CRM programs can enhance customer loyalty, maintain or build customer value, build awareness and generate understanding and involvement with a brand.
From The IDM Marketing Guide under the section CRM and eCRM tools, John Coldwell, MD of InfoQuest, highlights the topic by saying: “CRM solutions themselves do not manage customer relationships, but people do. Most customers don’t want to be managed. As direct marketers you can manage the services you provide, the means of communication with your company, the customer experience and the value that a customer receives from any interaction with your company, and this should be in the way that the customer chooses. This will normally be through one or more channels of communication.”
ERM programs (or internal marketing) are staff-focused relationship management programs and can be designed to build relationships with various players in the business's stakeholder value chain.
With so many different relationship management channels opening up (e.g. Internet, email, mobile), it helps to be able to find up-to-date information quickly.
You’ll find lots of food for thought and practical knowledge here.
Loyalty Marketing
Loyalty programs are structured on a point-scoring basis, where program participants automatically receive different levels of rewards - be they offers, points, miles or gifts - for each progression made in the program.
Loyalty programs have increasingly become part of the fabric of retention marketing – it’s almost de rigueur these days to offer loyalty rewards to customers. But it’s not simply a matter of throwing freebies at people – a proper loyalty programme needs to be well thought out and offer real value to customers.
Below are a range of articles exploring the opportunities and pitfalls of Loyalty Programs.
The Greening Of Loyalty The next two to three years will see retailers around the globe building eco-friendly components into their loyalty programmes. While green marketing typically appeals to an entire customer base, when built into a loyalty programme it can be targeted at those customers who care. Moreover, eco-friendly loyalty programmes can give consumers a vehicle for contributing to the environment.
Trends to act on today Customer Strategist Phil Winters is an advisor with Peppers & Rogers Group and gives us the latest 10 Customer Management Trends to act on today.
Across the world, report cards are being submitted, and they do not make happy reading: customer relationship management (CRM) projects are failing to deliver their identified value, with up to 75% failing outright. This failure is having a direct impact on the corporate bottom line, says Doug Leather. Read More
Customer relationship management (CRM) has earned itself a negative name over the last five years, ostensibly for failing to deliver against customer requirements and mandates. Read More
People who know me are very aware of how little patience I have with companies that continue to display their inability to remember anything about me even after I've told them, after I've answered their questions, after I've chosen them to do business with. Read More
The taxman is the only organisation on earth that does not have to pursue and retain customers in order to drive its revenues. For all other commercial entities, customers are their purpose, their centre, their lifeblood, their very reason for existence. They are the drivers of revenue, and without them, businesses will very soon come to a grinding halt. Read More
IT and other business budgets are under such pressure that there is little cash on hand for discretionary projects. Maintenance is the order of the day, and many support activities are being pushed to one side. One of these is business analytics, which is viewed as a "nice-to-have" rather than a must-have.
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Companies which put their customers first are profoundly different from those which put their products first. Doug Leather of Knowledge Factory explains how significant competitive advantage can be gained by engaging customers.
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In a sluggish economy, there is a temptation to downscale business activities that seem unquantifiable in terms of their immediate payback. It is for this reason that companies often cut back on the building of sales capacity and marketing activities. In so doing, they can negatively impact the ability of the business to retain existing customers, attract new customers and fulfil their requirements.
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Much is written about customer loyalty. Many companies have launched programs. Even more are currently considering programs and many are closing down their programs. The death of these rewards program has dealt a devastating blow to confidence in loyalty schemes. Read More
When you take a closer look at that 50% you will find that their failure shares a common foundation – they neglect to win company wide buy-in. Buy-in comes from a healthy mix of motivation, education, tools and training - and its importance should not be underestimated. Read More
Everybody talks about relationship marketing. But do we really know what it means? Bart Foreman from Group 3 Marketing has outlined the 9 Truths that he believes are important in the marketing planning process. He stopped at 9 Truths so no one would think these are commandments. Read More
Study after study shows that the basis of lasting customer relationships is value. While loyalty is eventually an emotional tie, it begins with a rational decision to buy a product or service. To be loyal, customers must believe they are getting superior value - from the moment of awareness, to the actual buying experience, to customer service. You can cement that belief with a relationship that allows you to offer even greater value. Read More
Advertisers hoping to secure their fair share of disposable income in Soweto's thriving suburbs should seriously consider investing their advertising revenue into the community newspapers servicing that area. It has been shown that this is where Purchasing Decision Makers look for information, in particular, shopping information. Read More
Innovation is alive and well among coalition loyalty programmes around the world. Despite their advancing age, coalitions are continuing to innovate to keep their programmes fresh and relevant to their target members. Read More
