Verint CMO, Celia Fleischaker, believes it’s high time for marketing and the contact centre to become better acquainted.

All the latest martech, adtech and customer technology news from Lunio, Optimizely, Zendesk, Genesys, Heyday by Hootsuite, TrafficGuard, Regie.ai, SmartCommerce and Myxx Solutions.

An omnichannel approach to customer experience, rather than a multi-channel one that simply provides extra channel choice, is key to Beyond Bank’s ongoing CX proposition.

Focusing closely on a defined use case, stringent alignment to design principles and a commitment to learning through customer feedback are a few ways Australian brands are balancing chatbots and human empathy in digital interactions.

The ascent of the digitally savvy consumer has accordingly given rise to the fully digital brand. But in an era where experience trumps almost everything else, sometimes even the most sophisticated digital solutions fall short of what a customer actually needs.

Emma McRobert had been in the US looking for a new messaging platform for the Optus customer care website when she learned about an idea that would revamp the company’s entire contact centre model.

As we usher in 2022, CMO asked the industry to share their top predictions around customer experience capability and culture, from the tech innovations driving its advancement, through to communication trends, measurement and the very human elements required in every CX approach.

More than one in five customer experience (CX) leaders are facing a disconnect between KPIs and metrics with marketing counterparts, hampering alignment and consistency across an organisation’s customer approach.

Making contact with thousands of prospective donors on Bandanna Day and raising more than $180,000 to support young people affected by cancer is just one outcome of Canteen Australia’s data and technology overhaul.

A Net Promoter Score of +74 and 30 per cent year-on-year growth are just some of ways BizCover’s transformative investment into personalised and increasingly automated customer service and marketing has delivered.

US-based artificial intelligence startup, Sanas, has been working to unpick the nuances of accents to make communication easier for people from different backgrounds. That could have huge implications for any marketer who wants to improve customer experience through voice channels by helping both customers and staff be better understood.

When Julie Mathers founded ecommerce business, Flora & Fauna, in 2014 after a lengthy career in retail, she did so with the intention of creating a business that was both better and kinder.

There’s much to be said for the commercial benefits of providing exceptional customer support. But no matter how that support is provided, there is always a cost somewhere.

Differentiated and personalised support is table stakes for companies, according to Slack VP of customer service, Ali Rayl, speaking at this week’s slack frontiers event. And some of the best examples of this kind of customer service are unique - not just to an industry or a business, but unique to the company its mission, vision and goals.

Post-purchase help and communications, plus a sense of belonging to a community, are vital factors influencing loyalty across Australian consumers. Yet these elements continue to be a let down for many of us when engaging with brands, a new survey has found.

BT recently launched a 24/7 online virtual assistant ‘Blue’, which supports advisers and their clients seeking immediate responses to common questions, step-by-step guides and connecting people to one of our specialised support teams. The chatbot is learning ‘on the job’ and in a single week has helped over 900 people and responded to more than 2000 queries for the financial services company.

Commercial vehicle manufacturer, Hino Australia, has promoted its brand and marketing leader and elevated customer support as part of an executive reshuffle aimed at improving customer focus across the organisation.

When incoming JAX Tyres & Auto CEO, Steve Grossrieder, took the reins in 2017, he soon discovered the company had been quite good at customer service, yet was lacking the consistency of an embedded customer experience platform and approach.

Instant maintenance support notifications, self-service customer tools and customer feedback follow-up are now on the cards for Fisher & Paykel following its latest technology program of work.

Customers want phone, email and online help, plus new tools like messaging and chat bots with help from real human agents, according to BT’s Autonomous Customer 2020 research. The report said, while technologies come and go, the message from customers is unchanged: Make it easy, make it secure and we will reward you.

​NBN Co, operator of Australia’s national broadband network (nbn), has taken its customer ambassadors online with a new virtual offering designed to replace the face-to-face time lacking during COVID-19.