CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) is important to most businesses and many are using the Internet as a tool to help with CRM. A website can be established such that whenever a customer accesses it or sends an email to the business via the website, software tracks and records the user's pathway through the site, records what pages they looked at, what information they downloaded and the topic of any email they might have sent - eg requesting further information or booking a ticket. Sales staff and others can also access the same website, usually through a password-restricted section, and record daily activity with customers and clients. All this information can be stored in a central database and cross-referenced so that reports can be generated at any time providing information such as customer lists, their individual preferences, the last time there was communication between you and them and what it was about (eg an order, enquiry).

This information-gathering and reporting capacity can be used to personalise communication with customers, and enable you to alert them to subscription renewals, promote specials or inform them of new services and products, all in a timely and relevant way. On the other hand, using the Internet to manage relationships with customers and clients can be as simple as keeping a list of email addresses and noting in your diary when you next need to email out a newsletter.

Some people are concerned that using the Internet to manage relationships with customers will take away the personal touch which is so important for most businesses. But using the Internet for CRM helps automate the process of managing your dealings with customers, freeing up time to spend with them face-to-face and on the telephone. In fact, using your website as a CRM tool can improve the personal touch with your customers.

What to do

To determine the most effective and cost-efficient way to use the Internet to manage your relationship with customers and clients, undertake the following:

• identify who in your business is involved directly with customers
• brain-storm with the team what customer relationships need managing and what the benefits would be of improving them
• research what your customers' preferences are - eg ask your customers if they would like to receive email alerts
• research the ways in which the Internet can assist with customer relationship management and what off-the-shelf solutions are available or, if you have a web developer, what they can offer
• identify the average technical capacity customers have for using email, and websites - eg the speed of their computer and connection to the Internet
• identify how experienced on average your target audience is using the Internet and whether they are likely to use your website or email to do business with you
• do a cost/benefit analysis on the preferred customer relations management solution - ie determine the value of the expected benefits of improving customer relationships, determine the various costs of the solution required to meet those expectations, then assess whether the value of the benefits outweighs the costs.