eCRM Strategy and Building Interactive Relationships with your Customers

The Internet is the best interactive marketing channel ever invented. Therefore it is the ideal medium for reaching out to your customers and establishing interactive relationships with them.

Evolving from a simple face-to-face handshake, eCRM has become a science, often requiring large expenditures in manpower and technology. In our people-oriented service industry eCRM has become a must have for any hotel company. In reality, eCRM means different things to different people especially in the hospitality and travel verticals. From a working definition, CRM and its online application, eCRM is a business strategy aiming to engage the customer in a mutually beneficial relationship. Within this context here is the best description that describes eCRM that is universal for any travel supplier or intermediary:

Electronic customer relationship management (eCRM), in the context of Internet distribution and marketing in the hospitality and travel verticals, is a business strategy supported by Web technologies, allowing travel services suppliers to engage customers in strong, personalized and mutually beneficial interactive relationships, increase conversions and sell more efficiently.

Establishing mutually beneficial interactive relationships with your customers is the ultimate goal of any eCRM initiative. Here are the main components of an eCRM strategy in travel and hospitality:

I. Know Your Customer
II. Customer Service
III. Personalization
IV. More Efficient Marketing
V. Build Customer Loyalty  

HeBS will audit your existing eCRM initiatives, conceptualize, budget and launch eCRM strategy and provide ongoing reporting and consultation. HeBS will help you:

I. Know your Customers

How do you broaden your knowledge of your customer base and how do you expand your CRM data? It is crucial to understand that customers are a) very sensitive about privacy and sharing data, and b) willing to share data if there is a fair payoff. Therefore, customer data has to be obtained and expanded slowly and over time, in small pieces and at a "fair" price for both sides.

II. Strengthen Customer Service

eCRM is more than just a tool to achieve and enhance customer satisfaction. The traditional CRM focus in travel and hospitality has always been "Customer Satisfaction." The presumption is very simple: customers will appreciate good service so much they would not go to your competitor. In other words: customer satisfaction + quality of services = customer loyalty.

III. Build and Strength Interactive Relationships with your Customers

Building interactive relationships with the customer consists of three critical lifecycle stages: Nurture -- Grow -- Retain. Existing customers are not only less costly to retain, but they also respond 4-5 times more readily to promotions and e-mail campaigns than new customers. It is important to extract more wealth out of your existing customer base.

IV. Use eCRM for Personalization, Customization and Relevance

Personalizing the customer experience on the travel or hotel website, or in your online marketing and communications, is a powerful conversion and retention tool. Customizing your interaction with your most valuable customers (those 20% that generate 80% of your business) will provide significant long-term rewards.