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Whether you're a traditional brick and mortar
Fortune 1000 company with an evolving presence or a dot
com start-up, the number one challenge in this era of consumerism
is building consumer loyalty. Today, consumers are armed
with more and more Internet-fueled information and newly
acquired sophistication. Make no mistake: they are not predisposed
to loyalty. They are drawn to convenience: lowest price,
shortest time to delivery, and highest quality service.
You can't expect consumer loyalty -- you have to earn it.
Fortunately, every customer contact is an opportunity to
improve upon a customer relationship and to learn more about
customer needs.
So asserts author and Emotionally Intelligent
Interface (EII) designer Dr. Bryan Bergeron in this groundbreaking
book that explains why EIIs are such a critical factor for
ecommerce success -- and how to take advantage of today's
EII technology to more effectively build long and lasting
customer relationships.
EIIs act as portals into customer wants
and needs. The interface is driven by data from previous
interactions and explicit customer preferences, and is based
on customer profiles. Amazon, The Sharper Image, and Lands
End all demonstrate the effectiveness of EII technology
by deploying several key techniques that help to satisfy
and retain customers.
Full of clear examples, insightful analysis,
and practical expert advice, this unique guide is essential
for turning customer data collected by intelligent agents
into a strong competitive advantage. Part I reviews the
current ebusiness environment, introduces basic customer
service principles, and outlines the strategic relevance
of EIIs. Part II examines the technological aspects of EIIs,
including data warehousing, intelligent agents, and virtual
personalities -- and provides some historical context on
computer-human interaction. Part III presents a sensible
strategic plan for preparing the information infrastructure
needed to implement EIIs into your ebusiness, with due consideration
of the organizational factors involved.
To further aid the reader, each chapter
concludes with an "Executive Summary" of key points
and a companion Web site, www.eternalebiz.com, provides
links to relevant resources and new information.
Bryan Bergeron has over 15 years of experience
writing and speaking about leading-edge technology and envisioning
the future. He teaches at Harvard Medical School and MIT,
and is editor-in-chief of e-MD and technical editor
of Postgraduate Medicine. A software industry pioneer
himself, Dr. Bergeron created the first medical multimedia
program for the Mac and several other "first"
personal health management and family planning programs.
He is currently president of Archetype Technologies, Inc.,
a technology consulting firm, and chief scientist at Kurzweil
Technologies, Inc., where he designs emotionally intelligent
interfaces.
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