March 7, 2007

1:15 PM - 2:15 PM

Level: Intermediate

Many businesses acknowledge the general importance of Customer Value, but shy away from measuring it precisely because they don’t know what to do with the results. This session answers that question by presenting specific applications employed by industry leaders in customer management. It shows how customer value measures can increase profits by guiding both strategic and tactical decisions. Attendees will learn the basic components of customer value calculations, how these are refined and extended for particular purposes, and best ways to present the results to business users. The session will also cover technical requirements for customer value analysis, including customer data integration, use of metadata to combine information gathered from different channel systems, alternative methods for building value models, and integration with touchpoint systems for real-time interactions. The final portion of the session will show how customer value measures can be integrated to ensure that decisions across the customer life cycle yield optimal results for the business as a whole, rather than the department executing a particular interaction.

Key points:

• real-world examples of how customer value measures are used to improve business results
• two categories of customer value measures, and why you need both
• an incremental method for building a comprehensive customer data store
• strengths and weaknesses of different techniques to calculate customer value
• matching customer value applications to available company infrastructure
• using customer value to ensure optimal business decisions throughout the organization
  

David M. Raab has been managing marketing technology since building his first contact management system on a Wang word processor. He is a long-time columnist for DM Review and DM News as well as author of the Guide to Customer Management Systems. Mr. Raab is currently president of Client X Client, a consulting and software firm that helps companies to understand, manage and optimize interactions with their customers across all channels and life stages. Prior to Client X Client, Mr. Raab was an independent consultant and senior manager at firms including Gruner + Jahr USA and the Franklin Mint. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Harvard Business School.