Research: CRM Top Trends 2009

Taken from crmtrends.com (Please see our blogroll for our reference sources)

2009 can probably be best summed up by Charles Dickens, who once wrote:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.”

Who knew that all these years later, he would be the one to capture the essence of our current situation?

Recognizing that as Marketers we’re facing greater headwinds than at any other time in memory; through it all, there remains some glimmers of good news for CRM practioners. That relatively good news is reflected in our 5 interrelated trends for 2009:

1) We are in an age that can be best characterized as the “paradox of thrift,” but we want people to spend, donate or deposit money (see Marketing In A Recession below). Given this uphill climb, companies will further their investment in CRM Marketers – taking the spotlight away from customer acquisition and putting it on customer retention, loyalty and profitability.

2) Increased focus on data analysis. Companies are investing in understanding customer value and modeling customer behavior. Investments in Lifestage Marketing will begin to have more prominence as the affects of our changing demographic become more pronounced.

3) Customer Experience. Customers have more choices than ever, and are more frugal. This affords them the luxury of demanding more. This is the year that the CRM Marketer will be charged with offering a consistent experience across all company touch points and developing the infrastructure that allows for knowledge sharing and smart communication. More importantly the customer’s online experience will begin to evolve and rival the customer’s offline experience – attentive assistants and all.

4) Personalization and customization: In order to be effective in this new year, companies will seek to know more about its customers and use that insight to talk, engage and interact with their customers more often and more meaningfully in new and innovative ways (including dynamic content, blogs to other social networking). 2009 is going to be up close and personal, like it or not as

5) With budgets across the board being cut, mobile marketing will see its wings being clipped a bit in 2009. With that said, companies recognize the transformative power of this medium and will continue investments in this arena, albeit at more reserved levels – deploying only critcial releases to maintain competitiveness.

Customer Relationship Management and Dynamics CRM Online

CRM Business Software Guide

Our Priority: Customer Relationships

Many might have considered customer relationships as one of the least essential parts of the business.  It has been percieved that as long as customers are given the products or the services that they need, then they are good to go.

The business world, however, has evolved from manual processes to complex systems that requires supercomputers, softwars and other gadgets to make workloads and customer relations expedited as it tries to save time and cut off expenses that provides magnified savings for the company.

“Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”

–Turban et al, Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective (2002)

Customer Service: Our Priority

True enough, different industries strive to go “the extra mile,” to provide the best for their customers.  Establishing good relationships with their patrons has been one of the focus these days.  Albeit the economic status of the globe, companies have tried to cut-off expenses in the different aspects of the business, but they have always kept their focus on providing an exemplary customer service.

Customer Relationship Management systems proves to have given a good gateway to providing for different companies.  Mostly used in the Business Process Outsourcing industry where most of the Customer Service Centers are based.  The information, these system gathers, organizes customer data that makes it easier for both vendors and clients to establish a good business relationship, giving the business—Success.