The customer is key
Focus must remain on forming relationships that place the brand and customer on an equal level, ensuring communication is welcomed. Only then will the information exchange be reciprocal. It is naive to presume that by relying solely on static data we can gain an accurate representation of customer needs and their lifestyle. Behavioural habits change and we need to predict this not just in real time but at the right time.
By acknowledging when consumers interact with brands, we can ensure our engagement is aptly timed and guarantee an improved response rate. Furthermore, by developing a more sophisticated view of each customer type, we can begin to interpret how they will react to campaigns and anticipate variables that may deter from their usual behavioural patterns.
The challenge of CRM is not the efficiency with which we keep track of the customer, but determining how the consumer wants to interact with the brand. When we get this right, both the customer and the product can reap rewards.
Kevin Slatter, MD, G2 Data Dynamics
