News and Analysis

What Does Customer Experience Mean in a Voice-First World?

The trend of moving customer experience beyond the screen has been dubbed “conversational customer care.” It’s still unclear just how many channels are included under this umbrella or how the future of conversational customer care will look. Brands that are dealing with demanding customers can’t afford to sit back and wait for this to play out. Screen-free customer experiences could be the future. They could be just a single touchpoint in the broader context of customer experience strategy. Or, they could just be a passing fad.

But the chances that voice-first customer experiences are a fad seem to be shrinking.

5 Ways to Reduce Errors in Voice Ordering

Restaurant chains like Wingstop, Domino’s, Panera, and Round Table have created their own skills to make it easier for people to place orders through voice assistants like Amazon’s Echo and Google Home. But before voice ordering can truly disrupt the restaurant industry, restaurants have to find ways to reduce the friction and eliminate the kinds of errors that lead to the wrong orders being delivered.

Here’s how some of the country’s top restaurant chains are overcoming the challenges associated with voice ordering and developing more frictionless customer experiences.

96% of Companies Say They’re Losing Subscribers for Fixable Reasons

Ninety-three percent of companies that rely on subscribers say retaining existing customers is as or more important than acquiring them, and 96% say they are losing subscribers for reasons they should be able to ameliorate. That makes pooling industry resources and determining means of improvement urgent, and that is the precise subject of a new report by Brightback, a customer retention software firm.

Commentary

Understanding How Google Measures Store Visits

Even though ecommerce is growing and brick-and-mortar retail is arguably in the midst of a slow decline, 90% of consumer dollars are still spent in physical stores, and the intent of Google’s store visits data is to help demonstrate the efficacy of multiple online touchpoints that might drive consumers into a store.

Where Will VR Fit Into Local Advertising? Part II

It’s important to step back and look at the reality of consumer adoption of VR. The technology is pretty nascent and future-looking — but to what degree? That question can partly be answered by original data on consumer VR behavior and sentiments.

Sophistication, Efficiency, Control: Unlocking the Future of Programmatic Direct for App Publishers and Advertisers

As it splits the difference between real-time bidding and totally manual ad-buy systems, programmatic direct allows publishers and advertisers to create specific agreements around how the process will work. It guarantees protected inventory and premium placements without requiring much in the way of hands-on operation.

Latest Posts

New Report Identifies Enterprise Customer Types & Needs

In our latest analysis, we discovered that the integration needs of enterprise marketers reveal some clear correlations in terms of attitude, behavior and installed technologies. For example, the companies that found local store sites to be most effective were also doing well with local print, and planned to increase their social, mobile, and digital display advertising.

DevHub Launches ‘TXT a Restaurant,’ Enabling More Interaction With Consumers

The website-building platform can manage hundreds of local sites for a single agency or brand. This week, the company is launching DevHub Labs and is announcing the group’s first experiment, “TXT a Restaurant” — which will allow local businesses to try out a new digital tool: click-to-text, a new way to connect with consumers who may be hesitant to use the more traditional click-to-call.

Street Fight Daily: Wal-Mart May Buy Jet.com, MasterCard Teams Up with PlaceIQ

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Looking at Amazon, Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com… New Report Identifies Enterprise Customer Types and Needs… MasterCard Hooks Up With PlaceIQ for Location-Based Insights…

Why Local Businesses Should Treat Their Store Locator Like a Shopping Cart

For businesses that operate multiple store fronts, store locators are critical revenue-generating assets. But too often, the locators are treated like a forgotten tool sitting on the shelf, collecting dust and rust. Instead, they need to make the discovery process and conversion to offline visits as easy and personal as Amazon does.

6 DIY Tools Merchants Can Use to Make Video Ads

The opportunities for businesses that take advantage of video advertising are immense. Pre-roll video ads can familiarize audiences with lesser-known brands, and spots that coincide with PPC campaigns have been shown to increase ad recall and lift brand awareness.

Street Fight Daily: Google Expands AMP, Instagram Debuts ‘Stories’

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Lyft Hit a Record of 14 Million Rides Last Month… Google Expands AMP in Search Results as Retailers Join Push for Faster Mobile Web… Instagram Takes a Page From Snapchat, and Takes Aim At It, Too…

Chef’d CEO: Meal Kits Will ‘Dominate Grocery-Style Shopping Over Time’

Few verticals have been as significantly disrupted by hyperlocal technological innovation as the food industry, and meal-kit delivery is becoming a big part of that. We caught up with Chef’d CEO Kyle Ransford to discuss the technologies underpinning the disruption of grocery retail.

Case Study: Swedish Salad Chain Boosts Impressions with Local Facebook Pages

Rather than budgeting for large TV buys, Redfellas is working almost exclusively on using social media for low cost marketing and advertising. Specifically, the Swedish salad and smoothie chain is looking to expand its footprint on Instagram and Facebook with local store pages.

Street Fight Daily: Attribution Tech’s Star Is Rising, Mall Operator Enlists Local Startups

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… What Yext’s Snapchat Integration Means for Brick-and-Mortar Biz… Attribution is Becoming More of a Priority for Marketers… Giant Mall Company Enlists 10 Tech Startups to Drive Brick-and-Mortar Business…

Survey: Demand for Multichannel Programmatic Is Promising

Nearly one-third of the respondents in Street Fight’s survey who also said that local media and content was important for their marketing were thinking about such cross-channel programmatic. Interest appeared highest for marketers who found local TV effective, but also played strongly with radio and print fans.