Strong Customer Advocacy Drives Customer Loyalty. If customers believe your company acts in their best interest, they are much more likely to
remain loyal. According to recent research, customer advocacy is one of the best predictors of future purchase intent. Customer advocacy is the consumer's belief that the company does what's best for the customer, not just what is most profitable. Large banks showed the most room for improvement in perceived customer advocacy as six of the seven lowest ranked companies were banks.
Hospitals/Health Systems Chronic Illnesses To Strike More Than 60 Percent Of Baby Boomers. Aging baby boomers will add new challenges to an already straining health care system, according to a report funded by the American Hospital Association (AHA). The report predicts that by 2030, 37 million people over 65 will be managing more than one chronic illness, and highlights the need for programs that promote wellness and prevention of disease.
Managed Care Health Savings Accounts Expected To Reach 30 Million By 2009. The number of consumers with a Health Savings Account (HSA) has risen consistently since legislation creating the accounts was enacted in 2003. However, research suggests that upward of 7.5 million HSA buyers will not understand their coverage, indicating the need for more aggressive educational tactics by health marketers.
Cable/Telecom A La Carte Pricing Unlikely To Aid Parental Controls. New research counters arguments that a la carte cable pricing would help parents control their children's exposure to adult content. In fact, consumers who identified their households as heavy viewers of Disney or Nickelodeon were also found to be heavy viewers of adult channels and would be likely to choose channels cited as problems from an a la carte menu.
Few companies go public with Web 2.0 tools A worldwide survey of communications professionals revealed that the primary benefits of Web 2.0 social media were for internal employee communications. More than half of those surveyed use collaborative Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs, online video and RSS, or intend to use them in the next year. Additionally, 40 percent of those surveyed also use podcasts and social networks or are planning to start soon. About 8 percent of Fortune 500 companies and 4 percent of the Global 1000 say they have public blogs. This may be a security issue as almost half the respondents agreed that having employees discussing the organization publicly online would be risky.
DMA issues stronger guidelines for protecting consumer information The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) published new guidelines this summer on the collection and sharing of consumer information by its data compiler organization members. Developed over the past year, the new guidelines attempt to clarify the data compiler organizations' responsibilities for how consumer data is used by their clients. The guidelines also set requirements for data compilers in responding to consumer inquiries regarding the use of personal information. As a condition of membership, all DMA members are expected to comply
with the organization's self-regulatory guidelines. More information on the new guidelines is available at www.the-dma.org/guidelines/quickreference.shtml.
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