Medallia Best Practices Conference Highlights Customer Feedback Programs

Menlo Park, CA—October 23, 2007—Research about customer satisfaction and loyalty was presented to a select group of participants at the recently concluded annual Best Practices Conference, hosted by Medallia, Inc., the world’s leading provider of on-demand customer experience management and enterprise feedback solutions.

Known for its innovation, Medallia uses its Best Practices Conferences to showcase advances in key areas of customer feedback programs. During previous conferences, Medallia has highlighted technological innovations as well as cutting-edge research in the hospitality industry.

“This year we had a real opportunity to cross-fertilize ideas among our customers in different industries,” said Steve Earwaker, Medallia VP of business development. “Though the hospitality industry is a leader in customer-centric service excellence, it has benefited from some of the tools and techniques we have developed for other industries.

“Conversely, industries like financial services have embraced our solutions precisely because they were developed in the fast-paced service culture of the hospitality industry.”

This year’s conference coincided with a burgeoning focus on customer satisfaction and loyalty solutions, according to Earwaker. “Many companies have created a new position, the CCO, or Chief Customer Officer,” he said. “Now C-level executives are asking tough questions about the effectiveness of their customer feedback systems. They want to cut through the clutter and understand what’s fundamental to effective customer satisfaction and loyalty programs.”

Neil Morgan, PhD, presented the latest scientific research on customer satisfaction and loyalty, helping to separate myth from reality. An expert in customer satisfaction and loyalty models who was recently named Nestlé-Hustad Professor of Marketing at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Morgan is collaborating with Medallia on developing the ideal loyalty model.

David Richardson presented research he recently conducted, using means-end analysis, on the relationship between tangible feature and service aspects of a customer experience and the specific (positive or negative) emotions they trigger. Richardson, a partner at Artemis Strategy Group and former president of WirthlinWorldwide, group president of Harris Interactive, and board chairman of CASRO, is working with Medallia on emotions-based segmentation of customers.

Elizabeth Carducci, head of Medallia’s hospitality practice group and organizer of the conference, was encouraged by the attendees’ enthusiastic response. “The sessions gave us a chance not only to highlight our technological innovations, but also to talk about some of our global customer satisfaction and research work,” she said.

The final session covered Medallia’s technology roadmap. “It’s always our most popular session,” said Carducci. “People want to see the latest and greatest.”

The conference, which was attended by executives from the nation’s leading hospitality companies, took place at The Cloister Resort in Sea Island, GA, in September.