B2B Needs to Align Digital and Humans

Sales require a human-centered approach supported by technology, Accenture finds

Customer Experience Measurement Must Be Consistent

Those who understand customer experience's impacts get bigger budgets, Gartner finds

Shoppers Place Growing Emphasis on Convenience

97 percent of consumers have backed out of inconvenient purchases, NRF reports

Marketing Spending Expected to Grow This Year

Winterberry expects marketing investment to hit $390 billion, up 7 percent

Transparency Is Critical to Resolve Privacy-Personalization Paradox

Companies need to be up front with consumers before collecting personal information

Required Reading: Put Customers in the Driver’s Seat

Companies need to spend time with customers to avoid disruption

What Lies Ahead for CRM?

CRM industry insiders share their predictions for 2020.

CCPA Is Now in Effect

California's consumer privacy law took effect Jan. 1

CX Leaders Struggle to Show the ROI

Communicating the benefits of their CRM investments eludes many, West Monroe researchers find

Required Reading: Dialogue Is the Key to Retail Sales Success

The need to adapt communications strategies is non-negotiable

Gartner 2019 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service

In the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant report for CaaS, you'll learn how contact center solutions measure up. You will also discover why now might be the right time to update your contact center.

Gartner Survey Finds Self-Service Insufficient

The self-service shortfall comes at a time when the cost differences between self-service channels, like company-run websites and mobile apps, and agent-assisted channels, like phone, email, and chat, are very substantial and continue to widen.

Marketing Budgets Hit an Eight-Year Low

Marketing budgets have shifted downwards, dropping from 11.2 percent of overall company revenue in 2018 to 10.5 percent in 2019, according to a survey of chief marketing officers (CMOs) by Gartner.

Forrester Uncovers Customer-Marketing Disconnect

When marketers began to build customer profiles and personalize interactions, they had good intentions, but inadvertently, many of those efforts have led to creepy and even harmful experiences, Forrester Research contends in a new report.

Brand Management a Challenge, Gartner Survey Shows

Even though global brand management is critical for company success, more than one-third (35 percent) of companies struggle with it, Gartner reports in its most recent brand survey.

Gartner Hypes Blockchain as a Sales Tool

A handful of technologies are on the brink of making a splash in CRM sales technology but are still five to 10 years away from any significant adoption, according to Gartner, which recently released its "Hype Cycle for CRM Sales Technology" report.

Required Reading: Journey Mapping Must Bring Customer-Focused Change

In their new book, How Hard Is It to Be Your Customer? Using Journey Mapping to Drive Customer-Focused Change, co-authors Jim Tincher and Nicole Newton of Heart of the Customer note that 65 percent of customer journey mapping projects fail to drive change.

Four Tech Trends That Will Transform Marketing Ecosystems

28 Oct 2019

Gartner hypes AI and blockchain for digital marketing and advertising investments

Sense-Makers Are Sales Closers

01 Oct 2019

Gartner finds that salespeople who help buyers make sense of their options are more successful

Customer-Centricity Is Key to Sales Success

01 Oct 2019

Sellers must be able to provide perspective to customers, CSO Insights suggests