Home Improvement

Continued

New Expectations

One factor that currently drives companies to considering new CRM strategies is a climate of changing customer expectations. “Over the last few years in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, we have seen customers make much more intense demands of the organizations they work with,” notes Oracle Senior Vice President Loïc le Guisquet. It has become relatively easy, for example, to switch telephone or utilities providers when the price or service level is no longer competitive; likewise, many consumers switch from one credit card to another on an almost yearly basis. “In this environment, we’re seeing expectations creep from one sector to another,” le Guisquet says. When a customer enjoys a positive experience with a bank or an online store, that customer will look for that same service level from other companies in other sectors.

“We’re seeing more and more organizations embracing self-service, but this isn’t the self-service approach of five years ago where the customer simply submits a query that might eventually be answered by a contact center agent. Today, self-service is about delivering knowledge directly to the customer,” explains le Guisquet. The new approach empowers customers by providing them with information such as sales or billing details, allowing them to analyze it—and find their own way to make the most of their relationship with a business.

Personalization Is Key to Experience

According to the 2007 Gartner report, “Companies can try seven basic ways to improve the customer experience”—one of which is, “personalize products and experiences.” What enabled the change to VicUrban’s land release registration process were the marketing and e-mail capabilities built into Oracle CRM On Demand. The software allows a high degree of segmentation, which not only lets VicUrban accurately target specific customer segments but also makes it possible for VicUrban to personalize each customer interaction.

“We’ll use CRM to track people back into their segment,” says Rappolt. For example, if VicUrban is marketing a land release in a new development, the company might send an e-mail campaign to all of its best customers within a 10-kilometer radius of the development.

VicUrban uses the CRM database to identify small groups or communities of customers, catering to each group’s needs. Rappolt recalls bringing together a group of people who had all successfully purchased property in a single block. The houses had yet to be built, but VicUrban held an event at the location during which buyers were able to hang a sold sign on their individual properties and then meet their future neighbors. “We know all the customers [in our developments],” says Rappolt, “and we can utilize CRM to send them a welcome package or a present—or we invite them to the next coffee morning at the estate so they can meet their neighbors and feel welcome.” VicUrban has also helped form online communities among its customer segments and plans to back-end these communities into the CRM system.

Gaining Valuable Data

This high-touch, personalized approach to customer relations creates a cycle of valuable market data. The outreach gives VicUrban opportunities for more-frequent contact with the customers than before it began using the Oracle CRM On Demand system. That outreach can produce more qualitative and quantitative customer data with which to improve sales and marketing. “You can never stop learning from the information that you’ve got,” Rappolt comments. “And if you don’t renew your information and learn from the information you’ve got, then your customer experience will be lessened.”