Christophe Van Bael

Last Friday, The New York Times reported on the surreal story of Vitaly Borker, an online merchant who deliberately provokes and threatens his customers to increase sales. If you thought your cable company or telecom provider was treating you badly, read this. Continue Reading

Today I learned about Mykea, a ‘small creative company with a big idea‘. The company’s service is simple and brilliant: MyKea lets you customize IKEA furniture and sell your designs online. This new Dutch start-up combines personalization, innovation, crowdsourcing and customer engagement. Why didn’t IKEA come up with this idea? Continue Reading

Last night, more than 100 furious Ryanair passengers refused to leave their parked plane after a last-minute diversion from Paris to a Belgian airport 225 miles up north. In an attempt to convince the passengers to leave the plane, the crew locked the toilets, turned out the lights and left the plane. What would you have done, as a passenger and as a crew member? Continue Reading

I just returned from our local DIY store. I had a pleasant experience throughout, except for my encounter with one employee. To me this unpleasant encounter once more illustrates that customer experiences are only as strong as the weakest link in the chain, or the ability to take corrective action. This experience shows that customer service should be every employee’s business. Continue Reading

Do you like coffee? Do you like social media? Do you like customer engagement? If you do, you will probably like the new marketing campaign Nespresso launched among its customers last week. This campaign has it all: a nice blend of social and traditional media, elegance, timing and customer engagement. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy… Continue Reading