One area where metrics in financial services are still hard to come by is the level of influence that the Web has on sales made in a branch, by phone or via mail. This is one area where Forrester's data can help clients. Every year, we survey US and Canadian consumers on their acquisition activities in the previous year.
I just published a brief around the topic of online-influence sales. The big find? The influence of the Web in sales is far more extensive than most expect. Just 37% of US online adults who researched online go to apply online - that means 63% research online and apply offline. Product is the key determinant of the percentage of online influenced sales. This graphic shows the breakdown by product for some of the products I looked at.
So what does this mean? If you are selling brokerage accounts, focus on the online application, if you are selling mortgages, focus on the cross-channel experience, if you are selling auto insurance, focus on both.
There is a great article in the Las Vegas Journal based on a speech by Macy's CEO, Terry Lundgren, at this year's Shop.org retail conference.
The gist of the speech is that he went from non-believer to a believer in the power of eBusiness as their online sales went from $30,000 in 1996 to over $1 billion today.
Everybody involved with eBusiness in financial services should read this article as it speaks to many of the questions financial service execs have about eBusiness including:
Understanding a changing customer - "It's clear to me the customer has evolved and changed the way they shop and we have to change with them. There's no going back,"
Online influenced sales- :"Every dollar spent online influences $5.77 spent in the store over the next 10 days"
Role of ratings and reviews - "We were worried about what customers would say on product reviews. We realized that if you start getting bad reviews on a product, get rid of that product. Stop doing business with that particular product."
Channel conflict- "He never worried about someone shopping online and not going into a store. What he did worry about was people shopping online with another company."
I fully hope and expect the CEO of a major financial institution to be giving this type of speech four years from now.
Not a day goes by that I don’t get the following question from a client: How do I effectively cross-sell existing customers?
I just stumbled upon a great posting by David Martin at Bankstocks.com that piqued my interest. He talks about the subtle but clearly purposeful change some retailers like McDonalds have made related to cross selling. His conclusion that I agree with is that financial firms are often not successful at cross selling because they often put the cart before the horse or they overlook the fact that cross-selling is more than just executing the right email campaign.
I just published a brief around cross selling that I encourage you to take a look at.The gist of the document is that to be successful at cross selling a firm must do more than just execute or communicate well; they also must understand the role that customer advocacy and the product itself play in the process.
I hope you enjoy the document, and encourage you to post and/or send me your comments.
In October
1959, American Airlines (AA) and IBM created the precursor to eCommerce with an
electronically based inventory and reservations system. This system grew into
what we now know as Sabre, the first airline computerized reservation system.
Once owned by American Airlines, AMR (AA’s parent) spun off Sabre in 2000. Sabre
Holdings is not only the one of the largest travel technology firms, but one of
the largest private-sector transaction processing systems in the world,
regardless of industry
AMR and
Sabre are so intertwined that it’s hard to imagine one
without the other -- kind of like "Cher" and "farewell tour.". And yet on August 26, 2009, AMR called off the central part of its Sabre relationship, announcing it would sign a letter of intent with
Hewlett-Packard
(HP) to
develop a new, “next-generation” Passenger Services System (PSS) called Jetstream. Jetstream will take over many of the functions that AMR currently runs on Sabre.
As outlined
by Monte
Ford, American’s CIO, Jetstream will allow AMR to “meet the customer where
the customer wants to be met." Among the applications that Jetstream will run, for
both American and its regional airline affiliate American Eagle, are:
Reservations
Airport departure control
system (DCS)
Baggage service
Scheduling
Pricing/faring
Revenue management
Jetstream’s
benefits include
Being based on “open source”
applications. Jetstream will make use of service oriented architecture (SOA) and,
as feasible, cloud computing. This means lower development costs and
faster time to market.
Jetstream will be developed in
a modular manner. This "building block" approach will enable faster implementation, give AMR the ability to
sunset legacy systems or applications as new Jetstream modules are
introduced (helps AMR reduce operating costs), and allow AMR to pace its
capital expenditures – a not-insignificant factor, considering that
Jetstream will probably cost AMR several hundred million dollars to
develop. A modular product benefits HP, too, since it can offer the whole
system or just components to other airline clients.
Providing AMR with a more “customer centric” perspective, rather than the traditional airline/travel industry
approach, which is based on individual passenger name records (PNRs). This
will provide AMR with what Mr. Ford called a “single view of the truth” for
planning, marketing, and operational decision-making, from front-line employees
up to corporate execs. Jetstream will provide AMR with a single, consolidated gateway to the operational, business, and archival data it needs to make well-informed decisions. AMR, already a sophisticated data user, will have the ability to be better at what it does. Currently, most airlines have to pull data from multiple systems and databases. Consolidating and aligning the data will provide greater clarity and consistency of the information.
The ability to interface across the AA enterprise,
including all of its channels: Call centers, Web sites, kiosks – even the new handheld
devices AA employees are testing at Boston Logan International Airport.
Jetstream makes HP a major airline
IT player
HP is no
stranger to travel technology systems. Its NonStop servers power airline
systems including, perhaps ironically, Sabre’s fare shopping engine. HP and AMR
are no strangers to one another, either – the two have been working together
for 10 years.
Still,
there’s no question that what helped HP clinch this deal was its May 2008
acquisition of EDS (which closed August 26, 2008). Why? EDS owns an airline
reservations system, SHARES, and has been developing the framework of a new PSS – no
doubt the foundation for what will become Jetstream. EDS also has a strong coterie
of airline industry technology professionals in its ranks. All of this clearly added to
HP’s strengths by providing useful domain expertise and additional insight into
the complex nature of airline reservations, sales, and service technology systems.
Jetstream catapults HP to the forefront of travel technology providers,
providing a formidable new competitor to the traditional travel IT leaders,
including Accenture (which owns the Navitaire reservations system), Amadeus,
IBM, ITA Software, SITA, Travelport GDS and, of course, Sabre.
By the way,
Sabre’s not totally out of the AMR technology picture. Mr. Ford stated in his August 26, 2009
press call that AMR would continue to work with Sabre for flight operations and similar other types of applications.
However, because EDS/HP manages aspects of Sabre data centers, you know there’s
some awkwardness there. Also, what’s not yet been decided – or at least publicly
disclosed – is the fate of AMR’s Tulsa data center.
Forrester’s take
What AMR and HP are about to commence upon is the technology equivalent to a team of doctors simultaneously
doing a brain transplant, heart transplant, and extensive corrective surgery.
The systems that AMR will move to Jetstream literally represent the brains and
heart of the airline. This is not an undertaking for the weak and squeamish.
It’s a gutsy, but smart move for AMR to make. Mind you, that's not a reflection of Sabre. Sabre, HP, and Amadeus, which was another contender for the contract are each excellent technology providers. We commend AMR for recognizing it has to make the
investment in this new technology solution to be a smarter, better, more agile competitor.
Given that all airlines fly the same aircraft, tend to serve the same markets,
offer fairly similar products and charge about the same, technology is an
increasingly important competitive tool
Finally,
the Jetstream announcement includes a nice piece of airline geek trivia:
“Jetstream” was the name TWA applied to its Lockheed
L-1649A Starliners (one of the last versions of the elegant Lockheed
Constellation). TWA’s assets, of course, were acquired by AMR in 2001. What
goes around...
So what do you think of AMR's decision? Did it come as a surprise? And did you expect HP to be the winning partner? I'd enjoy learning your thoughts
The global hotel industry is battling some tough times. To get a better idea of the industry's outlook for 2010 and the role you see distribution playing in your efforts, we're inviting hotel professionals to take a quick (10 minute) online survey. In exchange, we'll send you a complimentary summary of our findings after we complete gathering the data.
Who's eligible?
You must work for a hotel organziation. We're seeking participants at the corporate or brand level, at a property, or at a management company. For this study, we're not able to accept participants from third-party intermediaries, or from other industry sectors like airlines, GDSs, rental car agencies, etc. That's why we're asking you to contact us (info below), rather than posting a link from here to take the survey.
Your role must include a meaningful amount of responsibility for or involvement in your hotel's:
eBusiness/eCommerce
Distribution
Sales/marketing
Revenue management
Owners, GMs, and hotel managers are also welcome to participate
The larger the base of respondents, the more useful the research will be to everyone. I sincerely hope you'll participate. There's no obligation beyond taking the survey. All survey responses will be aggregated. We keep your responses confidential, and we don't share or use your email address for any commercial activities.
To participate, please email me: hharteveldt (at) forrester dot com. Sorry for that funky way of presenting my email address; I'm just trying to avoid the email spam bots.
To put it mildly, travelers are so angry with poor online travel experiences they're approaching a breaking point.
Check out the steady decline in the number of US online leisure travelers who enjoy using the Web to plan and book trips, and who feel that travel Web sites effectively present choices and trade-offs to them. These are critically important given the tepid economy and the increasingly complex way consumers are forced to buy travel. And now, notice how we see a small, but meaningful, increase in the number of people considering using offline travel agencies.
I've been asked a lot of questions about this report -- who's to blame? How could this happen? What will happen? Does this mean that online travel dead?
Let's start with the last question: Online travel is certainly not dead. However, if travelers' frustrations are not correctly addressed, it's future becomes increasingly uncertain and potentially less valuable -- and thus less useful and profitable.
So, who is to blame? All of us. End-user companies, mostly the online travel agencies and suppliers, for failing to push themselves, and their technology partners, to innovate, and for failing to ask their customers the right questions when researching their online experiences (or ignoring what your customers tell you). Technology firms, including both travel industry specialists and general tech providers, for failing to demand more of themselves, and for failing to educate and, yes, push their clients to consider new processes. eCommerce integrators and interactive marketing design firms have contributed to this problem as well.
How did this happen? Simple -- we got fat and happy. Online travel kept growing thanks to the organic growth of online travelers, spurred by the growth of broadband connectivity, and pricing structures and fees designed to push consumers to the Web. US online leisure travel spending grew from approximately $28 billion in 2002 to nearly $84 billion last year. Too many travel organizations failed to adequately invest when times were better. Now, many have had to trim eCommerce budgets as their organizations curtail spending due to the recession. We fiddled while Rome burned. Meanwhile, the traveler stewed.
So what will happen? Either incumbent providers get their act together -- now -- or else they lose in the future to smarter, more creative competitors. Among the firms we think understand what travelers want are InsideTrip.com, TravelMuse.com, Uptake.com, Kayak.com, Travelzoo.com, Bing.com's travel search, and Imagini.net, parent of Youniverse.com and provider to Hotel.com's UK visually-based booking engine. Air Canada also wins for how easy they make it for travelers to understand product choices and trade-offs, and for its effective online merchandising. By no means is this list exhaustive, but note who you don't see on it:.major travel agencies, airlines (except for Air Canada), hotel chains, cruise lines -- you get the idea. And guess what? Those firms rely on major travel tech firms, general tech providers, and eCommerce Integrators and design firms. Cause and effect? Or unlucky coincidence?
So, what do you think? Where do you see the opportunities or road blocks? How much of the challenge is due to front-end limitations, and how much is due to challenges posed by back-end or middleware? If you're an end-user company, do your technology partners understand your challenges? If you're a tech provider, do your clients listen -- and act -- on your recommendations? Let's open a dialog and see if we can't solve all the problems of the world. First one to do that buys drinks for the rest of us.
Wow, once you get into this blogging thing, it's hard to stop...
I am a fan of Travel Weekly, a truly comprehensive travel industry publication. I've been reading Travel Weekly for the million or so years I've been in the travel industry and am sincerely impressed with how its editor, Arnie Weissman, continues to take the publication in new and exciting directions.
The July 30 issue of TravelWeekly.com has an article by Jeri Clausing regarding hotel industry performance for the first-half of 2009 from Smith Travel Research (STR), a leading hotel industry research firm. STR's data clarifies the enormous financial impact the recession is taking on hotels::
The average hotel occupancy rate declined 10.9% compared to the first half of 2008, to 54.6%
The average daily rate (ADR) paid by a guest fell 8.7% from the first-half of 2008, to $98.66
On average, hotels' revenue per available room (revPAR), a key profitability metric, declined 18.7% compared to the first-half of 2008. Bobby Bowers, senior vice president of operations at STR, describes the decline as "by far the largest first-half decline ever recorded by Smith Travel Research."
There's more, but it's pretty bleak. I don't want to lose you, so for all the gory details, read the Travel Weekly article and the STR announcement.
Anyway, this got me thinking (always risky): How could eBusiness have helped? True, nothing could have protected hotels from the massive economic mess we're all in. I do, however, believe that hotels made their own challenges worse. How? As an industry, hotels failed to use eBusiness as effectively as they could have -- and should have.
Show me a hotel Web site that lets you shop based by a price point (e.g., ($100/night), price range ($100-$149/night), or total budget ($200 for 2 nights). If you don't think this is important, you're wrong -- terribly wrong. Our North American Technographics(R) Travel Online Study, Q1 2009, shows that 46% of US online leisure travelers say they allow their budgets to dictate where they go on a trip. If you call any major hotel' chains toll-free number, a property directly, or a travel agency, they could help you with any of these three requests. eBusiness channels and experiences must emulate, and ideally beat, their offline counterparts.
Hotels don't do a good job of creating any emotional engagement. Not every trip can be a getaway to a glorious exotic destination for a relaxing vacation -- but just because a guest is going to a not-so-thrilling destination doesn't mean your Web site's planning and booking process has to be not-so-thrilling as well.
Two years ago, we wrote about how travel companies need to humanize their digital travel experiences by making them useful, usable, and desirable. Hotel Web sites may be useful, but they struggle with usable. Desirable is nowhere to be found -- maybe it's drowning its sorrows in the lobby lounge. By creating a sense of desire -- tapping into consumers emotions, for example -- you can attempt to separate the heart from the brain. The brain says "buy the lowest rate available." Desire gets the traveler to consider trading up -- something our research shows 34% of US online leisure hotel guests, and 41% of US online business guests, will consider if they view the premium as affordable.And don't forget, we live in a world of Bookers. Seventy-seven percent of US leisure hotels guests research and book at least some portion of their trips online, as do 68% of business guests.
Few hotel Web sites provide the necessary context required to help travelers make well-informed decisions. Many lack useful content as well. I worked in luxury hotel marketing. To this day, I can't tell you which is better, a superior room or a deluxe room. Sadly, most hotel Web sites can't help you, either (some of the online agencies, like Expedia, actually do a better job of this). Pan Pacific Hotels does an excellent job with how it presents room information within an availability search. Unfortunately, most major chains' Web sites, including Accor, IHG, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Starwood, do not. Room descriptions lack critical details that allow a guest to make a well-informed decision, like room dimensions, details about the furnishings, and relevant, good-quality visual content.
Poor post-purchase and on-property electronic communications. Yes, reservation confirmation emails arrive almost instantly. And, giving credit where due, many chains' confirmation emails (including Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott) include links to both complimentary and fee-based hotel services. Too often, though, that's the only electronic communication the guest sees. Hotel execs tell us they often can't send any other email to guests if the reservation is made within a week of arrival, because properties lack the ability to operationally respond. As for guest communications during the stay, well, as they say in Brooklyn, fuhggedaboutit. Few, if any, major hotels take advantage of email or mobile communications to reach guests -- and their wallets -- while they're on property. Lots of great revenue-generating opportunities are missed as a result.
So how could eBusiness have helped hotels? Here are just a few:
Web sites with useful tools, like budget-based shopping
Better content and written descriptions
Creating timelines from time-of-booking to check-out, and determining the most effective digital channels and marketing or promotional messages that would work to coax much-needed revenue from guests' tightly-guarded wallets.
Against the loss of business from key segments like meetings/conventions and corporate travel, nothing could have totally insulated the industry from all the turmoil. But by failing to push themselves to do more with eBusiness, to invest when times were better, to re-think property operations against the increasingly "wired" guest that hotels serve, hotels may have allowed their financial troubles to be worse than they should have been.
If you're a hotel executive, or if you work for a company that supports hotels through technology, please weigh in. I'd enjoy hearing from you.
Delta Air Lines (DL) has announced a slate of upgrades to its SkyMiles loyalty program for 2010. The changes are being made as part of DL's merger with Northwest Airlines (NW). Delta tells Forrester that its remains on track to fully combine SkyMiles and the Northwest WorldPerks programs by October 2009.
As a result of the merger, it's believed that the Delta SkyMiles program may have more than 70 million members (net of duplications Between SkyMiles and WorldPerks), eclipsing the perennial category leader, American Airlines' AAdvantage, which has more than 60 million members.
Some of the best benefits of the new SkyMiles program will include:
A 500-mile minimum on all flights
and for all customers.
Forrester's take: This continues a current Delta benefit. However, it's still great news for frequent fliers in that Delta isn't taking this away. In early 2009, some airlines, including American Airlines (AA), Continental Airlines (CO) and United Airlines (UA), eliminated the 500-mile minimum mileage credit in favor of awarding the actual miles flown. Most of the airlines, including AA and UA, later reinstated the 500-mile credit, but only for elite-level members. I expect we will see most of Delta's key competitors reinstate their 500-mile minimum.
1 full "EQM" (Elite Qualifying Mile) and base mile on all
fares regardless of booking channel
Forrester's take: This is very consumer-friendly. It also shows the impact of the recession. Delta could have decided that in 2010 it would move to restrict this benefit to bookings made through preferred channels, potentially excluding channels like online travel agencies (OTAs). Forrester's online leisure travel channel forecast shows that airline sites are estimated to capture about 70% of all leisure bookings, increasing to 77% by year-end 2013. But Delta isn't Southwest Airlines (WN) or JetBlue Airways (B6).Those carriers generate about 75% or more of their bookings through their own Web sites. Delta, in contrast, generates about half that volume via Delta.com. Plus, given some of the past squabbles that periodically erupted between NW and online agencies, and occasional spats between Delta and the OTAs as well, it's smart for Delta to offer this.
A 50% EQM and base mile bonus on fares booked in Delta's the three highest (most expensive) economy-class inventory classes: Y, B, and M fares
Forrester's take: This, too, continues an existing SkyMiles benefit. Again, it's smart for DL to maintain this, especially in this recession. A) Fewer people are buying business/first class tickets (IATA's most recent premium travel report, covering May 2009, shows a 23.6% year/year decline in international premium cabin passengers), making it more important to keep this benefit. B), Delta needs to give its passengers a reason to "trade up." While I don't think anyone in his or her right mind would buy these fares just to earn more SkyMiles points, this is one way Delta says "pay more, get more." It's nice, and it's smart - though for what you shell out at these price points, Delta should also toss in vouchers for its buy-on-board meal/snack offering as well.
Premium security access, priority
seats, priority boarding and waived baggage charges for everyone in the elite
itinerary.
Forrester's take. Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. If an elite SkyMiles member travels with family members or friends, all booked together in the same passenger name record (PNR) - airline-speak for reservations record - his/her companions all get the same courtesies. The preferred seating access and waived checked baggage fees will, no doubt, be among the most appreciated and useful benefits.
Rollover MQM (Medallion Qualifying Miles). Delta will become the first
airline to allow customers to permanently roll over any Medallion Qualification
Miles (MQM) earned above a Medallion threshold at the end of the year, which
will supplement their ability to earn status the following year. This is a
permanent feature and not a promotion and will take effect this year.
Forrester's take: Keep ringing that bell, we have another winner here. This one is fantastic.To start, we have the recession and the lack of any definitive time-frame for recovery. Business and leisure travel is down, as illustrated by the $257 million net loss Delta reported in its June 2009 quarter.Delta also faces growing competition from "low cost" carriers like AirTran Airways (FL), WN and B6, which are expanding their reach across more of DL's North American route network (WN, for example, recently entered New York LaGuardia, and will soon enter Boston Logan). Delta also faces an expanding Star Alliance - current SkyTeam partner CO leaves SkyTeam for Star October 24 How might this roll over program work? It's not unlike the "roll over minutes" program some mobile phone providers offer. Let's say a SkyMiles member earns 62,000 miles in a given calendar year. 50,000 miles qualifies the member for Gold SkyMiles status. The member can thus roll over his or her "extra" 12,000 miles (62,000-50,000 for Gold) towards the following year's Medallion status qualification. That's smart, because it (again, theoretically) keeps the member flying DL and its SkyTeam alliance partners once they hit a threshold.
A new fourth Medallion elite tier,.Diamond. A fourth Medallion level for flyers who earn 125,000 MQMs or fly 140 segments
per calendar year that will offer the richest benefits of any airline elite
tier.
Forrester's take. Another smart move. Several years ago, Delta reduced its Platinum-level qualification from 100,000 miles/year to the current 75,000 miles/year. It could have simply gone back to the "old" tiers, and moved Platinum back to 100,000 miles. That would create a bigger ruckus than Sherman's entry into Atlanta during, um, "that" war. Current Platinum's would have howled and insisted - rightly - that they be grandfathered through 2010. This gives Delta an out. The Diamond tier will recognize and reward Delta's "road warrior-est" of road warriors -- and, again in theory, keep some of members flying Delta and its SkyTeam partners for an extra 50,000 miles/year. Delta's tossing in a bunch of benefits, including complimentary access to Delta's network of SkyClub airport lounges. It also makes public a "whispered" program nicknamed "white envelope." Until now, Delat's fourth tier was not publicly communicated. Members only knew they qualified when they received their special "super elite" card in (allegedly) a white envelope. The Diamond-level program is potentially worth millions of incremental revenue dollars for Delta, so Wall Street should cheer this news as well.
Fee-free ticketing. The three top Medallion tiers of the new SkyMiles program (Diamond, Platinum, and Gold) members will have ticketing fees waived for
all bookings, regardless of channel, including phone and in-person.
Forrester's take: This is, again, smart. Think about the amount of traveling Delta's top-tier members do -- these people fly 50,000 or more miles a year on Delta and its SkyMiles partners alone. . While Wi-Fi makes it increasingly likely that a road warrior will have the potential to get online to book a trip, there are going to be times when that's not practical. And though DL has a mobile-optimized version of Delta.com, its user experience isn't comparable to the "traditional" Delta.com. Plus, in this business environment, why make life more difficult for your best customers? It's unlikely that Delta will see skyrocketing call volume because of this, meaning the airline will also likely not see a significant increase in its costs. Plus, with the online travel agencies still offering fee-free airline tickets, Delta retains a channel advantage for its best customers. It will be interesting to see how other airlines respond.
Unlimited complimentary upgrades on Award-travel tickets.
Forrester's take: Surely you don't expect us to object? This is a great member benefit. The concern I have, as an analyst, is that it may inhibit some SkyMiles members from requesting premium-cabin awards in hopes of getting a free upgrade. Airlines carry their frequent flier mileage balances as liabilities on their books, so the more miles that are burned, the better for the airline. However, since the upgrades are based on available seats, I suspect those who really want to sit in the pointy end of the plane will redeem the miles to do so.
No co-pay on any upgrade award
Forrester's take: More smartness. AA, CO, and UA either charge, or have said they will charge, their loyalty program members fees to redeem miles to upgrade to the next class-of-service on all but their most expensive Economy-class fares (the airlines may exempt some of their elites from these fees). Hellloooo, these are supposedly "loyalty programs." How does an airline create and sustain loyalty when it charges a fee along with miles for an upgrade? Those type of fees are classic examples of traditional (read: bad) airline management thinking (I can say that, having worked for several major airlines earlier in my career). Forrester has researched the free-fall of traveler's brand loyalty. As airlines examine how to improve their business performance, they need to strike the right balance between generating revenue and creating programs that generate positive responses from travelers - rather than the usual venom.
There are other benefits to the new SkyMiles program, but we think these are the most important. We think Delta did more right than wrong with its changes, and believe it will serve the airline well as it navigates its way not only through the merger with Northwest, but this miserable recession as well.
By the way, if you're a SkyMiles member, Delta tells us you'll see these benefits phased in over the next 4-6 months. According to Delta, details about the program changes should be available online at www.delta.com/newskymiles.
What do you think - is Delta on the right track? How are you seeing customer loyalty change, and what initiatives have you seen -- or done -- to improve customer loyalty?
My colleagues and I continue to receive questions from eBusiness managers about prioritization in 2009.
There are 3 common questions:
What should we do to survive and succeed?
What should we do first?
Does my priority list make sense?
Allstate is currently running an ad about getting "Back to Basics." The spot states that "after the fear subsides" people enjoy the small things such as home-cooked meals and time with family. "And the basics are good."
eBusiness and channel managers should follow this logic and focus on the fundamentals.
Here are my thoughts on getting back to the basics in 2009. Call it a honey-do list for eBusiness and channel managers:
Focus on retaining profitable customers - In a Q1 2008 Forrester survey of CMO's (well within the economic downturn), improving customer retention and lifetime value were ranked in the bottom 3 of the top 9 CMO marketing objectives. Amazingly, CMO's were still focused on acquisition, product development and brand awareness. That is upside down and backwards at the same time. Focus on retaining profitable customers by evaluating key metrics like total products per customer, late payments, and total customer service inquires. Then "cut the fat" because not every current customer is profitable. Convert single account owners to multi-product customers with email marketing retention programs and personalized x-sell product recommendations on the Web. Stop investing in marketing or customer service time on unprofitable customer segments.
Improve the multichannel customer experience - Many companies are restructuring marketing, sales and service teams around the Enterprise Customer Experience (ECM). A senior level executive is responsible for all customer-facing channels and content. I wrote about this recently in my trends 2009 eBusiness research and shared a sample org chart from a top 5 US insurance company. The insurer has realized increases in customer satisfaction and retention after implementing ECM. Major reorganizations take time and can be painful as many companies downsize. eBusiness managers are also investing in enterprise search tools that deliver more relevant content from Web customer inquiries. Better search results can reduce call center volume and improve profitability.
Leverage analytics across the Web and all channels - The priority list is simple to create when you are measuring what is wrong within your company. Lower online conversion rates? Increased customer attrition? Increased online cost per sale ? If you don't know what is wrong, start their first. Leverage the customer data available within the Web and other channels. Web site analytics, call center tracking and other business intelligence tools are must-haves for any eBusiness and channel manager.
The prioritization is up to you because you know your business better than anyone else. These are proven strategies supported by our research from consumers and executives across several industries.
Take a deep breath...remember that the sun is still shining and focus on attainable goals. We will all be OK...some times we just need to "get back to the basics."
[Posted by Brad Strothkamp}
[Posted by 
