CRM to 'come of age' in recession, says Adare

Andrew Woodger, data services director at Adare, has commented on how the recession has changed customers' attitudes, and how CRM is fundamental to marketing in a downturn.

The dramatic change in economic conditions over the last six months has meant that customers' motivations and loyalties have significantly shifted.

This presents opportunities for some organisations and a significant threat to others.

Companies cannot afford to be complacent and fool themselves into thinking that how they used to service their customers still applies today.

It is imperative that businesses continually re-evaluate existing and potential consumers' needs and adapt their propositions to match them.

I believe that customer relationship management (CRM) techniques are the key to ensuring those customers' new needs and behaviours can be identified and tracked, and that organisations can adapt their approach to continue to meet them.

It is apparent that many organisations have forgotten about CRM, its meaning and its value.

True CRM should mean a continuous re-evaluation of customers' activity, day-by-day and month-by-month to ensure that the proposition continues to meet customers' expectations As companies struggle to gain new business, maintaining the loyalty of existing customers becomes ever more important.

Success is driven by the accessibility of current customer data and the marketing insight that can be derived.

No one should be better placed to understand your customers than you are, but is your organisation able to leverage this advantage? The answer lies in a well-designed and properly maintained marketing database infrastructure that gives you real-time access to your customer data, in an easy-to-interpret format.

With the power of your data unlocked it can be used to spot trends early, drive efficiency through highly targeted campaigns, using the lowest cost channel and enable you to respond to customers' changing needs more quickly than your competitors.

Not being able to use your data to maximise marketing effectiveness is a waste of one of your most valuable assets.

The most successful businesses use database marketing to drive CRM strategies to great effect.

In the current climate they have the capability to stay ahead of their competitors.

The traditional barrier of high initial investment in marketing database infrastructure has been removed by advancing technology and more flexible commercial models.

Only those organisations that are able to access and use their customer data effectively can fully benefit from the huge potential of low-cost digital communications channels.

I believe that CRM will come of age in this recession, but only for those organisations with the tools to practise it effectively.

The digital space is growing rapidly and provides the ideal medium to deliver highly customer centric communications quickly.

There is an ever-widening gap between those who have tools to use this medium well and those who do not.

The philosophy of CRM is founded on basic marketing principles.

Understand your customers and shape your propositions to match their needs.

The two golden rules of surviving a recession are: monitor your customers more closely and adapt your propositions quickly to meet their changing needs.

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