Summer is the time for road trips.
Since you can’t be everywhere at once, innovative marketer Parissa Behnia attended the Customer Relationship Management Conference (CRMC) on behalf of Hanifin Loyalty LLC while I was on my way to Buffalo New York.
CRMC has become the de-facto focal point to explore new trends in retail marketing. It is also a central place where Social CRM is being defined. Parissa filed her conference report for The Wise Marketer, and Loyalty Truth offers this three part series to break down three key trends exposed during the event.
The three key trends in retail and loyalty marketing that we plan to cover include:
- The Promise of Customer Data : Collecting and accessing customer data isn’t just for marketing purposes anymore – it serves to inform the structure and strategy of the overall business
- Have the Courage to Be Bold: To achieve full business potential, retailers need to become “bold” and walk out their brand promise through the delivery of customer experiences that differentiate and excel
- Brick and Mortar retail is not dead! :Offline and online worlds are colliding and retailers need to identify and leverage “why” their physical location exists to understand how it can win over pure online commerce
Trend #1: The Promise of Customer Data
At a great conference like CRMC, the expectation is that you will see a lot of talented people who are “doing the work” showcase their excellent results. And in this year’s conference, everyone exceeded expectations. There is always one person, though, who encapsulates all of the complex strategic issues in a compelling and easy to understand way. And this year, that person was Charles Chapek, VP CRM of Ann, Inc.
Mr. Chapek shared that not too long ago, CRM practitioners wished for certain types of data that seemed woefully out of reach. Now we have an overflow of millions of data points, and while no one is complaining about this more complete view of our customers including what they are doing and saying, we’re having trouble managing and classifying all of it.
Beyond collecting the data, marketers are tasked to make sure to provide exquisite care for their customers because they expect us to know what they are doing and saying at all times in real time. As great as “real time” is – it is also fraught with strategic danger. It is easy to lose sight of the big long term picture of the customer if we treat him/her episodically as opposed to building a longer term and more robust relationship.
The point isn’t campaign ROI. The point is an evolution towards lifetime value.
Why is this global lifetime value so significant? It’s because it is more than the sum of campaign ROI parts. This new access to a data enabled 360 degree customer view impacts store layout/location (if also brick and mortar), merchandise selection, hours, access, communication channels and other parts of running a retail business.
The long and the short of it is that collecting and accessing the data aren’t just for marketing purposes anymore. Their function informs the structure and strategy of the overall business.
As soon as we get to the point that we fully appreciate and understand the strategic implications of this new data world order in which we live, the more successful we will be in serving our customers.