Ask the Experts

Ask the Experts

• 10 must-have contact center skills for agents in 2024

  Contact center agents must have a wide range of interpersonal and technological skills to interact with customers and resolve their issues in a timely and empathetic manner.  Continue Reading

• How do companies protect customer data?

  Companies can protect customer data through various technical tools and strategies, like authentication and encryption. But some types of data need more protection than others.  Continue Reading

• Why is marketing automation important?

  Marketing automation can eliminate repetitive tasks and create a more personalized customer experience. Learn more about the future role of AI in marketing automation.  Continue Reading

• Sales enablement vs. sales operations: What's the difference?

  Sales enablement and sales operations strategies have a shared goal -- to make the sales team successful and bring in more customers -- yet have different methods of reaching it.  Continue Reading

• Why is sales enablement important?

  With a sales enablement strategy, sales leaders can make their teams more efficient, well-trained and ensure all reps are consistent when they interact with customers.  Continue Reading

• What does a sales enablement manager do?

  A sales enablement manager helps sales reps boost productivity and improves their workflows to generate more revenue. Some organizations may have a full sales enablement team.  Continue Reading

• 6 must-have customer experience roles for success

  A well-rounded CX team is essential for meeting and exceeding customer expectations when engaging with a company.  Continue Reading

• How does bulk SMS marketing work?

  To start a bulk SMS marketing strategy, marketers should create message templates, monitor engagement and ensure that customers can opt in or out of communications.  Continue Reading

• What is the role of a customer relationship manager?

  The customer relationship manager -- a role that differs from a CRM manager -- has a challenging and ever-evolving role to play when it comes to optimizing the customer experience.  Continue Reading

• Is it time to automate customer satisfaction surveys?

  With automated customer surveys, organizations can get data in real time to improve their marketing, sales and customer service strategies. And AI's role is still growing.  Continue Reading

• CXM vs. CRM: Which platform is best for your business?

  CXM and CRM systems help organizations boost customer satisfaction, but CXM focuses on how customers perceive a brand, while CRM helps employees understand their customers.  Continue Reading

• How to calculate call center utilization rates

  Customer service leaders use metrics like call center utilization rates to track performance and CX. Leadership must learn the effects of these rates and how to calculate them.  Continue Reading

• What are the different types of SMS marketing?

  How should marketers text their audiences? First, ensure customers opted in to receive texts. Then, promote, incentivize and update customers on products and orders.  Continue Reading

• What does a customer success manager do?

  The customer success manager is an essential CX role that takes a proactive approach to ensuring customer loyalty and retention when the sales process is complete.  Continue Reading

• What are the different types of marketing personalization?

  Marketing teams use multiple personalization strategies for customer outreach, like emails, targeted ads and chatbots. Each approach brings several benefits and can improve CX.  Continue Reading

• Personalization vs. segmentation: What's the difference?

  Personalization and segmentation both bring different benefits to marketing teams and use different types of customers data. Find out the main differences between the two terms.  Continue Reading

• Why is personalization important?

  Personalization is key in many marketing teams' strategies. It plays an important role in helping organizations retain customers, build trust among audiences and stay relevant.  Continue Reading

• Why is customer self-service important for contact centers?

  The advancement of conversational AI coupled with customers' growing desire for empowerment has made self-service channels critical for contact centers.  Continue Reading

• Zero-party data vs. first-party data: What's the difference?

  Zero-party data comes from customer surveys and polls, but first-party data comes from customer web activity. Marketers can use both data types to personalize their ad campaigns.  Continue Reading

• Why are loyalty programs important?

  Loyalty programs can help organizations retain their most valuable customers with special offers. Additionally, they can gather useful marketing data, increase referrals and more.  Continue Reading

• What's the difference between SCM and CRM?

  CRM platforms track customer interactions, whereas SCM platforms track materials and product shipments. Tech buyers should know how these platforms differ before making a purchase.  Continue Reading

• How do you create a chatbot and connect it to Salesforce?

  Salesforce users have two ways to create a chatbot: using an outside platform and connecting finished creations through Salesforce Lightning, or writing it in Salesforce Einstein Bot.  Continue Reading

• Revenue operations vs. sales operations: What's the difference?

  While revenue operations focus on revenue growth and integration of sales, marketing and service departments, sales operations focus on sales department efficiency.  Continue Reading

• CRM vs. CDP vs. DMP: What's the difference?

  Sales and marketing terms are like alphabet soup, and the different acronyms can get confusing. Find out the difference between three major platforms: CRM, CDP and DMP.  Continue Reading

• How do omnichannel vs. multichannel marketing differ?

  While multichannel marketing connects customers and companies through various forms of communication, omnichannel marketing takes it further and removes any silos.  Continue Reading

• 8 ways to improve call center agent performance

  Side-by-side evaluations, reinforcement, training resources and coaching can help call center agents improve their performance and catch up to the pack.  Continue Reading

• CDP vs. marketing automation: What's the difference?

  CDPs and marketing automation software collect customer data, automate processes and increase efficiency, but they also have features that set them apart from each other.  Continue Reading

• What's the difference between CRM and database marketing?

  Database marketing is a component of customer relationship management. CRM includes all processes, strategies and tools to support sales, marketing and customer service initiatives.  Continue Reading

• What roles are essential on a content marketing team?

  There are a number of people involved in business content marketing teams. Some of those roles include content managers, content strategists and content creators.  Continue Reading

• What are 4 ways to improve content experience?

  Thoughtful presentation of content enables businesses to engage customers. Methods of improving content experience include social media and tailored content.  Continue Reading

• How does AI in sales improve staff performance?

  AI can assist in many aspects of the sales process, including analyzing calls, making employees more productive and retaining talented representatives.  Continue Reading

• What are some benefits of SSO in contact centers?

  Contact center agents often need to remember a number of passwords to log in to multiple applications. Single sign-on can alleviate that pain point and increase productivity.  Continue Reading

• What are some useful Salesforce CPQ features?

  CPQ tools help speed up the quote process while providing accurate pricing, along with other features. Here's how this technology can help your organization.  Continue Reading

• What chatbot evaluation metrics do you use to measure performance?

  Chatbots are an important contact center component -- as is measuring their performance. Learn how to measure chatbot performance in your organization.  Continue Reading

• How can you best use contact center AI?

  While AI is still an evolving technology, agent assist benefits contact center employees by improving agent efficiency improve the overall customer experience.  Continue Reading

• How can customer relationship metrics benefit CX?

  Companies often look at customer relationship metrics to determine how customers feel about a brand. Here are examples of how to obtain and use information to qualify customer relationships.  Continue Reading

• Learn how to build a Salesforce app in 4 steps

  Salesforce users can follow these steps to create sophisticated codeless apps that integrate the Next Best Action feature using the Lightning App Builder.  Continue Reading

• Digital CX vs. customer experience: What's the difference?

  While similar, digital CX and customer experience are different. The former focuses on digital communication tool experiences, while the latter is the overall brand perception.  Continue Reading

• How do customer service and customer success differ?

  Tripped up on the difference between customer service and customer success? In short, service is reactive and success is proactive, but both aim to solve problems for the customer.  Continue Reading

• What are the most effective uses of AI in marketing automation?

  AI is beneficial in many marketing automation processes. Organizations use the technology in chatbots, personalization, voice and visual search, frequency optimization and more.  Continue Reading

• Why use third-party marketing automation instead of native CRM tools?

  Though many CRM platforms offer native marketing automation tools, many organizations find it beneficial to use a third-party application, such as Eloqua or Marketo.  Continue Reading

• How do Salesforce Next Best Action and Prediction Builder differ?

  The Salesforce Einstein Prediction Builder and Next Best Action components look similar to the untrained eye, but each product works in a different manner.  Continue Reading

• How do you turn customer feedback into actionable insights?

  Actionable insights can be gleaned from brand surveys and reviews, competitor reviews and social media. However, not all insights are insightful or actionable.  Continue Reading

• How do you determine the right point for chatbot-human handoff?

  Customer experience can be adversely affected when chatbots don't transfer the call to a live agent at the right time. Here are some guidelines and best practices for initiating that handoff.  Continue Reading

• 3 ways the data scientist role benefits CX teams

  CX teams don't traditionally include the data scientist role, but adding one can help derive more value from customer data than a CX analyst or canned analytics software can.  Continue Reading

• What are 4 essential social CRM strategies?

  Social CRM continues to evolve, using additional social media channels and techniques such as social media mining, advertising and listening.  Continue Reading

• What is the role and responsibility of a chief experience officer?

  The chief experience officer is an increasingly vital member of the C-suite who ensures that an organization's customers have positive interactions with the brand.  Continue Reading

• 5 common customer support problems that affect CX

  In customer support, common customer experience issues include lengthy hold times, scaling, failure to follow up, lack of human touch and a lack of personalization.  Continue Reading

• 4 chatbot success metrics to bolster CX

  Chatbot success can be measured using a number of metrics. Each helps improve the customer experience. Read on to learn which KPIs are beneficial for improving CX.  Continue Reading

• How does the chief customer officer role benefit CX?

  The chief customer officer serves in many capacities, some of which include overseeing customer experience, sales, and service and support contacts, as well as unifying customer contact.  Continue Reading

• How are Nonprofit Cloud and Philanthropy Cloud different?

  Charitable organizations partner with Salesforce.org through two cloud services: Nonprofit Cloud and Philanthropy Cloud. Read on to discover how the two differ.  Continue Reading

• Is dialer technology relevant to CX projects?

  Live chat is still the preferred method of communication in contact centers, and the use of autodialers helps free up salespeople to speak with callers.  Continue Reading

• Why is the Salesforce administrator role so crucial?

  Salesforce administrators serve as analysts, trainers and advisers in their roles. Companies can employ one or more Salesforce admins, depending on how the business is organized.  Continue Reading

• Which vendors make the best CRM for small businesses?

  Choosing a CRM for small businesses can be difficult, as the most well-known CRM vendors cater to large enterprises. Others, however, create products with SMBs in mind.  Continue Reading

• What was the purpose of Salesforce's MuleSoft acquisition?

  Salesforce completed the acquisition of MuleSoft in May 2018, gaining large customers, such as Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch, and adding beneficial technology to its platform.  Continue Reading

• How do Salesforce Success Cloud and Trailhead differ?

  Success Cloud and Trailhead work hand in hand, enabling Salesforce users to make the most out of the platform and overcome obstacles along the journey.  Continue Reading

• How does Salesforce Einstein Bot differ from other AI?

  Salesforce's no-code bot authoring tool competes with Google, Amazon and Microsoft, but differentiating capabilities make it potentially more useful for the Salesforce user base.  Continue Reading

• How does Salesforce lead scoring benefit Sales Cloud?

  Einstein lead scoring offers a customizable workflow and strives to get better at prediction over time, and Salesforce is one of the top three vendors in the field.  Continue Reading

• How can I maximize the Salesforce-Google Cloud integration?

  Find out four new ways to make the most of the Google and Salesforce integration, including updates to the Salesforce data connector for Google Sheets.  Continue Reading

• How does Salesforce Einstein Language NLP improve productivity?

  Salesforce NLP learns in a manner similar to that of the human brain, performing a variety of functions, such as semantic parsing, summarization and more.  Continue Reading

• What do GDPR principles mean for CRM data management?

  Avoiding General Data Protection Regulation penalties means getting your CRM compliance program in order before the sweeping regulation goes into effect late this spring.  Continue Reading

• How to calculate abandoned call rate for a contact center

  Experts offer an abandoned call formula and advice on what to include when calculating call abandonment rates.  Continue Reading

• What features can users expect from Salesforce Einstein AI?

  Expert Scott Robinson explains how Salesforce Einstein AI tools augment the vendor's CRM functionality, and how lessons learned from IBM Watson will affect the platform.  Continue Reading

• What problems need solving to create smoother customer interactions?

  While many factors can make or break a sales-service platform merge, three challenges stand out when combining service, sales strategies.  Continue Reading

• Is MSFT or Salesforce leading the market in business app development?

  Microsoft is trying to lead the market in business app development, but is struggling to hold on as Salesforce easily creates user-friendly applications, platforms and processes.  Continue Reading

• How advantageous is Microsoft's ERP-CRM integration within the market?

  With the ERP-CRM integration, Microsoft may have a leg up in the Salesforce arena, where Salesforce has dominated in CRM but hasn't grabbed a foothold in the ERP space.  Continue Reading

• How does data insight remove human bias from customer research?

  Integrating IoT analytics with supply chain management helps create an efficient and successful customer experience by utilizing data insight not found anywhere else.  Continue Reading

• How do IoT analytics enhance customer experience with quality data?

  IoT analytics helps companies create a better customer experience by providing quality data that allows for the reduction of costs and a more efficient work day.  Continue Reading

• How will Microsoft Dynamics 365 benefit the enterprise marketplace?

  Is Microsoft Dynamics 365's role in the enterprise marketplace actually beneficial for users? Expert Brent Leary discusses Microsoft's upcoming product.  Continue Reading

• Why does AWS as a cloud infrastructure provider matter for Salesforce?

  After experiencing a data outage in May, Salesforce turned to Amazon Web Services. It was a huge move, but probably a necessary one, expert Brent Leary explains.  Continue Reading

• What does Salesforce Lightning, Wave enable for users?

  Salesforce's latest upgrades to its Lightning and Wave platforms show that the cloud CRM company is trying to bring analytics closer to the individual user.  Continue Reading

• Have customer-centric processes arrived in the contact center?

  It's been a long journey, but are companies finally ready to incorporate customer-centric processes into their contact center operations?  Continue Reading

• Are Microsoft customers cooling on cloud concerns?

  As cloud platforms mature and become more mainstream, on-the-fence Microsoft users are taking another look at adopting them.  Continue Reading

• Which call center billing model should I use?

  What’s the best call center billing model measurement – charging for calls per month or per call? Expert Donna Fluss explains the methods behind both and how to best apply them in the contact center.  Continue Reading

• How can I measure call center agents' unavailable and "not ready" time?

  Find out how to measure call center agents' unavailable and not ready time in this expert tip and get a formula for calculating unavailable time in your call center.  Continue Reading

• Three management tips for overseeing call center agents on night shift

  There are psychological and medical challenges for call center agents working the night shift. Hear management tips from Donna Fluss for managing night shift call center agents.  Continue Reading

• Does hot seating in the call center affect agent morale?

  Learn about hot seating in the call center and find out how it can have a positive and negative impact on agent morale and productivity in this expert tip.  Continue Reading

• Pros and cons of auto-response software in the call center

  Auto-response software often gets mixed reviews from both call center professionals and customers. Learn the pros and cons of using auto-answer and auto-response software in the call center from expert Donna Fluss.  Continue Reading

• Call center rules and regulations: Why are they so strict?

  Learn the purpose of call center rules and regulations in this tip from Donna Fluss, including how and why call center managers control the number of scheduled agents according to the forecasted call volume, using workforce management (WFM) ...  Continue Reading

• Call monitoring best practices: Is there any industry standard?

  Learn the best approach to monitoring call center agent's calls with expert Lori Bocklund.  Continue Reading

• What's the difference between speech recognition software and voice tags?

  Wondering about how voice recognition or speech recognition and voice tags differ? Read definitions from Donna Fluss in this tip.  Continue Reading

• Call center scheduling: How to manage Auxiliary or unavailable time

  Expert Lori Bocklund advises a reader on managing a call center agent's Auxiliary or unavailable time.  Continue Reading

• Conducting a CRM system and process audit

  Expert Paul Greenberg offers advice on conducting an audit of CRM systems and processes.  Continue Reading

• How to evaluate call center quality analyst performance

  Expert Donna Fluss provides some guidelines for evaluating the performance of a call center's quality coach, and offers suggestions on training a quality coach.  Continue Reading

• Calculating the call center agent seat utilization ratio

  Lori Bocklund explains how to calculate the seat utilization ratio for a call center with a formula using call center agents and number of call center seats.  Continue Reading

• How can understanding customer value lead to successful marketing?

  According to Lior Arussy, understanding customer value can lead to successful marketing if you target those customers with the highest potential value, not just those with the highest actual value.  Continue Reading

• New call center agents -- top 10 pitfalls

  Common areas of call center agent weakness are largely due to inexperience in handling live (and sometimes frustrated and nasty) customers, and a lack of in-depth knowledge of systems, products, policies and procedures. Most of these areas can be ...  Continue Reading

• Using subject matter experts (SME) to develop call center managers

  Learn the benefits of promoting star agents to subject matter expert positions (SME) where they work under the call center supervisor.  Continue Reading

• How do you define flow out calls?

  Call center expert Lori Bocklund answers a reader who's using Avaya reports and is wondering about flow out calls, and whether they are the sum of abandoned and blocked calls.  Continue Reading