(c) 2000 Michele Bartram, [email protected]1 Cook up a Bright Future in Customer Relationship Management… by passing the Grandma Test! Michele Bartram Digital Diva/ E-business Evangelist, WebPractices.com Senior Vice President, Commerce /“Commerce Czar”, iVillage.com Email: [email protected]As Presented at the eCRM Summit, Carmel, California, May 17, 2000 “Follow Grandma Sally’s Traditional Recipes to bring in Real Customers and keep ‘em comin’ back in a Virtual World”
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AGENDA Background Real Requirements from Real People Grandma’s eCRM readiness tests and examples Grandma’s Recipes for eCRM success Final Advice from Grandma Resources
The New Customer is Really the Same Old Customer with a New Twist
Problem: Customers today want old-fashioned service where “everybody knows your name” and sound, neighborly advice, but also want “new-fangled” tools and convenience
eCRM Solution: “Sail the Seven C’s”– You must Combine relevant Customized Content, Community and
Commerce to provide Control and Convenience.
– With commerce based on her own stated preferences, she won’t want or need to shop anywhere else!
Convenience: One-stop shopping, tools, online services Relevance: all community, content, products and services around
a topic Simplicity: usability, ease-of-use Choice: Selection of products/ services and way they are presented Voice: Interaction with and responsiveness of merchant Reinforcement: community, ratings / reviews Safety: of credit card and other personal data Control: over use of her private data, plus offers, content Recognition: Remember and apply my unique name &
preferences. (Ex. Women surveyed insisted they wanted to be known as “unique” not part of a group.)
Opt-outs vs. opt-ins Unsubscribes that don’t work or are hard to find or use Incomprehensible web design and check-out processes Repeating themselves (e.g., retyping account numbers) Not asking permission
– Amazon’s dynamic recommendations
– Spam and junk mail Breaking promises (fast service, easy terms) Treating them as part of a group, not an individual Not allowing them to access and change their own data Poor or non-human customer service
Where to find a solution that all customers will find compelling?
Question: Who buys your products or services? Answer: Real people, not manufacturers or marketers.
– So, ask REAL PEOPLE what they really want.
I asked the wisest “real person” I know, my Grandma Sally from Kentucky, who’s worked in the customer food service field for over 65 years, to advise me on what it takes to provide the best customer experience and “keep ‘em comin’ back for more”.
All companies could learn from her 82 years of experience .
“Squeaky wheels get the grease.”– e.Piphany says there are 3 types of customers: Great customers,
potentially profitable ones and eternally unprofitable ones. Many companies spend all their time, money and resources on unprofitable customers. Don’t spend $ on poor customers, but on great customers and on developing your potential greats. Unless you measure this, you won’t know.
“Know what side of the bread is buttered on.”– To find out who are your most profitable customers, what made
them great and attract new ones like them, you must perform a customer segmentation study to assess their value to you and their preferences in products, services, advertising/ communications, etc. (Ex. US Mint, Unilever, credit card companies like American Express)
PROFILING, RECOGNITION & PRIVACY INCREMENTAL PROFILING: “We’ve howdied, but we ain’t
shook.”– To overcome natural reluctance to give info to strangers, treat data gathering
like a dating process, collecting data from and repeating learnings about the other person incrementally as you get to know her.
– Allow self-profiling and personalization. (Ex. Travelocity )
RECOGNITION: “Don’t make me repeat myself!”– Extend this relationship by repeating data back to the customer in useful and
meaningful ways. Don’t make her repeat data entry.
– Consolidate data across all touch points (Ex.Not AAA application.)
PRIVACY: Giving out my information “makes me as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rockin’ chairs.”– Don’t betray her trust by misusing it. Keep it safe No exceptions..
– Collect and use her explicit data only with express, advance, opt-in permission.
– Let her know the source of her data when you use it, and let her access and update it from an easy, prominent user profile. (Ex. McAfee )
CONVENIENCE: “I’m busier than a one-armed paper hanger!”– Customers, particularly women, are busy! They prize convenience and
short-cuts above all, even deals.
– Combine all useful, “essential” functions, even from competitors. Create shortcuts. Provide data in all formats (Ex. My iVillage , My Yahoo!, My ZDNet , Switchboard , Amazon’s One-click.)
REMINDERS: “My mind is like a sieve!”– Customers have a lot to do, and remembering to use your site may not
be “top of mind.”
– Use email, pop-up boxes, link to calendars/ reminders, calculators and other event and time-based triggers that the customer can set herself. Link to relevant commerce.
– (Ex. Lifeminders, iVillage Reminders and newsletters. )
– Highest rated requirement from women along with convenience is recommendations. Need help to sort thru choices, but not only from you!
– Provide extensive ratings, reviews, recommendations and collaborative filtering to link customers with external experts and others “like them” to help them choose. (Ex. Amazon, CNET)
COMMERCE IN CONTEXT: “One man’s junk is another man’s jewel.”– Ads or communications for products they don’t want or need are considered
“junk mail” or “spam”.
– Let use determine what ads she sees when through context and explicit requests. (Ex. Tire ads in the Sunday paper: you toss them when you don’t need tires, and are mad when you can’t find them if you do need new tires.)
– Non-targeted ads can cause severe negative reaction if randomly served to sensitive community or content areas. (Ex. Displaying random Baby ads near Infertility boards or junk food ads near diet area.)
– Only display relevant ads or communications based on context (area of site) and customer permission (from her profile).
– (Ex. Epicurious recipes with Williams-Sonoma ads)
CONTENT + COMMUNITY + COMMERCE– Display all related Commerce, Content and Community together, in context
with the topic she is researching. (Ex. MSN Carpoint)
COMMUNITY AND HUMAN TOUCH COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION: “Talkers ain’t doers“
– Customers want to talk with people who’ve actually used the product or service in real life. They may need additional support and learning to use your product or service, or knowledge on which to choose. Create support opportunities like chat, clubs, posts and discussion groups to aid utility. (Ex. iVillage Web Store Reviews, Fit by Friday discussion groups, CNET user posts)
HUMAN-TO-HUMAN CUSTOMER SERVICE: “They made me as welcome as a roomful of Howdy’s.”
– SERVICE QUALITY OUTWEIGHS PRODUCT QUALITY! Customers will return to businesses with average but CONSISTENT quality if the service is outstanding. EX. Have you ever returned to a restaurant with great food and lousy service? No, but you keep going to one with okay food that treats you great.
– Consumers want GREAT RETURN and GUARANTEE policies. They’re more likely to take a chance on your unknown products or services if you do.
– They also want to speak with a human being, not a machine, when they need help. Limit auto-replies to confirmations, not for involved service questions.
– Include live customer service in all your plans, via live chat with a representative or phone service to differentiate and create absolute loyalty. (Ex. iVillage Personal Shoppers, WomenOutdoors live service)
RELEVANT DEALS: “Save a penny, earn a pound.”– Women see (some) shopping as fun, with “getting a great deal” top in enjoyment.
– Present offers that are in context and relevant to her needs (wants $ off vs. free trial, etc.) (Ex. E-centives customized, event-driven newsletters)
TOOLS: “You like the apples more if you have to shake the tree.”– Provide interactive tools, planners, calendars, registries to get the user involved in
the buying experience. (Ex. TheKnot.com , iVillage Shopping Lists )
ENTERTAINMENT: “It’s about as much fun as watching grass grow.”– While men seek out games as a primary activity online, women tend to want their
fun and relaxation, “their wanna do’s”, once they’ve completed their “gotta do’s” or errands. Content about their interests is counted as fun.
– Solution: Include entertainment in your site, such as quizzes, polls, games, screensavers, etc. that complement your brand.
– (Ex. US Mint Screensaver & games , iVillage Music Network)
USABILITY & DESIGN SIMPLICITY: “I feel like I’m caught between a rock and a hard
place.”– Keep the experience easy to use and adjusted to the user’s level of experience,
such as a Grandma. (Ex. Computer.com )
USABILITY: A poorly designed web site is “as useless as two buggies in a one-horse town.”– In testing, some users couldn’t even add products to shopping carts! Many got
lost in navigation and abandoned carts or sites. Test all design in advance with real users, not your own people. New eyes see differently.
DESIGN VS. USABILITY: “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly is pure to the bone.”– Don’t allow design shops to add beauty in expense of utility. Research shows
customers, particularly, want speed over beauty. Only make it pretty if you can do it without losing ease-of-use.
NOTE: Join www.CreativeGood.com’s newsletter, and see their superb Holiday ‘99 Report. Also available to Shop.org members.
Michele’s User Shopping Modes The Speedy Hunter: “I’m looking for a specific product or service and I want it
fast! Offer express “Buy Now” one-click buttons and full product search capabilities.
The Category Killer: “I know I need something for myself in a category, like a white blouse or car tires. Help me find the best one”. She needs categories and sub-categories and information about the options.
The Gift Giver: “I need to buy a gift for my sister-in-law who wears size 8, likes powder blue and sunflowers, is a mother of a toddler, and I don't want to spend more than $50. Give me personalized recommendations based on these criteria.”
The Impulse Buyer: “I just have some money burning a hole in my pocket and want to spend it... let me "flip thru the catalog" or "browse the aisle" to see what I want.” This person needs a fun online tour to simulate the browsing the aisle feel of a shopping trip or flipping through a physical catalog.
The Problem Solver: "I have a problem or issue and don't know how to solve it. Show me information and research about how others like me have solved it, and then give me product and service recommendations that match the solution I determine is the right one for me." This buyer needs detailed content, research, expert recommendations and products.
The All-in-One Buyer: Any one buyer may fall into one or all of these profiles in one user session.
Types of Personalization Environmental: demographic, geographic, psychographic
– (Ex. 100percentgirls.com customized to tween girl talk) Preference-based personalization: user enters requirements Collaborative filtering: recommendation engines Behavior-based: on website, in store, with catalog Rules-based: match offers/ content to fixed business rules
– “Purchasize”: Offer fries with that burger Analytics-based: pattern analysis thru segmentation
– Offer salad to customers who are on a diet, not the fries
Search– By Keyword– By Attribute (Ex. Gift)– By Event– By Category– Full Text– By Preference
Collaborative filtering Mass customization Personalized tools- wish
lists, reminders, calendars, calculators
Ratings: Community, Editors
Surveys and polls Email & Ad Targeting Entitlements Event-based Matching Alerts Matching agents Observation Rule-based Matching Personal web pages User Profile
Acquisition: Attract new, profitable customers.– Differentiation, innovation and convenience
Enhancement: Make current customers more profitable.– Increased bundling, reduction of costs, improved customer service
Retention: Keep your profitable customers for life.– Delivering not what the market demands but what your customers
want and more.
– Enabling total listening and multi-way conversations between companies (including formerly “isolated” internal employee experts), customers, and trading partners.
CUSTOMER RETENTION RETENTION: “You don’t know the worth of water until the
well runs dry.” and “Don’t muddy up the well that you get your water from.”– Spend generously to keep your best customers with superior service,
rewards, and recognition. You can’t afford to lose your “great ones”. RECOGNITION:”I’m so durned glad to be home, I’m glad I
went.”– Use integrated systems to remember your customer from all touchpoints.
(Not done at AAA)– Make them feel “at home” with your business. (Ex. Hotel profiles, Hertz
Gold Clubs, Amazon.com personalized home page ) REWARDS: “You catch more flies with honey than with
vinegar.”– Reward your best current customers differently than new ones.– Customers’ pet peeves include getting discounts for new subscriptions and
none for loyal readers (Ex. Most print magazines give you discount when you sign up as new reader, then charge full price for renewal, penalizing loyal customers).
STRENGTHS, INFRASTRUCTURE & FOCUS BUILD OFF YOUR STRENGTHS: “Call a spade a spade and start
diggin’.”– Perform an e-CRM SWOT Analysis to assess Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats across all core areas of your business. Know your core competencies and build off them. Eliminate or downplay weaknesses that leave you open to the competition.
– Blueprint your e-CRM project. Follow 9-step methodology once to map current business, then review what other best practices companies are doing at each step, then repeat 9-step to map your ideal e-business.
INFRASTRUCTURE: “He doesn’t have enough studs for his dry wall.” – It takes time, money, people and integrated systems and processes to implement
eCRM across the organization to create a Customer-Driven Enterprise (See chart). You can’t afford NOT to do it, but do budget for it.
PRIORITIZATION: Companies who lack focus are “like a hog on ice”.– Most companies fail at eCRM by doing it all at once. Use a phased approach (see
chart) and set the dominos up in order, knocking them down one at a time.
9-Step E-Biz Blueprint MethodologyRepeat 3 times to map Current, Best, & then Ideal Practices
CustomerWho are/should be your customers & whatare their requirements and preferences foryour organization in products and services?
1
drives
Strategy2
What are the e-business policies and differentiating set of activities that your organization needs to deliver a unique mix of value to customers? What customer needs should/ not you meet?
ProcessWhat is the series of action steps, tasks &business rules that is required to completethe desired e-biz strategies and polices?
3
drives
Organizational StructureWhat is the most logical grouping of jobs &individuals needed to support the business processes effectively?
4
dictates
is c
ompr
ised
of
PeopleWhat skills,training, roles, authority,
& incentives are needed to do these jobs?Include in-house and outsource jobs, withe-biz/ marketing, content/ design & tech.
5
IntelligenceWhat intelligence (research, reports, information) is needed to allow people to analyze the results, predict the out- come or decide a course of action?
6
who need
AutomationWhat steps of these processes can be completed faster, better, or cheaperby using computers or equipment?
7
supported by
DataWhat numbers, characters, images orother recorded information is needed toprovide intelligence to make decisions?
8
supported by
TechnologyWhat hardware/ software is needed to to best capture, store, process, & distri-bute data & automate the processes?
Significant integration will be required to become customer-centric. However, the resulting institutional base of knowledge will provide exponential returns.
eCRM Questions You Must Answer Be a Customer advocate or unbiased infomediary? Marketplace or monopoly? Be a partner with your customers not an adversary? Talk with your customers or talk at them? Allow employees and business partners to talk to customers or “control”
flow and content of info? Multi-channel or mono-channel? Mass customization (Levi’s) or one size fits all? Personalization vs. collaborative filtering?
– Personalization = customer told you explicitly what she wants (e.g., launch.com)
– Collaborative filtering = recommendations based on others’ likes and dislikes (e.g., Amazon.com)
Ask permission… and forgiveness if necessary Explain why you’ve recommended something
– “You see this because you asked for this. Click here to change.” Give ownership and responsibility
– Allow them to access and update their own data (Individual.com ) People are not profiles
– Combine what they’ve done (implicit) with who they are (explicit)– Generate relevant offers that relate to her specific needs. (Ex. Amazon)
Nothing substitutes for a real human interaction– Use live, human service whenever possible – Connect customers with others with whom they want to link, such as affinity
groups like clubs or families. (Ex. iVillage FamilyPoint clubs, Support groups)
Download this eCRM presentation and others on blueprinting for your e-business success, and find e-business resources at my web site at:– http://www.WebPractices.com/