Customer preferences

The gathering and use of customer preference data is a recent but powerful phenomenon whereby organizations invite their customers to advise them on preferences around communications frequency/ channel/ timings and so on. When gathered and implemented in a robust manner, customer preference data is a powerful retention driver and a significant contributor to reduced operating cost. One other point to note is that gathering individual preference data and then ignoring it or operating outside of the preferences shared is worse than not gathering at all. Communication based on customer preferences is a robust tactic in improving perception of the organization with regard to the privacy issues discussed later. Preferences are either overtly or by implication 'opt in', and thus in a safe zone so far as the customer is concerned. Two organizations in the sample showed a sophisticated understanding and use of customer preference data. However, the majority indicated that gathering and use of this data was at best sporadic and the data gathered under-utilized.

In order to support retention activity, reason for loss should be sought and stored on the customer database for every known customer loss. This may be as simple as a drop-down list of possible options, even though it will not be able to be completed in all situations. Given the business benefits of retention over ongoing acquisition, any supporting information for retention is valid. Similarly, event data, such as price inquiries, changing order patterns and lapsed accounts, can be used as possible predictors of defection. This best practice scored very poorly in the CMAT-R sample, with only two organizations claiming to have made significant progress in this area. Other organizations scored poorly even on recognition of the issue. Retention is a major issue that remains poorly addressed overall; from the wider CMAT data set, some 63 per cent of organizations still do not even measure retention rates.