Resources for the Research Community
Steven Salta is co-founder and CEO of Ascentium, a digital media and interactive marketing agency. Steven has overall responsibility for the agency's revenue, profitability, customer loyalty, and corporate culture.
In my previous post, I sang the praises of OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation service that I believe has helped both diner and restaurant by establishing such an easily managed relationship between the two. I’m still praising OpenTable, but this time around, I’d also like to offer the company a gentle admonition: Stick to what [...]
As many readers of this blog know, I’m always on the lookout for the great customer experience. Sometimes, it doesn’t take much looking; I’ll simply realize one day that some establishment or service has hit on the right customer service formula to turn me into a loyalist. Recently, it occurred to me that I absolutely [...]
If you’ve been following my blog recently, you know I’ve been exploring Net Promoter Score, a system of measuring customer loyalty developed by Fred Reichheld and described in his 2006 book “The Ultimate Question.” You also know I think it’s an invaluable tool for improving your business and building client loyalty. In this post, I’d [...]
In recent posts I’ve discussed Fred Reichheld’s Net Promoter Score, as laid out in his 2006 book “The Ultimate Question.” As a digital agency founder, I’m still gaining unexpected insights from the NPS methodology, so I won’t be departing from the subject any time soon. In my previous post, I discussed lessons learned primarily from [...]
In my previous post, I discussed the principles behind Fred Reichheld’s Net Promoter Score, a system of measuring client loyalty by asking a customer, on a scale of 0-10, how likely they’d be to recommend your company to a friend or colleague, and what the main reason is for their answer. My company, Ascentium, began [...]
If you want to stay in business, you have to turn your customers into fans. A good product, hard work, and earnest customer service all make for a good start, but it’s just a start. To build customer loyalty, you must be able to accurately measure each customer’s experience, then build on what you’ve done [...]
I’ve always been one of Costco’s biggest fans. It’s my favorite store. I love their low prices, their no-questions-asked return policy, and the high quality of their merchandise. I sometimes drop into Costco with nothing in mind. It’s a great store for treasure hunting, and Costco consistently surprises me by featuring new and interesting merchandise [...]
A Tale of Two Hotels What is the most important component for building customer loyalty? I don’t purport to hold the answer, and I can recite at least a score of pleasant-sounding theories that are popular in marketing circles. But on a recent vacation in Japan, I was confronted with a powerful example of something [...]
If you’ve spent any time in the London Underground, you’ve been well conditioned by its public address system to “mind the gap,” i.e. take care when boarding across the open space between platform and train. It’s good advice. For those of us whose business it is to try to understand and influence the conversation between [...]
The term “agency of the future” is used so much that it’s become meaningless. Pick up any copy of Ad Age. You’ll read about the demise of the traditional agency and the emergence of. . . well, take your pick. With so many different visions of the future floating about, you have to wonder if [...]
