Social has sparked a culture of calling out businesses, whether in the form of a friend's angry rant about their contractor, or the latest video of a scorned customer on the evening news.

The email subject line has long been a defining component of email performance; it's the immediate determinant of whether a message will be opened, ignored, moved to the junk folder or instantly deleted.

There are four customer service trends that are impacting customer relationships, and tips for capitalizing on them to boost your business.

The speed with which events are unfolding in the 21st century is creating turmoil and confusion, necessitating a step back to see the big picture, the emerging trends behind so many of today's headlines.

81% of Americans use mobile APPs to check social media, followed by reading the news or playing games (both 44%), ordering food (35%) and doing work-related tasks (22%).

Email marketing has been around for decades, says the report. And despite all the tools available to marketers today, email remains one of the most effective ways to reach an audience. However, today's customers are demanding more personalized and valuable messages as they work their way through the marketing funnel.

According to the recent State Of Online Retail Performance by Akamai, retail businesses today face enormous challenges in delivering the fast, reliable, 24x7 omnichannel experience that users demand. And those users won't wait around 'til it's right.

55% of shoppers prefer to shop directly with brand manufacturers over retailers. The pendulum is shifting towards the brand, putting greater importance on manufacturers' websites for sales, research and service.

It's essential for brands to grab a viewer's attention in three seconds or less in the social platforms era. Studies have shown, says the report, that young audiences are being defined by increasingly short attention spans

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, provides this summary in his book on the Fourth Industrial Revolution: "... the blockchain is a shared, programmable, cryptographically secure... trusted ledger... no single user controls... can be inspected by anyone..."