iPhone owners are the happiest among smartphone customers, but mobile users in general share the same major beef: battery life.

For the seventh consecutive time, Apple was tops among smartphone makers with a satisfaction score of 839 out of 1,000, according to results from J.D. Power's latest survey, which is done every six months. The company did well in all of the factors measured by the survey--performance, ease of operation, features, and physical design. But owners were most satisfied with the iPhone's features and ease of operation.

HTC took second place with a score of 798, followed by Samsung with 769 and Motorola with 758. On the downside, smartphone owners across the board were all critical of the same item: battery performance.

The study found that battery life was the worst aspect of owning a smartphone and one of the few areas that has declined in satisfaction since J.D. Power's last survey in September. Smartphone owners happy with their device's battery power are naturally more likely to buy the same brand than are those turned off by the battery life.

AirAsia has launched the Skyrider Club specially designed for AirAsia travellers below the age of 14. The club offers a combination of rewards, benefits, activities and giveaways for these young flyers.

Fronted by main character and mascot, ACE the Skyrider, the club is built around the concept that flying should be fun, educational and most of all - a rewarding experience.

Upon sign-up, members will receive a Membership Kit that includes a passport (activity book), badge, sticker, lanyard and a free co-branded SkyRider Tune Talk Sim Pack which comes preloaded with RM2 air time and 500 Tune Talk points for redemption of AirAsia flights or concert tickets and special annual validity fee of RM25.

Members can enjoy priority boarding and selected offers for, travel packages for AirAsiaGO, entertainment tickets from AirAsiaRedTix and discounts on merchandise from AirAsiaMegastore.com. Exclusive privileges in the form of flight discounts are also offered at selected periods.

Acxiom, a recognized leader in marketing services and technology, and Loyalty 360 – The Loyalty Marketer’s Association, announced their joint research, "Making Every Interaction Count: How Customer Intelligence Drives Customer Loyalty," at Loyalty Expo 2012. The research reveals that while brands have an abundance of critical customer data, most are not leveraging it as a strategic asset that helps create and maintain long-lasting relationships with their high-value customers.

Key findings include:
- The vast majority (84.5 percent) of respondents uses customer retention marketing strategies, yet barely half believe their strategies are working. 5.4 percent admit they do not evaluate their customer retention efforts at all.
- Less than half of respondents know who their best, most loyal customers are, and how best to reach them.
- 70% of respondents have less than 20% of their employees dedicated to customer retention.
- 60% of respondents dedicate less than 20% of their marketing budget to customer retention.
- 40.2 percent of companies access data individually through different lines of business, and slightly fewer (34.8 percent) report that their data is centrally located with universal access.
- More than half believe that attitude and behavior analytic models help with customer engagement; the most important outcomes of data insight are understanding customer’s attitudes and behavior and improving the customer experience.

The picky patient who complains about hospital food or a wait in the emergency room could mean the difference between a hospital getting a full Medicare reimbursement and a reduced payment beginning this fall.

The stakes are higher than ever for hospitals to improve the patient experience. Starting in October, it could mean millions of dollars for hospitals as patient satisfaction for the first time is factored into how much Medicare reimburses for the care of senior citizens.

"One bad meal can mean a bad patient satisfaction score," said Fred Brown, managing director for consulting firm Ducker Worldwide in Troy.

And Metro Detroit hospitals are jumping into action, retraining employees in customer service and offering perks such as made-to-order room service meals and VIP lounges to cater to patients and their families.

"The luxury of the rooms is becoming an important factor, and the kind of food you're getting is becoming an important factor," Brown said. The hope is patients will remember those details and give hospitals high scores when surveys come.

The Conference Board, the leading global, independent business membership and research association, will host its annual 'Customer Experience Leadership' conference featuring a panel on "Understanding the Customer of the Future," on Thursday, March 22, at 3 p.m.  The panel, moderated by John Carroll III, global head of clients at Ipsos Loyalty, will convene panelists from today's top business leaders on changing customer behavior and consumer habits in the post-recession, digital landscape. Ephraim Cohen, executive vice president, global director of technology and digital content at MWW Group will give the closing remarks on Thursday from 5-5:30pm.The 2012 Customer Experience Leadership Conference will take place March 22-23, at the InterContinental New York Barclay, located at 111 East 48th Street, New York, New York.  The prominent line up of speakers include C-suite executives from PepsiCo, Starbucks International and Panasonic Corporation of America, among others.The Conference Board is known for high-level conferences that help business leaders network, learn and address today's critical issues, anticipate tomorrow's challenges, and make better strategic decisions for their companies.

Humana has a VP of Innovation …. and it shows.  It’s become fairly common for health insurance co’s and HMO’s to focus on providing free programs to members around healthy living.  It’s one of those things that you hear about and then ask “why didn’t they think of that before”.  The connection between healthy living by members and HMO profits is direct and fairly  obvious.  So it’s not surprising they are focusing on healthy living as an area to invest in on behalf of their members.

So where’s the innovation?  Humana’s VP of Innovation Shankar Ram has implemented a partnership with video games leader Ubisoft -- and extended Humana’s rewards program to cover fitness games participation by members.  While you can argue about whether it will have a measurable impact on Humana’s business model, this program is impressive for pushing technology, rewards and business goals collectively to their absolute limit.  

Despite the branding advantages of physical gift cards, the growth of companies like Giftango, which recently expanded into Australia, reflects the strong market trend towards digitization.   Brands are finding them forced to relinquish the key strengths of physical gift cards and shift toward digital delivery of gift cards.  

This shift is reflective of the relative power of buyers over vendors when it comes to loyalty related platforms.  Whereas in the past, brands could dictate platforms to some extent, buyer empowerment via digital channels has shifted that balance and forced companies to adjust their tactics to match buyers preferences.

Salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing ( http://www.salesforce.com/cloudcomputing/ ) company, announced the Salesforce Service Cloud has won two CRM magazine 2012 Service Leader Awards in the Customer Case Management and Web Support categories. The Service Cloud won for Customer Case Management in the category's inaugural year, and took home top honors in the Web Support category. The magazine also awarded the CRM magazine 2012 Service Elite Award to social enterprises Corel and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for their success in delivering business-to-consumer customer service with the Service Cloud.

Comments on the News:
"Social enterprises recognize a transformational shift is occurring as consumers turn to social and mobile technologies to rant, rave, and seek help," said Dave Kellogg, senior vice president and general manager, Service Cloud, salesforce.com. "Unlike legacy contact centers, the Service Cloud is built to delight customers by delivering customer service for the social enterprise. The Service Cloud is trusted to power the largest contact centers in the industry because it delivers customer service at a scale and speed no one else can match. We're excited the Service Cloud was recognized by CRM magazine for its leadership and innovation."

Does being small mean a company shouldn’t look to gather market research?  Of course not … at their earliest stages, companies face the greatest risk and their decisions take on greater criticality.  Usurv eliminates the barriers to gathering marketing research for smaller companies by providing its new self-service broad reach research service.

Market research has always been about marrying the need for data with what’s practically possible for a company to execute in terms of research.  The mistake that many companies make is to see market research as all-or-nothing, rather than finding ways to leverage the reach that is available to answer atleast a portion of the questions that are the basis for better strategic decisions.

Less than a year ago, CX guru Bruce Temkin created a organization which reflected a trend which he recognized in the business community worldwide.  In the midst of an unpredictable global economic recovery, companies were turning their focus to keeping the customers that they already had -- knowing that new acquisitions were an uphill battle in many markets.

The practice of CX suggests a shift from tactical retention efforts such as VOC or loyalty programs, to a more holistic view of improving the relationship with customers.  A practice area rather than a collection of programs, CX demands that companies drive a shift in thinking and focus in their companies away from transactional, financially focused customer interactions towards building solid relationships with customers.

The launch of AudienceView by Experian suggests that companies should continue to focus on reducing the role of trial and error in their marketing programs.  Experian is putting forward the belief that smart data gathering and focused analyisis techniques can be powerful tools in gathering the information needed to create greater focus in core marketing efforts. This tells us that companies shouldn’t just resign themselves to a trial-and-error approach -- but should look for ways to levarage surveys, VOC and feedback systems to tip the balance in their favour.