Understanding the Convergence of Marketing and Customer Service

Q&A From the Integrated Marketing Summit

I was humbled recently to attend the Integrated Marketing Summit in Atlanta and present to fellow industry leaders on Customer Experience Management programs and how they align marketing and empowered employees to effectively engage with customers. The Summit as a whole was a great experience and after my presentation I had the opportunity to interact with attendees during a question and answer session – which is always one of my favorite parts of a presentation. Here’s a brief overview of a couple of these questions with my responses. Watch the full presentation here.

Q:  How do you measure CSR success and know they’ve reached the expected level of engagement for the day?

A:  When Hallmark Business Connections works with companies, the touch points are deployed from a system that monitors and tracks the activity. Easy reporting allows us to know what was sent and when. This reporting is available for each contact center associate individually. Managers receive reporting for their team and marketing and management can review overall results, plus performance by category or individual touch point. Typically, we monitor monthly averages and how many touch points were deployed per day in order to coach and guide team leaders and individual associates.

It’s also important for customer service manager to review calls and to listen for specific things in conversations to identify the right touch points for that recipient. An example would be to send a thank you card to show military appreciation when you’re made aware of a person’s service during the conversation. The manager can then provide individual guidance and coaching as needed or in monthly 1:1 meetings.

Q:  How does electronic and social media play into this at the customer level?

A:  The main thing is that you always want to initially respond in the channel the contact was initiated. However, if a situation occurs over social media that warrants an apology, often you have to move the conversation into a more one-to-one interaction and they may take you into a different channel. If you are addressing a situation that started via social media, it’s better to solve it there. You want everyone to be able to see it, and the immediacy in which it was resolved.

Q:  How do you handle printed communications through a technology system?

A:  We are very fortunate at Hallmark Business Connections, that long ago we began investing in fonts and technology to be able to create digital handwriting. This allows our clients to place orders via a technology application with printed output that mimics handwriting. We know from our research that our digital handwriting is received very differently from a standard true font.

The integration of marketing and customer service is vital to customer experience success. Some companies are tackling it by adding senior leadership in the form of CCOs (Chief Customer Officers), or by creating specific teams to work on the Customer Experience. From small businesses to the largest companies in the world, engaging in a joint dialogue with marketing and services leaders results a quick, easy win to better customer engagement. It isn’t a mountain moving initiative if both parties approach it with the intent to focus on the customer. To learn a little more about my presentation, read my IMS Preview blog for a quick snapshot. For a little more depth, be sure to download my free eBook on iTunes about how to boldly transform your customer experience.

For more information, take a look at our strategies, process, and resources associated with  Customer Engagement Programs.