Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Strategic
Strategic CRM concentrates upon the development of a customer-centric business culture.[18]
The focus of a business on being customer-centric (in design and implementation of their CRM strategy) will translate into an improved CLV.[19]
Operational
The primary goal of CRM systems is integration and automation of sales, marketing, and customer support. Therefore, these systems typically have a dashboard that gives an overall view of the three functions on a single customer view, a single page for each customer that a company may have. The dashboard may provide client information, past sales, previous marketing efforts, and more, summarizing all of the relationships between the customer and the firm. Operational CRM is made up of 3 main components: sales force automation, marketing automation, and service automation.[20]
Sales force automation works with all stages in the sales cycle, from initially entering contact information to converting a prospective client into an actual client.[21] It implements sales promotion analysis, automates the tracking of a client's account history for repeated sales or future sales and coordinates sales, marketing, call centers, and retail outlets. It prevents duplicate efforts between a salesperson and a customer and also automatically tracks all contacts and follow-ups between both parties.[21][22]
Marketing automation focuses on easing the overall marketing process to make it more effective and efficient. CRM tools with marketing automation capabilities can automate repeated tasks, for example, sending out automated marketing emails at certain times to customers, or posting marketing information on social media. The goal with marketing automation is to turn a sales lead into a full customer. CRM systems today also work on customer engagement through social media.[23]
Service automation is the part of the CRM system that focuses on direct customer service technology. Through service automation, customers are supported through multiple channels such as phone, email, knowledge bases, ticketing portals, FAQs, and more.[20]
Analytical
The role of analytical CRM systems is to analyze customer data collected through multiple sources and present it so that business managers can make more informed decisions.[24] Analytical CRM systems use techniques such as data mining, correlation, and pattern recognition to analyze the customer data. These analytics help improve customer service by finding small problems which can be solved, perhaps by marketing to different parts of a consumer audience differently.[20] For example, through the analysis of a customer base's buying behavior, a company might see that this customer base has not been buying a lot of products recently. After scanning through this data, the company might think to market to this subset of consumers differently, to best communicate how this company's products might benefit this group specifically.[25]
Collaborative
The third primary aim of CRM systems is to incorporate external stakeholders such as suppliers, vendors, and distributors, and share customer information across groups/departments and organizations. For example, feedback can be collected from technical support calls, which could help provide direction for marketing products and services to that particular customer in the future.[26]
Customer data platform
Main article: Customer data platform
A customer data platform (CDP) is a computer system used by marketing departments that assembles data about individual people from various sources into one database, with which other software systems can interact.[27] As of February 2017 there were about twenty companies selling such systems and revenue for them was around US$300 million.[27]
Great Yarmouth, often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort and minster town in Norfolk, England, straddling the River Yare, some 20 miles (30 km) east of Norwich.[2] A population of 38,693 in the 2011 Census made it Norfolk's third most populous place. Its fishing industry, mainly for herring, fell steeply after the mid-20th century and has all but vanished.[3] North Sea oil from the 1960s brought an oil-rig supply industry that now services offshore natural gas rigs. More recent offshore wind power and other renewable energy have created further support services. Yarmouth has been a seaside resort since 1760 and a gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the North Sea. Tourism was boosted when a railway opened in 1844, which gave visitors easier, cheaper access and triggered some settlement. Wellington Pier opened in 1854 and Britannia Pier in 1858. Through the 20th century, Yarmouth was a booming resort, with a promenade, pubs, trams, fish-and-chip shops and theatres, and the Pleasure Beach, the Sea Life Centre, the Hippodrome Circus and the Time and Tide Museum, and a surviving Victorian seaside Winter Garden in cast iron and glass.