain, performing a variety of functions, such as semantic parsing, summarization and more.Continue Reading

• Customers buy more and more into voice shopping

  It's still early days for voice commerce and voice customer service channels. But companies are testing and investing in this new way to engage customers.Continue Reading

• Loyalty rewards program fuels convenience store's CX

  Since launching a loyalty rewards program last year, convenience store and gas station Yesway has driven 45.2% of loyalty members from the pump to the store.Continue Reading

• actionable intelligence

  Actionable intelligence is information that can be followed up on, with the further implication that a strategic plan should be undertaken to make positive use of the information gathered.Continue Reading

• Dreamforce 2018 conference highlights and key takeaways

  Salesforce will reveal new features, tools and platform updates at Dreamforce 2018 in San Francisco Sept. 25-28. Use this guide to stay up to date.Continue Reading

• revenue operations (RevOps)

  Revenue operations (RevOps) is the strategic integration of sales, marketing and service departments to provide a better end-to-end view to administration and management, while leaving day-to-day processes within the departments.Continue Reading

• lead scoring

  In the B2B industry, lead scoring is a methodology used by sales and marketing departments to determine the worthiness of leads, or potential customers, by attaching values to them based on their behavior relating to their interest in products or ...Continue Reading

• omnichannel

  Omnichannel -- also spelled omni-channel -- is a multichannel approach to sales that seeks to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience, whether they're shopping online from a desktop or mobile device, by telephone, or in a ...Continue Reading

• Albuquerque Amazon Alexa skill takes heat off call center

  Tens of thousands of Alexa skills -- voice-activated apps -- exist, with more to come. Learn how a city government's call center created one to help residents.Continue Reading

• partner relationship management (PRM)

  Partner relationship management (PRM) is a combination of the software, processes and strategies companies use to streamline business processes with partners who sell their products.Continue Reading

• Marketing automation platforms merge CRM and content

  Building a martech stack includes a main automation hub such as Marketo, Eloqua, HubSpot or Pardot. Then comes the hard part: picking complementary applications.Continue Reading

• emotions analytics (EA)

  Emotions analytics (EA) software collects data on how a person communicates verbally and nonverbally to understand the person's mood or attitude.Continue Reading

• Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

  Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated telephony system that interacts with callers, gathers information and routes calls to the appropriate recipients.Continue Reading

• customer experience management (CEM or CXM)

  Customer experience management (CEM or CXM) is the collection of processes a company uses to track, oversee and organize every interaction between a customer and the organization throughout the customer lifecycle.Continue Reading

• call center agent (call center representative)

  A call center agent is a person who handles incoming or outgoing customer calls for a business.Continue Reading

• Virtual agents not yet ready for primetime customer service

  Chatbots may never replace humans at call centers. But they can alleviate high call volumes and route queries to humans when they're too thorny for automated responses.Continue Reading

• voice recognition (speaker recognition)

  Voice or speaker recognition is the ability of a machine or program to receive and interpret dictation or to understand and carry out spoken commands.Continue Reading

• What do GDPR principles mean for CRM data management?

  Avoiding General Data Protection Regulation penalties means getting your CRM compliance program in order before the sweeping regulation goes into effect late this spring.Continue Reading

• market intelligence (MI)

  Market intelligence is the monitoring of specific data streams in order to provide stakeholders with a holistic view of an industry segment or customer base. The term market, in this context, is a specific category of potential buyers and ...Continue Reading

• Artificial intelligence technologies a boon for customer insights

  AI can help companies shrink the gap between customer data and actionable insight by feeding intelligence into CRM, marketing automation and other operational tools. Here's how.Continue Reading

• conversational user interface

  A conversational user interface is the ability of artificial intelligence-supported chatbots to have verbal and written interactions with human users.Continue Reading