Topic 9: e-Customer
Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) — first introduced in the mid-1990s — is defined as "an approach to building and sustaining long-term business with customers." It originated from Sales Force Automation (SFA) software that managed customer contacts and integrated knowledge management. A good CRM system manages customers throughout their entire lifecycle.

The Four Stages of the Customer Lifecycle:

• Customer Selection — Identifying and segmenting specific customer groups to focus marketing efforts on, including customers who have embraced e-channels.
• Customer Acquisition — Marketing initiatives to connect with new customers while minimising acquisition costs and focusing on high-value segments through the right channels.
• Customer Retention — Tailoring offerings to individual requirements based on their lifecycle position (e.g., purchase history or value) to maintain loyalty.
• Customer Extension — Expanding the range of products a customer buys through techniques such as re-sell, cross-sell, up-sell, reactivation, and referrals.

e-CRM extends traditional CRM by using digital communications technologies to maximise sales to existing customers and encourage online service usage. Key e-CRM capabilities include using websites and social media for lead generation through to conversion, managing customer profiles and email lists for targeting, data mining for improved recommendations, providing online customer service (FAQs, chat, call-back), and managing the multichannel customer experience across different media throughout the buying process.

Social CRM is defined as the process of managing customer-to-customer conversations to engage existing customers, prospects, and other stakeholders with a brand, thereby enhancing customer relationship management. It integrates traditional CRM tools with social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to gain deep insight into customers' lives, likes, dislikes, wants, and needs, while also helping connect with potential customers.

Six Functional Areas (Scope) of Social CRM:

• Marketing — Monitoring, analysing, and responding to customer conversations through social listening tools.
• Sales — Identifying where prospects are discussing products/services and finding the best way to participate in conversations to generate leads.
• Service & Support — Enabling customer self-help through forums on company and neutral sites.
• Innovation — Using social conversations to foster new product development and enhance online offerings.
• Collaboration — Enabling digital collaboration within an organisation via intranets and software tools that support all business processes.
• Customer Experience — Using Social CRM to enhance the overall customer experience and add value to a brand.

The 5Ms Framework for Reviewing Social CRM Implementation:

• Monitoring — Reviewing the method of social listening and deriving insights from data gathered.
• Mapping — Finding relationships between individual customers or grouped segments across different social platforms.
• Management — Processes for implementing and reviewing the Social CRM strategy, including detailed campaign management reporting.
• Middleware — The software tools and APIs used to monitor and gather social insight.
• Measurement — Metrics used to assess social marketing effectiveness and return on investment (ROI).

In Search Marketing, companies seek to improve their visibility in search engines for relevant search terms by increasing their presence in search engine results pages (SERPs). There are two main techniques:

Paid Search Marketing (Pay-Per-Click / PPC) involves paying for text advertisements displayed on SERPs when a specific key phrase is entered. The advertiser is charged only when a user clicks the ad — a model called pay-per-click. These ads appear labelled as "Sponsored" above or beside natural results. Ranking is not purely the highest bidder; search engines also consider Click-Through Rate (CTR) as part of a quality score. Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is the most widely used paid search tool, offering ad formats including text, responsive, image, video, shopping, and call-only ads.

Organic Search Marketing refers to improving a website's visibility through unpaid, natural results using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) — a structured approach to improve position in natural listings for selected key phrases.

Five Key SEO Ranking Factors:

• Keyword Density — The frequency of a key phrase in page text affects ranking. Higher keyword density improves position, but "keyword stuffing" is penalised. Including keywords in heading tags (h1, h2) and anchor text increases relevance.
• Number of Inbound Links (Backlinks) — More links from high-quality, relevant sites improve ranking. Google's PageRank treats each inbound link as a "vote," with links from high-authority pages weighted more heavily.
• Title HTML Tag — A keyphrase in the <title> tag increases the likelihood of higher ranking compared to it only appearing in body text. Keyphrases positioned toward the left of the title carry greater weight. The title also appears as the clickable hyperlink in search results.
• Meta-tags — Snippets of code embedded in the HTML source, read by search engine spiders. The description meta tag is displayed in search results and encourages click-through. Best practice is to customise meta-tags per page, though Google no longer assigns direct ranking relevance to them.
• Alternative Graphic Text (ALT Tags) — Because search engines cannot index graphical images, the ALT attribute provides hidden text that can be indexed. While search engines now assign less relevance to this, it remains best practice and is required for accessibility compliance.

Modern CRM systems are increasingly enhanced by emerging technologies that enable more personalised, efficient, and engaging customer interactions:

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML)
AI encompasses systems that imitate human intelligence and improve iteratively through learning from data. In CRM, AI/ML enables:

• Use Cases: Natural language processing, identifying new market opportunities, predicting user behaviour, sentiment analysis, personalised customer service, and predictive lead scoring.
• Benefits: Effective data management, increased customer satisfaction, increased customer engagement, and facilitating lead management.

2. Chatbots
A chatbot is a computer program or AI-powered application designed to simulate human conversation through text-based channels, allowing users to ask questions and receive instant responses.

• Use Cases: Answering frequently asked questions, checking account information, guiding customers on product selection, and facilitating purchases.
• Benefits: Faster response times for user queries, cost-effectiveness, increased customer satisfaction, and better insights on customer requirements.

3. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)
VR creates a fully immersive, computer-generated environment experienced via a headset. AR overlays digital information onto the real-world environment through devices such as smartphones or smart glasses — blending physical and virtual elements without full immersion.

• Use Cases: Virtual reality tours, virtual showrooms, virtual fitting rooms, and guided product tours.
• Benefits: Increased customer satisfaction, increased customer engagement, and cost-effectiveness in delivering rich pre-purchase experiences.

Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics platform that provides valuable insights into website performance and user behaviour, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions and optimise their online presence. It tracks visitor demographics, acquisition channels, user engagement, and conversion rates. Features include real-time reporting, audience segmentation, goal tracking, e-commerce tracking, and conversion attribution.

Six Key Insights Available in Google Analytics:

• Website Traffic — Analyse unique, returning, and new visitors; identify traffic sources (organic search, paid advertising, social media, referrals, direct).
• Audience Demographics — View visitor age, gender, geographic location, and interests to better understand and target the audience.
• User Behaviour — Track how users navigate the website, which pages they visit, time spent per page, and actions taken to identify popular content and bottlenecks.
• Conversion Tracking — Set up and monitor goals (form submissions, purchases, sign-ups); measure conversion rates and evaluate marketing campaign effectiveness.
• E-commerce Analytics — Track revenue, transactions, average order value, and product performance for online stores.
• Mobile Analytics — Assess mobile traffic, user behaviour, and mobile-specific conversion rates to optimise the mobile user experience.

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is a free tool that allows businesses to manage how they appear on Google Search and Maps, enabling them to connect with customers, post updates, list products and services, and accept online orders.

Steps to Create a Google Business Profile:

• Sign in to a Google Account and go to business.google.com/create.
• Enter the business name and select the appropriate business category.
• Choose whether the business has a physical location customers can visit.
• Enter the service area, phone number, and website URL.
• Click Finish and select a verification option to confirm ownership.

Benefits of Google Business Profile for an eBusiness:

• Makes the business visible to a large audience on Google Search and Maps.
• Displays accurate and useful business information to potential customers.
• Improves authenticity and customer trust in the brand.
• Improves SEO — boosts ranking in local search results.
• Allows the business to respond publicly to customer reviews.
• Provides valuable customer insights such as profile interactions, direction requests, and website clicks.