I was thinking about something the other day. I believe that most people, left to themselves, would treat others as they would like to be treated. At a minimum, they at least would not treat people badly. Yet, when we put people together and call it a company, we find that the treatment received is less than adequate. Therefore, individuals, by nature, would tend to give good customer service, but the firms they work for, don't. Why is that?
I think the issue comes down to motivation and rewards. When individuals have no one to answer to but themselves, they tend to let their own sense of right and wrong motivate them. To them, it is "wrong" to be less than courteous to another unless they have caused that behavior through their own bad conduct. But when we answer to a firm, there is often no clear sense of what is right and wrong in regards to customer service. We know that our employer expects certain things in certain areas. We know when we are expected at work, and what is expected in regards to honesty. But we often don't know what is expected in regards to customers. We are looking for the firm to tell us what is right and wrong, and that information is often not provided.
I have looked at a large number of firms that are good and not so good at customer service. The interesting thing is that the good ones tend to spell out for customers what is expected. Not just in something vague like a mission statement, but day to day. They hold up good behavior. They correct bad behavior, and they make sure that, in the process, they produce a culture of customer service.
What about your firm? Do you have a good sense of what is right and wrong in regards to the customer, or are you using you own internal metric as a substitute for lack of direction?
Showing posts with label Customer Relationship Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Customer Relationship Management. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Behavioural analytics: Customers in a new light
Since the ecommerce lift off, firms have been working to determine whether consumers' decision-making processes and motivations can be determined from their website behaviour so that they can 'align' with the customer. And new behavioural analytics products are indeed emerging that attempt to derive a new understanding of ecommerce customers.
Today's emarketers know more about their customers than ever before. Myriad analytics solutions provide volumes (and volumes!) of information about the demographic and past buying patterns of the customer. Lifecycle management and closed-loop marketing packages ensure that CRM is integrated into content management and website analytics. The drive to attract, convert and retain customers has never been stronger.
To the eshopper, however, the result of all this information can seem somewhat confusing. Product recommendations can seem intrusive and based on flawed logic. Advertising relevance based on demographic or past behaviour can miss the mark in many cases. Emerging technologies such as predictive customer modeling based on statistical group behaviour have some way to go before being relied upon by the majority of eretailers. Much of the answer, it seems, will be a combination of many of the solutions being deployed and used today.
Thankfully, we humans are adaptive creatures, and many of us are happy to ignore the assault of uninvited product recommendations ("the last time you were here you bought a Star Trek DVD, we now have the whole Star Wars collection available for you") and continue through the buying process. However, as the medium of ecommerce continues to mature, eshoppers will demand a more personalised and comfortable shopping experience and will be less likely to accept websites that present 'confusing', 'intrusive' or 'irrelevant' content.
The importance of alignment
The continuing question of how to provide website customers with a more familiar and comfortable shopping experience has led many behavioural scientists to examine our relationship with the ecommerce site on a more 'human' level. Research studies have shown that when customers describe their interaction with an ecommerce website they use the same phrases and words as they would in describing any shopping activity.
If they are allowed to, respondents will describe their decision-making process, their motivations, why and how they respond to content and advertising. It's all strikingly familiar survey-speak: "I like this website because it just gives me a search bar and lets me get what I want." "I like to shop here because of all of the customer reviews." "I'm sure that this site is secure and my purchases are guaranteed - I want to avoid any issues with my credit card." "The picture of the person using that notebook tells me nothing about the specs of the system so I did not click on the ad."
As the medium of ecommerce continues to mature, eshoppers will demand a more personalised and comfortable shopping experience and will be less likely to accept websites that present 'confusing', 'intrusive' or 'irrelevant' content.What might be surprising, however, is that these studies are not being performed to determine a given customer's preferred website functionality ("I like search bars"), but more to examine whether the language and phrasing used by the customer ("I", "gets me", "what I want") provides key new information that can be used in the current, or subsequent, website dialogue. This new focus arises from years of research observing the fundamentals of human communication.
The theory goes that, in any human dialogue, there is a period of negotiation in which the two parties search for behavioural alignment. Each party takes cues from the other's body language, tone and the actual words and phrases to 'sync' with the other. The best salespeople do this intuitively. They know what words and phrases to listen for and how to position their products, automatically and dynamically, in the 'right' way.
For example, insurance might be presented as the most comprehensive, or the lowest cost. Key specification information might be presented to one customer while another customer is regaled with external reviews and awards. Closing the deal might involve a regimented set of steps or multiple choices and options. The key for these salespeople is an understanding of the customer that is largely ignored in ecommerce environments. And, as people, alignment and familiarity are of paramount importance in how comfortable we feel in the buying process.
The question is: is there an accurate proxy for this behaviour in an ecommerce dialogue? Can we determine a customer's decision-making process, their motivations, and other 'human' factors in the buying process from their website behaviour? And can we respond with website content and behaviour that allows us to 'align' with those customers?
Behavioural analytics
New behavioural analytics products are emerging that attempt to derive a new understanding of ecommerce customers. These products are mapping web-based actions, for example, keyword searches, navigation path and click-patterns. Behavioural scientists and psychologists are using this input and applying computer power such as 'fast artificial neural networks' to understand the more human factors of the customer's behaviour as they go through the buying process.
Behavioural scientists and psychologists are applying computer power such as 'fast artificial neural networks' to understand the more human factors of the customer's behaviour as they go through the buying process.Having this new understanding of the customer based on ecommerce site navigation has its challenges. Since body language and tone are not discernible from a web dialogue, these new behavioural analytics products are focusing on interpreting web-based behavior as a proxy for the language used in person-to-person communications.
Ecommerce marketers using these new products are experiencing a new view of their customers. Behavioural analytics tools allow additional segmentation of customers by buying behaviour. Traffic generation campaigns can be measured based on the buying behaviours attracted to the website, and compared with the conversion and return rates of those same customer segments as they traverse the site. Using these tools, the alignment of website behaviour and outbound campaigns can be measured accurately and actions to correct any dissonance can be taken immediately.
Telesales and service operators can be provided with a detailed analysis of anyone with more than a few clicks on the website, even providing those operators with a script (during the call) containing language that will align with that customer. Ultimately, behavioural tracking will integrate with content management solutions to provide each user with a personalised shopping experience. Behavioural analytics products today are having astounding results with some customers seeing 20% increases in revenue run-rates and 50% decreases in cost-per-conversion for pay-per-click campaigns.
So what does this mean for the future of ecommerce? Simply put, more personalisation. Ecommerce websites will drive to become differentiated by the customer experience and level of personalisation on the site - resulting in a better shopping experience for all of us.
Technorati Profile
Today's emarketers know more about their customers than ever before. Myriad analytics solutions provide volumes (and volumes!) of information about the demographic and past buying patterns of the customer. Lifecycle management and closed-loop marketing packages ensure that CRM is integrated into content management and website analytics. The drive to attract, convert and retain customers has never been stronger.
To the eshopper, however, the result of all this information can seem somewhat confusing. Product recommendations can seem intrusive and based on flawed logic. Advertising relevance based on demographic or past behaviour can miss the mark in many cases. Emerging technologies such as predictive customer modeling based on statistical group behaviour have some way to go before being relied upon by the majority of eretailers. Much of the answer, it seems, will be a combination of many of the solutions being deployed and used today.
Thankfully, we humans are adaptive creatures, and many of us are happy to ignore the assault of uninvited product recommendations ("the last time you were here you bought a Star Trek DVD, we now have the whole Star Wars collection available for you") and continue through the buying process. However, as the medium of ecommerce continues to mature, eshoppers will demand a more personalised and comfortable shopping experience and will be less likely to accept websites that present 'confusing', 'intrusive' or 'irrelevant' content.
The importance of alignment
The continuing question of how to provide website customers with a more familiar and comfortable shopping experience has led many behavioural scientists to examine our relationship with the ecommerce site on a more 'human' level. Research studies have shown that when customers describe their interaction with an ecommerce website they use the same phrases and words as they would in describing any shopping activity.
If they are allowed to, respondents will describe their decision-making process, their motivations, why and how they respond to content and advertising. It's all strikingly familiar survey-speak: "I like this website because it just gives me a search bar and lets me get what I want." "I like to shop here because of all of the customer reviews." "I'm sure that this site is secure and my purchases are guaranteed - I want to avoid any issues with my credit card." "The picture of the person using that notebook tells me nothing about the specs of the system so I did not click on the ad."
As the medium of ecommerce continues to mature, eshoppers will demand a more personalised and comfortable shopping experience and will be less likely to accept websites that present 'confusing', 'intrusive' or 'irrelevant' content.What might be surprising, however, is that these studies are not being performed to determine a given customer's preferred website functionality ("I like search bars"), but more to examine whether the language and phrasing used by the customer ("I", "gets me", "what I want") provides key new information that can be used in the current, or subsequent, website dialogue. This new focus arises from years of research observing the fundamentals of human communication.
The theory goes that, in any human dialogue, there is a period of negotiation in which the two parties search for behavioural alignment. Each party takes cues from the other's body language, tone and the actual words and phrases to 'sync' with the other. The best salespeople do this intuitively. They know what words and phrases to listen for and how to position their products, automatically and dynamically, in the 'right' way.
For example, insurance might be presented as the most comprehensive, or the lowest cost. Key specification information might be presented to one customer while another customer is regaled with external reviews and awards. Closing the deal might involve a regimented set of steps or multiple choices and options. The key for these salespeople is an understanding of the customer that is largely ignored in ecommerce environments. And, as people, alignment and familiarity are of paramount importance in how comfortable we feel in the buying process.
The question is: is there an accurate proxy for this behaviour in an ecommerce dialogue? Can we determine a customer's decision-making process, their motivations, and other 'human' factors in the buying process from their website behaviour? And can we respond with website content and behaviour that allows us to 'align' with those customers?
Behavioural analytics
New behavioural analytics products are emerging that attempt to derive a new understanding of ecommerce customers. These products are mapping web-based actions, for example, keyword searches, navigation path and click-patterns. Behavioural scientists and psychologists are using this input and applying computer power such as 'fast artificial neural networks' to understand the more human factors of the customer's behaviour as they go through the buying process.
Behavioural scientists and psychologists are applying computer power such as 'fast artificial neural networks' to understand the more human factors of the customer's behaviour as they go through the buying process.Having this new understanding of the customer based on ecommerce site navigation has its challenges. Since body language and tone are not discernible from a web dialogue, these new behavioural analytics products are focusing on interpreting web-based behavior as a proxy for the language used in person-to-person communications.
Ecommerce marketers using these new products are experiencing a new view of their customers. Behavioural analytics tools allow additional segmentation of customers by buying behaviour. Traffic generation campaigns can be measured based on the buying behaviours attracted to the website, and compared with the conversion and return rates of those same customer segments as they traverse the site. Using these tools, the alignment of website behaviour and outbound campaigns can be measured accurately and actions to correct any dissonance can be taken immediately.
Telesales and service operators can be provided with a detailed analysis of anyone with more than a few clicks on the website, even providing those operators with a script (during the call) containing language that will align with that customer. Ultimately, behavioural tracking will integrate with content management solutions to provide each user with a personalised shopping experience. Behavioural analytics products today are having astounding results with some customers seeing 20% increases in revenue run-rates and 50% decreases in cost-per-conversion for pay-per-click campaigns.
So what does this mean for the future of ecommerce? Simply put, more personalisation. Ecommerce websites will drive to become differentiated by the customer experience and level of personalisation on the site - resulting in a better shopping experience for all of us.
Technorati Profile
Friday, March 28, 2008
Information Drives Successful Customer Relationships
Information Drives Successful Customer Relationships
Oracle's integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is a set of applications that give you information-driven sales, service, and marketing. Oracle CRM is built on an open, standards-based architecture that streamlines business processes, improves data quality, and allows all your key divisions to draw from the same source of data. With Oracle CRM, your company owns the single best tool for customer success—accurate information.
Over 50 CRM-Specific Applications
From precisely measuring marketing campaigns to automatically dispatching field technicians to remote locations, Oracle has more than 50 CRM-specific applications that help you address every phase of your CRM cycle. Find out more: Oracle Sales, Oracle Services, Oracle Marketing.
Technorati Profile
Oracle's integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is a set of applications that give you information-driven sales, service, and marketing. Oracle CRM is built on an open, standards-based architecture that streamlines business processes, improves data quality, and allows all your key divisions to draw from the same source of data. With Oracle CRM, your company owns the single best tool for customer success—accurate information.
Over 50 CRM-Specific Applications
From precisely measuring marketing campaigns to automatically dispatching field technicians to remote locations, Oracle has more than 50 CRM-specific applications that help you address every phase of your CRM cycle. Find out more: Oracle Sales, Oracle Services, Oracle Marketing.
Technorati Profile
Monday, February 18, 2008
Customer Relationship Management
(Customer Relationship Management)簡稱CRM，指的是顧客關係管理。內容包顧客開發、顧客銷售、顧客服務、提高顧客滿意度等。在CRM機制中，將銷售、行銷、顧客服務等資料集中在一個資料庫，業務人員將所有資料輸入此共享資料庫中，如此業務人員可以掌握客戶所需資訊，透過顧客客群分析, 找出客戶的可能的消費行為，針對不同客群區隔規劃相關行銷活動, 以有效提昇銷售率。現今部分企業在運用CRM機制上，主要運用範疇為客服中心，而顧客開發方面，則著重在開發顧客需要的產品，並分析顧客需要的時間點為何，應用的軟體包括資料倉儲 (Data Warehouse)等，在顧客取得方面，則是協助企業尋求並開發新顧客來源。
Technorati Profile
Technorati Profile
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management
(CRM) is a customer-centric business strategy with the goal of maximizing profitability, revenue, and customer satisfaction.[1] Technologies that support this business purpose include the capture, storage and analysis of customer, vendor, partner, and internal process information. Functions that support this business purpose include sales, marketing, customer service, training, professional development, performance management, human resource development, and compensation. Technology to support CRM initiatives must be integrated as part of an overall customer-centric strategy. Many CRM initiatives have failed because implementation was limited to software installation without alignment to a customer-centric strategy.[2]
Overview
There are many aspects of CRM which were mistakenly thought to be capable of being implemented in isolation from each other. [3]
From the outside of the organization, a customer experiences the business as one entity operating over extended periods of time. Thus piecemeal CRM implementation can come across to the customer as unsynchronized where employees and web sites and services are acting independently of one another, yet together represent a common entity.
CRM is the philosophy, policy and coordinating strategy connecting different players within an organization so as to coordinate their efforts in creating an overall valuable series of experiences, products and services for the customer.
The different players within the organization are in identifiable groups:
Customer Facing Operations - The people and the technology support of processes that affect a customer's experience at the frontline interface between the customer and the organization. This can include face to face, phone, IM, chat, email, web and combinations of all medium. Self-service kiosk and web self-service are doing the job of vocals and they belong here.
Internal Collaborative Functional Operations - The people and technology support of processes at the policy and back office which ultimately affect the activities of the Customer Facing Operations concerning the building and maintaining of customer relationships. This can include IT, billing, invoicing, maintenance, planning, marketing, advertising, finance, services planning and manufacturing.
External Collaboration functions - The people and technology support of processes supporting an organization and its cultivation of customer relationships that are affected by the organization's own relationship with suppliers/vendors and retail outlets/distributors. Some would also include industry cooperative networks, e.g. lobbying groups, trade associations. This is the external network foundation which supports the internal Operations and Customer facing Operations.
Customer Advocates and Experience Designers - Creative designers of customer experience that meet customer relationship goals of delivering value to the customer and profit to the organization (or desired outcomes and achievement of goals for non-profit and government organizations)
Performance Managers and Marketing Analysts - Designers of Key Performance Indicators and collectors of metrics and data so as to execute/implement marketing campaigns, call campaigns, Web strategy and keep the customer relationship activities on track. This would be the milestones and data that allow activities to be coordinated, that determine if the CRM strategy is working in delivering ultimate outcomes of CRM activities: market share, numbers and types of customers, revenue, profitability, intellectual property concerning customers preferences.
Customer and Employee Surveyors and Analysts - Customer Relationships are both fact driven and impression driven - the quality of an interaction is as important as the information and outcome achieved, in determining whether the relationship is growing or shrinking in value to the participants.
Technology considerations
The technology requirements of a CRM strategy must be guided by an overall view of who is the customer and what value they are to get from engaging with the organization.
The basic building blocks:
A database for customer lifecycle (time series) information about each customer and prospect and their interactions with the organization, including order information, support information, requests, complaints, interviews and survey responses.
Technorati Profile
Customer relationship management
(CRM) is a customer-centric business strategy with the goal of maximizing profitability, revenue, and customer satisfaction.[1] Technologies that support this business purpose include the capture, storage and analysis of customer, vendor, partner, and internal process information. Functions that support this business purpose include sales, marketing, customer service, training, professional development, performance management, human resource development, and compensation. Technology to support CRM initiatives must be integrated as part of an overall customer-centric strategy. Many CRM initiatives have failed because implementation was limited to software installation without alignment to a customer-centric strategy.[2]
Overview
There are many aspects of CRM which were mistakenly thought to be capable of being implemented in isolation from each other. [3]
From the outside of the organization, a customer experiences the business as one entity operating over extended periods of time. Thus piecemeal CRM implementation can come across to the customer as unsynchronized where employees and web sites and services are acting independently of one another, yet together represent a common entity.
CRM is the philosophy, policy and coordinating strategy connecting different players within an organization so as to coordinate their efforts in creating an overall valuable series of experiences, products and services for the customer.
The different players within the organization are in identifiable groups:
Customer Facing Operations - The people and the technology support of processes that affect a customer's experience at the frontline interface between the customer and the organization. This can include face to face, phone, IM, chat, email, web and combinations of all medium. Self-service kiosk and web self-service are doing the job of vocals and they belong here.
Internal Collaborative Functional Operations - The people and technology support of processes at the policy and back office which ultimately affect the activities of the Customer Facing Operations concerning the building and maintaining of customer relationships. This can include IT, billing, invoicing, maintenance, planning, marketing, advertising, finance, services planning and manufacturing.
External Collaboration functions - The people and technology support of processes supporting an organization and its cultivation of customer relationships that are affected by the organization's own relationship with suppliers/vendors and retail outlets/distributors. Some would also include industry cooperative networks, e.g. lobbying groups, trade associations. This is the external network foundation which supports the internal Operations and Customer facing Operations.
Customer Advocates and Experience Designers - Creative designers of customer experience that meet customer relationship goals of delivering value to the customer and profit to the organization (or desired outcomes and achievement of goals for non-profit and government organizations)
Performance Managers and Marketing Analysts - Designers of Key Performance Indicators and collectors of metrics and data so as to execute/implement marketing campaigns, call campaigns, Web strategy and keep the customer relationship activities on track. This would be the milestones and data that allow activities to be coordinated, that determine if the CRM strategy is working in delivering ultimate outcomes of CRM activities: market share, numbers and types of customers, revenue, profitability, intellectual property concerning customers preferences.
Customer and Employee Surveyors and Analysts - Customer Relationships are both fact driven and impression driven - the quality of an interaction is as important as the information and outcome achieved, in determining whether the relationship is growing or shrinking in value to the participants.
Technology considerations
The technology requirements of a CRM strategy must be guided by an overall view of who is the customer and what value they are to get from engaging with the organization.
The basic building blocks:
A database for customer lifecycle (time series) information about each customer and prospect and their interactions with the organization, including order information, support information, requests, complaints, interviews and survey responses.
Technorati Profile
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Information Drives Successful Customer Relationships
Information Drives Successful Customer Relationships
Information Drives Successful Customer Relationships
Oracle's integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is a set of applications that give you information-driven sales, service, and marketing. Oracle CRM is built on an open, standards-based architecture that streamlines business processes, improves data quality, and allows all your key divisions to draw from the same source of data. With Oracle CRM, your company owns the single best tool for customer success—accurate information.
Over 50 CRM-Specific Applications
From precisely measuring marketing campaigns to automatically dispatching field technicians to remote locations, Oracle has more than 50 CRM-specific applications that help you address every phase of your CRM cycle. Find out more: Oracle Sales, Oracle Services, Oracle Marketing.
Technorati Profile
Information Drives Successful Customer Relationships
Oracle's integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is a set of applications that give you information-driven sales, service, and marketing. Oracle CRM is built on an open, standards-based architecture that streamlines business processes, improves data quality, and allows all your key divisions to draw from the same source of data. With Oracle CRM, your company owns the single best tool for customer success—accurate information.
Over 50 CRM-Specific Applications
From precisely measuring marketing campaigns to automatically dispatching field technicians to remote locations, Oracle has more than 50 CRM-specific applications that help you address every phase of your CRM cycle. Find out more: Oracle Sales, Oracle Services, Oracle Marketing.
Technorati Profile
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