Perhaps you have a nagging feeling that you can be better leveraging your customer data. You may be sensing pressure from vendors, manufacturing partners or competitors to “update” and further tailor your rewards offerings for individual customers. Maybe there is a “tired” feeling or lack of inspiration about your standard analytical reports. Are you gathering the right data, analyzing it effectively, and distributing it to the right parts of the organization? Here’s how to determine if your program can use a little spring cleaning via a data audit.
First, how can you know if now is the right time to embark on evaluating and revamping your CRM strategy? Currently I am seeing movement among companies that are pushing to either introduce or revamp how they use their analytical data for various reasons. Also, new entries like fast food and specialty retailers are getting more curious about how customer data can benefit their bottom line. My advice to CMOs is to pay close attention to rumblings internally and externally. There are several pressure points that can push you in the audit direction.
One large company in the travel industry I worked with noticed the need from within first. It wasn’t the analytical data but old-fashioned survey research that showed customer satisfaction was beginning to wane, and customers were no longer impressed with that original loyalty program. “Eh, it’s ok,” customers seemed to be saying. The company realized that the program just wasn’t differentiated enough from competitive programs and didn’t offer enough relevance in its value proposition, to hold customers’ attention. Truthfully, they were just bored and wanted something new. Clearly the program needed to be enhanced. But, why didn’t their analytics reveal the slip in customer repeat usage and upgrade much earlier?
External factors drove a food franchisor that realized it needed to pursue a data audit. This company knew that it was the industry leader, with top market share. The CMO and board members started hearing about ways that CRM might benefit quick-service restaurants. Although it was cutting-edge stuff, they felt it was their responsibility as a market leader to drive the future of how analytical insights could drive growth for quick-service restaurants..
Another factor is pressure from manufacturers. One large retailer made the choice to do a data audit after the Consumer Package Goods (CPGs) companies began saying that the retailer should better leverage insights from its transactional information. The retailer’s concern was that if the CPG was pushing for the change, then it would likely be something that offered better results for CPG than for the retailer. But that’s exactly the reason to do a data audit — to become familiar with ways advanced analytical insight can benefit your own company instead of your competitors or vendors. A company that is successfully employing insights would know the difference.
Five years ago it was unheard of for executives to mention their loyalty programs as competitive assets. Now they are a regular feature on many quarterly earnings calls. Industry leaders point to how their CRM strategies drive earnings results. As this becomes more common, board members are beginning to push other companies to follow suit.
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