In this short MarketingWeek article, Ruth Mortimer shares the story of a successful, apparantly customer-focussed small business that had been held in high regard for it's brilliant customer experience and how it's great image has been tarnished by one or two comments.  Do you live your values every day?  How do you protect yourself from negative perception?  Can you ruin your reputation entirely overnight?  This is a real lesson on brand protection and how the external image you build can be exposed and knocked down in no time at all.

In this short article for MyCustomer.com, Mike McMaster explores customer insight, what is means to the customer and for the business, and if companies are really getting the best from their 'research'.

Barclaycard are due to launch a mobile phone accessory encouraging contactless payments for their customers.  Read this MarketingWeek article to see how the firm hopes this release will impact on their customers’ experience and the industry as a whole.

Manufacturing in the UK may be on the rise once more, with fewer firms facing insolvency than at the start of the year.  Find out what a study by Begbie Traynor, a firm who monitor company financial stress has found, and what they predict for the manufacturing industry in the coming months!

In this Forbes article, Brenna Sniderman of Forbes Insights explores a recent study which 'isolates and identifies five major personalities crucial to fostering a healthy atmosphere of innovation within an organization.'  Read more to find out which one fits you best.

Working long hours may have become a sign of commitment to your company, job or your colleagues.  But is it the right thing to do all of the time?  In this article, freelance writer Jessica Stillman explores why the average 55-hour working week may not be as productive as once thought.

In this article on MarketingWeek, Ruth Mortimer highlights the flurry of responses to another recent article on the rebrand of marketing.  More and more people are talking about a holistic view of the business and seeing marketing as a hub of communication and engagement, rather than a department that just shares company messages.  We agree.  Awareness, Engagement, Experience are the purposes outlined in our very own regional marketing strategy.

Many consumer-focussed organisations have adopted - or at least thought about - a multichannel communication strategy for their business.  Some have implemented very well, but others have followed a trend without really thinking how best to serve their customers.  In this article on MyCustomer.com, Kurt Bager explores how to adopt online customer service and how to implement it effectively.

At a time when the economic situation has forced many businesses to focus on price to attract and retain customers, how has the environment changed the mindset of employees toward their employer?  It is true that there are other companies who have chosen to promote quality and experience over price, not wishing to undervalue their product or service.  Has this also made a difference to how they have chosen to retain a good workforce?  In this article from Marketing Week, employee engagement and values are explored against price - do people still move for money over anything else?

Ernst & Young have issued a report titled “Voice of the Customer, Time for Insurers to Rethink Their Relationships 2012″.  This report is based on a survey of 27,000 customers across 7 regions and covering 23 countries.  In this article on MyCustomer.com, Maz Iqbal explores the results of the research and what it means for the F&I industry.

In the week that mobile technology company O2 announced a complete overhaul of it's website to create a better online customer experience, Sally Cowdry - marketing and consumer director - talks with MarketingWeek online magazine about future plans.  As a business also going through brand and strategy changes that reflect more of our customer experience and customer loyalty services, we were keen to read what Sally had to say in this short interview.  For those familiar with the brand, we are sure you will find the technology ideas and focus on customer impact just as interesting.

As an advocate of better customer insight, we were pleased to hear that some big brands are increasing their efforts to understand more about their customers and product experiences.  Interestingly, some big global names are choosing to do this directly rather than through retailers, using online camparison sites.

Britain’s top retailer plans to boost sales and customer experience by investing in more staff.  As reported in HR Magazine, they also hope to help the wider issue of youth unemployment as the biggest private sector employer by focussing on training and creating opportunities for young people.

Listening to the voice of your customer sounds simple enough, but do you really understand the feedback you receive and how you can use it to improve service delivery in your business? Here, Rachel Feilding talks about recent studies that show not listening to your customer (or not understanding the real cause of poor service) is still losing us all business.

Customer journey mapping is a core part of Percepta's services providing a detailed perspective of your customer's potential interaction with the brand along with strategic recommendations designed to enhance customer satisfaction and boost customer loyalty.

Discover customer journey mapping and why author and strategic marketing expert Adam Richardson claims this process as the "first essential step of improving the experience you deliver" in this post on Harvard Business Review's blog.

The words "outsourcing" and "offshoring" have grown to mean the same thing to many. In fact, many of the best performing outsourcing partnerships happen in-market, emphasing a desire to collborate expertise as well as to reduce cost. Some even consider and operate an "insourcing" model, where the service provider comes into the client business. Percepta was a finalist in the CCA Excellence Awards for Best Outsource Partnership with this model in 2010. Martyn Hart, posting on outsourcemagazine.co.uk, talks about a major brand bringing its customer service back home with its outsource partner.

Using social media to connect with customers to deliver a service remains new for many organisations, but many others are realising great successes — reduced operating costs and improved customer satisfaction to name just two. Paul Hopkins writes about how best to engage your customer using Facebook.