Build Customer Experiences, Not Relationships
Firms believe that forging relationships with customers will
make them more profitable. But people recognize a company's true
goal: to take their money. To succeed with CRM efforts, firms
must make each interaction a satisfying experience in its own
right.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is all the rage, as
companies increasingly use technology to craft relationships
with consumers. The goal: improving customer acquisition,
retention, and lifetime value. Firms believe they can achieve
this by:
Increasing contact. To expand their mindshare with customers,
firms craft additional ways to interact with customers. This
ambition drives automakers to pack cars with telematics
equipment and just about every Global 3,500 firm to launch email
campaigns. Harvesting data. Companies expect that data logs will
reveal customer desires. To create as rich a record as possible,
companies meld third-party data, such as credit bureau reports,
with their own customer information. Tailoring offerings. From
wireless telephone carriers' custom calling plans to
Amazon.com's book recommendations, companies attempt to pitch
just the right offer to the right person at the right time.
Customers Don't Want Relationships In theory, CRM tactics mimic
the way that interpersonal relationships evolve -- spending more
time together, learning about each other, and exchanging
something of value. But the similarities are misleading. Unlike
person-to-person interactions, person-to-company interactions
will never grow into relationships because consumers:
Like anonymity. A person may gladly share secrets with his
friends, but he doesn't like to disclose information to a
vendor. In a recent survey of nearly 6,000 North American online
consumers, 69% of respondents told us they are either very or
extremely concerned about losing control of their personal
information. Pursue their own agendas. People don't contact
companies for a friendly visit or an impromptu chat. Consumers
interact to accomplish specific goals. That's why only 3% of
visitors to consumer packaged goods (CPG) sites look for
lifestyle content -- despite CPG firms' significant investments
in this content. Remain suspicious. Companies' desire to build
long-term relationships with customers falls prey to other
objectives, such as meeting quarterly numbers. Customers see
this in firms' high-pressure sales tactics, reluctance to
replace defective products, and seemingly arbitrary contract
termination fees. And highprofile events like the 1980s junk
bond debacle or today's Enron scandal solidify people's belief
that companies simply can't be trusted. CRM Must Focus on
Customer Experience Since customers will rebuff corporate
relationship advances, firms need a new CRM focus. Forrester
recommends that companies build and sustain their customer base
by obsessing about customers' experiences at every touchpoint.
To succeed, firms must:
Redesign internal processes, not customers. Changing the way a
company operate may be hard work, but changing human nature is
nearly impossible. A large hotelier recently realized that
confused customers called the reservation line for tech support,
and vice versa. Rather than bracket the numbers with
instructions that no one would ever read, the company built a
consolidated contact center. Fulfill current goals -- don't rely
on loyalty. Firms must redouble their efforts to anticipate user
behavior, expecting increasingly empowered consumers to forgive
even fewer missteps. Companies should use the questions of
Scenario Design -- who are your users? what are their goals? and
how do they accomplish those goals? -- to guide the design of
customer-facing systems. Measure outcome, not activity.
Companies must evaluate interactions from thecustomer's
perspective. An immediate but nonsensical answer to an email
inquiry may fulfill internal metrics for responsiveness, but it
ultimately dissatisfies the consumer. To avoid this, firms must
measure what matters to the customer -- if and when an initial
problem was resolved. http://www.illusivecreations.com Calgary
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