|
The increase in the number of contact channels has made executing a successful marketing campaign a difficult task for many enterprises. Interactions with customers and prospects can happen through a number of contact channels, including the web, the call center or at the point of sale. Designing the appropriate call to action through the appropriate contact channel is equally difficult. Simply identifying customers and prospects and verifying their information does not enable enterprises to maximize conversion or cross-selling opportunities. Enterprises must consider and predict the conversion challenges that relate to each customer and prospect (see Exhibit 1).
Using multiple operational and transactional data systems, enterprises can segment verified customers or prospects to determine how to most efficiently interact with them at any point of contact, thereby increasing lead conversions. It is important to manage all interactions, including those at inbound and outbound call centers, a retail point of sale, and on the web.
Enterprises are also facing challenges from the fragmentation of mass media, the rise of the internet and the decline of traditional marketing channels such as radio and television. Enterprises must tailor their marketing for individual customers or prospects rather than use a single generic television advertisement for large blocks of audiences. On-demand analytics can provide intelligence to enable enterprises to address the changing market conditions.
As marketers customize their message for the individual, location must not be a barrier. Whether you are interacting with your customer through the web, the phone or at the point of sale, you must be able to identify, verify and score your customer or prospect. This Yankee Group Report covers the ways that verification, identification, profitability scoring and on-demand analytics can help.
Changing marketplace conditions are shifting how consumers and merchants interact. Communications mediums, such as the internet, are evolving and new means, such as the mobile channel, are continuing to drive changes in the marketplace. Geographically dispersed customers can now access any merchant at the click of a button. However, merchants often have no prior relationship with or knowledge of (i.e., buying habits, preferences, general profile) this base. In addition, with limitations on merchants for outbound direct marketing channels and the fragmentation of mass-media audiences, businesses are more and more reliant on inbound contact from their prospects and customers. As a result, ondemand knowledge about prospects and customers has never been so valuable. Getting a customer or prospect to respond to a call to action is a difficult and sometimes expensive process. When a customer or prospect responds to a call to action, organizations must be prepared to leverage this information no matter how they are being contacted, whether over the phone, on the web or at the point of sale.
Lead verification, intelligent routing, the capture of customer information and customer profitability scoring all underpin a consistent, measurable customer experience and ensure that your company is knowledgeable about your most important prospects. These services help enterprises optimize customer marketing campaigns, which enables more effective lead conversion and increases the performance of internal operations. As a company captures more information about a customer, it must be integrated with the CRM data to ensure a consistent quality of service. The enterprise captures inbound information about a customer or prospect for any number of activities. Capturing this information provides accurate, actionable marketing information on prospects and customers regardless of the contact channel—the web, the phone or the point of sale.
Merchants’ interactions with customers and prospects occur daily. Integrating that data into everyday business processes is key to maximizing the potential cross-selling and up-selling opportunities through any contact channel. It is also important to understand which customers and prospects are unprofitable or do not provide opportunity for additional revenue, so less valuable customers or prospects can be shifted to self-service channels such as the IVR.
To truly maximize revenue potential with your customers and prospects, merchants must compare their internal knowledge, skills and abilities to the expectations of consumers. Currently, a call center at a telecommunications provider is focused on scheduling optimization and skill-based routing. Call centers in the financial services or insurance industries have moved beyond creating operational efficiencies and driving costs out of the business. Instead, they are focused on generating revenue through the call center channel, transforming this necessary but expensive center into a profit center.
|
