This Magic Quadrant examines the global market for customer service and support applications designed to engage customers through whichever channel they are using when they require assistance. It covers a wide range of customer service applications for organizations with customer engagement centers (CECs) ranging from the very small (fewer than 20 agents), to the averagely sized (50 agents) and the very large (over 20,000 agents).
We invite you to read through this study. See your brand in the findings. Celebrate your strengths and honestly evaluate where you can improve. Among other things, we encourage brands to: • Stop talking at people (broadcasting), take the time to engage with customers in real conversations. • Do away with knee-jerk, one-off posts and comments. Create an ongoing narrative that will entice your followers to return for more. Storytelling is a powerful way to engage people. • Create unique experiences for customers that relate to your narrative. • Focus on the channels that make the most sense for your brand. Go where your people are.
Your customers are getting closer and closer to you through social channels. Rising to meet these new standards is likely to be a challenge and dramatically raises urgency for your business. It’s undoubtedly an entirely new level of extreme expectations. Is your business prepared to provide that kind of connection through your customer service team, community, or even your social marketing efforts? How will you do it? Here is the good news: you are in the right place. We’ve developed this guide to help you succeed.
In 2007 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg marched up to Madison Avenue and proclaimed the founding promise of social marketing. No longer would companies simply shout at audiences, he said. Instead, Facebook and other social networks would give brands a new way to connect with customers. The big social networks don’t make it easy for brands to succeed - many suffer from increasing clutter, and most have introduced algorithms that limit companies’ reach. But there’s another factor keeping brands from marketing effectively and building stronger customer relationships: immature technology partners.