CRM: Site data

6 August 2009 | By Nic Howell

Consumers are leaving valuable trails of data wherever they go online, and data is fundamental to CRM. Yet major high street retailers are struggling to adapt how they manage their relationships. The challenge is to take CRM beyond linear paths and out onto the wider web, to wherever customers are living their lives online.

It’s a challenge recognised by many brands and retailers. This month, for example, Mercedes-Benz launched a community site for passionate fans of its Smart car range. It joins a raft of similar communities set up by car brands in a bid to foster loyalty between purchases (nma 2 July 2009). Retailers, too, have been setting up communities. Last year New Look launched MyLook where members can become involved with the company’s business strategy (nma 31 July 2008).

Yet while some retail brands are expanding their CRM horizons, a recent report by DotCommerce claimed many are still missing the mark. It assessed 20 of the leading UK retailers and found that while most had the basics of ecommerce covered, they were failing to embrace the rise of social media, such as blogs, videos and user-generated content. For example, only 15% of sites included links to Facebook and even fewer had a link to Twitter (graph 1). This is at a time when online retailers such as Asos.com have found the micro-blogging service can be an enormous traffic driver.

DotCommerce concluded that retailers miss chances to build longer-term bonds with their online customers and could be leaving money on the table. Only a third invite users to sign up for email marketing at the time of purchase and one in five fail to capture visitors’ contact details on their home pages (graph 2).

After-sale follow-up isn’t much better. A significant minority, 40%, of retailers fail to send a marketing email within ten days of an order being delivered. Even when these emails are sent, they usually aren’t personalised with dynamic content. Loyalty schemes - another valuable marketing tool that encourages and rewards repeat transactions - were actively publicised by just 35% of the sites assessed (graph 3).

“It’s important to recognise the role ecommerce sites can play in encouraging shoppers to sign up for other marketing and promotional efforts, such as email marketing or loyalty schemes,” says Simon Bird, technical director of DotCommerce. “This allows the retailer to begin building long-term relationships with consumers and maximising revenue from their existing customers.”

Another study suggests there are still challenges assembling even the basic foundations of personalisation needed for effective CRM. A recent ReturnPath survey of 188 European marketers (44% B2B marketers, 35% B2C marketers and 21% working across both categories) found that while 86% collected more personal data than just a name and email address, only 14% used this in their first promotional email. And when asked what were the most significant email marketing challenges, 19% of respondents cited customisation (graph 4).

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