Geoff Galat

Reducing customer struggle: get mobile right the first time

Last week we all waited with baited breath to find out ‘what’ exactly Apple was going to launch at this year’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC).

And when Tim Cook unveiled a new operating system and some product upgrades, many of us were a little disappointed, having hoped for a shiny new and exciting smart phone or tablet.

by Geoff Galat 19 June 2013 10:08am 1 comment

Mobile marketing is on the move

Capitalising on 2012's success, mobile commerce is finally reaching its stride, and all the signs suggest that 2013 is a banner year for mobile.

Data shows that more and more consumers shop and buy through their mobile devices. In fact, a quick recap of 2012 shows that online shopping reached an all-time high during the 2012 Christmas period, with 30% growth on Cyber Monday alone. Sales soared and consumers flocked to their tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices to make purchases.

What this also asserts is that marketers, ecommerce executives and retailers must examine the customer experience and eliminate customer pain points that block successful conversions for the retailer.

If a customer voices issues with mobile transactions, retailers must identify the issue and why it causes customers to react negatively, then they must resolve the issue immediately.

by Geoff Galat 14 May 2013 18:55pm 1 comment

Understanding the digital consumer

A lot has been made of the growth of digital device usage and the complexity it brings as we look to build an ever-clearer picture of customer behavior.

With more channels and ways of shopping at our disposal, the behaviour of individual consumers differs significantly from person to person. The result is that effective customer experience management now includes more data points than ever before.

By creating customer behaviour models that provide audience speciﬁc insights however, this digital maze is perfectly navigable.

by Geoff Galat 01 February 2013 15:40pm 2 comments

Are we investing at the wrong end of the sales funnel?

For years now, working in the web optimisation space, I’ve always been frustrated by one simple fact: businesses spend millions of pounds every year driving customers to a website, but spend almost nothing helping those customers convert. For me, it’s a wholly misguided strategy, but is one that doesn’t seem set to change any time soon.

It’s easy to come up with reasons for this remaining the status quo and many myths exist. My favourite is perhaps the case that marketing is relatively expensive whereas popping up a website is a drop in the ocean. But with declines in the effectiveness of traditional marketing combined with increased web sophistication and multiple digital channels now available, it’s surely getting to the stage where the opposite is becoming true.

by Geoff Galat 09 November 2012 15:18pm 3 comments

Will tablets beat smartphones in the m-commerce race?

Smartphones are for browsing, tablets are for buying. That’s if you believe the results of a recent Sapient/Nitro survey, which shows that 56% of consumers rate tablets as useful for shopping compared to just 38% on smartphones.

There’s no doubt any online retailer reading these results will sit up and take note. But in order to turn this into an actionable mobile strategy, it is important to understand more about consumer behaviour on mobile devices of all types and how that behaviour changes and evolves.

by Geoff Galat 04 July 2012 14:15pm 2 comments

E-commerce growth is plateauing: how do you stay competitive?

Recent figures published by BRC-KPMG give the UK retail industry another grim reality check.

According to the report, there was only a small 2.3% rise in total UK retail sales numbers during February 2012, a significant slowdown when compared to January (where sales grew 11.3%) and 2011 (where overall growth was 18.5%).

by Geoff Galat 05 April 2012 09:08am 3 comments

Making the most of mobile commerce opportunities in 2012

Mobile is booming. Chances are that, if you’re shopping online in 2012, increasingly you’ll be carrying out part of the transaction on a mobile device.

The majority of smartphone users are now using a mobile device to browse and shop online while, in the UK, 5m tablet owners are expected to purchase a second device in 2012.

IHS screen digest recently released research predicting that in-app purchases will hit £3.6 billion in 2015, accounting for as much as 64% of mobile app market revenues.

So one thing is clear: if optimising your mobile channel isn’t high on your list of priorities in 2012, it really should be.

by Geoff Galat 22 February 2012 14:29pm 4 comments

How to improve mobile app user ratings

As discussed in a previous blog post, customer experience needs to be at the heart of your mobile strategy in 2012.

With online forums, comment boxes online and the growing number of brands with a social media presence, a customer has more ways than ever before to vent their frustrations following a poor online customer experience.

What’s more, a customer who has a poor experience online using a mobile device can use the very same device to log on to Facebook or Twitter and tell their entire network of friends and family about the poor mobile online experience they encountered.

by Geoff Galat 02 February 2012 15:22pm 0 comments

Bridging the gap between online and the call centre: Part two

In my last blog I looked at the important role the call centre team can play in improving customer experience in a multichannel environment.

In part two, we explore the steps companies can take to close the multichannel customer experience gap.

by Geoff Galat 07 December 2011 10:04am 0 comments

Bridging the gap between online and the call centre: Part one

Just how important is your customer contact centre to you?

For some companies, call centres are seen as a last resort for extremely frustrated customers who have struggled online or in store and need assistance completing their transaction.

In reality, the customer contact centre is at the forefront of customer experience and can often be the only ‘human’ interaction a customer has with a brand.

by Geoff Galat 30 November 2011 09:55am 5 comments