Does your organization practice VOC 3.0?

• Do you have concrete social media goals? • Are social media insights driving change? • Does your organization ask that social media analysis be

included in all research projects? • Is social media analysis shared broadly across departments? • Are you reporting social media themes / trends daily? • Is your social media program driving tangible ROI?

VOC 3.0 adds social media to the research toolbox and makes listening a regular practice. While many companies have launched social media efforts, they are failing to demonstrate where it fits and how it generates positive ROI.

Where does social media fit into research – almost everywhere!

If you are getting started or are struggling with driving solid results, ‘Improving Customer Experience’ is a great business issue to tackle. In this report, Blueocean Market Intelligence demonstrates:

• How to combine secondary research with social media mining to build a listening framework. • Two concrete examples of how social media can be put into action to improve products and services.

Voice of the Customer 3.0: Integrating Social Media to Improve Customer Experience

May 2010

Add Your Voice! We’re currently surveying companies with social media VOC programs to benchmark best practices. We’ll send results to participants. To take our quick survey, go to: http://www.blueoceanmi.com/VOC_Survey

What’s Inside Defining Good Customer Experience Page 2 Why Focus on Customer Experience? Page 2 Companies that Get it Right Page 3 How to Listen Page 3 VOC 3.0: Beyond Tracking Mentions Page 4 ROI of VOC 3.0 Page 4 VOC 3.0 in Action: Page 5

Example 1: Tracking Launch Results - Apple’s iPad Page 5 Example 2: Improving Customer Experience - Retail Page 9

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Defining Good Customer Experience

Customer experience is the sum total of a consumer’s interactions with a company or brand. The concept of “customer experience” has been around for over a decadei

Good customer experience requires putting customers’ needs first in all decision making. We found the following common themes when customers talk about good experiences and we believe they make up a powerful Customer Experience Framework:

and has been a buzzword for nearly as long. The explosion of social media offers businesses of any size the opportunity to engage in the core activity required to understand and improve the customer experience: listening.

Why Focus on Customer Experience?

Research has shown that customers who rate their experiences with a company highly are also more likely to be loyal and spend moreii. Companies that get customer experience right engage people and provide authentic experiences that they deem valuable in their livesiii. The companies who do this well don’t just have customers, they have fans who evangelize about them both on and offline.

Quality

• Offer best in class products/services • Make proactive improvements based on

customer feedback • Guarantee products/services meet

quality standards • Quickly resolve or replace if quality

breaks down • Routinely exceed expectations

• Streamline to make product/services easy to use and understand

• Make your location (physical or online) easy to navigate - clean, well designed, organized, well staffed

• Create an easily understood problem resolution process

Simplicity

• Consider how customers really use products/services

• See products/services and problem resolution from the customers’ perspective

• Listen and value customers’ time • Give customers an incentive to

return/repurchase by apologizing for issues, delivering on promises and providing proactive updates

Empathy

• Clearly communicate about products/services to empower customers to make good decisions

• Ensure employees are knowledgeable about the products/services they sell

• Empower employees to move issues ahead without constantly checking with “higher ups”

• Provide customers with ways to solve their own problems (excellent instructions or FAQs for example)

Empowerment

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Customer Experience Index (CxPi) Scores by Industry In a survey of 141 executives by Forrester Researchiv

• 90% of respondents believe that customer experience is “very important” or “critical” to their 2010 strategy

:

• 80% say their goal is to differentiate themselves through customer experience

• However, only 11% feel their companies have a “very disciplined” approach to customer experience.

While executives scramble to integrate customer experience strategy, consumers are seeing very little excellence. Certain industries routinely score more highly on customer experience than others, but high ratings or “excellent” ratings on Forrester’s Customer Experience Index (CxPi) are rare.

Companies that Get it Right

While many companies have a lot of work to do to improve their customer experience, there are companies who are already getting it right. A number of indices track customer experience. Companies that rate highly across these indices include the followingv

:

• Apple • Dell • Hewlett Packard • Google

• Barnes and Noble • Amazon.com • Kohl’s • Macy’s

• Credit unions • Sun Trust Bank • US Bancorp

• Kaiser • Humana • Medicare • Medicaid

• Marriott Hotels • Southwest

Airlines

Apple is an iconic company when it comes to customer experience and one of few technology manufacturers who excel in this area. Apple routinely tops lists of companies with best customer service and is one of only two tech companies on the 2010 list of customer service standouts and third on this list overallvi. A recent poll found that 64% of Apple users are “very satisfied” with their experiencevii

• Apple’s focus on how their customers will use their products results in devices that work intuitively to increase productivity, and tap into users’ creativity and desire for attractive design.

. A few important areas they get right:

• Their high-rated customer service quickly resolves or replaces products if quality breaks down. • Customers routinely say that they exceeded expectations.

How to Use Listening to Improve Customer Experience

To create a cohesive and positive brand experience, it’s essential to think like your customers. There are numerous ways to listen in to what customers are saying about their experience with a brand. Getting the customer

Tech Retail Finance Health Travel

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experience right means listening to what customers think and integrating their feedback into the process of innovation in product development, brand management, service and employee training.

Traditional methods like surveys and focus groups provide opportunities to dig deep into what customers think, but ongoing measurement is costly and slow to pick up on emerging issues. Online social media and the explosion of consumer-created content provide 24 hour listening labs that allow unmediated access to what customers are saying. Finding relevant, timely content is crucial. Efficiently channeling that information to product managers and other decision makers is also critical to successfully integrating customer feedback into all business practices.

VOC 3.0: Beyond Tracking Mentions

Most large and some small companies engage in some form of social media listening to track their success at providing good customer experiences. A recent study found that 62% of large US firms surveyed have a “voice of the customer” (VOC) program in placeviii. However, another survey of executives found that while 82% of US executives use social media for brand building, only 19% use it for research purposesix

VOC 3.0 is distinguished by:

. So, while many companies may be monitoring brand mentions and/or tracking sentiment online, few have mature VOC programs that integrate customer feedback into all business processes. We call this VOC 3.0.

• Access to tool(s) to track a variety of channels and forums.

• Ability to dig deep into conversations to harvest actionable insights, not just track mentions and sentiment.

• In-depth reporting that is shared broadly and frequently (daily and/or weekly).

• VOC managers that follow-up on key issues with internal teams to ensure customer perspective is being integrated throughout all customer touch points.

• VOC managers report out to customers via social and traditional media to let them know how their input has affected product development or resulted in new fixes for issues.

• Process to quantify and report ROI.

ROI of VOC 3.0

It can be hard to clearly quantify the value of using social media, however, there are tangible ways to prove VOC 3.0 ROI. When focusing on Improving Customer Experience for example, measure and monetize the value of:

• Reducing customer service contacts • Refining new products before launch • Fixing existing product/service pain points

Implementing a holistic VOC program will help companies achieve the hallmark of good experience: quality driven by customer-centered product development paired with efficient problem resolution and employee engagement.

VOC 3.0 Programs Can: • Identify emerging issues early before they

snowball. • Identify gaps in the market. • Spark innovation. • Guide development of training programs and

new products. • Reveal areas of confusion or customer pain

points, reducing reliance on customer support.

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VOC Reporting: Examples

The following examples show social media listening in action. We’ve chosen two examples and have created sample reports from two different industries: a report on issues iPad users are experiencing (new product launch monitoring), and an example of how to use a listening platform to continuously track customer experience problems and delights to drive action in retail stores.

These reports use broad social media listening that includes blogs, Twitter, forums, Facebook and news outlets to identify:

• Top community conversation themes • High authority “voices” • Product cycle specifics • Examples of negative experiences

Example 1: Tracking Feedback on Apple’s iPad

Apple famously centrally controls the design and distribution of their products to ensure perfection. When Apple recently released the iPad, eager customers waited in long lines to be among the first purchasers. Now that users have the iPad in hand, we’ve tracked feedback and identified customer experience themes that can guide future iterations of the iPad.

Overview

While overall satisfaction with the iPad is high, social media research identified emerging issues plaguing iPad users. The objective of a report like this is to twofold. First, it identifies users’ issues in real-time to address them immediately if necessary. Second, the information can be funneled to product managers to help formulate product enhancement plans and prioritize fixes.

iPad Community Snapshot: Who’s Discussing the iPad?

Overall Sentiment

Geographical Hotspots

NOTE: These are examples only and do not represent actual client work.

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Age Distribution

Gender Distribution

Industry Distribution

Country Distribution

iPad Problems/Issues

Key Issue Themes based on Text Analytics

Investigation of the term clusters in buzz graphs point to these key issues causing frustration among iPad users:

• A high number of references to “dongles” and ports reveals many conversations about iPad’s lack of key features and issues charging through USB ports.

• Internet connectivity problems is leading to high buzz about issues with wifi and maintaining web access.

• The iPad’s inability to read Flash is also a pain point for users, resulting in many comparisons to other tablets that do have Flash capability (like the Eee Pad).

• Searching into discussions about iPad apps reveals users’ frustration that the iPad can’t multitask when running 3rd party apps.

Blog Buzz Graph

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Sample Verbatims: Lack of Key Features There is a large volume of conversation about various “dongles,” or connectors that can create an iPad port for a USB card and other uses. Many customers feel that the lack of a USB port is a serious omission that limits the usefulness of the device. Users feel that requiring customers to carry extra “dongles” to create needed ports is unweildly and inconvenient. Here's My 48-Point iPad Review “No USB port is a crime. No camera is a crime. This device would be sick for video conferencing. it could be a phone killer at home. No removable memory is unforgivable. Every device and computer I own has compact flash, SD or Micro SD. Would it kills Jobs to allow an SD card slot?”

Type Authority Post Freq Comments Delicious In Link Blog 10 1,731 37 640 17,816

What features would you like to see on the iPad? “I just got the camera accessory kit. One part is an sd card reader. The other part is a USB port where you plug a (still) camera into. In other words, still no live video and no capturing images directly on the iPad.”

Type Authority Posts in Thread Original post date

Facebook N/A 2 Apr 29, 2010

RE: Bill Gates on iPad: "It's a Nice Reader, But..." “There's so much potential with this device, yet Apple limited its functionality. For example, why not give it a stylus so that students could write/draw notes while in class or for artists to create a drawing?”

Type Authority Post Threads Views Comments Original post

Forum 10 330 NA 329 Feb 11, 2010

twitter.com/traveldudes “Perhaps it's just me, but the Ipad doesn't have USB or flash... not very useful isn't it?”

Type Authority Followers Updates Country Twitter 9 31441 14997 USA

Sample Verbatims: Charging Problems Users immediately started noticing that iPads were not charging up as expected through USB ports, leading to reports on the issue by mainstream media and eventually Consumer Reports. Users feel the inability to charge the iPad through some USB ports makes maintaining battery power while on the road more difficult. Apple iPad Not Charging Via USB For Some Users “Various Twitter users, the team at Consumer Reports and our own Giz editors are reporting problems getting their new iPads to charge via USB. So far, it looks like it will only charge when plugged into a Mac.”

Type Authority Source Avg. Circ. Location News 10 gizmodo.com NA USA

Ipad Not Charging “ ‘iPad "Not Charging’ via USB port seems to be a common complaint. Saw someone I knew @dshen tweet about it too. Charge using A/C I guess.”

Type Authority Followers Updates Country Twitter 4 199 1,636 USA

The iPad's charging challenge explained “iPad users may have noticed an odd message when connecting to some computers or USB chargers: the words Not charging in the iPad’s menu bar. We experienced the same issue during our initial testing, leading us to wonder if there was something wrong with our test unit. The issue is simply that the iPad has heftier charging requirements than iPods and iPhones, and some USB ports—especially those on older computers and most USB hubs—don’t provide enough power to charge the iPad during use.”

Type Authority Source Avg. Circ. Location News 9 macworld.com NA USA

Apple iPad charging woes: USB hubs, non-Macs and weak ports not rejuvenating “Consumer Reports, TUAW and our own Chris Ziegler have confirmed that their powered USB hubs wouldn't charge the iPad, and we're even seeing reports that some Wintel rigs won't either. The only sure bets right now are Apple computers and your nearby AC outlet, leaving iPad owners with fewer options when it comes to topping off that battery when away from your abode.”

Type Authority Post Freq Comments Delicious In Link Blog 10 1,055 250 28,364 30,136

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Sample Verbatims: Web Connectivity Issues Complaints about problems accessing or maintaining web connections began soon after the iPad’s release and result in a high number of posts, particularly in forums. Users are experiencing issues where other devices have consistent connectivity. While Apple responded by suggesting the problem relates to how networks are named, users continue to experience a variety of connectivity issues and problems with their iPads repeatedly “forgetting” their network passwords. Wifi forgetfulness “My iPad has asked me for the password to my home wifi network 5 times today. Anybody else have this issue? The first few days it remembered ok, and now it has become forgetful. Is there some way I missed to set my main network on home setting so it remembers?”

Type Authority Posts in Thread Original post date Facebook N/A 3 Apr 10, 2010

Re: Weak Wifi “My signal keeps fluctuating from strong to weak, while my MacBook and iPhone show a consistent signal at the same location.”

Type Authority Threads in Post

Views Comments Original post date

Forum 10 662 96,759 661 Apr 29, 2010

Dost thine iPad trouble thee? “Weird! I'm having three off those problems. Weak connection, losing signal and forgetting network passwords. Other than that this thing is a champ. If lots of people are having this problem then I'm sure it's a software bug and will be fixed in the first update. I'm usually an apple hater, I love win 7 , my zunehd, bing, etc but this iPad is cool. Yes I know it's limited and is an unnecessary luxury device but it's good at what it does.”

Type Authority Post Freq Comments Delicious In Link Blog 10 1,055 250 28,364 30,136

Many iPad Users to Report Wi-Fi Problems “Some people thought that it related to the orientation of wi-fi antenna or a software bug. If it is bug, it will be easier to fix it. If a problem with the device itself, it is going to be a bit tougher for Apple to solve it and many users may return it. One user pointed out ‘If you are using public wi-fi, then you are not going to be able to make changes to router settings.’”

Type Authority Post Freq Comments Delicious In Link Blog 10 403 0 44 10,489

Sample Verbatims: Browsing Problems due to Flash Incompatibility The iPad’s inability to read Flash surprised customers who are new to Apple and/or are not tech enthusiasts. Apple’s rationale for avoiding Flash (stated to be security concerns) is not widely known. The lack of Flash causes a choppy browsing experience as many sites are not yet iPad compatible. Many consumers are considering Flash-enabled alternative tablet PCs and/or book readers. Web Browsing on the iPad is Getting Annoying “I hear so many people talking about taking only the iPad on vacations or weekend getaways and I just cannot see this. Mobile phones a lack of flash support is acceptable but, on larger devices it impacts the web browsing experience. When you’re on a laptop, or even a netbook, you just browse the internet and everything is seamless. There really is no need to know that it is Flash that you are seeing. On the iPad I am frequently looking for an alternative site to get to content or finding that I need my laptop due to the total lack of Flash support.”

Type Authority Post Freq Comments Delicious In Link Blog 5 24 NA NA 39

RE: Bill Gates on iPad: "It's a Nice Reader, But..." “But then, boy, she was disappointed and I was ashamed when Apple presented this toy.... She can't surf the whole net cause flash is missing, she can*t use a camera for video chatting and I can't put all my music on that pathetic 16 Gig... I wanted a small computer ‘I can take on my weekend trips, to surf in the hotel and maybe watch a movie or two while I am on the train or bus. But I am not gonna sync my movies every weekend. I want all my movies to fit on that thing, well at least 5 or 6 would be fine too.’”

Type Authority Threads in Post

Views Comments Original post date

Forum 10 330 NA 329 Feb 11, 2010

Nook versus Ipad “I wanted an ipad for the longest time till I was told there was no flash and that everything you do is basically limited to the apps you have. I liked the idea of an Ereader with internet built in.”

Type Authority Posts in Thread Original post date Facebook N/A 6 Apr 21, 2010

Steve Jobs: Flash a “closed system” that “falls short” “I thought that it was up to the consumer to decide what to install on their phone? If Flash was so bad then the market would migrate away from those apps. The reality is Apple & Steve jobs believe that we are stupid and they know best. What the sheep don't realize, Apple is ten times as bad as Microsoft ever was.”

Type Authority Source Avg. Circ. Location News 10 yahoo.com NA USA

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Sample Verbatims: Inability to Multitask with Third Party Apps The iPad’s lack of ability to multitask with 3rd party apps surprised a number of users and led to frustrations and some negative comparisons to Andriod, another operating system that allows mutitasking. The inability to run instant messaging programs in the background while working on other tasks is a particular pain point. Apple iPad review “The iPad doesn't support multitasking, save for Apple's own applications: Safari, iPod, and Mail. Everything else you use on the device is a jump-into and then jump-out experience, which means that for things like IM apps, you're either having a conversation or you're not.”

Type Authority Post Freq Comments Delicious In Link Blog 10 1,055 250 28,364 30,136

iPad Review “Not being able to leave apps running in the background is annoying. Personally, I'd like to get some sort of notification if someone sends me an Instant Message (IM). Right now, even that is not possible. This is really the only thing that bugs me, although I do understand that others will want to do more things that require multi-tasking.”

Type Authority Post Freq Comments Delicious In Link Blog 10 65 373 34,075 71,614

Newspapers on the iPad: Surprisingly Good “Though I do want things such as live links, and I miss the ability to multitask and very quickly switch from one of these applications to the browser to look something up, I can say that reading on the iPad (or theoretically, on another tablet) feels a bit more natural than surfing on the Web, particularly for longer content.”

Type Authority Source Avg. Circ. Location News 10 yahoo.com NA USA

Apple iPad: a skeptics review “More worryingly, I wasn’t entirely happy with the way the iPad works. iPhone OS undoubtedly has its benefits – it’s highly consistent, relatively intuitive when it comes to navigation and control, and there are a wealth of third-party apps of course – but there are flaws too. Chief among these is the absence of multitasking – and it should be said that I’m talking from my own perspective here; your experience might vary. I don’t think I’m asking too much for wanting to browse the web while having Twitter and Spotify running in the background, something I can happily do on Android.”

Type Authority Source Avg. Circ. Location News 8 slashgear.com NA UK

Conclusion

Although the majority of feedback on the iPad is positive, the issues outlined above are key barriers to purchase. It is clear that while Apple quickly addressed some of the issues users are experiencing, key challenges remain:

• They are not effectively explaining the rationale for some of their decisions (no Flash, inabilty to multitask and difficulty with ports).

• Information on official fixes (for example, unstable Wi-Fi) are not reaching users. • Bugs and other failures need to be fixed with patches or through a next-generation product.

Broader communication about why Apple made certain design decisions, such as the avoidance of Flash, and more communication on fixes could improve the community’s experience and better manage expectations.

Example 2: Improving Retail Customer Experience

A great in-store experience is a top priority for retailers and is often used as a way to differentiate from competitors. Active listening programs can provide real-time, actionable information retailers can use to:

• Understand what actions are delighting customers or destroying loyalty. Insights can be found by listening to your customers, your competitors’ customers and shoppers in similar industries.

• Gain new ideas to enhance customer experience programs.

• Determine general pain points and make changes to improve products and services.

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• Collect real-world examples to enhance employee training programs – nothing is as impactful as hearing an issue from the customer’s point of view.

• Pinpoint and respond to individual events when major breaches occur – remember that an unhappy customer relates the experience to an average of 10 other shoppers – social media multiplies this number dramatically.

When expressing pain points, customers provide a wealth of information on the nature of problems they experience and advice on how to best resolve them. They also frequently compare experiences across retailers, so retailers can see how they rate versus competition.

Active listening can be used to measure performance against the best practices outlined in the Customer Experience Framework, presented on Page 2. A weekly social media scorecard can help monitor how you stack up on these best practices and where you need to focus attention or amplify where you are exceeding expectations.

Customer Experience Framework Meeting the Standard Not Measuring Up

Products and Services are best-in-class

lbcshopper “YAY! Got a new iphone! Shout Out to Adam @apple store in Coast Plz, He hooked me up, great service, great products! I'm back in biz!”

Type Authority Followers Country

Twitter 7 1,095 USA

More Backlight/Inverter Issues “…The Tech said they see this a lot and that it is due to poor quality. The TV is still doing it - they were never able to solve the problem.

Type Authority Threads in Post Forum 10 22

Employees are knowledgeable about products and follow good customer service practices

tedcoine “Nate at Naples Apple store gave me a huge grin & handshake. "Mr Coine!" He sold me 2 iPhones in September. Now THAT's great service!”

Type Authority Followers Country

Twitter 8 6,130 USA

Barnes and Noble

“Do you have a member card? … email address? …gift cards today? …contribute to our bookfair? …heard about the nook? These and other questions are asked at the checkout before they even think about ringing you up. You will be so frustrated …This is the kind of stuff they make us say to customers. We are taught to be robots.”

Type Authority Comments Delicious In Link Blog 6 0 445 113

Business Week Customer Service Rankings “I’m surprised by Barnes & Noble made the top 10…they are average in their service. And their incessant sales pitches from the cash registers diminish the customer experience even more.”

Type Authority Comments Delicious In Link Blog 5 0 16 50

Quick resolution /replacement if there’s a breakdown in quality

Sprouts! “I also agree with the friendly and helpful staff at Sprouts...they once had a sale on broccoli and ran out, but graciously offered the organic broccoli to me at the sale price...how cool is that?”

Type Authority Threads in Post Forum 3 19

INFURIATED AT PAMPERS!! “I'm boycotting Pampers, and I'm boycotting as many Proctor and Gamble products as possible. And I’m printing all of this info off the internet and hanging it in the diaper aisle of every store I go to. How can they not even be a little bit apologetic? And their customer service sucked.“

Type Authority Threads in Post Forum 5 10

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Customer Experience Framework Meeting the Standard Not Measuring Up

Routinely exceeds expectations

Gucci chat thread “Can I just say that Nordstrom has the best customer service? They saw I was carrying a Gucci bag and asked what I bought. It was a belt that I had purchased and it was too small! The SA told me even though I didn’t purchase it from them, they’ll take care of it for me. They did it – no charge, no questions asked and with a smile!”

Type Authority Threads in Post Forum 3 4,018

If You’ve Thought About It … “I will never buy another Blackberry. I feel like Spring/Nextel cheated us out of good service & our money. We're trying to get them to fix the phones again or trying to terminate & possibly going to AT&T for iPhones. This experience was completely unpleasant. If you're thinking about getting a Blackberry through Nextel DON'T!”

Type Authority Threads in Post Forum 5 7

Location is clean, free of clutter, well designed and organized, easy to navigate, well staffed

Need dress for black-tie thing “Does anyone know if Bloomingdales has large selection of moderately-priced dresses in one spot, the way Saks does? Couldn't find one I liked at Saks, but it's easy to shop there. Thx”

Type Authority Threads in Post Forum 1 11

Sigh, I hate you Wal-Mart “…shopping at Walmart is a pain (I certainly enjoy parking a football field away from the building and waiting in line for half an hour to have the pharmacy clerk hand me an OTC medication!).

The lighting at Wal-Mart has always made it an unattractive place to shop.Selection isn't that great; there are more items but it's hard to find anything of good quality or specialized nature.”

Type Authority Threads in Post Forum 10 239

Clear communication about products/ services so customers are empowered to make good decisions

Bay & Bloor Store... Has the most FANTASTIC service reps “We have different phones and different packages and everything we need to know was laid out in easy to understand terms - even my technophobe hubby got it. Yay!,”

Type Authority Threads in Post Forum 1 8

Sigh, I hate you Wal-Mart “Once I've paid for it, it's mine. I don't like random strangers rifling through my stuff. Just basic human dignity, that's all. It's a waste of my time, and I value my time way more than I value just about any piece of crap I could buy at Walmart.” “So, if there is a very obvious sign at the entry to the store, stating that I will be subject to a search upon exit, I'm fine with it. I'll opt out before having a shopping cart full of paid-for groceries. Otherwise, it's a nasty thing to do.”

Type Authority Threads in Post Forum 10 239

Conclusion

Social media listening programs are a vital component of the research toolbox. By focusing your listening program on specific business issues that your organization can act on, the impact and ROI of social media efforts will be significant and ongoing. Consider the following applications:

Competitive Intelligence Where is your competitor strong and what are emerging product/service gaps?

Front End of Innovation What pain points need to be solved?

Product Launch Monitoring What is going right and where are customers struggling?

Product Enhancements What are customers wishing your products/services provided?

Content and FAQ’s Where are customers confused? What are they asking that you could proactively answer?

Training How can you use the Voice of the Customer to improve best-in-class practices?

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About Blueocean Market Intelligence

Blueocean combines the talent, speed and cost benefit of a flat world to deliver a fresh approach to business decision-making. Integrating a full suite of advanced primary research services with existing research, secondary sources and user-generated content, Blueocean delivers real insights affordably.

Blueocean’s team blends senior research partners with talent in the U.S. and India, allowing us to do more within your market research budget. We differentiate ourselves from many other research and consulting firms. Our high touch engagement model means that senior research partners work directly on every assignment.

At Blueocean we help businesses address their focus areas by linking research insights to business strategy and inspiring action to strengthen performance. Our passion is storytelling. We challenge ourselves to always bring our insights to the table in unique and engaging ways – placing consumers at the center of marketing strategy. How Blueocean provides scalable social media reporting

We us contextual text analytics and data mining technology from Sysomos which covers over 40 million blogs, 175,000 message boards, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, and 30,000 News sources globally. This produces approx. 15-20 million new documents on a daily basis across 186 languages. Guided by Sysomos analytics, the Social Media analysts in our Bangalore office review high-authority posts to quickly see what's happening, why it's happening, and who's driving the conversations. We then package these insights into reports that are easy to read, understand and share across an organization.

From more information, contact: Alice Fawver, Partner and Director of Client Services

Blueocean Market Intelligence afawver@blueoceanmi.com

602.441.2474 ext 204 www.blueoceanmi.com

i Introduced in Pine, B. Joseph II; Gilmore, James, July 1, 1998: "Welcome to the Experience Economy", Harvard Business Review. ii Forrester Research, March 24, 2008: “The Business Impact of Customer Experience.” iii Pine, B. Joseph II; Gilmore, James, July 1, 1998: "Welcome to the Experience Economy", Harvard Business Review. iv Forrester Research Q4 2009 Customer Experience Peer Research Panel. v Companies taken from indices including Forrester’s Customer Experience Index (CxPi) and Net Recommendations, and lists compiled by Inside CRM (http://www.focus.com/fyi/customer-service/10-best-and-10-worst-companies-customer-service/) and the ASCI (http://www.theacsi.org/index.php). vi Source: http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/customer_service_2010/. vii Vocalabs National Customer Service Survey, February 4, 2010: “Apple Continues to Lead in Customer Service Quality in Tech Support Survey, HP Makes Significant Improvements,” http://www.vocalabs.com/pr/apple-continues-lead-customer-service-quality-tech-support-survey-hp-makes-significant-improvemen. viiI Forrester Research Q4 2009 Customer Experience Peer Research Panel.