Daryl Choy

Who really needs the upgrades that the software giant always comes up with every 2-3 years? Did the customers ask for the upgrades at all? Or they need something else that the giant always ignores?

There is this Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) in Windows Live Messenger. It says that "Microsoft uses this information to improve the products and features you use most often and to help solve problems." Is it true? What has happened so far?

After all, what do customers use MSN for? Real-time communications? File transfer? Or even fun? If real-time communications, why don’t they use mobile? Wouldn’t that be more effective? If file transfer, why don’t they do email? Wouldn’t that be more efficient? If fun, why don’t they pick up their PSP? Wouldn’t there be more choices and more fun?

What has this CEIP really done for the customers?

Then, there is another free service offered by Microsoft called Windows Live Hotmail. Of course,...

Simply put, touchpoint is an interaction, or a point (what/who) that is touched via any channel (where/how) for a purpose (why). Touchpoint itself produces no experience. It only serves as a platform for one point in terms of people, information, deliverables to interact with another point. However, experience happens at touchpoint. Experience comes into play when people are involved, because after all, people are human beings, and human beings want experiences that are personally relevant, memorable, sensory, emotional, and meaningful.

In Stopwatch Marketing, J Rosen and A Turano define catchpoint as the time a shopper turns into a customer. In another word, catchpoint is the moment where the point is not only touched but is now being held onto.

Which is more important now: touchpoint or catchpoint? However, without touchpoint, there is no catchpoint. And what’s next after catchpoint? Tipping point?

What are the possible ways to...

Experience lies in the eyes of the beholder.

You just had a wonderful encounter with one of your customers, and believe that's a positive touchpoint experience, but in reality, you never know what you are actually producing...

This is my experience with PwC.

I first met with Shirley, a representative of PwC, in a cocktail party. We didn't chat much because after all, that was our first touchpoint. Was the first touchpoint experience good? I couldn't really tell. Neutral maybe, but definitely not positive nor negative. That's what I thought.

The second encounter took place in the cyberworld: email. I was inviting our clients to join a CEO conference organized by our company via email, and she was on the list. She replied, suggesting that I should forward the invitation to her bosses as she won't be able to join, which I did within 24 hours. Was the experience good? I couldn't really tell without seeing her facial expression...

Everything Google launches into the market almost comes in "beta." Using the "beta" approach, Google gets new products or features out into the marketplace quickly, then improve them as they are used. That's basically the Google experience.

The "beta" approach is in fact an irresponsible act. It simply undermines the traditional marketing mix, which is the combination of product, price, place and promotion, or better known as the 4Ps. In order to delight customers, product has to meet customer needs and wants. Product simply has to be "completed", or at least fully ready for consumption, before it is released to the market. But beta? It is still in the testing stage of the product development cycle. Who wants a product that is not perfect?

Besides beta, there is also alpha. In the future, there may even be gamma, delta, epsilon... This beta culture is starting to contaminate the external market. Microsoft is also launching Windows Live Mail Beta. But, who cares? The...