For Customer Experience Professionals

Firms Struggle To Measure Customer Experience Across Channels

Technical And Organizational Silos Hinder Cross-Channel Tracking

by Megan Burns, September 22, 2009

Forrester recently surveyed decision-makers at 41 companies and found that their primary challenges when it comes to customer experience measurement relate to tracking experiences across channels. Several factors contribute to this problem, including . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Estimate The ROI Of A Better Online Customer Experience In Six Steps

by Megan Burns, August 27, 2009

Proving the business value of a better online experience is a top priority for Web customer experience leaders. To help, we've identified a six-step process that lets even financial novices model the ROI for Web customer experience projects: 1) document . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Five Mistakes To Avoid When Asking For Web Customer Experience Funding

by Megan Burns, July 23, 2009

The economic forecast for the 2010 budget cycle: tense. As Web customer experience professionals develop their budget requests for next year, they should take care to avoid five common but costly mistakes: 1) letting people think the current site is "good . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Small IVR Investments That Pay Off

by Adele Sage, June 23, 2009

With low phone self-service satisfaction rates, there's lots of room to improve IVR systems. Our research uncovered five low-cost techniques that improve routing, boost containment rates, increase automation, and reinforce the brand. To identify which . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Customer Experience Boosts Revenue

Modest Improvements Can Bring In $177 Million To $311 Million Per Year

by Bruce D. Temkin, June 22, 2009

Forrester's previous research has shown a high correlation between customer experience and three key elements of loyal behavior: willingness to buy more, reluctance to switch, and likelihood to recommend. But how does that affect a company's bottom line? . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How Customer Experience Drives Word Of Mouth

Consumers Talk To More People About Their Bad Experiences

by Bruce D. Temkin, William Chu, May 28, 2009

Forrester asked more than 4,500 consumers how often they talk about experiences with companies in 12 industries. It turns out that more consumers talk about good experiences than bad experiences with eight of the industries. Retailers and banks have the . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Top 10 Web Design Fixes For Improving Business Results

by Harley Manning, May 26, 2009

The overwhelming majority of today's Web sites suffer from design flaws. These problems hurt the business by making it hard for customers to achieve goals like buying products, opening an account, or using self-service features. To make it easy for site . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Five Ways To Turn Business Case Presentations From Boring Into "Wow!"

It's Not Just What You Say, It's Also How You Say It

by Megan Burns, May 1, 2009

With competition for funding tighter than ever, lack of budget is a major roadblock to many customer experience improvements in 2009. Customer experience professionals need to make their business cases stand out from the crowd. This means crafting a compelling . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How To Measure ROI For Spanish-Language US Sites

by Tamara Barber, January 7, 2009

Customer experience professionals know they need hard metrics to prove the value of their Spanish-language sites, but most fail to plan for what they need to measure or how to measure it. Return on investment (ROI) measurements for Spanish-language sites . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Improve Online Check-Out Functionality

by Marta Baigorri, December 22, 2008

Cart abandonment remains a huge source of lost revenue for eCommerce companies. Users struggle with poor site error handling, cluttered pages, excessive information requests, poor process flows, and unclear language. To successfully improve check-out . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Map User Goals To Business Objectives

Focus On The Right Customer Goals To Drive Business Success

by Megan Burns, December 18, 2008

Customer experience professionals spend much of their time thinking about how to help users accomplish their goals online. But it's equally important for them to think about how user success or failure affects business success. Why? Because doing so allows . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Need To Cut Costs? Improve The Web Site Experience

by Megan Burns, December 1, 2008

When the economy is in trouble, most executives start looking for ways to cut costs from their budgets. Customer experience professionals should take advantage of this situation and promote improving Web usability as a key way to eliminate unnecessary . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How Much Will Your Web Site Metrics Improve?

by Megan Burns, October 10, 2008

To help customer experience professionals estimate how far their Web site metrics are likely to move as a result of improvements in the customer experience, we aggregated data on the impact of more than 80 site improvement projects. Our research shows . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Fixing Known Usability Problems Pays Off

by Megan Burns, October 10, 2008

Web site design case studies, articles, and consulting projects provide irrefutable evidence that companies that fix known usability problems — like those in Forrester's Web Site Review methodology — see a boost in site success metrics. Customer experience . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Small Web Site Investments That Pay Off

by Adele Sage, August 27, 2008

Some small Web site projects yield quick ROI. Our research uncovered eight low-cost techniques that increase conversion rates, boost cross-sell opportunities, help users find products, and improve click-through rates. To identify which quick fixes to . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Bulletproof Your Business Case For Improving Customer Experience

by Megan Burns, August 18, 2008

To help customer experience professionals deliver compelling business cases, Forrester has created the Business Case Review Checklist For Customer Experience Professionals. This checklist should be used by business case authors to validate that their . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Japan's Social Networks Need Usability Improvements

Forrester Evaluated Mixi, Gree, And Cafesta

by Jonathan Browne, August 5, 2008

The growing popularity of Japan's social networking services (SNSes) is dependent on getting people to sign up for and use their services. To find out how easy it was to register for Japan's SNSes, Forrester applied an abridged version of its Web Site . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

The Business Case Self-Test

by Megan Burns, June 17, 2008

When seeking budget to improve the Web site customer experience, the most effective business cases appeal to executives on three levels: authority, logic, and emotion. To gauge how well firms are positioned to leverage each of these approaches to persuasion, . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How To Get Funding For Web Site Improvements

by Megan Burns, June 17, 2008

Companies are waking up to the importance of the online customer experience. Unfortunately, a lack of funding makes it difficult for many customer experience professionals to improve their company's Web site. To help firms get the funding they need, we . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How To Make Smarter Decisions About Changes To Your Web Site

Introducing The Site Improvement Matrix Tool

by Alan E. Webber, June 12, 2008

The continued advancement of technology and shifting customer demands ensures that every Web site has at least a few usability issues. Owners of successful sites not only recognize the weaknesses of their current site, but they also have a plan for continual . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Forrester's Site Improvement Matrix   (744 KB XLS)

by Alan E. Webber, June 11, 2008

The Forrester Site Improvement Matrix helps Web site owners and customer experience professionals quantitatively analyze the benefits and barriers to fixing Web site problems across five criteria - clarity, severity, feasibility, affordability, and return. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Innovative Speech Apps Deliver Value

New Uses For Speech Improve Customer Support

by Elizabeth Herrell, June 5, 2008

Speech applications provide an opportunity to deliver higher value support by offering customers more options when interacting with companies. Speech applications also reduce high staffing expenses by directing more callers to complete self-service transactions. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How Much Should You Pay For A Usability Test?

Usability Vendors Report On Lab Testing Costs And Timelines

by Marta Baigorri, June 4, 2008

Customer experience professionals looking to outsource usability lab testing in Europe will encounter a broad spectrum of timelines and costs that vary depending on the specific needs for the engagement and the project's size. Our survey of European usability . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Top Decision Criteria For Execs Who Approve Web Customer Experience Budgets

by Megan Burns, June 4, 2008

Who controls the checkbook for Web site improvements, and what those people think about when making funding decisions? To find out, we asked practitioners at leading firms. Our analysis of their answers shows that Web customer experience budgets are controlled . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

User Experience Salaries Are On The Rise

Results From The Usability Professionals' Association's 2007 Salary Survey

by Kerry Bodine, June 4, 2008

More than 900 US-based user experience (UX) professionals — including information architects, usability practitioners, and interface designers — responded to the 2007 salary survey that the Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) conducted. The data . . .