Empathica Launches Game Changing Customer Experience Product for Location Managers

TORONTO, March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Empathica Inc., a leading provider of Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions to more than 200 of the world's most respected brands, announced today the launch of Empathica Local™, a new CEM product that focuses on helping location managers deliver consistent and memorable customer experiences at their restaurants, retail locations, grocery stores and banks. The product's simple, clear interface eliminates the need to search through complex reports to find insights and leverages prescriptive reporting technology to set focus areas. As a result, location managers can focus on local issues where they need specific guidance on what to fix and how they can improve the local customer experience and strengthen the brand they represent.

Maintaining a consistent experience across multiple locations is critical to a brand's long term success, yet several factors make this extremely difficult in practice. Every location manager brings a unique skill set and level of maturity that often results in different approaches in each location and in some cases across each shift. Traditional enterprise feedback management (EFM) reporting has been ill fitted to address this inconsistency, as location managers don't have the time or training to wade through piles of data tables and reports to get the answers they need. They need simple, focused insights and tools designed not only to provide feedback, but also an actionable plan for improving their location's results.

Built on patent-pending prescriptive reporting technology, Empathica Local was created from the ground up to suit the day-to-day needs of location managers.  A streamlined, easy-to-understand interface presents only the most relevant information for a location manager and then suggests action plans to help execute real behavioral change among staff members to improve the customer experience. Empathica Local also facilitates social sharing of community-sourced content, giving location managers insight into a living best practices library of what's working best for the top performing locations and how it could apply to them.

"Multi-location brands must constantly fine-tune their hundreds or thousands of locations to achieve the highest caliber customer experience to drive brand advocacy for their business," said Mike Amos, Chief Executive Officer with Empathica. "With Empathica Local, brands have been shown to improve location performance by up to five times versus a control group by using this simple, intuitive product."

"Empathica Local is really built to suit the day-to-day needs of location managers, who often spend too much time analyzing detailed customer reports when they should be engaging employees and customers to ensure an excellent experience with their brand," said Dr. Gary Edwards, Chief Customer Officer with Empathica. "We have put ourselves in the shoes of the location manager – a person typically overloaded with data and time-starved – who needs to derive actionable insights to ensure great in-store experiences."

Features of Empathica Local

Empathica Local includes a variety of features built specifically to help the location manager:

• Simple, clear interface
• Location-specific focus
• Editable action plans
• Social sharing of community-sourced best practices
• Status monitoring and performance insights

"Customer Experience Management programs only work when locations attend to them and the actions needed are clear and straightforward," added Edwards. "Our intention is to move beyond simply measuring scores and begin putting in place changes that work. It's all about changing behaviors."

The Evolution of Social Customer Experience Management (SCEM)

Empathica Local is part of the company's Social Customer Experience Management (SCEM) architecture, allowing marketing and operations to connect with each other, between locations and ultimately, with the customer through a dialogue – rather than a one-way push of information. For instance, location managers can quickly pull in commentary from Empathica's GoRecommend Advocacy Engine to highlight overall consumer sentiments as well as specific complaints.

"A great SCEM program really begins from the inside out," said Amos. "Bringing brands, employees and consumers together requires consistently exceptional experiences through engaged and empowered front-line employees. With Empathica Local, a brand can ensure its locations are consistently improving performance by knowing the most important areas to fix and exactly what to do to execute and improve. Individual location engagement is extremely important, as management, staff, local competition and geographic demographics all contribute to a unique environment at each store."

For more information about Empathica Local, visit http://www.empathica.com/local.  

About Empathica:

Empathica provides Customer Experience Management programs to more than 200 of the world's leading brands, ranging from multi-unit retailers, to banks and restaurants. Its rich analysis of survey data using state-of-the-art surveying and dashboard reporting software allows for performance-improvement solutions, evidence-based marketing insights, and customer experience management consulting. Annually, Empathica's 30 million customer surveys in 25 languages reach more than 70,000 locations. A privately-held organization, Empathica is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, has an office in Birmingham, England, and U.S. executive consultants in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Bozeman, Mont. For more information about deriving actionable insights that enhance a brand's operational excellence, visit Empathica at www.empathica.com.

For more information:

Media:
Meghan Reilly
Walker Sands Communications
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 312-445-9926

Empathica:
Bruce Warren
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 905-542-9001 x 242

SOURCE Empathica Inc.