“Bacon makes everything better,” is a sign I have in my kitchen. I thought of it recently w
hile working with two clients that are implementing new technologies into their organizations. The technology in and of itself will neither improve customer centricity nor ultimately business performance. The new technology is the enabler to measure and improve client engagement. Measurement is the Bacon.
Leveraging information for customer measurement creates the ability to answer questions that are critical to accurately assessing the effectiveness of current business strategies and tactics and exploit upside potential. If you are asking yourself:
- Where is the greatest return for each marginal marketing dollar spent?
- What is the optimal mix and sequencing of in channel and cross channel activities throughout the customer lifecycle?
- What segment is having the best response to current marketing activities?
- What are key differentiators/attributes of new customers that have purchased for those who have not responded?
- Has share of wallet increased or decreased and at what rate?
- What is the current value and the potential value of individual customers over time?
- What is the point of diminishing returns for customer solicitations?
Do you have the answers, or more importantly the ability to get these answers and track over time?
Best-in-class marketing organizations recognize the need to link activity and measures to key financial and customer indicators. If a measurement framework has not been developed within your organization, create one that includes the following dimensions:
|
Action & Activity |
Measures the resource, program and activities devoted to achieving marketing objectives. These indicators look primarily at programs, inputs and investments. |
|
Marketing Impact |
Measures the results of marketing activities within each stage of customer engagement. |
|
Financial Impact |
Measures the financial aspects of marketing programs, including cost, and ROI |
|
Customer Impact |
Measures the impact of marketing activities on customer segments |
|
Time and Migration |
Measures the time required to move customers through the engagement cycle and provides indicators of migration difficult or stalling |
For customer engagement metrics to really be the “bacon”, they should be tailored to specific audiences within your organization:
|
Corporate |
Strategic |
Operational |
|
|
Stakeholder |
Shareholders & Executive Management |
Senior Marketing Management |
Line Management and Employees |
|
Focus |
Bottom line results |
Feedback on Strategy |
Effectiveness & Efficiency |
|
Typical Business Objectives |
Increase shareholder value |
Enhance customer engagement |
Process optimization |
|
Sample Metrics |
Market Share Revenue Growth Profit Growth Margin Growth Customer Loyalty |
Customer Value Customer Profitability Share of Wallet Cost to Serve Acquisition Costs Customer Satisfaction Customer Retention |
Response Rates Revenue/Sale Cross Sell Ratio Cost of Sales Leads to Close Ratio Campaign Profitability |
With a robust set of customer engagement metrics and reports, your marketing organization will be:
- Lending consistency and credibility to the on-going decision making process through the establishment and use of a common and stable set of measures and reports
- Providing reliable, stable and committed volume forecasts to dependent business partners
- Establishing benchmarks for each metric so progress can be measured over time
- Ensuring upstream consistency with corporate financial performance measures
- Establishing a feedback loop into planning processes to allow for modification and/or re-prioritization of marketing activities.
Your marketing organization will be the Bacon!
