Marketing MA Management and International Business
Introduction
CRM is a term for methodologists, technologies and e-commerce capabilities -used by companies to manage customer relationships.
(Foss, 2001:1) It is also called customer management, customer care and sometimes customer centricity or customer-centric management.
(Brown, 2000:1)
All the names and definitions of CRM have customer, as its core-it is the management of customer relationships, which attempts to revolutionize marketing and reshape entire business models.
To survive and grow the business must make a profit. To make a profit it has to find people who are willing to pay more for its products/services than they cost. Therefore profit comes from
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It is the result of the company creating such conditions for the customer so that the latter continue to purchase from the organization -preferably for lifetime. For retailers the benefits of having loyal customer base are enormous.
These are just few of them:
1. Companies can boost profits by almost 100 percent by retaining just 5 percent more of their customers”( Reichheld, 1996)
2. It costs much less to keep a customer than it does to- recruit one.
3. Advertising costs are reduced. A loyal customer acts as an advocate of the company and helps attract new customers. (Word –of- mouth advertising) (Lecture notes, 2004)
The question is: “Can the customer loyalty be created and retained for life these days?” or
“Is the loyalty a ‘Holy Grail’ and the retailers can only achieve a slight margin of preference for certain time?”
A small survey into the types of consumers according to their degree of loyalty, the loyalty schemes with its advantages and drawbacks will possibly shed more light into this topic.
According to J.Cross (2004) there are four main types of customers:
1. Switchers
In any market there are customers who are loyal to the suppliers
Firstly, to start with it is important to understand what is Customer loyalty? Loyalty can be explained as an attitudinal or behavior. According to Mark, Grahame & Kathy (2003): “Loyalty is something that consumers may demonstrate their interest to brands, services, stores, product categories. Here, we use the term customer loyalty as opposed to brand loyalty; this is to emphasize that loyalty is a feature of people, rather than something inherent in brands (Mark, Grahame & Kathy, 2003).” To explain it further Customer loyalty is something where consumer or customer likes or prefer to buy
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a tool that helps track, manage and supply information about customer’s interactions with an organization to help contribute to customer satisfaction that leads to customer loyalty. Additionally, CRM programs provide tools and applications designed to target their efforts on the most profitable customers, target new potential customers, and generate sales and maintain relationships with customers contributing to a greater market share.
One of the most expensive and difficult tasks facing any business is acquiring new customers. Acquiring a new customer can cost five times as much as retaining an existing customer. Research has shown that 2% increase in customer retention can decrease costs by as much as 10% for a business. To retain current customers, businesses engage in relationship marketing strategies to continually attract repeat
Secondly, providing high quality customer service might be another essential factor in any customer loyalty strategy. The better a vendor treats their customers, the more likely the customers will return. As Cater and Cater (2009) state, an outstanding customer service could create a sustainable loyal customer
First of all, the main thing that all firms want is to make as much profit as possible. To support this claim we can look at the basic economic theory of people rationality and profit maximization (Frank, 2010). Under a more is better assumption, people have to seek for tangible assets and they get better off with every cent they receive. Profit maximization relies on this assumption and proves that profits are the main reason we have companies and, in turn, loyalty programs. Firms do like dependent and loyal clients, because for them, returning clients are the main source of money. However, consumers should not be influenced by this theory, since they have a full freedom to choose which products to buy, so companies
A satisfied customer stays with a company longer, spends more and may deepen the relationship. For example a happy credit card customer may enlist the company’s financial services and later take travel insurance.
I was on I-95 driving to work one morning and from the highway, I saw a big screen that displayed, “Come in for your free cup of coffee”. I saw the same ad for about a week before I decided to go in for my free cup of coffee. This particular restaurant was very small and it was not on the main road. I would have never known this place existed nor would I have ever found the location, if it had not been for the ad, “Come in for your free cup of coffee”. I did indeed get a free cup of coffee along with a great breakfast. The place is small, off the beaten path, but it is always full. You see this restaurant effectively used what a website would use, “The gift shop method”. I was intrigued by the free gift, the cup of coffee, and it got my
Customer loyalty is an important element for the companies for being successful in the competitive world. Therefore, companies always try to increase the number of loyal customers and the degree of their customers’ loyalty. For obtaining this, the elements, which cause a decrease in customer loyalty, must be learned carefully. The reasons for the decrease in customer loyalty are: (Coroglu, 2002)
The cosmetics business is a billion dollar industry. Every year, women are responsible for consuming millions of cosmetic products. The cosmetics industry is so large because of several factors. The media is a huge contributor to the intense pressure to look a certain way. The idea that “sex sells” is evident in gossip magazines, movies, advertisements, music, and more subtly- in the business world. People first notice what race someone is, how beautiful or ugly they are and what clothes they are wearing. Beauty is skin deep; however, first impressions are usually what others use to base their personal judgments. In
A service Organization must know the concepts of customer loyalty.Understanding customers need in buying a product and the right approach and proper communication in dealing with customer is important to become them loyal.Customer loyalty have different types and degrees of loyalty that must recognize by any service firms.One type of customer loyalty is Monogamous loyalty and the second type is Polygamous loyalty. There is also behavioural and attidunal aspects.According to Keiningham et al.(2005)on his book loyalty myths.The earth we live in is Polygamous loyalty and not monogamous loyalty.Monogamous loyalty is where customers shops in different retailers such as Coles,Woolworths,Safeway and
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) describes the practices, strategies and technologies many businesses use to manage and critique customer services through customer behavior. A CRM system helps a business relate more to a customer and implementing a functional system will not only increase profits, but our relationship with our customers will grow stronger. CRM systems are designed to store information on customers across a vast majority of channels or points of contact between the customer and the business. In order for Tru Lit to utilize a CRM system, there should be an interactive website, telephone number, online chat, e-mail, and multiple social media platforms that our customers can easily access in order for us to gain their loyalty to our products. CRM systems are able to locate valuable customers through the RFM formula, which allows our company to track recently purchased items from a customer, the frequency of purchases made by a customer, and the monetary value of a customer’s purchase. Also, CRM systems give Tru Lit the ability to present detailed information on customer’s tastes and preferences concerning our products, which will give us the ability to keep innovation alive in our company. Implementing a CRM system is crucial to the global expansion of the company because having a well-rounded sense of understanding about our customers in China will act as a huge factor for our performance in the Chinese market.
A new focus and new strategic marketing efforts have changed from over the last twenty years. We no longer only focus on the 4 P’s of marketing with generalized and large segment marketing, because it does not focus on individual wants, desires, needs and personal customer attention (Bang, 2012, p. 400). Previous generalized efforts, does not keep the customer front and center and there isn’t enough focus on doing business ethically, sociably, or culturally. These days, customers have many options at their fingertips via the Internet. There are many companies reaching out and persuading people around the clock from all over the world. So, having a strong CRM program in place is vital. Having a competitive advantage is one thing, but relating with your customers on a personal, ethical, and in socially responsible manner will provide an advantage and sustainable customer relationships. A company must start with the basics,
Academics and practitioners alike agree that loyalty is an integral part of doing business. Few, if any, businesses can survive without establishing a loyal customer following. Surprising, however, in spite of its obvious importance to all businesses, relatively little is known about customer loyalty. Experts have struggled to define precisely what being a loyal customer means, and meager progress has been made in determining what factors lead to customer
steadily for the last few years and is now seen as the way forward for any
customer Better, buy in of customer attention, protect emotional well being, understand consumer psyche, build trust with customer Relationship marketing is emerging as the core marketing activity for businesses operating in fiercely competitive environments. On average, businesses spend six times more to acquire customers than they do to keep them (Gruen, 1997). Therefore, many firms are now paying more attention to their relationships with existing customers to retain them and increase their share of customer’s purchases. Telecom service operators provide customized services to their heavy users.