CRM - December 2008 - (Page 18)

and Wells Fargo, all survivors of the recent tumult—were among the bottom 25 percent of 53 leading U.S. banks, brokerages, insurers, and credit-card issuers. “There’s no checklist of emotional attributes that enhance customer experience,” Fisher says, “but…trust, caring, respect, and dignity need to be consistently communicated during customer interactions.” Banks are clearly handicapped, he says, by siloed operations; uncoordinated channels (branch, online, mobile); product-based targeting; and cost-cutting, sales-driven environments. Ironically, this could be when banks turn things around. “You have so many companies out there where their motto is ‘acquire, acquire, acquire’…but right now you have such a dramatic shift to the other side, which is ‘protect, protect, protect,’” says Chris Cottle, vice president of corporate marketing at Allegiance. Consequently, the traditional selling points—price, quality, service—are in- adequate. Now, it’s all about engagement. “Four years ago, [people] were lining up in front of their banks because they were getting their dream home for less than they expected,” Cottle says. “Now, they’re lining up…and they’re angry because they can’t afford their mortgages. It’s important that an organization understands what the drivers of engagement are—in good or bad times.” While it’s too late for true proactivity, banks need to reach out to their customers, beginning with transparent communication. (See page 24 for more on transparency.) “The worst thing for consumers is hearing nothing,” Fisher says. Yet you’d be hard-pressed to find a customer of an acquired bank who received even an email notification about the deal. Company Web sites mask any sign of trouble, stashing news in press releases below the scroll line. Fisher recommends a stronger push not only toward individuals, but toward communities as well, via ads on TV or participation in forums. But banks tend to be very traditional and conservative when interacting with customers, and have rarely engaged in social media. Amid this crisis, however, came a very different acquisition: Bankaholic, a blog started in 2006 by a 20-yearold, sold for $15 million to Bankrate, a network of financial Web sites. Cottle says this acquisition suggests a major shift. Financial services firms have typically been early adopters of CRM, revealing who bought what, when, and where, but they don’t know why people buy and haven’t had real-time response. “The speed of business today has to be fast and it needs a social component,” Cottle says. “That’s where the world is moving.” And Cottle says firms often insulate employees from reality—a bad habit. “We won’t know until [a] deal closes,” says Barry Yip, an integrated-database strategy consultant at Wells Fargo. “[We know] what we read in the news.” —Jessica Tsai ON THE SCENE: RIGHTNOW SUMMIT ’08 a rate of higher than 80 percent, according to Gianforte, with an average secondtransaction price of $150,000. Most users are starting with Web selfservice, which Gianforte says “doesn’t require a change in CRM strategy.” Feedback and agent-desktop solutions came in second and third, respectively. “The desktop is more of a follow-up purchase.” Small successes and high-level executive buy-in are essential, says Boyd Beasley, senior director of customer support for Electronic Arts, a Redwood City, Calif.–based provider of gaming software, and a RightNow user. “We had to prove ourselves over time,” he recalls. “[Gaming] is largely seen as creative and requires a big paradigm shift to service.” The stakes are high: According to a 2008 Harris Interactive report, 87 percent of consumers have stopped dealing with an organization because of a negative experience. And 58 percent would pay more for a better experience even in a down economy. “Companies will continue to look for investment opportunities to cut costs, but smart [ones] will invest to help retain Will Customer Experience Survive in a ‘Soft’ Economy? Cutting costs may lead to cuts in service T he economic crisis made for a lively topic at customer experience management provider RightNow Tech- promise quick ROI and can’t directly lead to cost reduction are simply not funded.” Greg Gianforte, RightNow’s chief executive officer and founder, says that’s good news. “One of the common themes I’m seeing is an increase in the focus on cost savings,” he says. “It’s great to improve customer experience, but we also have to tie those solutions back to [saving money]. In a soft economy, we see an accelerated shift to software-as-a-service, so when the dust clears and the market rebounds it looks like a very good market for us.” The downturn has led RightNow to develop a pilot program: For about $33,000 to cover consulting, new users are implementing single modules instead of full suites. And starting small has paid off: Those small-scale, 90-day pilots have been converting to longer-term subscriptions at nologies’ annual user summit in Colorado Springs, Colo., in October. Not stocks, per se, but customer service—and how to maintain it as technology budgets dwindle. “The economy is on everyone’s mind right now,” explains Chief Marketing Officer Jason Mittelstaedt. “[You should] invest in the customers you have, and only do positive-return-on-investment [ROI] projects.” One of the biggest mistakes in this environment, he says, is to focus on new-customer acquisition. Rob Bois, research director at AMR Research, agrees. “Companies are facing budget constraints across [technology] and line-of-business as economic conditions decline,” he says. “Investments that don’t 18 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | DECEMBER 2008 www.destinationCRM.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - December 2008

CRM - December 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point The Rave Is Over CRM on Twitter Financial Frenzy Will Customer Experience Survive in a ‘Soft’ Economy? Holiday Humbug Empowered Consumers Are Ready to Flip the Switch Required Reading Transparency Spiff Up Your Site! They Aim to Please Mixing In a Little Sugar Sweetens the Deal A Newsletter Employs New Tactics A Site Stops Feeling Overtaxed Make ’Em Laugh—Personally Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - December 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.