OpinionLab

Explore. Engage. Enlighten. While it sounds like the motto of a Fortune 500 company or even the building blocks of a good Voice of Customer program, it’s actually the rallying cry to a very special group of people. The students, parents and teachers at Highland Park High School (HPHS) who participate in a program to increase appreciation and understanding of the visual and performing arts.

FOCUS on the Arts , occurring every other year since 1964, has been a catalyst for many careers, the inspiration for lifelong interest in the arts and produced many famous faces along the way.  And for a few days (and select night programs too) during FOCUS, students are able to participate in a variety of events including hands-on workshops, demonstrations, lectures and performances. Many of the students are stars of their own showcase, performing or displaying their own art or talents. Students attend up to six sessions a day centered around architecture, art, creative writing, dance, media, music, social justice and drama.

Sitting in the audience during one of the improv sessions, it was awe-inspiring to listen to students sing, question and discuss their dreams, aspirations and interests not only with the speakers, but with their peers as well. Frankly, it made me wonder why every school across the country doesn’t have this type of line-up front and center in their curriculum.

This year we were lucky enough, not just to be watchful members of the audience, but to be the technology that powered speaker feedback for the 200+ session lineup for this year’s program. OpinionLab’s speaker feedback allowed students, volunteers, staff and community members to leave feedback for each speaker session in real-time from a tablet or mobile device, or at their convenience from their home laptop or desktop computer. This platform allowed FOCUS to collect over 1,400 valuable pieces of feedback in just three days, and set the stage for the future speakers for years to come.

At the end of the day, it’s people that drive brand conversations. Giving people the opportunity to leave feedback improves experiences, people, companies and even high schools. In this case, we were proud to be a part of this program and can’t wait to see what the team at FOCUS brings to the next program.

Consumers today are more empowered and hyper-connected than ever before. They are tapping digital channels to bond with brands, as well as share their feedback on retail experiences and products they purchase. To efficiently track and respond to the abundance of feedback being generated across channels, retailers continually must keep a pulse on the Voice of the Customer (VoC).

Cutting-edge VoC solutions enable retailers to be visible and accessible throughout the entire browsing, consideration and buying journey, which is increasingly sporadic and spans a variety of digital and physical touch points.

Head on over to Retail TouchPoints and checkout our latest whitepaper, Applying VoC To The New Omnichannel Customer Journey, to learn how harnessing customer feedback across all channels can drive customer loyalty and sales.

Retailers today know one thing for certain: the future of ecommerce is mobile. By the end of 2017, mobile retail sales in the U.S. will reach $31B, up from $8B this year, according to Forrester Research. Retailers are racing to invest in mobile commerce, with a particular focus on reaching high value tablet shoppers. With an annual growth rate over 50%, tablets are projected to reach one-third of Americans by 2015, and more than half of tablet owners use their tablets more to shop than their smartphones, according to Forrester.

While consumers love to shop on their tablets, the experience still falls short of their expectations.

Retailers that act now to improve the tablet shopping experience– enhancing browsing and making purchasing easier– can jump ahead of the competition. Read on for four strategies retailers can use to nail their tablet shopping strategies.