While companies and marketers understand the importance & appreciate the value of customer experience, I have often found there are very little studies that quantify the value of the same. Often, there is more intent and less action, as it is difficult to justify the customer experience investments as these don't reflect the benefits in the short term. Hence, there is always initial excitement and very little consistent follow thro' over years.

I have always wondered if companies can start to put  ROCE( Return on Customer Experience) in their balance sheets and quarterly earnings as an important ratio. This way there will be a method to view & factor long-term value that companies are building on their customer experience investments. This can then be factored into shareholder value creation and stock prices.

Harvard Business Review has come-up with an interesting view point on the same in a recent article - The value of customer experience, quantified.  They have clearly found customer experience is a key driver of future revenue.

In this study, they have looked at businesses as two types - transactional business and subscription businesses. In transactional businesses, like retail or financial services - frequency of visit and spend per visit are key according to this study. If the customer experience in the store or bank is not good, then there is an implication of future revenue increase from customers. In membership businesses like timeshare, hotels, airlines,gym/club memberships, may be even life insurance( my view) etc. retention and renewal is key and ongoing customer experience play a pivotal role.

I do feel there is a thin line differentiating businesses as transactional and memberships - there is increasingly convergence between the two. However, I strongly feel great customer experience must also be correlated with value received/delivered by customers, as it does have a major impact on customer behaviour attributes for businesses. I see a need to study this more in this context.

However, ROCE( Return on Customer Experience) is a metric that must become mandatory for companies to report at the board level and its value must be tracked over the year to get due attention and appropriate investments year after year. 

I have been observing, talking and writing about the incredible convergence & power of data, analytics and contextual marketing for marketers for sometime now. Will 2014 see the beginning of this trend & wider adoption?

I believe so and I am starting to see some green shoots around this marketing eco-system. With the convergence of emerging technologies with big data and analytics,I see an increasing trend in usage of intelligence-driven, embedded marketing applications, which will bring these capabilities together for marketers to engage with their customers. Clearly, some of these areas are breaking-out of the Gartner Hypecycle.

Also, with consumer's adoption digital mediums, availability of data in companies, wider usage & time spent with these mediums, increased access thro' devices like mobiles and tabs, some of these areas will need newer marketing design interventions and a complete rethink. The new age customers just do not have the patience to see marketing messages, when they open You Tube  or search on Google  while they watch or search for their favourite shows or content. They need to feel respected, surprised and treated differently. They will value content/information when presented with intelligence, relevance and in the right context. Hence, more returns on marketing investments for marketers.

This needs a transformation of how touchpoints are used & never-before use of data, interactions and intelligence in powering these conversations and relationships. Altimeter Group has come out with an excellent research report on how marketers could plan for real-time marketing. A great read and provides a lovely road map on how to get it going in organizations:

Forrester has released a study that ranks  PC & CE brands basis trust placed by Amercian households. The pride of place seems to be shared by  many Japanese companies. It is interesting to see Korean brands - Samsung and LG getting into this cluster. Microsoft seems to have taken a beating.

thro' Fallonblog

The television sets in India will soon double up as internet access devices if TRAI( Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) plans go on track.

ContentSutra writes:

To start with, digital television will be introduced in metros from April.

The TRAI has asked the information and broadcasting ministry to ensure introduction of digital television across the country by 2010, when Commonwealth Games are to be organised in Delhi.

But it is the technology that the ministry is going to recommend, is keeping the industry guessing. ..there are two technologies available in the market. One is MPeg-II, which will mean increase in the number of channels available in digital mode. From the present 96 channels available, the number can go up to 300 in MPeg-II. The other system is MPeg-IV, which is interactive, and offers Internet-propelled television, Internet connection through television, video on demand facility and interactive television mode.

If it is MPeg IV, it can truly change television programming in India from what little I can see, as it seems to provide  interactivity,  video on-demand mode etc. Mobiles ushered a revolution in the Indian telecom sector, will digital TV do it for internet and television?