Think Like a CIO: Use Technology to Improve Brand Loyalty

These days, chief marketers may feel more like CIOs than CMOs. Information is critical to their ability to plan, manage and measure marketing efforts. They use technology to capture and store customer data; to target lead-generation and direct marketing campaigns; to drive brand awareness and to measure results.

Nearly every CMO recognizes brand loyalty as a top priority, and they know that loyalty is a function and result of customers’ experiences.

What are the best ways to measure and manage the customer experience? Companies that succeed at this are those that collect feedback from their customers and act on it. Unfortunately, many CMOs don’t go beyond an annual customer satisfaction survey, brand study or something managed by their service/support teams.

Taking this view is a mistake, and here’s why: Today’s consumers are better informed and have access to more product and service alternatives than ever before, which puts them in a powerful negotiating position. And research shows that loyal customers yield more than just good will for your brand–they have a significant financial impact. A June 2009 report from Forrester Research estimated that companies making “modest improvements” in the experience they provide their customers can increase loyalty and boost their revenues by as much as $177 million to $311 million per year.

A CMO who dons a CIO-style hat and implements an enterprise-wide technology platform to support customer experience will enjoy a strategic advantage and be better equipped to compete in today’s marketplace. In fact, CMOs and CIOs may have more in common these days than they think. According to a recent Oracle survey, CIOs agree that maximizing customer relationships should be a top priority for organizations seeking innovation and growth in the wake of the economic recession. And, as most CIOs will tell you, the best way to enhance customer relationships is to apply a technology platform that allows your organization to proactively respond to the needs of those customers.

Today’s voice-of-the-customer software makes it easy to leverage customer insight to improve customer experience and, ultimately, drive financial growth. When effectively applied, first-rate customer experience technology allows you to:

1) Map your customer experience from start to finish and capture feedback at every customer touch point. Customers’ overall experiences with your brand are equal to the sum of every interaction they have with your company, so you should know what they encounter and how they feel at each point along the way. Just because an airline offers passengers an exceptional in-flight experience doesn’t mean consumers will let them off the hook if their online booking experience is a hassle, their credit card is charged the wrong amount or their bags get damaged during travel.

2) Analyze customer insights to identify key loyalty drivers, customer pain points and areas in need of structural improvements. For example, a few years ago the San Francisco Fire Credit Union learned through feedback that customers were unhappy with transaction fees from non-union affiliated ATMs. Armed with this insight, the credit union decided to begin rebating all ATM transaction fees its customers incurred for withdrawing cash outside of its network. Customer focused changes like this have resulted in member retention rate of 98% and a Net Promoter score of 79%.

3) Segment customer feedback. Technology can provide a holistic view of the customer experience by integrating behavioral data collected through traditional CRM systems with attitudinal data from customer verbatims and feedback processes. Use technology to segment data to identify trends, unique needs and performance gaps across customer segments, regions, business units and product lines.

4) Respond to customer feedback as it comes in. Customer experience software that seamlessly delivers real-time alerts and role-based reports to employees will help drive action across your organization. TW telecom, for example, has implemented a disciplined closed-loop process whereby automated alerts are generated from all customer surveys and sent to the managers who “own” the particular customer relationship or transaction. They review the feedback, take or delegate action and ensure that employees engage in customer follow up within 24 hours for negative alerts and within 48 hours for positive alerts.

5) Achieve a big picture view of customer experience that drives marketing strategy and investment. One piece of this is identifying your “promoter”s (or brand evangelists) and your “detractors,” and approaching them purposefully. Promoters are an invaluable resource when it comes to product and service innovation. For example, through its online community, Lego connected with its most engaged Promoters to garner ideas for new products, including the Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer, which is one of the most successful and profitable products the company has ever developed. Detractors, on the other hand, can act as your best competitive intelligence weapon by offering insight into market expectations and how your brand stacks up against competitors.

Those marketers who learn to think a little more like CIOs and leverage technology to their advantage will be more adept at developing targeted initiatives that meet their customers’ needs—and exceed their expectations. And when they consistently exceed customers’ expectations, they will be well on the way to achieving customer (and brand) loyalty.

Deborah Eastman is the CMO of Satmetrix.