If the $42.3 billion spent online this past holiday season has taught retailers anything, it’s that capturing customers—and their dollars—online is crucial.
Tagged 'CRM' 
Using CRM throughout the Customer Life Cycle
Posted by Jason Elkins on March 25th, 2013 at 2:57 am
It’s a simple truth that customers should be at the heart of your business and that providing exceptional customer service is essential if you are to grow and succeed. In a recent blog I explored this truth further and looked at the ways CRM solutions can be used to provide great customer service but also, deliver those experiences that will keep customers coming back again and again.
The blog highlights how CRM can be used to manage each and every interaction with a customer. It also sets out how, through understanding the customer life cycle, it is possible to deliver a fantastic experience at each stage, helping to build solid and profitable relationships.
Naturally every company’s customer life cycle is different, the journey for a bank’s customer is likely to last year’s if not decades, whereas a retailer may be able to complete the entire cycle over a matter of months. What is important however is to understand how CRM solutions can be mapped to the cycle, to ensure relevant messages are delivered at the right time to increase the potential value of a customer.
So if you would like to learn more about the value of CRM to the customer life cycle,... Read more
Matching Offline Data for Online Targeting
Posted by Chris O'Hara on January 3rd, 2013 at 12:01 am
A Conversation with Live Ramp’s CEO Auren Hoffman
When all marketers have universal access to an entire world of third party online segmentation data, advertisers are increasingly turning offline for an edge. Leveraging established and deep CRM data, marketers are matching their customer databases to online cookies for targeting and retargeting, and going beyond basic demographic data by bringing multiple data sets into the digital marketing mix. I recently interviewed Live Ramp’s Auren Hoffman to learn more about how traditional databases are getting matched to online cookies, and made available for targeting.
Offline data versus online data. You hear first-party data talked about like it’s the gold standard. Just how much more valuable is a company’s first party data?
Auren Hoffman (AH): First, some clarification: Offline does not equal first-party data; nor is online equivalent to third party data.
The gold standard is not first-party data. It’s the rich knowledge (and capacity for segmentation) that lies in a company’s CRM database, typically tied to a name/address or an email address (including purchase history, direct mail, email campaigns, and loyalty). That knowledge, which is largely (but not exclusively) first-party data, exists almost exclusively offline.
Oftentimes, this specific customer knowledge – first-party data belonging to a brand... Read more
Personalizing With Purpose
Posted by Paul Dunay on December 17th, 2012 at 10:51 am
Most e-commerce sites still struggle to leverage the growing wealth of customer data to which they have access.
