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Once you have user interest-or an existing
customer-how do you keep that interest alive and
growing?
The answer is Customer Relationship Management
(CRM). What that means is the collection of crucial
information, data and statistics that allow you to
keep in touch with users in a very customized,
highly targeted way. Whether these users are
prospects, customers, partners, or even employees,
the goals are the same: user-friendly access to
content and services that are meaningful to them as
individuals.
One of the most important Internet business issues
currently is the question of how to turn prospects
into real customers, and how to grow interest and
personalize information for existing customers to
make them feel "special" and remain loyal to your
company.
CRM is the answer. You have, for example, the
ability to find all your users in a particular city
or state that have not visited for more than a
month, and through a point-and-click interface send
them a personalized message that pertains to their
location, with their name or other personal
information merged into each individual email.
This allows you to interact with your customers on a
level never before possible 24/7/365.
Any bit of information gathered from the user
through CRM modules, can be tracked and searched on
an individual level-of course with the customer's
consent (known as opt-in). The customer has the
ability to email the CRM system to be removed if
needed (known as opt-out), and the system
automatically gives this user a "removed" status,
yet keeps him in the system should he decide to
visit again. |