HP announced enhancements to its customer relationship management (CRM) services that help clients engage in conversations with customers and influencers through social media channels, gaining valuable insights that drive business growth.

Facebook, Twitter and other social networks have changed consumer behavior while adding a layer of complexity to the company-customer relationship. Traditional CRM programs and architectures, designed prior to the emergence of social networks, hinder organizations from leveraging these outlets to develop strategies and create a framework for expansion.

The new HP Social Enterprise Services help organizations quickly implement a social CRM program to improve communications and engagement with customers, while also helping them to better understand those customers. By leveraging advanced analytics from HP Labs, the company's central research arm, as well as Vertica and Autonomy, both HP companies, for structured and unstructured data, the service also improves contact center performance and supports clients' top-line growth.

Over 70% of brand owners said that they use price discounting to drive customers to buy direct from them, primarily through online channels, according to recent research.

The study - commissioned by eCommera, a pioneering provider of intelligent eCommerce trading solutions, with research specialists, Coleman Parkes, among 50 major international brands – found that only 35% of brand owners used added-value techniques such as offering specialised customer services while just 15% offer exclusive products.

One respondent said, “We offer relatively heavy discounts on products which are available online, this makes [customers] want to buy from online channels. Some of our collections feature online before they reach stores and sometimes vice versa.” However, this was not a universally accepted approach as some brand owners felt that discounting products would devalue their brand.

Burger King has launched a customer feedback programme in the UK, following the success of similar projects in the US, Spain and Germany.

The Guest TracSM programme will be run in partnership with customer insight firm Service Management Group (SMG), which also runs the programme in other markets.

Customers visiting any of the UK’s 489 Burger King restaurants will be invited to take part in an online survey via their printed till receipt.

Information collected through the online survey, such as comments on food quality, cleanliness and speed of service, is meant to be fed back to Burger King immediately.

José Cil, Burger King’s EMEA president, said: “The Guest TracSM programme is a very valuable tool for us to get feedback first-hand from our customers, to measure how we are doing, and to take action in order to address any concerns that our customers may have.”

Around a third of US adults use social media as a health resource, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers – whether seeking out medical info, sharing symptoms and experiences or rating drugs, devices, doctors, hospitals and health plans.

The consulting giant surveyed 1,060 US adults and found that 42% have viewed health-related consumer reviews (more or less evenly split between reviews of treatments, doctors, hospitals and health insurers) through social networks like Twitter and Facebook. A third have read of friends' or family members' health experiences through social media, while 29% have read of other patients' experience with a disease they have and 24% have viewed health-related videos and images posted by other patients.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, those users skew young. Where more than four-fifths of 18-24-year olds said they'd share health information through social media, fewer than half (45%) of those 45-64 said the same. And across the board, users choose community sites over company-sponsored ones, which see hundreds of posts and comments per day where community sites see thousands.

SplashDot, leader in online loyalty programs and interactive, gamified promotions, announced that its Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Watson, will be speaking on two panels at the Global iGaming Summit & Expo in San Francisco on April 24-26, 2012. Watson will discuss how to seamlessly guide players back and forth between offline and online, while providing an immediate return on investment to land-based operators.

Watson has been advising the gaming industry on the importance of creating a continuous, loyal relationship with valued players since 1999. Under Watson's management, SplashDot has grown to become the expert in its field, having worked with 75% of Canada's gaming jurisdictions.

"Now that the U.S. Department of Justice has permitted online gaming, huge opportunities exist for operators," says Patrick Watson, Chief Executive Officer at SplashDot. "However, as Canadian gaming organizations discovered when they prepared for this transition, doing it right requires a lot of careful planning. We are excited to share our own experiences having lived through it with two of the three organizations that currently offer internet gaming in North America."

Fast food chains Pizza Hut and Boston Market are enhancing their loyalty strategies by giving customers a way to scan 2D bar codes for a chance to win a prize.

The virtual scratch cards are available via the Front Flip app, which has been in the pilot phase in a handful of cities since November and is now being rolled out nationally. Users who download the app can scan 2D bar codes called Flip Codes at participating retail locations and receive a virtual scratch card that gives them a chance to win a prize.

“With Front Flip’s virtual scratch cards, businesses are able to build loyalty by engaging customers in a fun and exciting manner,” said Sean Beckner, cofounder/CEO of Front Flip, Kansas City, KS.

“Traditional loyalty programs do not provide the same level of excitement and true customer engagement that the Front Flip app provides,” he said. “Our unique and fun approach to customer loyalty and engagement provides businesses an opportunity to build their customer cloud much quicker than traditional loyalty programs – and know demographics and behaviors like never before.

Using SAS(R) Analytics to customize cross-channel promotions, Oberweis Dairy has improved retention 35 percent -- a lift representing millions of dollars in savings. Oberweis delivers dairy products to tens of thousands of homes in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, and Wisconsin, and aspires to national coverage.

In 2009 Oberweis tapped SAS, a leading provider of business analytic software and services, to determine the effectiveness of its channels and which promotions performed best in each. Despite a healthy response to its targeted campaigns, Oberweis noted a sharp defection rate among customers that signed up through an introductory special that waived the $2.99 delivery fee for the first 6 months. With attrition nearing twenty percent once the offer expired, Oberweis needed to refine its marketing strategy.

Using SAS, Oberweis discovered that customer churn rates were lowest among customers that had received no promotional incentive. Bruce Bedford, PhD., Vice President of Marketing Analytics and Consumer Insight at Oberweis, hypothesized that the drop-off rates amongst those that had received the free delivery promotion was due to a perception of value. Suddenly customers had to pay for a previously free service.

Confirmit, the leading global software provider for Customer Experience, Employee Engagement and Market Research, has announced the launch of Confirmit Horizons Version 17, the latest release of its leading multichannel software solution.

Confirmit Horizons Version 17 provides businesses with more opportunities to engage customers, employees and research respondents in feedback programmes across multiple channels, particularly mobile.

A wide ranging set of features includes new mobile and web survey layouts, and sophisticated customisation and branding options that ensure businesses can run successful multichannel feedback programmes. These additions have been specifically designed to improve the end-to-end experience for those completing feedback surveys, boosting participation in Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs and improving response rates.

Debbie Barbour, Operations Director, medeConnect commented: "Our network is made up of extremely busy medical professionals with limited time to provide feedback. We're delighted about the launch of Confirmit Horizons Version 17 so we can really benefit from Confirmit's mobile survey capabilities and generate even greater insight."

IBQ and Qatar Airways, the world's fastest growing airline, are partnering once again to offer premium travel rewards to IBQ's existing and potential customers. The second edition of this promotion, which took place in April and May of 2010, is running again from 15th April to 30 June 2012 owing to the immense success it achieved.

In line with the bank's commitment to innovation and excellence in service, IBQ will bring some of the world's most exciting and exotic destinations to the doorstep of its customers who will avail of a Qatar Airways ticket by transferring a minimum salary of QR10,000 to IBQ and by taking one of three products - a credit card, a vehicle loan or personal loan.

Philip King, Assistant General Manager of Retail Banking at IBQ said: "We're very pleased to team up with a prestigious organization, such as Qatar Airways, to launch this unique promotion. Our promotion received wide acclaim previously and this has encouraged us to plan a second edition of the promotion adding a range of new and exciting destinations which our customers can choose from. This promotion highlights our efforts to add value to every banking experience at IBQ in addition to offering our customers hosts of benefits at every possibility."