The Christmas bells are ringing and we are heading towards a competitive 2012 for businesses. Justin Bowser, head of online at HTK Horizon shares his insights into five key areas which he believes will help transform customer service and loyalty over the next few months.
You can also read the full article here.
"2011 has been an exciting year, with my first trip to San Francisco (Dreamforce '11) and a handful of good UK events focused on cloud business in the private and public sectors. Here are my top 5 predictions for the hot areas in 2012:
1) A rise in gamification
2) The interest graph
3) SoLoMo
4) NFC and cashless payments
5) Sentiment analysis
Why? The world is mobile-crazy, and with improved availability (technically and commercially) of mobile broadband we'll see an increase in mobile sites and apps that compete for consumers' attention... and money.
And consumers' cash is likely to be spent increasingly on variable-term subscriptions than up-front purchase or annual contracts (see my post on the Subscription Economy). So products and services will need to be far more compelling if they're to compete and retain a customer base. Content needs to be more timely, relevant and engaging - and therefore more tightly targeted - than ever before.
Targeting of these products and services at 'interested' consumers will require smarter, less intrusive ways to learn about consumers likes, dislikes and intent. Social monitoring and "the Social Enterprise" will come of age, and (finally!) we'll start to see more consumer and enterprise software that properly considers the social (in a psychological sense) aspects of customer engagement. It's going to be fascinating to see how this unfolds throughout 2012.
Below is a potted summary for the time-starved amongst us, or you can download my full article here.
1. A rise in gamification
By simply implementing low cost game dynamics within the business, brands could really make the difference between a casual customer, and a loyal brand advocate. If used for a purpose (no, earning "badges" per se isn't a good enough purpose!), gamification can be a great way to assist with customer on-boarding and retention.
2. The Interest Graph
Your interest graph cares about what you are into; whether it’s your shopping habits, what you read online or who you follow on Twitter. This will have great implications for brands looking to enhance customer engagement and foster loyalty.
3. SoLoMo
Possibly one of the most popular buzz words of the latter half of 2011, SoLoMo (social, local, mobile) looks set to have a huge impact on businesses moving into 2012.
4. Near Field Communication and Cashless Payments
It's imperative that brands and marketers look at how they can use NFC (think "mobile wallets", close-proximity sharing and discovery) as a means of more effectively targeting and communicating with their consumers.
5. Sentiment Analysis
Through smart use of Twitter and Facebook to monitor and measure the sentiment and content of each Tweet or post, brands can not only assess how well they are perceived in the market, they can focus their marketing and customer service channels more sharply to build loyalty, retention and profit. And more interestingly, they can start to look at customers' future intent to purchase."
Have your own thoughts on 2012 trends for customer loyalty? Let me know @jkbowser - thanks!
Justin Bowser,
Head of Online Business @ HTK