Latest news with #CustomerEngagement
The Sun
2 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
How to extend Tesco Clubcard points ahead of deadline
TESCO shoppers have just days left to stop their Clubcard vouchers from going to waste. Thousands of customers have been warned that vouchers issued in May 2022 will expire for good on May 31. 1 That means if you haven't used them by the end of this week, they'll vanish completely. The supermarket has been sending out urgent reminders, telling shoppers: 'Your Clubcard vouchers are expiring soon. Don't forget to use them on your next shop.' But there's a simple way to keep your points alive without spending the whole lot at once and it only takes seconds. If you've got an old voucher about to expire, you can spend just a small amount of it, as little as 50p, and Tesco will automatically reissue the remaining balance with a fresh two-year expiry date. So, for example, if you have a £10 voucher and use 50p on your next shop, the leftover £9.50 will come back to you as a brand-new voucher, valid until 2026. It works in-store and online. Just apply part of your voucher at checkout and the rest will be updated and saved in your Clubcard account. To see what you've got left, log into your Tesco Clubcard account through the app or website, and head to the 'Vouchers' section. You'll find a full list of what's available and when it runs out. If you're shopping in-store, you can scan your voucher straight from your phone. If you're buying online, they'll pop up at checkout and can be applied with one click. Save with secret codes Tesco's Customer Engagement team said: 'Lost track of where they are? Don't worry, you can find your vouchers in the Tesco app. "If you're shopping in-store, just scan them at the till from your phone.' Insider tip from a Tesco employee A Tesco employee has revealed a surprising secret about the self-scan trolleys. According to the worker, random checks on customers using these trolleys are not entirely random. The checks are actually triggered by a specific customer habit. If you frequently pick up and put down items without scanning them, you're more likely to be selected for a check. This is due to the system detecting suspicious behaviour, which could indicate potential theft. So, to avoid delays, it's best to scan items immediately after placing them in your trolley. What is a Clubcard? Clubcard is Tesco's free loyalty scheme which gives customers one point for every £1 spent in store or online, and one point for every two litres of fuel. Once you've earned 150 points, you get a £1.50 voucher to spend. But the real value comes from Tesco's Reward Partner scheme. This allows customers to swap their points for rewards worth up to three times as much. For example, £10 in Clubcard vouchers can be turned into £30 to spend at restaurants like PizzaExpress, or attractions like Legoland and SEA LIFE. There's also the option to exchange £7.50 worth of vouchers for a three-month Disney+ subscription – a saving that's proved popular with families. You can also rack up points by shopping with Tesco's partnered brands. Customers buying a new Vauxhall car can earn a whopping 50,000 Clubcard points, while shoppers using services like Evri or OVO Energy can collect extra points per pound spent. If you want to take it further, Tesco also runs a monthly subscription called Clubcard Plus. It costs £7.99 a month, but gives you 10 per cent off two big in-store shops of your choice each month, as well as discounts on select Tesco brands. If you spend over £40 on your big shop, the discount alone covers the subscription. Tesco fans can also earn points by taking surveys through the Shopper Thoughts programme. You'll receive 150 points just for sharing your opinion and it can be done from the sofa in a matter of minutes. The biggest mistake shoppers make is letting their vouchers expire – and it's easier than you'd think to forget. So before May 31 hits, log into your account and see what's still sitting there. You might have pounds waiting to be saved or even tripled in value. How to save money on your food shop Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how you can save hundreds of pounds a year: Odd boxes - plenty of retailers offer slightly misshapen fruit and veg or surplus food at a discounted price. Lidl sells five kilos of fruit and veg for just £1.50 through its Waste Not scheme while Aldi shoppers can get Too Good to Go bags which contain £10 worth of all kinds of products for £3.30. Sainsbury's also sells £2 "Taste Me, Don't Waste Me" fruit and veg boxes to help shoppers reduced food waste and save cash. Food waste apps - food waste apps work by helping shops, cafes, restaurants and other businesses shift stock that is due to go out of date and passing it on to members of the public. Some of the most notable ones include Too Good to Go and Olio. Too Good to Go's app is free to sign up to and is used by millions of people across the UK, letting users buy food at a discount. Olio works similarly, except users can collect both food and other household items for free from neighbours and businesses. Yellow sticker bargains - yellow sticker bargains, sometimes orange and red in certain supermarkets, are a great way of getting food on the cheap. But what time to head out to get the best deals varies depending on the retailer. You can see the best times for each supermarket here. Super cheap bargains - sign up to bargain hunter Facebook groups like Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK where shoppers regularly post hauls they've found on the cheap, including food finds. "Downshift" - you will almost always save money going for a supermarket's own-brand economy lines rather than premium brands. The move to lower-tier ranges, also known as "downshifting" and hailed by consumer expert Martin Lewis, could save you hundreds of pounds a year on your food shop.
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Convergence Of Customer Success, Experience, And Service
Five Keys to Aligning Customer Engagement Teams, Systems and Processes to Create More Value It is common knowledge that delivering superior digital customer experience and maximizing customer lifetime value of customers' needs to be the primary goal for any business that wants to grow in a digital age. Today, the vast majority (90%) of business leaders are making CX a primary focus. There are almost three million customer service representatives working in the US according to the Department of Labor, and almost every (95%) technology and Software as a Service (SaaS) firm has a Customer Success function according to Gainsight research. Over the last decade, the lines have blurred between the roles of Customer Success (CS), Customer Service, and Customer Experience (CX) management to the degree that they even all sound the same. In a modern commercial model, all three of these previously siloed functions have aligned their goals, processes, metrics, and systems on the same three things: For example, organizations increasingly recognize that Customer Success influences the entire customer lifecycle. This has led to the emergence of more unified Customer Success strategies that are forcing growth leaders to think holistically about the customer journey—from marketing and sales to post-purchase engagement. "Customer success is no longer just about retention or support; it has evolved into a proactive, revenue-generating force that touches every part of the business," says Michael Marchand, who has managed customer success and experience operations over the past twenty years with WP Engine, Dell Technologies, and Deloitte Consulting. "What we're seeing now is a more integrated approach where marketing, product, sales, and customer success teams collaborate to drive business growth." This integration is particularly evident at Oracle, where Mohamed Alqaq leads customer success efforts. With decades of experience in the field, Alqaq stresses that customer success should be regarded as a company-wide philosophy rather than a department. "Customer success isn't about reactive support, it's about being a maestro, orchestrating the relationship between teams and ensuring that every department is working toward a unified goal," Alqaq explains. "Sales, marketing, product, and support each contribute a piece to the puzzle, but customer success is the thread that connects them all." With the broader adoption of Revenue Operations we are seeing customer success, service, and experience functions are taking on more strategic importance across the revenue cycle. This has led to a new generation of growth leaders with titles like Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Chief Customer Officer (CCO), who now have authority to better coordinate the teams that support customer health with the teams that support sales, account management, and marketing. This new growth leadership structure makes it possible to integrate Customer Success with service and experience teams beyond their traditional roles to radically transform business growth - enterprises that deploy a CRO-like role show 1.8-times higher revenue growth than their peers according to research by McKinsey. So as customer success, service, and experience converge around the customer what is the difference between these three customers facing functions? Increasingly the answer is 'not much.' I recently posed that question to executives and experts in these respective fields in a webinar, and I learned five keys to successfully managing the convergence of these functions in a B2B organization at every stage of the revenue cycle. 1. Investing in customer success, service, and experience as a revenue driver rather than a back-office capability. One factor that is blurring the lines between the operations managing customer experience, customer service, and customer success is their growing role in revenue and profit growth. In a modern commercial model revenues are increasingly tied to sustained loyalty, cross-selling, usage, referrals, penetration, and expansion revenues. As such, the lines between CX and CS have become less clear. While the top goals of Customer Success teams remain gross revenue retention (95%) and scale and efficiency (89%), more and more businesses are asking their CS teams to generate growth through renewals (41%), revenue expansion (28%) and new business in the form of customer success sales qualified leads (41%) according to a survey of 250 companies conducted by Gainsight. "Customer success managers must increasingly act as advocates—helping customers navigate their business challenges while driving strategic growth for their own organizations,' says Michael Marchand. 2. Building trust through a coordinated set of proactive education, engagement, and problem-solving actions versus acting in separate silos. 'Once a prospect becomes a customer and post-sales implementation begins, Customer Success is increasingly playing the role of the 'maestro' who proactively engages the client across all their needs – training, onboarding, education, product updates, and support,' according to Mohammed Alqaq, a Strategic Customer Success Manager with Oracle, with over 20 years of client facing experience and supporting key account teams which serve large, complex accounts in engineering and design industries. 'What is changing is the growing role CS now plays proactively orchestrating internal interactions with sales, service, product, and marketing teams to get feedback, share signals, answer questions, manage risks, and ensure value is delivered and the conditions exist for cross-sell, referrals, and success,' says Alqaq in a recent webinar entitled The Intersection of Customer Experience and Success. Operationally CS has always involved coordinating people, processes, data, and technologies to enable a series of post-sales workflows to onboard, train, support, and retain customer relationships. But increasingly Customer Success involves account management, relationship development, and expansion activities that span the front of the revenue cycle. 'Customer Success was once a siloed department – but now it is a company-wide growth strategy,' says Brent Krempges, Chief Customer Officer at Gainsight. 'Organizations across industries increasingly recognize CS as central to the customer lifecycle, driving collaboration across departments. This has made CS indispensable for recurring revenue models and extended its influence beyond traditional B2B enterprise tech boundaries.' Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight and author of Digital Customer Success, adds 'CS has progressed from call‐center personnel responding to help requests and trouble tickets into CSMs [Customer Success Managers] who proactively collaborate with customers, as well as with Sales, Marketing, Product, IT, and more to design, execute, measure, and monitor customer journeys that deliver the greatest possible value to the customer.' Today, a third of customer service professionals are shifting their focus to proactively solving customer problems, according to a survey of 2,000 customer service professionals by Intercom. "Clients don't care about internal politics, job titles, or company silos', says Michael Marchand, who also leads operations and strategy at Advantage Solutions, a $3B tech-enabled business services organization. 'What they care about is whether their provider is easy to work with and has their back." Marchand, whose role spans the service, support, and product teams operations which span the entire customer lifecycle, has in-depth experience in connecting the dots across each of these functions. "Customer success managers must act as advocates—helping customers navigate their business challenges while driving strategic growth for their own organizations. If a client is experiencing repeated issues, waiting for them to reach out isn't the answer. You must get ahead of the problem, communicate solutions, and ensure they feel supported.' 3. How and where to deploy contactless, digital, and AI driven tools to deliver scale and speed at lower cost. Another factor transforming customer experience, service, and success is the rapid adoption of digital self-service channels and AI in customer facing interactions. Over two thirds (72%) of Customer Service professionals are actively using AI to automatically respond to inbound inquiries according to the Gainsight study. More than half (52%) of Customer Success teams are incorporating AI into their workflows, using tools that strengthen early indicator systems, automate processes, and provide richer customer insights. And 59% of traditional CX teams want to become more AI-driven in the next year according to a survey of 5,504 CX and CS teams by ZenDesk. These tools deliver fast responses and scale at lower costs. For example, most business leaders (57%) feel their investment in conversational chatbots are delivering a large ROI on minimal investment according to research by Accenture. By automating tasks like data entry and churn detection, AI saves CS teams more than 10 hours per week, but they come with risks and downsides as well. Many customers don't want to engage with a robot. Mohammed Alqaq suggests that businesses which add digital engagement models must ensure they are adaptable to changing customer preferences. "Some customers prefer human interaction; others want automated solutions. It's not just about generational differences, it's about the complexity of the solution and the customer's level of maturity with the product," he explains. "Flexible communication channels are key to ensuring customers feel supported regardless of their engagement style." 4. Finding the right balance between the human touch with algorithmic and AI engagement. Pivoting too hard to AI and digital CS can pose big problems. Why? It turns out that the more we adopt AI and digital technology to enhance customer experience, the more customers value human engagement. Most customers (82%) will want to interact with humans more as technology improves in the future according to a global survey by PwC. That makes the art of balancing the human touch with digital and AI engagement critical to maximize customer lifetime value and differentiate the experience. There is an unintended side effect of all this focus on automation - it can diminish trust, commoditize the customer experience, and diminish long term customer relationship equity. That's important because trust is at the core of customer success and a key to sustainable growth. 'Technology is supposed to be a force multiplier that augments the impact, effectiveness, and scale of customer service and success teams - but in some ways, it has overwhelmed and marginalized the role of human engagement and empathy,' says Brendan Kamm, CEO of Thnks, and the coauthor of The Power of Gratitude in Sales, Marketing and Customer Success. This has many experts saying the pendulum needs to swing in the other direction towards a more human approach to selling. 'As AI becomes a bigger factor in the customer engagement model, people will increasingly notice the 'human touch.' So, to a large degree, our customer-facing processes need to become more human, not less,' says Kamm. 'You don't want to over-digitize things, because if everyone's getting an AI-powered email or interaction, is that authentic anymore?' writes Nick Mehta in his book Digital Customer Success. 'Maintaining a balance between human creativity and machine capabilities is the challenge.' A good start is by incorporating authentic expressions of emotion and empathy, such as gratitude, into the revenue cycle. For example, something as simple as expressing appreciation of customer milestones, or a minor gesture of gratitude for their business, can make a big impact given that one of our most compelling needs as humans is the feeling of significance or importance. Making experiences memorable matters: according to McKinsey & Company, 70% of buying experiences are based on how customers feel they're being treated, 5. Developing data-driven insights, metrics, and incentives to keep up with a changing set of business objectives. Another issue managers face is adapting their measurement systems to keep up with the changing focus and goals of customer-facing teams in service, success, and support. For example, the metrics most organizations use to measure the performance of these digital CX and CS channels are leading people to focus on the wrong objectives. The vast majority of Customer Success leaders (89%) are making scale and efficiency a primary goal of their efforts, according to a survey of research conducted by Gainsight. By comparison, only half of firms emphasize metrics focused on customer health, and less than a third on measures of onboarding satisfaction or account expansion. This means the metrics most organizations use to measure the performance of these digital CX and CS channels are leading people to focus on the wrong objectives. Both Marchand and Alqaq agree that data-driven insights are reshaping customer success strategies. Instead of relying on historical trends alone, companies are leveraging analytics, AI, and customer feedback to identify risks and opportunities in real-time. "A unified health scoring system shouldn't just come from customer success—it needs input from sales, marketing, and support," Alqaq explains. "If a customer suddenly stops responding to surveys, attends fewer webinars, or raises an increasing number of support tickets, those signals matter. Combining data from multiple departments allows us to see the full picture." Marchand builds on this idea, noting that successful organizations use data to create personalized customer experiences. 'It's not just about revenue—it's about understanding individual customer needs,' says Marchand, referencing his speech on aligning CX to create value. When clients give feedback, whether directly or through their behavior, we have an opportunity to act on it and demonstrate value in ways they didn't expect. AI opens up the opportunity to provide more human coverage for both large and mid-sized accounts, while automating routine activities that clients will find fast and convenient.'
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Tesco apologise for mistakenly telling shoppers they received £100 in Clubcard points
Tesco has written an apology to customers after the supermarket giant mistakenly told them they had received £100 worth of Clubcard points. Shoppers were sent an email on Sunday afternoon, informing them that £100 in points had been added to their account. The hand-out was linked to a promotion alongside EasyJet this year where Clubcard members booking holidays using vouchers got 10,000 Clubcard points. However, the email was incorrectly sent out to shoppers who had not booked a holiday through the deal. Less than 24 hours after the initial promise of points, the supermarket giant sent another email, apologising to customers for the mistake. Customers annoyed by the miscommunication still vented their annoyance on social media. Tom Curzon wrote on X: WTF is this about Tesco? I demand £100 of club card points NOW!! Ellie wrote: 'Did anyone else get this weird Tesco email today about £100 of clubcard points being ours and then not being ours?' Liz wrote: 'Very disappointed for the false advertising. When will you update my clubcard account with the £100? The correction email sent by Tesco was Monday was titled 'Oops - that email wasn't meant for you!' In the email, Zoe Evans, from the UK customer engagement centre, wrote: 'We sent you an email about our Reward Partners on Sunday 11 May (great!). Unfortunately, we mistakenly said we'd added £100 of Clubcard points to your account for booking an easyJet holiday (not so great!). 'We're very sorry for any confusion we caused, and we hope you have a lovely summer, whatever your holiday plans.' The promotion on receiving Clubcard points through EasyJet bookings lasted from 17 February to 13 April, with the points allocated to those eligible by the end of June. The deal with the holiday-maker was to mark the 30-year anniversary of the clubcard scheme. Shoppers use the card in-store or online to earn a point for each £1 spent. Once a set number of points have been earned, the money is turned into a voucher that can be used to get money off a shop at Tesco, or with reward partners.
Forbes
12-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Circle This Date And Celebrate: Customer Experience Day Is May 15
May 15th is Customer Experience Day. A driving force determining business success in today's market is the quality of experiences we create for our customers. This is why it's so timely that May 15 has been designated as a new holiday, Customer Experience Day, designed to pay tribute to the actual people and practices that turn standard business interactions into relationship-building engagements. This is right in my wheelhouse as CEO of Nextiva, where we offer a unified customer experience management platform (UCXM). But even if your business's product or service isn't as clearly related to customer experience (CX) improvement, your business will still benefit from committing to (and obsessing over) building a Customer Experience-First organization and culture to thrive. Make How Your Customers Feel the End Goal of Technology This moment in time is critical for the customer experience. We are sitting at the intersection of many new technologies, including artificial intelligence, automation, and digital channels. These have the potential to change the very nature of business. But in this rush to use tech to transform, some leaders are actually doing the opposite. They're using new tech to actually diminish the human experience that their customers have expected and enjoyed, which is, to my mind, exactly the wrong direction and approach. My experience has taught me that it's never just the product or service you're selling that gives the biggest competitive edge in the marketplace. Rather, it's how you make customers (and prospects) feel all along the arc of their experience with your brand. Most companies today at least nominally understand that delivering on customer experience has value. But only a select few are actually focusing on it as much as they should be. The Economic Impact of Exceptional Experiences Being customer-centric isn't just a pleasantry; it has an extremely strong business case to make. Multiple sources support the following numbers. These are not just mesmerizing numbers. They depict the predicted—and predictable—outcomes of spending money to better the customer experience. What these numbers suggest is that investing in the customer experience can lead to the following outcomes: improved customer loyalty and engagement and greater company revenue. Recognition Where It's Due The main reason for having a Customer Experience Day can be summed up in one word: tribute. It is, in essence, a day for honoring those active in and committed to the customer experience discipline. These are the support agents in the customer service frontlines, the user experience (UX) designers, and the leaders and executives in the part of every organization that faces the customer, who set the kind of tone that makes a customer-first philosophy pervade all parts of their company. The way I see it, the effect of these professionals goes far beyond the individual customer interaction. In many respects, they are the company's first line of defense, governing its reputation, steering its growth, and embodying its values in the marketplace. Beyond Reactive Service Customer experience goes beyond yesterday's organizational acceptance of reactive customer service. Today, getting it right means getting it right in every channel, round the clock—and moving from a reactive approach to anticipating every customer's needs. To make this happen requires the contributions and focus of people throughout an organization. Engineers, finance people, technical and operations teams, frontline associates, and more all have a hand in shaping how customers feel about the brand. Making It Meaningful With Customer Experience Day coming up soon, I urge companies to contemplate the possible implications of the day and become involved in its success in as many of the following ways as they can. The Path Forward I see May 15 as an event—a moment in time, really—that offers a chance to discuss and take action related to the creation of superior customer experiences, day in and day out for the rest of the year.
Zawya
08-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
e& enterprise partners with Infobip to launch the new Customer Engagement Hub
Dubai – e& enterprise, the digital transformation arm of e&, has announced a strategic partnership with Infobip, a global cloud communications platform, to launch the new Customer Engagement Hub. By combining Infobip's advanced customer engagement solutions with engageX, the Customer Experience division of e& enterprise, this platform leverages the strengths of both partners. engageX brings its robust communication management solutions and expert consultancy, while Infobip enhances the offering with cutting-edge capabilities including its customer engagement solution, chatbot building platform, and customer data platform. Together, they provide a unified solution for enterprises across the UAE and Saudi Arabia to build sustainable customer relationships, engaging customers effectively at every touchpoint. Ahmed Abdi Omer, Vice President/Customer Experience - e& enterprise said: 'Today's consumers are well-informed and selective, actively seeking meaningful interactions with brands. To truly connect with this audience, organisations need smart solutions that not only offer insights into customer needs but also provide seamless engagement on their preferred channels. At e& enterprise, we understand the critical role CX plays in building lasting relationships. With specialised offerings, a commitment to supporting developers with user-friendly integration tools, and a strong technology partnership with Infobip, engageX is uniquely positioned as a trusted CX transformation partner. Through the Customer Engagement Hub, we aim to empower enterprises to create impactful, enduring customer connections.' Zeid Shubailat, Director at Infobip, said: 'In today's competitive landscape, customer experience in both the private and public sectors is more critical than ever. Our cutting-edge capabilities bring best-in-class communication channels and a robust messaging platform to meet a wide range of customer needs. This strategic partnership underscores our commitment to helping businesses build impactful and lasting customer relationships by ensuring seamless engagement at every interaction point.' The Customer Engagement Hub is designed for enterprises of all sizes and focuses on delivering relevant content based on key customer information, interests, and activities. By integrating elements such as behaviour-based communication, analytics, AI predictions and communication channels such as WhatsApp, SMS, email, and voice under one roof, the platform will empower businesses to streamline customer communications and leverage data-driven insights into audience behaviour. Thus, enhancing customer loyalty and retention while maximising return on marketing investment. As a unified platform, it aims to enable businesses across both public and private sectors to boost operational efficiency by centralising data management, analysis, and optimisation efforts. In today's competitive landscape, customer experience is a key driver of conversion, turning interactions into meaningful transactions. By providing insights into customer behaviour, the platform empowers brands and organisations to develop stronger, data-informed marketing strategies that resonate with their audiences. Ultimately, engageX and Infobip's powerful blend of CX expertise will enhance customer loyalty, leading to sustained growth and significant impact on business performance for government and businesses in the UAE and KSA.
