Database marketing systems are impressive pieces of technology, but the results often disappoint. Are Jordanian businesses currently considering Customer Relationship Management aware of the challenges? Tareq J. Kour explains.
Most Jordanian businesses still do not have a robust and single view of their customers. Jordan's marketers and managers are increasingly talking about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as "the solution" for their organizations' needs to collect customer data and make better sense of it.
Considering the way Jordanian businesses are structured, the very acronym CRM is enough to strike fear into the hearts of some expert marketers and induce derision in others. If one looks closely, the skepticism of marketers and managers appears to be well-founded. It is not exactly common practice in most companies for marketing and IT to partner together on strategy, let alone on the tactical implementation of a small initiative. But in any business that relies on databases banking and telecom, for example a close working relationship and shared goals should actually be the norm. The IT department can add some powerful weapons to marketing if it works according to a strategy that encourages the collection, maintenance and active use of customer information.
Consider a modern bank. To facilitate cross-selling opportunities and provide outstanding customer service, it is vital that customer information is not only collected but also used to create one joined-up picture of the consumer, thus providing an accurate and relevant representation of the relationship an individual has with the brand. Just ask any Jordanian who walks into the Housing Bank or Jordan Kuwait Bank and asks for an insurance policy. Does this Jordanian, who is a regular customer of either bank, feel that he is known and his needs well understood? Does he leave feeling friendly about the visit or frustrated?
Building the information bank and keeping it clean are both achieved in the same way. All IT systems should use the same integrated model of customer information, and this should have a single view of any customer.
It doesn't have to be the same physical data, but all information about a customer should fit together logically and not be duplicated. Every time and everywhere that customer information is created, changed or used, this single store of information should be changed in some way. How many times do you receive a promotional SMS message that is clearly not meant to be directed at you? I suspect it happens to you quite often. On the other hand, how many times do you go to pay your mobile bill and get asked to confirm your record information? Never!
Jordan's customer services culture still fails to see that every contact presents a great opportunity to collect useful and correct information that helps create a full picture of each individual. That means that all IT systems involving the customer sales, product management, marketing, and customer service should and must be built on top of this logical model with the aim of using, enhancing and maintaining it. In this way, everyone has the latest information all the time.
The increasing complexity of retail relationships, especially in a culture like Jordan's, means that the context of each interaction is also important. For example, it may say something significant about the customers' motivations and propensities if they use their insurance company to get car insurance or buy long-term life and health insurance products.
Customer expectations
This applies not just in terms of the significance of the information to the company but also to what customers will expect. Many Jordanians are not realistic when it comes to expectations, which might further complicate matters beyond the norm. Any customer may seriously be put off if the customer service operator is not aware that one has arranged a new direct-debit contract to settle his phone bill, for example, but that same customer will not be concerned that the computerized records have not caught up with that month's settlement.
A further practical problem is that customer expectations may conflict with what the service agent is allowed to do. A typical reaction would be immediately escalated to the manager to arrange for an exception the highly desired "special customer." Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the whole customer management strategy? Why are most of the fields on the screens of most customer service agents empty? Is it because of lack of training at the customer service level, the absence of a process and commitment, or simply weak IT service? The processes that touch the data through IT need to be designed to make the most of the information. This needs to be collected in a useful and meaningful format, and must include everything that is necessary for its intended purpose without asking customers for nice to have details that are never actually used. The on going collection should also rely on a sense of shared responsibility: for example, customer services employees should understand the importance of populating fields actively and accurately, and the IT team should ensure that the system allows this to be done simply and within the limited time available. This shared responsibility concept can also be extended to customers if the value and importance of the information is properly explained not just saying that 'the computer needs it' or 'we need this to improve customer service,' but real world reasons for real-world customers. We are yet to see such a development in Jordanian customer contacts.
In theory at least, once the right information is in place, the rest is easy. It can be augmented with external data, and sliced and diced whichever way is best. Marketers can make selections with CRM tools for their campaigns, and business intelligence systems can look for insights in the databases. If this is done well, then any local brand can provide great service with up-to-date information, resulting in customers feeling that the provider is genuinely interested in them and their needs, knows their likes and dislikes, and is therefore developing or offering products that are right for them - rather than simply shifting what is on the shelf.
Things are, of course, a bit different in the real world. A new company just starting up may be able to invest in the latest systems although that process has some potential pitfalls but things are much more difficult for established players. Those that decide to invest in major systems overhauls often find problems in transferring and ensuring continuity of the data, so most companies still try to make the best of a less than perfect database (the common practice here in Jordan), and it is here in particular that more effective internal cooperation with marketing and IT seeing each other as friends rather than enemies can pay big dividends.
Jordan's senior managers should take the lead and encourage marketing to work closely with IT early on in any new positioning or proposition development processes to help establish the possibilities with current systems and to determine whether technology can be used to more powerful effect. This goes far beyond the usual practice of calling in IT only when there is a Web or e-mail element to the activity. A joint team should explore whether data can be cut, linked differently, to produce a new and more illuminating or empowering view of customers it is likely that the two different perspectives will produce better results than by independent means.
External issues
Jordan, as a nation, has been and is increasingly becoming more skeptical about marketing tactics. Open minded Jordanians are increasingly concerned about providing personal information without a sense of clear personal benefit. "We do not want to provide e-mail addresses if they will simply turn up on a spammer's list and there is more than one spam e-mail each day," commented Ahmad, a Fastlink showroom employee.
So how frustrating or fatal for the nascent relationship is it if the customer service operator or Web page is 'unable to continue' without this 'required' information? With an increasing trend towards privacy, success will be even harder to achieve for companies and for those working in CRM, making it all the more important to start thinking now about how and when marketing and technology can make a contribution to the bottom line.
Internal priorities
Internally, there are three keys to exploiting IT in marketing:
Build up a single source of quality data about your customers that supports what you want to do; that allows addition of extra information; has all the details needed to segment and target; and is correct, with duplicate information eliminated.
Keep it clean, and ensure that the quality is not compromised by the multiple touch points at which the data is captured, enhanced or modified.
Use the information wherever and whenever you interact with the customer to keep it active and up to date this will involve, for example, training staff and ensuring data is collected in a consistent format, on everything from promotions and competitions to new product applications. But this is only half of the picture. These tips will enable you to collect, maintain and apply the information effectively and efficiently, but only if the customer will give it and give it accurately in the first place. To get the general Jordanian customer to buy in as well, it is crucial to explain clearly and coherently why the information is needed and how it will be used. This will ensure that the promised benefits are worth the cost, in terms of both time and loss of privacy, of surrendering the information. It is also crucial to make sure the customer actually experiences and recognizes those benefits.This approach will help build a more informed picture of customers that will expand marketing activity, not restrict it. Without proper consideration of these principles, it is arguably almost impossible to have proper retention, without which the high investments that most Jordanian businesses are considering to make in marketing and customer acquisition will be white elephants.
What does the future hold for Jordan's banks, insurance companies, telecom operators, service businesses and even food, toiletries and paper brands? Would they even dare to consider that IT and marketing could become a single "information intelligence department" working together so everybody, including consumers, can share the benefits?
© Jordan Business 2006
