Summary and Concluding Comments


In this chapter, we have proposed that it is not merely IT, but the trio of CRM Technologies, KDD Technologies, and Market Orientation that influence customer retention and satisfaction in online e-marketing environments. Case studies, including the three featured at the beginning of this chapter, as well as a substantial body of MIS and marketing research provide prima facie support to the model shown in Figure 12-1.

We can now summarize the core of our argument. The starting point in successful e-marketing has to be a strong customer focus and market orientation. Without customer-oriented thinking permeating the whole organization, technologies of CRM and KDD are of little help. Once a customer-focused corporate culture takes hold, the organization is well positioned to select and deploy CRM technologies that serve the customers rather than merely create technical efficiencies for front-end and back-end employees . With customer-focused CRM technologies in place, and integrated with corporate marketing processes, large amount of customer-knowledge accretes to the e-marketer. Such a customer knowledge base requires careful nurturing via KDD techniques. Just as an example, customer clusters can be uncovered that respond very well to targeted offers. Both American Airlines (with its test offers) and Wells Fargo (with its customer-life-span databases) are positioned well to benefit from synergistic CRM-KDD interactions. Together, when managed well, the processes and technologies depicted in Figure 12-1 can provide competitive advantages to e-marketers (including multichannel marketers) to efficiently serve and delight the customers.

While our proposals provide some immediate guidance to e-marketers, they also open up a wide research agenda. Some of the issues that require focused research attention - using quantitative as well as qualitative techniques - are outlined in Table 12-1. Research is already under way in the areas indicated in Table 12-1.

Table 12-1: Emerging CRM and e-marketing research agenda Source: Authors' research

Relationship Requiring Research Attention

Comments

Market Orientation and Customer Satisfaction in online environments

While the positive relationship observed in offline environments should hold, special features of such relationships in online contexts need attention.

Market Orientation and CRM Fit

Prima facie , market oriented firms can be expected to choose and deploy customer-focused CRM technologies.

CRM Fit and Customer Satisfaction in online environments

When technical aspects of CRM systems fit organizational goals of serving customers, greater satisfaction levels should results. The nature of such 'fit' needs detailed exploration.

CRM Fit and Customer Retention in online environments

While expected to be positive, greater exploration of 'true online delighting' experiences and methods is needed.

Market Orientation and Customer-knowledge Capabilities

Market oriented e-business firms need to use deep customer knowledge without stepping on privacy toes - this needs research.

Customer-knowledge Capabilities and Customer Satisfaction and Retention in online environments

Strong customer-knowledge capabilities can cut both ways: delight the customers or create Orwellian situations where privacy is continuously invaded and destroyed . Research is needed to promote the positive impacts.

CRM Fit and Customer-Knowledge Capabilities.

CRM success requires deep customer knowledge, but the ways the two sets of technologies mesh needs research.

Source: Authors' research

To close the chapter, it is only fitting to turn to the three cases briefly again. My Twin managed to provide a good working environment for its call center employees, many of whom are remote and outsourced, so as to better serve customers seeking uniquely-crafted dolls . With Web-delivered and Web-updated customer-knowledge bases, employees were able to provide the customers with accurate information about the product quicker than before. Given on-screen customer histories, employees could also react in empathic ways, a key requirement since the product is a kind of 'alter ego' of the customer.

American Airlines provided personalized Web pages for the customers, and started using the previously dormant customer profile data to make targeted (and presumably delighting) offers. With up-to-date CRM data, call center employees had 360-degree views of the customers and could serve them better.

Wells Fargo went from a nightmarish paper-based loan processing system to a multichannel system where various customer types - students, parents, and colleges - could access Wells Fargo accounts in multiple ways. Paper, fax, and Web-based information flows converged and integrated within a fast, responsive , customer-focused loan processing and disbursing system. By treating customers from a 'life time' perspective, Wells Fargo was well positioned to sustain relationships and cross-sell and up-sell its educational loan customers.

In all these cases, as well as in the literature reviewed, the need for strong linkages between customer-focused corporate culture and CRM and KDD technologies becomes clear. The next generation of e-marketing has to be as customer-sensitive as it has to be technology-infused.




Contemporary Research in E-marketing (Vol. 1)
Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices from OpenUP and RUP
ISBN: B004V9MS42
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 164

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