How are you integrating social networking/selling into your CRM initiatives?
More than half of companies are likely to establish online communities to help them with their CRM initiatives by next year, but poor management may cause many of these projects to backfire.
According to a new report from Gartner Group, The Businss Impact of Social Computing on CRM – by 2010, more than 60% of Fortune 1,000 companies will have some form of online community deployed for CRM purposes. But if too many companies buy into the hype surrounding social networking and don’t take the necessary safeguards, then this could turn into a costly failure.
“Investments should focus primarily on the customer online buying process where it can offer a direct return on investment in terms of sales, awareness and customer loyalty.”
Adam Sarner, research director, Gartner
For example, Gartner recommends that organisations apply ground rules to install self-moderation, solicit feedback to make users feel appreciated, and assign an advocate to liaise with the community and represent it to the company.
“Social applications offer a great opportunity for CRM practitioners to improve customer experience and influence the customer, particularly in an economic downturn when companies are trying to keep customers and increase wallet share,” says Adam Sarner, research director at Gartner. “Investments should focus primarily on the customer online buying process where it can offer a direct return on investment in terms of sales, awareness and customer loyalty.”
