Author: anacanhoto

When does customisation increase customer satisfaction – or my curtains’ challenge

Customisation is one of those marketing ideas that look great in theory but don’t always work in practice.   The benefits of customisation include: For the firm: For the customer: Savings on product development time and costs Customer insight Access to certain skills Customer satisfaction Ability to charge higher prices Functional benefits – e.g., getting … Continue reading When does customisation increase customer satisfaction – or my curtains’ challenge

[Miscellany] Fear sells, Facial recognition banned in San Francisco, and RIP Grumpy Cat

Fear sells What would be really, really useful, if you lived in a dangerous area, and wanted to keep an eye on your house when you are not there?   A doorbell with a camera, perhaps?! Maybe, a doorbell with a camera powered by a facial recognition system?! Or even a doorbell with a camera … Continue reading [Miscellany] Fear sells, Facial recognition banned in San Francisco, and RIP Grumpy Cat

What UK customers are complaining about

Complaint handling company, Resolver, has recently published statistics for the Top 20 types of customer complaints that they helped solve, via their free complaints tool. As these statistics refer to the complaints’ handled by Resolver, naturally, we get a very limited view of the problems that customers may be experiencing and complaining about. For instance, … Continue reading What UK customers are complaining about

Using 😄😩 makes you 👀 + 🥰 but – 🎓, 🔬 shows

Emojis and emoticons are well and truly part of the way we communicate, today. They’re on social media postings. They’re on e-mails. They’re even on marketing campaigns. But how do customers feel about company representatives using emojis in customer interactions, for instance, in an e-mail exchange or on Facebook? Will they think that it is … Continue reading Using 😄😩 makes you 👀 + 🥰 but – 🎓, 🔬 shows

Monday Miscellany 6 May 19

The not-so-smart speaker Artificial intelligence is as biased as the data used to train it, and the coders programming it. Last week, I came across a simple exam of the latter: It turns out that, if you are in England and ask Google Home to “play the national anthem”, you get the US version.   If … Continue reading Monday Miscellany 6 May 19

Day in the Life of an Academic #8: fragmented vs focused work days

While I was reading the book ‘Deep Work’ by Cal Newport, about the value and challenges of doing focused work, I started paying more attention to the instances of deep vs shallow work in my life and, in particular, how it impacted on how I felt. I kept a diary for a couple of weeks. … Continue reading Day in the Life of an Academic #8: fragmented vs focused work days

Monday Miscellany 29 April 19

What AI is not Given my research interests on the use of AI in customer interfaces, I have been reading several definitions of what AI is and what it can do. So, it was somehow refreshing to read this definition of what AI is not and can’t do. It is from the book The Inevitable, … Continue reading Monday Miscellany 29 April 19

Book review “Deep Work” by Cal Newport

I have finished reading the book “Deep Work”, authored by Cal Newport. These are my reading notes about what is, in essence, a book about productivity. Its premise is that, to succeed in today’s information intensive economy, we need to be able to deal with, and learn about, complex subjects. As the author writes in page … Continue reading Book review “Deep Work” by Cal Newport

Monday Miscellany 15 Apr 19

Ship work Last week, Seth Godin shared the video from one of his talks and Q&A sessions. It is almost two hours long but super interesting - well worth grabbing a coffee and sitting down to enjoy this talk, available at: https://seths.blog/2019/04/new-video-new-workshop-and-other-launches-too/   One of the questions that resonated the most with me, came at around … Continue reading Monday Miscellany 15 Apr 19