Why the “E” is better for your business than the “R”
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) hasn’t improved the customer experience. Nor has it increased customer loyalty. Despite the promises made in the justification to executive management for investment in CRM solutions, senior executives overwhelmingly cite a failure to see any material progress on lead identification/conversion, cross/up-selling, customer value, share of wallet and profitability. Even worse, customer retention, loyalty and advocacy are often impacted negatively! According to a Gartner Research Survey, 55% of CRM programs drive customers away and dilute earnings.
What’s the Difference?
A CustomerThink article explores the differences between CRM and CEM:
“Relationships with customers were a much talked about, but rarely delivered, byproduct [of CRM],” said Graham Hill, a principal at the London-based consultancy Soffron Partners. “Customers just didn’t want relationships with companies more interested in themselves than in their customers.”
“In CRM, the focus was on the company, its products and transactions. It was an inside-out view. It was the communicated brand,” Hill said. “As far as experiences went, they were designed around the communicated brand. As often as not, customer communications didn’t reflect what customers actually experienced at the point of purchase or when using the product.”
Hill cites research that he says showed 80 percent of customers surveyed didn’t believe that they would actually receive what is so expensively promised. “And 80 percent of them will still be disappointed,” he said. In CEM, however, the focus is on customers’ experiences with the real brand—”the one that exists in their head as a result of peer recommendations and their own accumulated experience,” Hill said.With customer experience management, customers are the focal point. What is the effect on the customer of your brand? How does the customer feel when interacting with your company? “In CEM,” Hill says, “the focus is on all the contacts during the end-to-end experience, not just on transactions.”