Businesses Get a Face Lift from Customer-Facing Analytics
InfoManagement Direct, August 1, 2008
We’ve all been through it. After a frustrating attempt to figure out a discrepancy in your phone bill online, you finally give up and call the company. After being transferred twice and speaking to three people who each had to validate your information and ask what the problem was the problem of customer-facing analytics takes on real meaning.
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There’s nothing more frustrating than speaking to customer service representatives who don’t know who you are, don’t know anything about your account and can’t help you get the solution you need quickly. That’s a big problem, because in today’s economy savvy customers have choices. If one business doesn’t meet their needs, they can easily switch to a company that can.
To protect themselves from customer attrition, businesses deploy business intelligence (BI) tools to recreate the personal touch their customers crave: the feeling of walking into their local stores, seeing the same salesperson they’ve been working with for years who knows them by name.
Customer-facing analytics provide that personal touch - even through an electronic medium such as a Web site. BI can help ensure that every customer touchpoint provides a personally tailored interaction. When a company interacts with someone online, over the phone or in person, that person’s account information and market demographic are available to make sure they are being served properly, their needs are met and that upsell opportunities aren’t missed.
BI can help organizations treat customers as people, not just as an account number. This article explores the ways in which BI can enhance an organization’s image with customers online, over the phone and in person, demonstrating the role technology can play in improving customer interactions and increasing loyalty.
Improving Customers’ Online Experience
Customers expect a lot. Shoppers can find the best prices for products and services on sites that compare offerings and ferret out deals. Online book retailers provide tailored recommendations for books based the shopper’s previous selections. People can even find a potential spouse based on personal preferences. Immediate access to data has become the norm, and any business that fails to meet customers’ desires for quick information will face problems.
The easiest, most cost-effective way to provide personalized information is to apply BI through Web sites. Companies can have a personalized interaction with customers without having to use costly human labor. An analytics-backed Web site can provide user-specific information to the Web site visitor, capture his or her actions/purchases/preferences for further analysis and give him or her the information they need in a quick, unobtrusive way. It can also provide insights for future marketing campaigns personalized for that customer.
Web-based customer analytics have a wide range of applications. Investment banks can provide details about account performance, holdings, industry research, performance against the market and other performance indicators. Such information will let the consumer know how his or her portfolio is performing. Job banks can proactively alert clients to opportunities that might suit their skills and experience. Mortgage companies can alert customers about insurance offerings that correlate to a new home purchase. In short, Web sites can provide consumers with information about their existing accounts and create tailored offerings for consumer preferences.
As analytics improve, it’s astonishing how good computers have become at “guessing” what you’d like. Netflix predicts what movies a viewer will enjoy based how the viewer has rated other movies in the past. Through the simple application of customer analytics, the Netflix Web site provides a valuable recommendation service. Customers expect this level of service, and it’s becoming commonplace on successful businesses’ Web sites.
It’s important to not forget business-to-business client relationships - relationships where analytics can be even more valuable. These customers typically spend more money and demand more information, because their businesses might be dependent upon it. An advertiser can view its ad impression rates on different Web sites and compare them against industry averages. Retailers can track the status of orders and shipments from manufacturers. Car dealerships can track inventory at manufacturing plants and plan inventory levels based on upcoming promotions. Any time one business relies on another for information, it’s safe to assume they will want insight into account processes and status.
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