CONTACT: Paul Gray at paul.gray@cgu.edu
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT
AUTHORS:
Paul Gray
Professor,Information Science
Claremont Graduate School
and
Jongbok Byun
Claremont Graduate School
March 2001
CENTER FOR RESEARCH
ON INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY AND
ORGANIZATIONS
University of
California,Irvine
3200 Berkeley Place
Irvine,CA,92697-4650
www.crito.uci.edu
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. HISTORY OF CRM MARKET 3
Major Vendors 5
Current Offerings 6
III. DEFINITIONS OF CRM 6
IV. DRIVERS FOR CRM APPLICATIONS 9
Reasons for Adopting CRM: The Business Drivers 9
Cost Goals 10
V. THE CRM INDUSTRY 11
Size of the CRM Industry 12
Vendors 13
Technology and Service 15
VI. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR CRM 20
Key CRM Tasks 20
IT Factors of CRM Tasks 22
VII. CONSULTANTS 23
VIII. RETURN ON INVESTMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION 24
Cost and time 24
Benefits 25
ROI of CRM Projects 27
IX. PRINCIPLES OF CRM 27
X. CRM ISSUES 28
Customer Privacy 28
Technical Immaturity 30
XI. CASE STUDIES 31
Amazon.Com 31
Dell 32
Volkswagen 33
Wells Fargo 34
XII. CONCLUSIONS 36
REFERENCES 37
APPENDIX A BASIC ASSUMPTIONS OF CRM 40
APPENDIX B COMMON MYTHS OF CRM 41
APPENDIX C LIFETIME VALUE OF A CUSTOMER 44
C1. Simple Approach 45
C2. More Sophisticated Calculation 46
C3. Effect of Loyalty Programs 47
C4. Additional Factors to Consider 49
C5. The Arithmetic of Lifetime Value 49
C6. Example: Applying Lifetime Value Concepts in Banking 51
C7. Summary and Conclusions on Lifetime Value 53
APPENDIX D VENDOR'S WEB SITE ADDRESSES 55
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Version 3-6
March 23, 2001
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Paul Gray
Jongbok Byun
I. INTRODUCTION
Over a century ago, in small-town America, before the advent of the
supermarket, the mall, and the automobile, people went to their neighborhood
general store to purchase goods. The proprietor and the small staff recognized
the customer by name and knew the customer's preferences and wants. The
customer, in turn, remained loyal to the store and made repeated purchases.
This idyllic customer relationship disappeared as the nation grew, the population
moved from the farm communities to large urban areas, the consumer became
mobile, and supermarkets and department stores were established to achieve
economies of scale through mass marketing.
Although prices were lower and goods more uniform in quality, the relationship
between the customer and the merchant became nameless and faceless. The
personal relationship between merchant and customer became a thing of the
past. As a result, customers became fickle, moving to the supplier who provided
the desired object at lowest cost or with the most features.
3
The last several years saw the rise of Customer Relationship Management
(abbreviated CRM) as an important business approach. Its objective is to return
to the world of personal marketing. The concept itself is relatively simple. Rather
than market to a mass of people or firms, market to each customer individually.
In this one-to-one approach, information about a customer (e.g., previous
purchases, needs, and wants) is used to frame offers that are more likely to be
accepted. This approach is made possible by advances in information
technology.
Remember that CRM is an abbreviation for Customer Relationship Management,
not Customer Relationship Marketing. Management is a broader concept than
marketing because it covers marketing management, manufacturing
management, human resource management, service management, sales
management, and research and development management. Thus, CRM requires
organizational and business level approaches ­ which are customer centric ­ to
doing business rather than a simple marketing strategy.
CRM involves all of the corporate functions (marketing, manufacturing, customer
services, field sales, and field service) required to contact customers directly or
indirectly. The term "touch points" is used in CRM to refer to the many ways in
which customers and firms interact.
4
II. HISTORY OF CRM MARKET
Before 1993, CRM included two major markets [Financial Times, 2000, p.25]:
1. Sales Force Automation (SFA) and
2. Customer Services (CS).
Sales Force Automation was initially designed to support salespersons in
managing their touch points and to provide them with event calendars about their
customers. SFA's meaning expanded to include opportunity management that is
supporting sales methodologies and interconnection with other functions of the
company such as production. The box below indicates the range to sales force
automation capabilities currently available.
Sales Force Automation Capabilities
ˇ Contact Management: Maintain customer information and contact histories for
existing customers. May include point in the sales cycle and in the customer's
replenishment cycle.
ˇ Activity Management: Provide calendar and scheduling for individual sales
people
ˇ Communication Management: Communicate via E-mail and fax
ˇ Forecasting: Assist with future sales goals, targets, and projections
ˇ Opportunity Management: Manage leads and potential leads for new customers
ˇ Order Management: Obtain online quotes and transform inquiries into orders
ˇ Document Management: Develop and retrieve standard and customizable
management reports and presentation documents
ˇ Sales Analysis: Analyze sales data
ˇ Product Configuration: Assemble alternate product specifications and pricing
Marketing Encyclopedia: Provide updated information about products, prices,
promotions, as well as soft information about individuals (e.g., influence on
buying decisions) and information about competitors
Source: http://www.benchmarkingreports.com/salesandmarketing/sm115_sfa_profiles.asp
5
Compared to SFA, Customer Service (CS) is an after sales activity to satisfy
customers. The goal of Customer Service is to resolve internal and external
customer problems quickly and effectively. By providing fast and accurate
answers to customers, a company can save cost and increase customer loyalty
and revenue. As shown in the box below, customer services include call center
management, field service management, and help desk management.
Customer Services Capabilities
ˇ Call Center Management
o Provide automated, end-to-end call routing and tracking
o Capture customer feedback information for performance
measurement, quality control, and product development
ˇ Field Service Management
o Allocate, schedule, and dispatch the right people, with the
right parts, at the right time
o Log materials, expenses, and time associated with service
orders
o View customer history
o Search for proven solutions
ˇ Help Desk Management
o Solve the problem by searching the existing knowledge base
o Initiate, modify, and track problem reports
o Provide updates, patches, and new versions
Source: http://www.clarify.com/products/suite/service/
http://www.peoplesoft.com/en/us/products/applications/crm/product_content.html
Today, CRM includes all customer-facing applications, including:
ˇ Sales Force Automation (SFA),
ˇ Customer Service (CS),
ˇ Sales and Marketing Management (SMM), and
ˇ Contact & Activity Management [Emerging Market Technologies, 2000].
6
MAJOR VENDORS
The major vendors changed over time. In 1993, the leaders of SFA were Brock
Control, Sales Technologies, and Aurum. Since then, Brock Control changed its
name to Firstwave Technologies, Inc. In 1998, Sales Technologies merged with
Walsh International and now is consolidated into SYNAVANT Inc. to provide
pharmaceutical and healthcare industry relationship management service.
Aurum was merged into Baan, which in turn was acquired by Invensys plc in July
2000 [Invensys, 2000].
In the CS area, Scopus, Vantive and Clarify were the major vendors. However,
things also changed rather rapidly:
ˇ Siebel merged with Scopus in 1995 and dominated the consolidated CRM
market with 68% market share.
ˇ Vantive was bought by Peoplesoft in 1999.
ˇ Clarify was bought by Nortel in 1999.
In 1998, the CRM market was divided by Siebel, Vantive (now PeopleSoft),
Trilogy, and Clarify (now Nortel), and Oracle (in that order) plus fewer than 20
other companies with small market shares. [Financial Times, 2000, p. 1]
At the beginning of 2000, Siebel Systems Inc. was the market leader with a 35%
share. Vantive (PeopleSoft) and Clarify Inc. (Nortel) followed. SAP and Oracle
Corporation were introducing new application to the market based on their
7
software development capabilities. Recent entrants offering Web applications
and services include Silknet Software, E.piphany, and netDialog. [Hamm, 2000]
CURRENT OFFERINGS
The current Siebel application provides a customer information system, a product
information system, a competitive information system, and a decision support
system with a large database. [Financial Times 2000, p.25]
Today, the rapid development of network and communication technologies leads
each CRM company to move towards new technologies such as data
warehousing, knowledge management, and portals on the web. [Howlett, 1999]
In addition, a reverse movement took place as many companies in such fields as
data warehousing and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) began offering CRM
software.
III.DEFINITIONS OF CRM
Traditional marketing strategies focused on the four Ps (price, product,
promotion, and place) to increase market share. The main concern was to
increase the volume of transactions between seller and buyer. [Wyner, 1999]
Volume of transactions is considered a good measure of the performance of
marketing strategies and tactics.
CRM is a business strategy that goes beyond increasing transaction volume. Its
objectives are to increase profitability, revenue, and customer satisfaction. To
achieve CRM, a company wide set of tools, technologies, and procedures
promote the relationship with the customer to increase sales. [Sweeney Group,
8
2000] Thus, CRM is primarily a strategic business and process issue rather than
a technical issue.
CRM consists of three components:
ˇ customer,
ˇ relationship, and
ˇ management (Figure 1).
CRM tries to achieve a `single integrated view of customers' and a `customer-
centric approach' [Roberts-Witt, 2000].
Figure 1. Components of CRM
Customer: The customer is the only source of the company's present profit and
future growth. However, a good customer, who provides more profit with less
resource, is always scarce because customers are knowledgeable and the
competition is fierce. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish who is the real
customer because the buying decision is frequently a collaborative activity
among participants of the decision-making process [Wyner, 1999]. Information
technologies can provide the abilities to distinguish and manage customers.
CRM can be thought of as a marketing approach that is based on customer
information [Wyner, 1999].
Customer
Relationship Management
CRM
9
Relationship: The relationship between a company and its customers involves
continuous bi-directional communication and interaction. The relationship can
be short-term or long-term, continuous or discrete, and repeating or one-time.
Relationship can be attitudinal or behavioral. Even though customers have a
positive attitude towards the company and its products, their buying behavior
is highly situational [Wyner, 1999]. For example, the buying pattern for airline
tickets depends on whether a person buys the ticket for their family vacation
or a business trip. CRM involves managing this relationship so it is profitable
and mutually beneficial. Customer lifetime value (CLV), discussed in Appendix
C, is a tool for measuring this relationship.
Management. CRM is not an activity only within a marketing department.
Rather it involves continuous corporate change in culture and processes. The
customer information collected is transformed into corporate knowledge that
leads to activities that take advantage of the information and of market
opportunities. CRM required a comprehensive change in the organization and
its people.
Specific software to support the management process involves:
ˇ Field service,
ˇ E-commerce ordering,
ˇ Self service applications,
ˇ Catalog management,
ˇ Bill presentation,
ˇ Marketing programs, and
ˇ Analysis applications.
10
All of these techniques, processes and procedures are designed to promote and
facilitate the sales and marketing functions.
IV. DRIVERS FOR CRM APPLICATION
REASONS FOR ADOPTING CRM: THE BUSINESS DRIVERS
Competition for customers is intense. From a purely economic point of view,
firms learned that it is less costly to retain a customer than to find a new one. The
oft-quoted statistics1
go something like this:
ˇ By Pareto's Principle, it is assumed that 20% of a company's
customers generate 80% of its profits.
ˇ In industrial sales, it takes an average of 8 to 10 physical calls in
person to sell a new customer, 2 to 3 calls to sell an existing customer.
ˇ It is 5 to 10 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than
obtain repeat business from an existing customer. For example,
according to the Boston Consulting Group [Hildebrand, 2000], the
costs to market to existing Web customers is $6.80 compared to $34 to
acquire a new Web customers.
ˇ A typical dissatisfied customer tells 8 to 10 people about his or her
experience.
1
Although often repeated, sources for many of these numbers could not be found.
11
ˇ A 5% increase in retaining existing customers translates into 25% or
more increase in profitability.
In the past, the prime approach to attracting new customers was through media
and mail advertising about what the firm has to offer. This advertising approach is
scattershot, reaching many people including current customers and people who
would never become customers. For example, the typical response rate from a
general mailing is about 2%. Thus, mailing a million copies of an advertisement,
on average yields only 20,000 responses.
Another driver is the change introduced by electronic commerce. Rather than
the customer dealing with a salesperson either in a brick and mortar location or
on the phone, in electronic commerce the customer remains in front of their
computer at home or in the office. Thus, firms do not have the luxury of someone
with sales skills to convince the customer. Whereas normally it takes effort for the
customer to move to a competitor's physical location or dial another 1-800
number, in electronic commerce firms face an environment in which competitors
are only a few clicks away.
COST GOALS
Major cost goals of CRM include:
ˇ Increase revenue growth through customer satisfaction.
ˇ Reduce costs of sales and distribution
12
ˇ Minimize customer support costs
The following examples illustrate tactics to achieve these goals;
1. To increase revenue growth
ˇ Increase share of wallet by cross-selling
2. To increase customer satisfaction
ˇ Make the customer's experience so pleasant that the customer
returns to you for the next purchase.
3. To reduce cost of sales and distribution
ˇ Target advertising to customers to increase the probability that an
offer is accepted.
ˇ Use web applications to decrease the number of direct sales
people and distribution channels needed
ˇ Manage customer relationships rather than manage products (a
change in marketing)
4. To minimize customer support costs
ˇ Make information available to customer service representatives so
they can answer any query
ˇ Automate the call center so that representatives have direct access
to customer history and preferences and therefore can cross-sell
(see goal 1)
V. THE CRM INDUSTRY
13
SIZE OF THE CRM INDUSTRY
Estimates of the size of the CRM industry are shown in Table1 and plotted in
Figure 2. These illustrations show forecasts made in the 1997 to 2000 period by
a number of industry research groups. It is important to realize that the
forecasters generally did not specify what they included in their estimates.
Therefore, it is not possible to tell which expenditures (e.g., hardware, software,
mailing, personnel, call centers, ...) and which revenues are included in the
numbers shown.
Not all values shown in Table 1 are forecasts; some of the values shown were
obtained by taking the forecaster's growth rate and then interpolating.
Interpolated values are shaded.
Table 1. Estimated CRM Market Size
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Growth
Rate
Aberdeen Group 1.12 1.59 2.24 3.15 4.45 6.27 8.85 12.47 17.59 41%
AMR Research 1.20 1.98 3.27 5.40 7.90 11.50 16.80 26.54 41.94 58%
Forrester
Research
0.87 1.07 1.31 1.61 1.98 2.44 3.00 3.69 4.54 23%
IDC 1 23.00
IDC 2 4 11
Yankee Group 0.04 0.07 0.12 0.21 0.38 0.68 1.20 2.14 3.80 78%
Shaded values: Interpolated values based on forecasts
14
Clearly the forecasts shown vary significantly as they reach the out years
because they are based on different assumptions of the size of the current
market at the time of the forecast and the growth rate inferred from the numbers
presented. The important point, is that the market is growing and is multibillion.
VENDORS
A few years ago, technology vendors had their own specialties. For example,
Siebel was in sales force automation, Remedy was in helpdesk systems, Davox
was in call center systems, eGain was in e-mail management, and BroadVision
was in the front-end application area. Today, however, there is no specific
boundary of vendors. All vendors are trying to expand their products over the
entire CRM area. For example, Siebel says it can do everything, Davox moved
into customer contact management, and BroadVision is trying to integrate
backward with ERP. [Mckenna, 2000]
Most of CRM vendors came from two different origins:
Figure 2. CRM Market Size Estimates
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
35.00
40.00
45.00
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Year
Billion$
Aberdeen Group
AMR Research
Forrester Research
IDC
Yankee Group
15
ˇ Back-End Application
Traditional ERP vendors (SAP AG, Oracle Corporation, Baan (now
Invensys plc), and PeopleSoft) acquire, build, and partner their CRM
application for ERP functionality.
ˇ Front-End Application
Some companies started with front-end solutions such as personal
information management system (PIMS). Siebel, BroadVision, and
Remedy are in this category.
Starting in late 1998, with the fast development of e-business, many of the larger
players acquired or merged with mid-sized companies to allow them to offer full
service across the entire CRM "sandbox". Table 2 lists some of the major
categories and players.
Table 2. The Major CRM Vendors
Category Vendor Company
Enterprise-wide back-end office SAP AG
Oracle Corporation
Baan Company (now Invensys plc)
PeopleSoft, Inc.
Front-end office Siebel Systems
Saratoga Systems
Vantive Corporation (a division of PeopleSoft, Inc.)
Clarify (a division of Nortel Networks)
Onyx Software Corporation
Web-based front-end solution Firstwave
UpShot.com
Rubric
Adhere to Microsoft Standards Remedy Corporation
Onyx Software Corporation
Midsize Player Interact Commerce Corporation (previously SalesLogix)
Sales Automation Group
Contact Management Symantec Corporation
Multiactive Software Inc. (Canadian)
16
TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICE
Table 3 shows the various vendors and the services they provide. Customer
service and support, marketing automation, and web and field sales areas are
most important parts of their packages.
17
Table 3. Functions of the CRM Packages [Girishankar, 2000]
FunctionsVendor Product
Product
Manage-
ment
Web & Field
Sales
Field
Services
Partner
Collabora-
tion
Marketing
Automation
Customer
Service &
Support
ERP Analysis Brand
Manage-
ment
Applix Applix iEnterprise
Aspect
Communcations
Aspect Customer
Relationship Portal
Baan Baan Front Office
Direct
Business Resource
Software
Insight for Sales
Strategy
Broadbase
Software
Broadbase E-
Business
Application Suite
Customer
Support
Cable & Wireless WebReady Web Sales Customer
Service
Cisco Systems Cisco eMail
Manager
Web Sales
Clarify Clarify eFront
Office
CustomerCast SatCast
AccountCast
SupportCast
Field Sales
eHNC Select Response
Epiphany Epiphany E4
System
Customer
Service
Epicor Software Epicor eFront
Office Powered by
Clientele
18
FunctionsVendor Product
Product
Manage-
ment
Web & Field
Sales
Field
Services
Partner
Collabora-
tion
Marketing
Automation
Customer
Service &
Support
ERP Analysis Brand
Manage-
ment
Firstwave
Technologies
Firstwave eRM
Great Plains
Software
Great Plains Siebel
Front Office
HNC Software Capstone CRM
Decision Platform
Web Sales Customer
Service
IBM IBM CRM Solutions
Hyperion CRM
analysis Suit
Hyperion Solutions
Hyperion Essbase
OLAP Server
I2Technologies Rhythm Customer
Manager
Kana
Communication
Kana 5 Web Sales
Lawson Software Relationship
Management
Solutions
Lucent
Technologies
CRM Central 2000
Multiactive
Software
Entice
Octane Software Octane 2000
Onyx Software Onyx Front Office
2000
19
FunctionsVendor Product
Product
Manage-
ment
Web & Field
Sales
Field
Services
Partner
Collabora-
tion
Marketing
Automation
Customer
Service &
Support
ERP Analysis Brand
Manage-
ment
Oracle Oracle E-Business
Suite/CRM
PeopleSoft Vantive Enterprise
Pivotal Pivotal
eRelationship 2000
Quintus eContact Customer
Service
Remedy Sales
Continuum
Remedy Quality
Management
Remedy Leads
Management
Remedy
Remedy Customer
Support
Customer
Service
Interact
SalesLogix 2000
SalesLogix
Act 2000
SAP CRM with
mySAP.com
Marketing
Mgmt
Saratoga Systems Avenue
Siebel Systems Siebel ebusiness
solutions
Silknet Software Silknet eBusiness
Experience
Tenuteq
International
eRelationship
20
FunctionsVendor Product
Product
Manage-
ment
Web & Field
Sales
Field
Services
Partner
Collabora-
tion
Marketing
Automation
Customer
Service &
Support
ERP Analysis Brand
Manage-
ment
Trilogy Software MultiChannel
Commerce 2.1
Upshot.com Upshot.com
YouCentric YouCentric 3.0 Field Sales
21
VI. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR CRM
KEY CRM TASKS
"I know who you are, I remember you. I get you to talk to me. And
then, because I know something about you, my competitors don't
know, I can do something for you my competitors can't do - not for
any price" [Newell, 2000]
CRM differs from the previous method of database marketing in that the
database marketing technique tried to sell more products to the customer for less
cost. [Seiler and Gray 1999]. The database marketing approach is highly
company centric. However, customers were not kept loyal by the discount
programs and the one-time promotions that were used in the database-marketing
programs. Customer loyalty is, indeed, very difficult to obtain or buy. The CRM
approach is customer-centric. This approach focuses on the long-term
relationship with the customers by providing the customer benefits and values
from the customer's point of view rather than based on what the company wants
to sell.
The basic questions that CRM tries to answer are:
1. What is the benefit of the customer?
2. How can we add the customer's value?
22
Four basic tasks are required to achieve the basic goals of CRM. [Peppers, et
al., 1999]
1. Customer Identification
To serve or provide value to the customer, the company must know or identify
the customer through marketing channels, transactions, and interactions over
time.
2. Customer Differentiation
Each customer has their own lifetime value from the company's point of view
(Appendix B) and each customer imposes unique demands and requirements
for the company.
3. Customer Interaction
Customer demands change over time. From a CRM perspective, the
customer's long-term profitability and relationship to the company is
important. Therefore, the company needs to learn about the customer
continually. Keeping track of customer behavior and needs is an important
task of a CRM program.
4. Customization / Personalization
"Treat each customer uniquely" is the motto of the entire CRM process.
Through the personalization process, the company can increase customer
23
loyalty. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com, said, "our vision is that if we
have 20 million customers, then we should have 20 million stores." [Wheatley,
2000] The automation of personalization is being made feasible by
information technologies.
IT FACTORS OF CRM
Traditional (mass) marketing doesn't need to use information technologies
extensively because there is no need to distinguish, differentiate, interact with,
and customize for individual customer needs. Although some argue that IT has a
small role in CRM, [Computing, 2000] each of the four key CRM tasks depends
heavily on information technologies and systems. Table 4 shows this relationship
for the marketing processes, for the goals, for traditional mass marketing, for
CRM, and for the information technologies used in CRM.
TABLE 4. IT Factors in CRM
Process Identification Differentiation Interaction Customization
Goal ˇ Identify
individual
customer
ˇ Evaluate
customer value
and needs
ˇ Build a
continuing
relationship
ˇ Fulfill customer
needs
ˇ Generate profit
Traditional
Mass
Marketing
ˇ Not done ˇ Clustering ˇ Call Center ˇ Sales
ˇ Services
CRM ˇ Customer
profiling
ˇ Individual level
analysis
ˇ Call center
management
ˇ Auto response
system
ˇ Sales
automation
ˇ Marketing
process
automation
Information
technologies
ˇ Cookies
ˇ Web site
personalization
ˇ Data mining
ˇ Organizational
learning
ˇ Web application
ˇ Wireless
communication
ˇ ERP
ˇ E-Commerce
24
VII. CONSULTANTS
Like any other major software development/deployment project, consulting
plays an important role in the CRM project. A Cap Gemini and IDC survey in
1999 found, on the average, 23% of the total CRM investment was spent on
consulting. [Sterne, 2000] Three different types of consulting companies work
in the CRM industry.
ˇ General Consulting Company
Traditional business-consulting companies such as Anderson
Consulting, McKinsey & Company, KPMG Consulting, Inc., and
PricewaterhouseCoopers provide consulting services for CRM
integration. This work focuses more on organizational and marketing
management integration than technical implementation of CRM
software.
ˇ CRM-Specific Software Vendor
The consulting arms of Siebel Systems, Onyx Software Corporation,
Saratoga Systems, and Remedy Corporation are dedicated to CRM.
These companies focus more on technical integration than conceptual
or managerial consulting services.
ˇ Back-End Software Vendor
SAP AG, Oracle Corporation, PeopleSoft Inc., IBM Global Services
Consulting, SAS Institute Inc., and Microsoft Corporation also have
CRM consulting service. However, these companies primarily sell
25
their own back-end application such as ERP systems, database
management systems, and statistical analysis systems.
VIII. RETURN ON INVESTMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION
COST AND TIME
The 1999 Cap Gemini and IDC survey also found that, the average total
investment in CRM of 300 U.S. and Europe companies was $3.1 million. More
than 69% of the companies surveyed spent less than $5 million, and more than
13% of the companies spent over $10 million. [Sterne, 2000]
The cost of implementing a CRM system is easily double the Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) implementation cost. [Morrison, 1999] Average
implementation time for an ERP system is 23 months and the cost of ownership
over the first 2 years is from 0.4% to 1.1% of company revenue. [Higgins, 1999]
As shown in Tables 5 and 6, based on GartnerGroup data, the implementation
cost of CRM depends on the industry, project size, and application
requirements. According to GartnerGroup, the average implementation cost of
CRM can be between $15,000 and $35,000 per user in a three-year project.
[Golterman, 2000]
26
Table 5. Annual CRM Expenses (in $million)
Health Care Products 3.4
Manufacturer 5 ~ 8
Publisher 6 ~ 8
Consumer Goods Manufacturer 6.3
Office Supplies Manufacturer 8 ~ 10
Source: Golterman (2000)
Table 6. Cost Allocations
Services 38%
Software 28%
Hardware 23%
Telecommunication 11%
Source: Golterman (2000)
BENEFITS
The principal benefits of CRM are to
ˇ Improve the organization's ability to retain and acquire customers
ˇ Maximize the lifetime value of each customer (share of wallet)
ˇ Improve service without increasing cost of service. [CMG, 2000]
Some of these benefits can be measured and others cannot.
CRM is composed of four continuous processes, which were described in
Section IV of this paper. Each process provides distinctive benefits to the
27
organization. To obtain all of these benefits, sales, marketing, and service
functions need to work together. The benefits are shown in Table 7.
Table 7. Benefits of CRM project
Identification Differentiation Interaction Customization
Source of
benefits
Clean data about
customer
Single Customer
View
Understand
customer
Customer
satisfaction and
loyalty
Customer
satisfaction and
loyalty
Benefits Help sales force
Cross selling
Cost effective
marketing
campaign
Reduce direct
mailing cost
Cost effective
customer service
Lower cost of
acquisition and
retention of
customer
Maximize share of
wallet
Anderson Consulting, based on a survey of more than 500 executives in six
industries (communications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics/high-tech,
forest products and retail), believes that a 10% improvement of overall CRM
capabilities can add up to $35 million benefits to a $1 billion business unit.
[Renner, 2000]
More than 57% of CEOs in another survey with 191 respondents believe that the
major objective of CRM is customer satisfaction and retention. Another 17% said
it is designed to increase cross selling and up selling. [Seminerio, 2000]
28
ROI OF CRM PROJECT
We still have to wait-and-see to determine the Return On Investment (ROI) of
CRM [Trepper, 2000] since CRM does not bring any direct monetary benefits
after implementation. Rather, CRM requires a large amount of initial investment
in hardware and software without any immediate cost saving or revenue
improvement. The benefits of CRM need to be measured on a long-term basis.
CRM is designed to build long-term relationships with customers and to generate
long-term benefits through increased customer satisfaction and retention. [Cyber
Marketing Services, 2000]
A survey of 300 companies conducted at a CRM conference concluded that CRM
is not a cheap, easy, or fast solution. More than two-thirds of CRM projects end
in failure. However, the successful third can obtain up to a 75 % return on
investment. [Mooney, 2000]
IX. PRINCIPLES OF CRM
The overall processes and applications of CRM are based on the following basic
principles.
ˇ Treat Customer Individually
Remember customers and treat them individually. CRM is based on
philosophy of personalization. Personalization means the `content and
services to customer should be designed based on customer
preferences and behavior.' [Hagen, 1999] Personalization creates
29
convenience to the customer and increases the cost of changing
vendors.
ˇ Acquire and Retain Customer Loyalty through Personal Relationship
Once personalization takes place, a company needs to sustain
relationships with the customer. Continuous contacts with the customer
­ especially when designed to meet customer preferences ­ can
create customer loyalty.
ˇ Select "Good" Customer instead of "Bad" Customer based on Lifetime
Value
Find and keep the right customers who generate the most profits.
Through differentiation, a company can allocate its limited resources
to obtain better returns. The best customers deserve the most
customer care; the worst customers should be dropped.
In summary, personalization, loyalty, and lifetime value are the main principles of
CRM implementation.
X. CRM ISSUES
CUSTOMER PRIVACY
Customer privacy is an important issue in CRM. CRM deals with large amounts of
customer data through various touch points and communication channels. The
personalization process in CRM requires identification of each individual
customer and collections of demographic and behavioral data. Yet, it is the
very information that most customers consider personal and private.
30
The individual firm is thus caught in an ethical dilemma. It wants to collect as
much information as possible about each customer to further its sales, yet in
doing so it treads at and beyond the bounds of personal privacy.
Privacy issues are not simple. There are overwhelming customer concerns, legal
regulations, and public policies around the world. [Steinbock, 2000] Still it is
unclear and undetermined what extent of customer privacy should be
protected and shouldn't be used, but four basic rules might be considered.
[Sterne, 2000]
ˇ The customer should be notified their personal information is
collected and will be used for specific purposes.
ˇ The customer should be able to decline to be tracked.
ˇ The customer should be allowed to access their information and
correct it.
ˇ Customer data should be protected from unauthorized usage.
Some companies provide `customer consent form' to ask the customer to agree
to information collection and usage. Providing personalized service to customer
is a way to satisfy customers who provided their personal information. All of
these efforts are designed to build trust between the company and its
customers.
31
TECHNICAL IMMATURITY
The concept, technologies, and understanding of CRM are still in its early
adapter stage. Most of the CRM technologies are immature and the typical
implementation costs and time are long enough to frustrate potential users.
Many software and hardware vendors sell themselves as complete CRM solution
providers but there is little standardized technologies and protocols for CRM
implementation in the market. Even the scope and extent of `what CRM
includes' differ from vendor to vendor; each has different implementation
requirements to achieve the customer's expectations.
CRM is one of the busiest industry which occurs frequent merger and
acquisition. Many small companies merge together to compete with large
vendor. Large companies such as PeopleSoft acquired small vendor to enter this
`hot' CRM market. Due to these frequent merger and acquisiton, the stable
technical support from the market becomes rare. Vendors publish new version ­
maybe more integrated software ­ of CRM software as frequently as they can
and customers should pay for that.
Often these technical immaturities or unstable conditions are combined with
the customer requirements which are frequently unclear and lead the project
failure. These technical immaturities may be overcome over time, but the
process may be long and painful.
32
XI. CASE STUDIES
AMAZON.COM
When you try to buy something from Amazon.com, you can see the following
statement; "Customers who bought this item also bought these items." If you
have any previous purchasing experience with Amazon.com, the company will
support a `Welcome to Recommendations' Web page.
The personalized Web pages, vast selection of products, and low price lead
customer loyalty and long-term relationship of Amazon.com. More than 20
million people have purchased at Amazon.com. The percentage of returning
customers is about 15 to 25 percent , compared with 3 to 5 percent for other e-
business retailers.
Amazon.com assembles large amounts of information on individual customer
buying habits and personal information. Based on a customer's previous
purchases and Web surfing information, Amazon.com recommends books, CDs,
and other products. Sometimes a customer buys additional products because of
this information.
33
Through its `1-Click' system, which stores personal information such as credit
card number and shipping address, Amazon.com simplifies the customer buying
process.
Like the corner merchant of old, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com,
believes the Internet store of the future should be able to guess what the
customer wants to buy before the customer knows. He wants to make
Amazon.com Web site that smart and that personal. [Newell, 2000]
DELL
Since 1983, Dell Computers has operated on two simple business ideas: sell
computers direct to individual customers and manufacture computers based on
the customer's order. The individual customer can make his/her system unique
and obtain it directly from the company.
If the system has a problem, the user can contact the Dell Web site directly
and get personalized services by using the customer system service tag number,
which is on the side of the computer. These personalized services also provide
related information and make software downloads available. In addition, a call
center provides technical assistance at multiple levels. If the first level
technician cannot resolve the problem, the customer is routed to a more
skilled contact.
34
Dell is organized by customer segment, such as education, government, small
business, large business, and home, instead of by product lines.
Dell developed `Premier Dell.com' that covers entire processes of computer
ownership: purchasing, asset management, and product support. Premier pages
support online purchasing, standard management, price quotes, and order
management.
VOLKSWAGEN
Volkswagen AG is the largest automobile maker in Europe. More than 36 million
vehicles carry on their logo. Like other automobile manufacturers, the
company is well informed about its customers and heavily depends on this
information. However, they lose contact with the car owner after the first
change of ownership (after an average 3.7 years). As a result, the company
does not have current information about many of its customers. [Chojnacki,
2000]
In 1988, the company started its `Customer Come First' marketing strategy.
Under this strategy, all of the decision-making processes are based on the
`Voice of Customer.' The company carefully monitored their response to
35
advertisements, customer expectations, and customer satisfaction. Customer
forums and focus group are used to hear the customer voice.
Volkswagen developed services such as service guarantee, the emergency plan,
the mobility guarantee, the customer club, and toll-free service phone. All
advertising media are designed toward two-way communication. This allows
the company to obtain useful information such as lifestyle, demographic, and
behavioral data.
The company maintains a central database to provide club card, bonus point
programs, club shops, and Volkswagen magazine. Every contact points with a
customer gives the company more information about the customer, so the
company can constantly improve the quality and value of the customer
database.
WELLS FARGO
Banking differs from other industries because the average relationship
between customer and bank lasts much longer on the. For example, in the auto
industry, the relationship between the customer and the company is becoming
weaker over time. You don't need to contact the car dealer or manufacturer
once a week or a month. You can change your oil or maintain your car with
different service station. However, once you open your account in a specific
bank, your relationship or dependence to the bank increases. You may write
36
checks more frequently, have direct deposit, transfer money, pay bills, and
withdraw money. The bank contacts you regularly by sending you your monthly
statement. You can obtain credit card or investment opportunities from the
bank.
Wells Fargo is one of the leading banks which transforms these
relationships into opportunities. It was the first bank which started 24-hour
phone banking service and opened branches in the local supermarket and
Starbucks coffee house. Wells Fargo always tried to provide more touch points
to its customers and a one-stop shopping environment.
Since 1993, Wells Fargo tried to integrate all of its back-end customer
information into its Customer Relationship System. Previously, customer
information was managed by several different backend system. Software was
organized by account number, with each backend system using its own
numbering system. Customer service agents found it difficult to integrate
customer information when they received a request to transfer from one
account to another. They had to log on to several different system to obtain
the information and do the transactions requested. In the new system, the
service agent can access all required information by using the customer's social
security number instead of the account numbers. These changes increase
convenience for both customers and service agents.
37
Wells Fargo provides Internet banking. It built a Web site as a new
contact point in 1995 and provided advanced technologies to its customer. By
using online banking, customers can manage their account anytime and
anywhere. Online banking also saves operating cost of the bank branches.
In the future, Wells Fargo will try to build online customer communities
(similar to America Online or the World Wide Web) in its banking service by
responding to customers' needs with new technologies.[Seybold, 2000] By
providing more power to manage their account and money, Wells Fargo expects
to increase ustomer loyalty and obtain long term mutual benefits with its
customers.
XII. CONCLUSIONS
The present is an era of company loyalty to the customer in order to
obtain customer loyalty to the company. Consumers are more knowledgeable
than ever before and, because the customer is more knowledgeable, companies
must be faster, more agile, and more creative than a few years ago.
The Internet allows information to be obtained almost instantaneously.
The Internet permits firms to establish a personalized customer experience
through online help, purchase referrals, quicker turn-around on customer
problems, and quicker feedback about customer suggestions, concerns, and
questions.
38
CRM is very hard to implement throughout a company. The IT
department needs extensive infrastructure and resources to implement CRM
databases successfully. Executives must be willing to support the CRM
implementation process forever because CRM never ends.
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41
APPENDIX A
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS OF CRM
This appendix lists the basic assumptions of the CRM approach. For each
assumption, counterarguments and/or limitations are also presented.
1. Habitual action
A basic idea of CRM is that the future behavior of customer is determined by
or similar to their previous behavior. In other words, the people will behave as
they did yesterday and a month ago. This assumption is partially right and
partially wrong. As time goes by, behavior patterns change. Therefore, the
important thing is the prediction model of future behavior. By predicting future
behavior, a company can better serve its customers' changing demands and
preferences.
2. Current customer information is always correct.
It is important to maintain the quality of customer demographic and behavioral
information. The right decision requires correct data and information. Can we
believe or trust the customer data in the database or in the data warehouse?
The customer database comes from a variety of sources and is obtained by
different input methods. Considerable attention (and expense) is required for
cleansing the data periodically to make it useful for CRM. The firm must
update as customer information changes. For example, people move; income
levels change; marriages, births, and deaths occur. Admittedly, the correct
decision is sometimes made accidentally from incorrect data; however, that is
a rare event.
42
3. Consumers Want Individual, Differentiated Treatment, Services, And Products
The basic assumption of CRM is that the customer always wants
individualized products and services. However, this assumption cannot
always be satisfied because a company cannot always deliver all of the
required products and services. Furthermore, instead of individualization,
customer-buying decisions for products and services often follow fashion or
trends. Technology developments are also important in the decision process.
Therefore, some argue the importance of providing the right products and
services at the right time or moment rather than just providing individualized
products and services.
APPENDIX B
COMMON MYTHS OF CRM
This appendix is based on Adolf et al. (1997) who describe the myths of CRM.
Myth 1: Excellent CRM system guarantee marketing success.
CRM is not a strategy but a tool to help and modify the marketing
strategies of a company. Before it achieves a viable CRM system, a
company needs the right value propositions and strategies to
implement the customer centric philosophy of the CRM. CRM requires
43
more commitment and loyalty by the company to the customer rather
than by the customer to the company. Without competitive products
and services, a company cannot obtain the benefits of CRM.
Myth 2: To use CRM, a company must be organized by customer segments
rather than products.
Organizational restructuring is expensive, time-consuming, and painful
process for a company and the people in the company. Without
appropriate coordination with other functions in a company,
restructuring is not as effective as expected. For example, channel
strategies should be combined with CRM capabilities so a customer
does not receive different offers from a company through different
channels.
Myth 3: Successful CRM requires a large centralized database with complete
customer data.
Many successful financial companies maintain databases at the product
level. By having a smaller database, a company can simplify the system
design and maintenance and the customer ownership. Common
standards of hardware and software are more important than large
databases.
44
Myth 4: CRM requires the most advanced and sophisticated analytical
techniques.
Clean data is more important and effective than sophisticated
analytical tools. Frequently incomplete, inaccurate, and outdated
customer information is used. If there is garbage in, the output is also
garbage. Future-oriented and hypothesis-based analysis and
anticipation are more effective than complex analysis.
Myth 5: CRM is a turnkey project.
Database, infrastructure, and supporting business processes are
required to start CRM programs. However, it is not necessary to set up
everything together. Rather CRM is a `test, run, test' process. An
iterative and incremental approach is cheaper and more effective than
turnkey based approach. Lessons from mistakes are important to
educate employees about how to use CRM.
The above discussion of common myths of CRM means CRM is not a perfect
single solution to the business problems. CRM is a part of complex set of
business strategies and processes to serve the customer.
Figure B-1 shows the relations between CRM and the customer.
45
Figure B-1. Relation Between CRM and the Customer
APPENDIX C
LIFETIME VALUE OF A CUSTOMER
A fundamental concept of Customer Relationship Management is the lifetime
value of a new customer2
. The basic idea is that customers should be judged on
their profitability to the firm over the total time (dubbed "lifetime") they make
purchases. Profitability is usually based on net value, that is, the markups over
cost less the cost of acquiring and keeping the customer. Fixed costs are not
considered because it is assumed that these costs will be incurred with or without
the particular customer.
This appendix presents two methods of doing the calculations. The first is quite
crude. It is based on the average customer and does not consider time value of
money or the effects of marketing actions such as loyalty programs and referral
programs. The second includes these factors. In both cases, the method is
illustrated with an example that provides a template for performing the
calculation.
CRM Customer
Related Business
Processes
Marketing Formula
Supporting
Technology
Behavioral Data Profitability
Customer Profile
46
The revenues and the costs are expected value calculations. They are based on
a number of assumptions about the future such as total number of customers, the
percentage of customers retained from year to year, and the average annual
purchase per customer
C.1 SIMPLE APPROACH
The simplest approach to lifetime value is to compute the average net revenue by
multiplying four quantities together:
Avg. sale * No. of Purchases/year*Stay of customer * Average Profit %
Example: Consider a computer store working with a small, growing business:
Average sale $2000
No. of purchases/year 2
Expected length of customer stay (years) 3
Average profit margin .24
Lifetime net revenue: $2880
Having the net revenue, the lifetime value can be determined by subtracting
acquisition and retention costs:
Lifetime value = Lifetime revenue ­ cost to acquire
-cost to retain*no. of purchases
If, for example, allocated cost to an acquired customer from an advertisement is
$500 and the cost to retain for each purchase after the first is $20 then:
Net Lifetime value of customer = $2880 ­$500- 5*$20 = $2280
Three strategies can be followed to increase the value of the customer:
1. Increase size of average sales (tie ins, package multiple items)
2. Increase the number of sales (find other customer needs you can
provide and satisfy them)
2
The same methods apply to an existing customer, when considering their future value from now
on. However, for existing customers, there is no acquisition cost.
47
3. Increase profit margin (reduce overhead costs, reduce cost of goods,
and raise price if market will stand it)
C.2 MORE SOPHISTICATED CALCULATION
A more sophisticated calculation would include retention rate (percent of
customers who buy again) and discount rate to take temporal effects into
account.
Consider the following example: Assume that 100,000 customers are obtained in
Year 1 and that an increasing percentage of those who continue from one year to
the next stay loyal. Furthermore, assume that these loyal customers will spend
more each year. The assumed cost of retaining a customer is $6/year and that
the initial cost is 5 times that, $30. The discount rate is taken to be 20%.
The result might look as follows. Assumed values are shown shaded.
Revenues
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Customers 100,000 50,000 30,000 21,000
Retention Rate 50% 60% 70% 70%
Purchases/customer $160 $200 $240 $240
Total Revenue $16,000,000 $10,000,000 $7,200,000 $5,040,000
Next, consider the fraction of the revenue that is expense, and the cost to retain
both on an individual bases (Acquire/Retain Cost) and the Total Acquisition Cost
for all customers. Note that the Total Acquisition Cost is obtained by multiplying
the Acquire/Retain Cost by the number of customers in that year.
Variable Costs
Direct cost per purchase 60% 50% 45% 45%
Variable Direct Cost $9,600,000 $5,000,000 3,240,000 2,268,000
Acquire/Retain Cost $30 $6 $6 $6
Total Acquisition Cost $3,000,000 $300,000 $180,000 $126,000
Total Variable Cost $12,600,000 $5,300,000 $3,420,000 $2,394,000
The gross profit is obtained by taking the difference between revenues and
variable cost. The net present value of profit is found by discounting the gross
profit (20% per year in the example)
The average customer lifetime value is obtained by dividing the cumulative NPV
by the number of original customers (i.e., 100,000).
48
Profits
Gross Profit $3,400,000 $4,700,000 $3,780,000 2,646,000
Discount rate 1.00 1.20 1.44 1.728
NPV Profit $3,400,000 $3,750,000 $2,625,000 1,385,417
Cumulative NPV $3,400,000 $7,150,000 $9,775,000 $11,160,417
Customer Lifetime
Value
$34.00 $71.50 $97.75 $111.60
The table can serve as a template. That is, by substituting values that apply to a
particular firm, it can be used to estimate lifetime value for a particular situation.
C.3 EFFFECT OF LOYALTY PROGRAMS
Loyalty programs are designed to increase the lifetime value of customers. Such
programs offer incentives (sometimes discounts) to encourage:
1. Higher retention rates
2. Larger purchases
3. Referrals
Consider our previous example. Suppose a loyalty program offers special
privileges with the following assumptions
Retention rates increase to 75%, 80%, 85%, 85%
Percentages of customers who refer others are 8%, 10%, 12%, 12%
That is, the total number of customers, retention rates, and percent referrals are:
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Total Customers 100,000 83,000 74,700 72,459
Retention rate 75% 80% 85% 85%
Pct. Referrals 8% 10% 12% 12%
If purchases increase to $210, $250, $280, $280, then Total Revenue becomes
Purchase/customer $210 $250 $280 $280
49
Total Purchases $21,000,000 $20,750,000 $20,916,00 $20,288,520
These gains, of course, do not come for free.
If we assume that the cost to acquire a loyalty program customer is $40 rather
than $30 and the advertising cost to retain is still $6/year and if we assume the
following costs of running the loyalty program:
Record keeping costs/customer per year $ 5
Service costs/loyal customer 20
Referral Incentives/customer referred 20
The cost picture becomes:
Direct Percent 60% 50% 45% 45%
Variable Direct Cost $12,600,000 $10,375,000 $9,412,200 $9,129,834
Per customer costs $75 $31 $31 $31
Total customer cost $7,500,000 $2,573,000 $2,315,300 $2,246,129
Referral Incentives 0 $160,000 $166,000 $179,280
Total Cost $20,100,000 $13,108,000 $11,893,500 $11,555,24
The profits and customer lifetime values become:
Gross Profit $900,000 $7,642,000 $9,022,500 $8,733,277
Discount rate 1.20 1.44 1.728
NPV Profit $900,000 $6,368,333 $6,265,625 $5,053,980
Cumulative NPV $900,000 $7,268,333 $13,533,958 $18,587,938
Customer lifetime value $9.00 $72.68 $135.33 $185.88
Comparing the customer lifetime value before the loyalty program and after the
loyalty program leads to the following table of cumulative lifetime values and the
difference between them.
Customer Lifetime
Value
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Before Program $34.00 $71.50 $97.75 $111.16
With Program $9.00 $72.68 $135.33 $185.88
Difference $(25.00) $1.18 $37.58 $74.76
Note that the value is reduced in the first year, but increases considerably for the
3rd
and 4th
year in our example.
50
C.4 ADDITIONAL FACTORS TO CONSIDER
Appendices C2 and C3 include assumptions about:
ˇ Expected number of customers
ˇ Retention rate
ˇ Average annual purchase per customer (including increasing number of sales
and increasing amount per sale to retained customers)
ˇ Markup of goods
ˇ Cost to obtain a new customers
ˇ Cost to maintain a customer/year
ˇ Cost to obtain customers through referrals
ˇ Discount rate
For a more complete model, the following considerations can be added:
ˇ Risk factor (that the customer will not pay).
ˇ Delay between order and payment (i.e., the account receivable days)
ˇ Repurchase cycles other than annual (e.g., several years between buying
cars)
All of these factors are discussed in mathematical terms in Appendix C.5
C.5 THE ARITHMETIC OF LIFETIME VALUE
Quantities assigned assumed values:
Number of customers in year 1 N(1)
Retention rate in year i, RR(i)
Number of purchase/year NS(i)
Size of purchases (i.e., sales) in year i S(i)
51
Direct Percent in year i = (1-markup percent) D(i)
Cost to acquire a new customer RC(1)
Cost to retain a customer in year i > 1 RC(i)
Discount rate in year 2 DR(2)
Risk Factor in year i RF(i)
Computed quantities:
No. of customers in year i: N(i) = N(i-1) * RR for i>1
Total revenue in year i TR(i) = N(i) * NS(i)*S(i)
Cost of goods sold in year i COGS(i) = TR(i) * D(i)
Total cost in year i TC(i) = COGS + N(i)*RC(i)
Gross Profit in year i GP(i) = TR(i) - TC(i)
NPV of Profit in year i NP(i) = GP(i) /DR(i)
Cumulative NPV of Profit in year i CumNP(i) = CumNP(i) + CumNP(i-1) i>1
Customer Lifetime Value after i years CumNP(i)/N(1)
For simplicity, the foregoing relations assume no risk, instant payment, and one
purchase per year. Standard accounting/finance relations can be used to take
these additional factors into account.
Definition of Symbols in Alphabetic Order
COGS Cost of goods sold
CumNP Cumulative Net Present Value of Profit
D Direct percent (=1 - markup)
DR Discount rate
GP Gross Profit
LV Lifetime value of a customer
N No. of customers
NP Number of Purchase in year
NP Net Present Value of Profit
RC Retention cost; = Acquisition cost in year 1
RF Risk factor
RR Retention rate (%)
S Size of purchases (i.e., sales)
TC Total cost
TR Total revenue
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C.6 EXAMPLE: APPLYING LIFETIME VALUE CONCEPTS IN BANKING3
The banking industry is an example of a sector of the economy starting to apply
lifetime value concepts to running its business. The process involves the
following steps:
1. Development of a scoring system indicating the profitability of various
services as a function of the size of the account, debts, and types of
services used.
2. Scoring the profitability of individual customers based on the general
results.
3. Encouraging profitable customers through additional services (i.e.,
rewards), trying to cross-sell additional products to less profitable and
unprofitable customers, and by discouraging unprofitable customers by
higher fees.
For example, Wells Fargo Bank divides its customers into four categories based
on profitability:
Rank Avg. Annual Profitability Percentage
Outstanding >$1000 4%
Excellent $200 to $1000 20%
Moderate $0 to $200 38%
Potential Unprofitable 38%
Profitability is determined from revenues and costs. Note that Wells Fargo
includes allocated overhead in its costs.
3
This section is based on an article by E. Sanders in the Los Angeles Times, July 21, 2000
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BANK REVENUES AND COSTS
Revenues:
ˇ Monthly checking fees
ˇ Late fees and bounced checks
ˇ Interest paid on mortgages.
Credit
ˇ Brokerage commissions
ˇ Earning's on customer deposits
Costs:
ˇ Interest on savings and CDs
ˇ Customer direct services (eg
teller visits)
ˇ Allocated fixed costs
The bank's intent is to use the profitability scores in each contact with the
customer. The client's profitability category is to appear on employee's screens
as a way to determine the level of service to give.
The system shifts relationships. People, who previously received superior
treatment because they had high balances, may lose because they consume
expensive services such as weekly visits to the bank. Conversely, people who
bank online or who have high outstanding debts (such as first time home buyers
whose mortgages generate large revenue) or maintain low balances while paying
high monthly checking fees and bounced check fees may gain services because
they are more profitable.
Whether banks can enforce these differential service levels without a backlash
remains to be seen.
C.7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ON LIFETIME VALUE
Lifetime customer value refers to the profit a customer is expected to generate
while he/she maintains a relationship with the company. The net margins on
transactions, taken over all channels, of company determine customer value.
This analysis is possible because a company can distinguish among customers
and collect information about individual purchase histories. A good way to
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think about lifetime value is to consider the return on investment on the
customer asset. The investment includes the cost to acquire and retain the
customer. Once obtained, a repeat purchaser whose cost to maintain is
relatively small becomes an asset that adds to the firm's profitability.
The methods of analyzing both the lifetime costs and the benefits are
approximations that contain many assumptions. Many numbers in calculating
returns (such as retention rates, average purchase amount, referral rates, and
average relationship periods) are assumptions about future behavior. Similarly,
the cost to develop and maintain the individual customer relationship involves
assumptions about the direct and indirect marketing and management costs.
Each customer is unique, has a different lifetime value, and has personal
preferences that need to be taken into account. Despite of these limitations,
computing and understanding lifetime customer value is central to a CRM
program.