Two Great Ways to Get Your Customers Working for YOU!

1. Let Your Customers Manage Their Information and Relationships

Almost every company we’ve worked with is somewhat embarrassed about the state of its customer data. Yes, it’s true that there are organizations that have perfect and accurate records of their customers’ account information, transaction histories, product ownership, and service and interaction histories. But, to be frank, those organizations are the exception; not the rule.

In every organization we’ve ever seen, customer information is distributed, specialized, and functionalized. There may be “one system of record” for all core customer account information. But I can guarantee you that there are also many silo’ed and ancillary applications, spreadsheets, email lists, and databases that are hopefully, but probably not, linked into a federated view of customer information. The fact is that the proverbial “360-degree view of our customers’ information” is an unattainable and unrealistic holy grail.

The first mistake that we find most organizations making is to wait until they have “perfect” customer data to begin exposing it to their customers. There is no such thing as perfect customer information. There never will be.

The second mistake that we find most organizations making is not moving quickly enough to enable customers to enter and manage their own information. We are all so embarrassed by the fact that we don’t have everything perfect and linked together that we ignore the twin realities that a) nobody else does it much better, and b) many customers would be happy to help us connect the dots.

Customers Manage Their Information All the Time!

My phone company, Verizon, gave me the opportunity to link the phone lines in my two homes in two different states into a single account when I requested a consolidated bill. Then, when I opted for a Verizon Wireless service, they let me tell them (on the Web site), that I had Verizon land lines, even though Verizon Wireless was an almost entirely separate company. Verizon Wireless, like many phone companies, also offers a family plan. So they know my family members who are consolidated onto a single phone account. On the other hand, American Airlines doesn’t let me easily consolidate my husband's and my frequent flyer miles, so we could pool them towards a common travel goal.

American Express already links my business and personal credit cards together, and lets me manage my employees’ card privileges. Citizens Bank, which has my business accounts, would also like to woo me as a consumer banking client. They offer seductive benefits for me to consolidate my personal and business finances.

Dell knows what computers and laptops we have (if we purchased them from Dell or registered them under a service contract), but Dell has no idea where those computers “live” since we move them about constantly. I wouldn’t expect Dell to know the location of every computer I own. If I need them to come and fix something, I’m happy to tell them where the broken system is at the time. Yet, most computer and software firms agonize over the fact that they don’t have accurate records of the products and software their clients own. Guess what? You’re not alone!

Both Lands’ End and L.L. Bean have exquisite databases of every item of clothing I’ve purchased, but neither gives me access to that information. On the other hand, I can see and rate every purchase I’ve ever made through Amazon.com, and decide which purchases I want to “count” in the algorithm Amazon uses to make personalized recommendations for me. The more time I choose to invest in ranking and rating, the better and more targeted are the recommendations. NetFlix does the same thing for me with all of my movie ratings. My reward for rating movies (ones I rent with NetFlix and ones I’ve seen elsewhere) is more tailored recommendations.

Both Fidelity and Charles Schwab let me manage my “self-directed” investments. My professional investment advisor also uses Schwab’s back-end services. If I want to see a consolidated view of all of my holdings (personally-managed, professionally-managed, and employee benefit plan), I can specifically request that consolidated view.

A Shortcut to “Solving” Your CRM Problem: Let Customers Enter and Manage Their Own Info

Don’t wait until you have perfect information to give customers the ability to manage their own accounts. Instead, provide whatever information you have and let them add additional info and/or tell you what accounts/products they’d like to link and manage. Give customers control over their own information in order to improve the quality of the customer information you have and of the experience you offer.

When are customers most willing to provide you with their detailed information without getting upset? When they need help! If I have a problem with a technical system or a financial instrument, I’m willing to provide the information required to troubleshoot and diagnose that problem if I can do so quickly, easily, and without repeating myself. Most customers are willing to enter that information online, rather than wait in a phone queue.

When do I, as a customer, want to “consolidate” and/or manage my account information and gain a 360-degree view? When I need to do so in order to get something done (tell you what versions of software I have and where my systems are currently deployed in order to renew my licenses), or to gain more convenience (a consolidated bill) or when you incent me to do so in order to gain discounts or rewards. Your job is to make it as easy as possible for me to tell you what products, accounts, and additional relationships I have with your firm and its products, to capture that information once, and let me modify it when necessary.

So, we offer a quick summary of our approach to “outside in” customer information and relationship management (see Why CRM Is the Wrong Answer to the Wrong Question: Are You Investing in the Right Stuff?). I offer a canonical list of customer scenarios for customer self-service. Supporting each of these scenarios not only provides a better customer experience; you reap the benefits of gaining more customer information in context. Customer-managed information, usually implemented as self-service Web sites or customer portals, is the best way to gain traction on your intractable customer information problem. By giving customers the tools they need to manage their relationships with your firm and its partners, by supporting the scenarios they care about, you benefit by gaining insight into their contexts and current issues.

2. Engage Your Most Insightful Customers in Co-Designing Your Next Gen Everything!

We have a number of clients currently working on “next gen” online experiences. Their goals are similar: modernize our Web infrastructure, provide a more consistent experience across the customer lifecycle, provide a more personalized experience for each prospect or customer, make it easier for customers to serve themselves, make it easier for partners to serve themselves and to support our mutual customers better.

We have other clients who are streamlining customer-impacting business processes, such as quote-to-cash, claims processing, software license management, “Web-first” product marketing and product catalog creation, or supply chain management.

We have still other clients who are looking for their next big product ideas—what’s the killer service, category, business model, or solution that will be the blockbuster for the next five years?

All of these clients have one important thing in common. They are engaging with their most creative and insightful customers and partners to help them co-design their next generation customer experiences, customer-impacting business processes and product and service offerings.

How well are you doing in unleashing your customers’ creativity to reinvent your business? Take our Outside Innovation Self-Assessment Guide on customer co-design to see where you are taking advantage of the creative power of your lead customers and where you still have work to do.