Make Customer Satisfaction Automatic

Customer relationship management is a key element of success in any business.

Doing business via the Internet opens challenges and opportunities in electronic customer relationship management or eCRM as the industry calls it.

For the small to medium enterprise (SME), the easiest route into eCRM solutions is via a hosted application service provider (ASP).

This environment provides applications on a central server, with access given on a rental basis via a Web browser.

The ASP route has compelling advantages:

• Fast time to market.


• No need for in-house IT expertise.


• Access to leading-edge, well-supported technology.


• Turnkey solutions.


• Low startup and predicable ongoing costs.


• Capacity to minimize the risk of development projects.


• Scalable and robust project capability.


• Global access at all hours of the day.

This article explores the opportunities for SMEs to take advantage eCRM solutions provided on an ASP basis.

Benefits

Some of the key advantages are:

Cost savings in customer acquisition. Because you build one-to-one relationships with customers, you will sell more to them and gain more customers from their referrals.

Higher visitor-to-customer conversion ratio. You give Web site visitors and customers what they want by using your knowledge of their behavior in each interaction.

Increased visitor and customer loyalty. By giving them what they want and building a relationship, you strengthen their loyalty, so they feel happy to return to your site.

Increased efficiency for staff. Infrastructure allows your sales staff to sell more easily and for management to monitor sales performance.

Lower business costs. Automation of many interactions with customers and prospects can produce significant cost reductions in sales management, customer management, and service.

Of course, we are still human beings, so incorporating eCRM technology into human interaction is very important.

As business owners implement these technologies, they must carefully consider and monitor which interactions require human contact. You would be surprised to know how effective, personalized communication is, even if it comes from a computer.

What's Available?

The platforms listed below are shown on a functional basis and are all outsourced, meaning the Web merchant requires no hardware or software other than a Web browser.

Entry level:

Mailing list management. A mailing list is often the first step in creating a relationship with your Web site users and customers. Many ISPs provide list hosting as part of a package or you can outsource it to a mailing list host provider. Check out Topica for free list hosting and Roving for a low-cost, feature-rich platform.

Visitor surveys. These are customized forms that allow you to collate survey results. Use them in conjunction with your mail list or offer incentives for your first-time visitors to fill out the survey. Multicity provides a totally outsourced solution with free entry level.

E-mail marketing. Run personalized e-mail campaigns to your customers and site users. Roving has an excellent example of a low-cost mailing list hosting service combined with an e-mail marketing platform. The service 1 ShoppingCart.com combines mailing list management and e-mail marketing with customer transactions through a shopping cart.

Online chat solutions. These provide your customers with live online interaction when your chat service is manned. Online chat is more powerful than e-mail response but is one step lower than human interaction via telephone.

You can bolt outsourced technology, such as Multicity or MyLiveSupport, onto your Web site and have your staff respond, or you can have the chat solution manned similarly to how you use a call center. To handle this effectively, you need to provide comprehensive product information to the chat service.

Discussion forums. These enable you to interact with your Web site users and to get to know their interests. The forums must be moderated. Try Topica or Multicity for free or low-cost solutions.

Autoresponders. These are a vital part of a Web marketer's tool box and enable you to respond automatically via e-mail on scheduled events on your Web site. Many Web site hosts, including Host4Profit.com and 1 ShoppingCart.com supply autoresponders.

Cross-sell and upsell. This automatic feature can be built into your shopping cart. It helps to increase sales volume per customer. Miva Merchant and 1 ShoppingCart.com offer these features.

Next level, real-time interaction:

Sales force automation. This innovation enables your sales force to easily track all activities relating to sales. There are many levels of sophistication in these platforms. All your customer records must be integrated to work effectively. Splashnet.com, salesforce.com and Tefensoft.com offer programs that integrate with Web, phone and personal digital assistant (PDA).

Customer care and support. You can find a range of automated support interactions using accumulated customer knowledge. Salesforce.com and Tefensoft.com offer these.

Help-desk management. A full outsourced help desk with live operators on the Web, e-mail, phone and chat. HostedHelpdesk.com offers this.

Marketing analysis tools. A comprehensive tool set for data mining and report writing using customer and visitor databases. Splashnet.com, salesforce.com and Tefensoft.com offer these tools.

Overcoming data security issues is the gravest eCRM concern for companies for which operational and customer data are the lifeblood of their business. Make sure you have an explicit service level agreement to protect you.

The most important point of all is complete "management commitment" to the adoption of eCRM as a valid business strategy. Then use marketing monitoring to prove it.

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