“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
– R. Collier, American author
I like the above quote; itâs something you can apply to many things in life. In a way itâs been at the centre of several presentations Iâve given recently, all to very different audiences but all focused on the same topic…customer insight.
Weâve been working hard over the past several months to bring customer insight to the forefront of our Horizon platform. One of the most exciting features weâve added is a set of Customer Relationships Scores, which we affectionately refer to as ELVIS.
But before we get into what Customer Relationship Scores are (and why ELVIS is key), letâs take a quick look at why customer insight is so important.
The definition of insight, according to Oxford Dictionaries, is âthe capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of someone or somethingâ. This definitely rings loud and true from the conversations I have with our customers.
Whether it be a Marketing Executive in the hospitality sector or a Head of Digital Experience in the retail sector, thereâs a desire to gain a deeper understanding of their audience, to become more relevant and proactive with their messaging and start to measure the real-life impact of their campaigns. These are all very noble and sensible goals, but the biggest stumbling block is knowing where to start.
Thatâs where our Customer Relationship Scores come into play. The purpose of Customer Relationship Scores is to provide marketers with clear, actionable insight on the state of their relationships with their customers. Ultimately, it’s about understanding who your best customers are and what actions can drive more value and loyalty.
Ok, sounds interesting, but why ELVIS? Most marketing platforms provide a standard set of reports on how your campaigns are performing; a dashboard of opens, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes. Although these are useful for evaluating individual campaigns, they donât give you the full story. What you really want to know is:
- Are our audience engaging? Do subscribers look forward to our communications or are we too impersonal, causing people to switch off?
- How loyal are our customers? Itâs a competitive market out there, are we doing enough to ensure we retain their business?
- Are we looking after our valuable customers? Do we even know who our valuable customers are?
- Who are the influencers out there? If weâve got something important to say or a new product to launch who can help that message spread?
- Are people happy with the service we provide? Are we concentrating too much on selling rather than service? Whatâs the sentiment of our subscriber-base?
Engagement, Loyalty, Value, Influence and Sentiment – or as we like to call them, ELVIS.
With relationship scores, everyone in your database receives a star-rating for each of these metrics, providing an at-a-glance overview of their relationship with your company. The scores update automatically as new data feeds into the system, giving you a single, up-to-date view of each customer.
New reports show you the state of your entire database, tracking trends in your customer relationships over time. You can also compare different metrics, to see whether your most valuable customers are the most loyal or most engaged, allowing you to quickly identify areas that need attention.
Customer Relationship Scores show you the sum of these small, everyday customer interactions and their effect on the metrics matter to your business.