Are all of your customers equal...

Most organizations have a clear CRM strategy to ensure that their investment in acquiring customers is not lost by failing to retain them once they are on board. Although many companies have invested in CRM, a number of them still fail to segment the customer base in relation to the true lifetime value of the customer to their organization.

Whilst many companies have a CRM model that segments on product type, demographic, and (sometimes) final purchase type (online, in store, call center etc.), very few use the data that comes from attribution modeling to influence their CRM approach.

An example of where this would pay dividends is in the highly competitive credit card market. Path to purchase varies but you can assume the buyer has been influenced by TV, Press, Online Display, Search (paid and SEO) and increasingly they are using comparison websites to compare offers before signing up. Research has shown that customers who come to your brand through a comparison website are likely to be disloyal and leave your brand at the earliest opportunity if they can get a product cheaper elsewhere.

If you know the path to purchase that an individual customer has taken you can then create a CRM strategy for that customer that may inform cross sell opportunities, method of contact (online, call center, account manager etc.), and how far you will be willing to go to keep the customer in your business.

The rich data that attribution modeling provides can help your business in creating these CRM strategies to ensure that you are not only investing the right amount in the right place to get the customer in the first place but also to maximize that chances of keeping profitable customers in your stable.

More reason for CMOs to be looking at this investment as a crucial need for 2015 – what do you think?