For Business Process & Applications Professionals

TechRadar™ For BP&A Professionals: The Extended CRM Application Ecosystem, Q3 2009

Social Applications Stimulate Innovation But Sales, Order Management, And Service Hold The Keys To Your Revenue Engine

by William Band, July 9, 2009

Locking in customer loyalty through deeper engagement and differentiated experiences will continue to be critical priorities for organizations in all sectors in the decade ahead, but navigating the complex customer relationship management (CRM) technology . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Executive Q&A: Net Promoter Score

by Bruce D. Temkin, May 19, 2009

Net Promoter has become a popular term. But many firms don't understand exactly what it is and how to use it most effectively. This Q&A document examines some frequently asked questions and should help companies that are wondering how and when to . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

Watch Out For The Landmine Of B2B Online Research

Challenge Vendors, Consider Geography, And Confirm ID To Succeed

by Brad Bortner, April 17, 2009

Business-to-consumer (B2C) online panels have taken off in the US and are gaining steam elsewhere. But business-to-business (B2B) online panel growth has been more fitful because there are fewer business decision-makers who wish to join panels, and incentives . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

Market Researchers Demand High Panel Quality

New Initiatives Can Help With Quality — Particularly With B2B Sample

by Brad Bortner, April 3, 2009

The rapid embrace of online panels as a primary method of quantitative research in the US and Europe is a Faustian bargain. Online panels enable cheap, fast insights, but the quality of respondents is a concern. This concern is exacerbated for B2B, where . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Make The Most Of Web Site Satisfaction Surveys

Go Beyond Measurement To Modeling And Diagnosis

by Megan Burns, March 17, 2009

Customer satisfaction surveys are popular, but overall satisfaction scores don't produce actionable insights. Firms need detailed data on specific factors that influence visitors' overall perception of a site like content, navigation, and search. They . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Voice Of The Customer: The Next Generation

Six Trends Will Change How Organizations Use Customer Feedback

by Bruce D. Temkin, February 26, 2009

Voice of the customer (VoC) programs are a critical component to improving customer experience. But today's efforts are broken in many ways. They lack action, get caught in silos, and aren't cost- or time-effective. But a number of trends are changing . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Past, Present, And Future Of Market Research

Current Trends Shape Future Market Research Environment In Europe

by Reineke Reitsma, January 7, 2009

Over the past 10 years, the Internet has changed the role of market research agencies, survey respondents, and consumer market researchers. Overall, the market research industry has seen steady revenue growth year-over-year, and offline research in Europe . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Lessons In How To Retain Financial Services Customers

Insights From Industry Keynote Presentations At Forrester's 2008 Finance Forum

by Bill Doyle, December 8, 2008

In times of crisis, smart financial services firms focus on the customers they already have. Smart channel strategy executives do their part by delivering superior customer experiences. At Forrester's 2008 Financial Services Forum For Marketing And Strategy . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Predictions 2009: What Happens In Market Research?

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Innovative

by Brad Bortner, December 2, 2008

Tough economic times will actually serve to turbocharge the "faster, cheaper, better" changes that have been revolutionizing the business of market research — but expect an increased emphasis on "cheaper." To save dollars in 2009, more firms will use . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Market Researchers: A Compass In The Financial Sandstorm

A List Of Must-Read Research To Help You

by Brad Bortner, November 17, 2008

Things are not looking good for the economy: Although the first half of 2008 showed a steady pace of technology spending, that pace is not continuing. In a down economy, businesses face tough decisions and inevitably look to cut spending. For market researchers, . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Best Practices: The Next Wave In Customer Satisfaction Studies Is CRM Integration

How Firms Move From Measuring To Fixing Customer Problems

by Brad Bortner, October 17, 2008

A rising tide of customer satisfaction research is also lifting the tide of another type of software enabled solution to harness these insights. They are enterprise feedback management (EFM) systems that combine elements of survey tools with tight customer . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Best Practices: Enhance Customer Satisfaction's Impact

Fix Satisfaction Problems, Don't Just Report Them!

by Brad Bortner, September 5, 2008

Satisfaction studies often cost a lot and consume vast research resources without ultimately improving business results. Why? The market intelligence organizations that conduct the research often take just a "reporting" approach, while the business units . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Best Practices: Why Customer Satisfaction Studies Fail

How To Drive Bottom-Line Success With Effective Satisfaction Research

by Brad Bortner, August 13, 2008

Spending on customer satisfaction studies continues to outpace overall market research spend in the US, and yet there is a generalized dissatisfaction with the value that companies get from such studies. They continue because there is an intrinsic belief . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

Is The Long Online Panel Quality Nightmare Over?

Yes — If The Industry Embraces Several Key Quality Initiatives

by Brad Bortner, June 9, 2008

Today, almost half of the quantitative research in the US is being conducted with online panels. While online panels provide vastly lower costs and increased speed, they also create heartburn and anxiety for market researchers because of the lack of confidence . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Professional Survey Takers: Still A Threat!

How To Reduce Corruption Risk From Voracious Online Survey Takers

by Brad Bortner, January 22, 2008

Professional survey takers (PSTs) are the potential Achilles' heel of the online panel industry. This issue was thrust into the awareness of the market research community almost three years ago when comScore indicated that its behavioral tracking panel . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Online Survey Tools Gain Ubiquity

Users Coalesce On Key Vendors For Simple Survey Projects

by Brad Bortner, TJ Keitt, November 28, 2007

Market researchers today are using online surveys in droves — in stark contrast to previous models of software package use and pure outsourcing. Why? They are quick, inexpensive, and offer advanced capabilities along with the growing availability of online . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Beyond the Survey

Managing Customers' Unsolicited Feedback

by Zachary McGeary, November 26, 2007

Important feedback from customers can go unleveraged without a process for managing customers' unsolicited feedback.

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Vendor Product Catalog: Online Survey Tools Addendum   (57 KB XLS)

by Brad Bortner, October 9, 2007

Listing of information collected but not included in Online Survey Tool Vendor Product Catalog. Information available addresses question type and survey design, results and analytics, customization, support, and panel information.

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Net Promoter Scores: Good, But Not Enough

by Christine Spivey Overby, February 2, 2007

Net Promoter has become a popular way to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. But, as with any single measurement, it doesn't tell the entire story. To put a Net Promoter Score — or any customer metric — into action, companies need to analyze it . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Customer Experience Management

Leveraging Feedback to Understand and Affect the Customer Experience

by Zachary McGeary, January 9, 2007

Feedback management will become a widely adopted part of customer experience management tool sets. However, the immature market faces numerous organizational challenges. Unless addressed, these obstacles will inhibit companies' ability to fully leverage . . .

Customers Prefer To Provide Feedback At Their Convenience

by Moira Dorsey, March 23, 2006

According to data from Forrester's Consumer Technographics® Q4 2005 North American Healthcare, Customer Experience, And Retail Online Survey, consumers are more likely to provide firms with feedback when their online experience stands out. They prefer . . .

Don't Use Customer Surveys For Web Site Usability Testing

by Iris Cremers, September 1, 2005

European firms predominantly use customer surveys to improve their customer experience. But this is the wrong method to find and fix the experience flaws of a firm's Net presence. To improve their Web sites, marketers and site managers should turn to . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Surveying For Customer Support Satisfaction

Deciding Which Questions To Include

by John Ragsdale, August 4, 2004

Most customer support centers — for both internal and external support — conduct some level of customer satisfaction surveying to judge how well they are meeting customer needs. But if the questions being asked do not provide actionable information, the . . .

Executive Q&A: Customer Experience Reviews

by Bruce D. Temkin, March 26, 2004

Forrester uses expert reviews of Web sites, IVRs, kiosks, and email in our research to uncover best and worst experience design practices. We also use evaluations to help clients uncover their own customer experience flaws. As a result, we regularly get . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Best Practices in Online Satisfaction Surveys

by Carl Zetie, June 18, 2003

Among the benefits of Web-based surveys are low cost, wide reach and rapid feedback. However, a number of traps can radically lower the validity of the data gathered. A few simple practices can help to ensure high quality results.