Dialogue equals profit in the world of CRM

A recent Wall Street Journal article refers to interviews held with various CEOs who had installed 800 call centres. One of the CEOs was quoted as having said "we`re going to get rid of that 800 number because all we`re getting are complaints". This meant, he perceived, that his contact centre was not yielding value. This is contrary behaviour, given that complaints should actually be encouraged. They give you a chance to make right on the issue in question, and to learn something about the customer.

You must be able to develop a memory of customers` past transactions and recognise that their preferences, tastes and needs are likely to change.

Doug Leather, MD, Intact Solutions

In many cases, this will be the only time your customer will communicate with you directly, other than the time they bought your product or service. People are by and large apathetic, so every point of interaction should be used proactively: even if it is a complaint (and no one really enjoys dealing with complaints, which are by definition negative interactions).

Any company with ambitions of becoming a one-to-one organisation should be treating the complaint as just one of the many touch points that will occur during the time a customer is engaged with it. Management should be saying: "Let`s see how many times we`ve touched a customer, and at every touch point, learn as much about the customer as we can."

There are many other events which provide learning opportunities, such as the signing up of a new contract, billing, prepayment, change of details, general inquiries, cancellation of contracts, responding to marketing and coupon redemption, to mention a few.

In this regard, customer centricity requires that an organisation has the ability to record and capture centrally every interaction a customer has with an organisation, so that the organisation has as complete a view of its interactions with the customer as the customer has of it.

It really is a very simple value chain: Dialogue = Information; Information = Knowledge; Knowledge = Loyalty; Loyalty = Profit. Therefore: Dialogue = Profit.

Interaction builds on the previous two steps in this series: Identification and differentiation, and is the fuel that allows customisation, the final step in our methodology, to take place.

At the outset, it should be noted that one-to-one does not imply face-to-face; and, indeed, it is a goal of technology-enabled one-to-one that interactions are not necessarily driven in person, but rather through a technology channel, where appropriate.

Secondly, differentiation is key. We can`t afford to interact with all customers, so a company should only interact where a customer fits into the most valued or most growable segments. This underlines the importance of good data and proper customer segmentation.

Thirdly, the company needs to determine the purpose of interaction. It should be used to execute a differentiation strategy. During the process you will be uncovering different customer needs.

Interaction can be used for communication and for information gathering purposes, making a contribution to the development of the learning organisation.

Through your identified interaction mechanism, you need to be able to address every possible type of customer request, and link online interactions with other forms.

Whatever the preferred mechanism people have for interacting with you, you need to facilitate that and create a continuous experience that is contiguous with the organisation`s claims.

Let me give you an example of how not to do it. Earlier this year I enquired about a product offering from a niche bank via its call centre. Within 10 minutes I had an overview of the product and an application form e-mailed to me. Brilliant. When I attempted to gather the same information via the Web (I was testing the consistency of the bank`s interaction process), the experience fell down: the bank has yet to respond to my Web-based interaction in spite of the fact that it indicated it would be back to me in 48 hours.

You must be able to develop a memory of customers` past transactions and recognise that their preferences, tastes and needs are likely to change. You should make it easy for customers to change their profile, especially if you`re engaging via the Web. Indeed, we should be encouraging customer interaction via the Web, as it is such a profound tool for this purpose. In every sense, it is the future of technology-driven customer engagements.

A touch map assessment can be used to ensure you`re capturing every interaction. This is made up of four dimensions:

• .         Dimension One: Perform an inventory of all company- and customer-initiated touch points.
• .         Dimension Two: Understand all the data that flows in and out of each touch point, and then ascertain what is missing.
• .         Dimension Three: Follow all data into your organisation. Is it used for decision-making, and does it get to the right people?
• .         Dimension Four: Ask your customers about interacting with your company.

Understand also that the role of marketing has changed today from generating messages to generating responses. Remembering for and about customers can drive profitability. By remembering interactions - a significant date or occasion when a customer transacted with you - you can move into proactive marketing, a mode in which you are more likely to engender positive responses.

And that`s a big piece of the CRM puzzle solved.

(Please note that Industry Insight pieces reflect the view of the author only. For further stories and opinions on this subject, please visit ITWeb`s related sections.)

** Some information used from Peppers & Rogers methodology, with thanks.