Topic: Customer Relationship Management
Author: Sejal Maske
Sales technology research: A review and future research agenda
AGNIHOTRI, R. et al. (2023) stated that The study involves a systematic literature review to uncover key themes in the extensive history of sales technology research. It offers scholarly insights into critical issues faced by salespeople and managers, emphasizing the relevance of these challenges in contemporary times. Additionally, the study proposes a future research agenda, encouraging scholars to contribute insights and ensuring continued fruitful exploration in sales technology research for the upcoming decades. Organizations invest significantly in sales technology tools like CRM, social media, and AI, expecting enhanced productivity. Scholars have produced a substantial literature on the topic, yet a fragmented understanding persists about sales technology’s role and adoption factors. This study reviews 115 articles spanning 1971 to 2023, aiming to synthesize existing scholarship for easy managerial application and provide insights into the evolving sales technology landscape, offering potential research directions for the future.
Overcoming the Cold Start Problem of Customer Relationship Management Using a Probabilistic Machine Learning Approach
PADILLA, N. et al (2021) stated that The study introduces a modeling framework (FIM) addressing the cold start problem in CRM by leveraging information from customer acquisition. Using probabilistic ML with hidden factors, FIM extracts relevant information, overcoming challenges of maintaining redundant data. In a retail setting, FIM demonstrates the ability to make individual-level inferences about newly acquired customers, categorizing them based on first transaction characteristics. The findings suggest valuable insights for customer segmentation without relying on customer-provided or external data. While highlighting FIM’s value, the study acknowledges limitations, calls for empirical validation, and suggests potential extensions for investigating wider acquisition characteristics. The model’s flexibility is emphasized, but future research is encouraged to explore latent traits driving observed behaviors and identify universal shopping traits.
How Physical Stores Enhance Customer Value: The Importance of Product Inspection Depth
ZHANG, J. Z et al (2022) stated that The study explores the role of physical stores in a multichannel environment, emphasizing their ability to enhance customer value, particularly for deep products requiring thorough inspection. Employing a multimethod approach, including a hidden Markov model and experiments, the authors find that purchasing deep products in physical stores transitions customers to a high-value state more effectively. Experiential learning theory is validated, showing that physical engagement with deep products leads to strong experiential knowledge, fostering repatronage and influencing future online purchases. The research suggests that multichannel retailers should employ a strategic combination of channels and products for effective customer development, providing insights for experiential retail designs.
Customer Relationship Management: Transcending the Indian Banking Industry.
CHATURVEDI, P. (2022) stated that The paper emphasizes the potential of banking CRM software in enhancing client interaction and satisfaction. While Relationship Marketing techniques are understood, the adoption of technology-enabled CRM in Indian banks is still in early stages, with operational CRM being common. Collaborative CRM is visible in internet and mobile banking, ATM features, and other services. The use of analytical CRM varies among banks. Effective collection, organization, and utilization of client data are crucial for recognizing needs, segmenting customers, and building accurate profiles. The challenge lies in turning available data into a competitive advantage. The suggested strategic framework emphasizes CRM as an organization-wide strategy, highlighting the alignment of bank culture and processes for customer-centric operations. Leadership commitment, training, cooperation, and communication between departments are deemed essential for successful CRM implementation.
Beyond the Target Customer: Social Effects of Customer Relationship Management Campaigns.
ASCARZA, E. et al. (2017) stated that This research focuses on CRM campaigns and their impact in settings with network externalities. Contrary to traditional profitability-centric approaches, the study demonstrates that CRM campaigns targeting specific customers can influence the behavior of non-targeted customers within the social network. Through a randomized field experiment involving 6,000 customers of a mobile telecommunication provider, the authors find that social connections of targeted customers experience increased consumption and reduced likelihood of churning. The social multiplier is estimated at 1.28, indicating a 28% spillover effect on first-degree connections. The study emphasizes the importance for firms to consider not only the targeted customer’s profitability but also the potential campaign spillover to connected customers in CRM marketing strategies.
When Salespeople Manage Customer Relationships: Multidimensional Incentives and Private Information.
KIM, M. et al (2019) stated that This article addresses challenges in the sales performance–moral hazard trade-off when salespeople manage customer relationships. It introduces a multidimensional incentive model based on joint acquisition and maintenance metrics, analyzing its impact through an analytical model and empirical study using microfinance organization data. The research explores how firms managing CRM can assess performance metrics and compensation plans on customer acquisition, retention, and overall productivity. The study also introduces a new identification strategy to detect adverse selection and customer moral hazard in credit and insurance markets. The article suggests avenues for future research, including investigating incentives for CRM-related metrics, exploring multidimensional incentives in different settings, understanding the balance between adverse selection and efficiency gains through transfers, and exploring salesperson job design in CRM settings.
Making Customer Relationship Management Work: The Measurement and Profitable Management of Customer Relationships.
RYALS, L. (2005) stated that This research addresses the perceived failure of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) by demonstrating that effective CRM implementation leads to greater profits. Through two longitudinal case studies analyzing the lifetime value of customers, the study reveals that customer management strategies evolve with increased understanding of customer value, resulting in improved firm performance. The contribution of the article is to emphasize that CRM works, and a straightforward analysis of customer value can positively impact business outcomes. The research highlights the importance of focusing on maximizing customer value in CRM activities to achieve better firm performance.
Tolerating and Managing Failure: An Organizational Perspective on Customer Reacquisition Management.
VOMBERG, A. et al, (2020) stated that This study explores the impact of failure-tolerant cultures and formal reacquisition policies on successful customer reacquisition management. Drawing on organizational design theory and psychological ownership theory, it finds that failure-tolerant cultures have an inverted U-shaped effect, increasing reacquisition attempts without inducing more failures. Formal reacquisition policies have a positive linear relationship, and they enhance the beneficial effects of failure tolerance on reacquisition performance. The study emphasizes that customer reacquisition performance is positively linked to overall firm financial performance, underscoring the managerial and organizational-level significance of effective reacquisition management.
A Customer Relationship Management Roadmap: What Is Known, Potential Pitfalls, and Where to Go
BOULDING, W. et al. (2005) stated that The field of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has matured significantly in the past decade, marked by increased academic attention, conferences, research papers, and industry focus. While acknowledging substantial progress, there are still many unanswered questions. The authors share the view that CRM represents an ongoing evolution and integration of marketing ideas, data, technologies, and organizational forms. Instead of predicting a discontinuous leap after CRM, they foresee a continued evolution with the integration of new ideas and technologies into CRM activities. The article aims to stimulate further research, encouraging scholars to advance the theory and practice of CRM in an ongoing evolutionary process.
Why Do Customer Relationship Management Applications Affect Customer Satisfaction?
MITHAS, S. et al. (2005) stated that This research empirically investigates the impact of CRM applications on customer knowledge and satisfaction using archival data from a broad range of U.S. firms. The study reveals that well-integrated CRM applications within the supply chain are likely to enhance customer knowledge. The findings support the idea that CRM applications contribute to firms gaining customer knowledge, leading to improved customer satisfaction. The research integrates insights from marketing and information systems literature and explores the influence of organizational variables on CRM investments. Overall, the results suggest that firms investing in CRM applications experience significant intangible benefits, particularly in terms of enhanced customer knowledge and satisfaction, crucial for success in competitive markets.
Overall Summary
Sejal G. M (2023) stated that In the realm of customer relationship management (CRM), diverse studies illuminate key facets. CRM campaigns, with their network externalities, exert influence not only on targeted customers but also on non-targeted ones, emphasizing the need to consider spillover effects. Physical stores play a pivotal role in augmenting customer value, particularly for deep products, as validated by experiential learning theory through a multimethod approach. Banking CRM software strives to enhance client interaction, emphasizing effective data utilization and a comprehensive organizational strategic framework for successful implementation. The modeling framework (FIM) addresses the cold start problem in CRM by making individual-level inferences about newly acquired customers in a retail setting. A systematic literature review in sales technology research sheds light on contemporary challenges, proposing a future research agenda for continued exploration in the field. The maturation of the CRM field, marked by increased academic attention and industry focus, anticipates an ongoing evolution and integration of ideas, data, technologies, and organizational forms into CRM activities, stimulating further research. Additionally, a study explores the impact of failure-tolerant cultures and formal reacquisition policies on customer reacquisition management, revealing an inverted U-shaped effect for cultures and a positive linear relationship for policies, underlining their combined significance for enhanced reacquisition performance and overall firm financial success. Demonstrating the profitability of effective CRM implementation, another research underscores the importance of understanding customer value, encouraging a straightforward analysis of customer value in CRM activities. Lastly, an article introduces a multidimensional incentive model for CRM management, addressing challenges in the sales performance–moral hazard trade-off and suggesting avenues for future research, including exploring incentives for CRM-related metrics and understanding the balance between adverse selection and efficiency gains. Empirical research on CRM applications in U.S. firms concludes that well-integrated applications within the supply chain enhance customer knowledge, leading to improved satisfaction, highlighting significant intangible benefits for firms investing in CRM applications, crucial for success in competitive markets.
Reference
AGNIHOTRI, R. et al. Sales technology research: a review and future research agenda. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, [s. l.], v. 43, n. 4, p. 307–335, 2023. DOI 10.1080/08853134.2023.2260108. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=c0b56866-3fdf-3682-aa55-0e9b41aaeb41. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.
ASCARZA, E. et al. Beyond the Target Customer: Social Effects of Customer Relationship Management Campaigns. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), [s. l.], v. 54, n. 3, p. 347–363, 2017. DOI 10.1509/jmr.15.0442. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=c17d62f8-c6eb-30ab-a29f-3d07c752a313. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.
BOULDING, W. et al. A Customer Relationship Management Roadmap: What Is Known, Potential Pitfalls, and Where to Go. Journal of Marketing, [s. l.], v. 69, n. 4, p. 155–166, 2005. DOI 10.1509/jmkg.2005.69.4.155. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=88ffc55e-f59f-399b-b0d4-96d82b305f36. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.
CHATURVEDI, P. Customer Relationship Management: Transcending the Indian Banking Industry. ANWESH: International Journal of Management & Information Technology, [s. l.], v. 7, n. 2, p. 47–51, 2022. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=33b90606-18e9-3d2f-be3b-95e2280ede90. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.
KIM, M. et al. When Salespeople Manage Customer Relationships: Multidimensional Incentives and Private Information. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), [s. l.], v. 56, n. 5, p. 749–766, 2019. DOI 10.1177/0022243719847661. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=e2825f1c-d29d-3ecd-933e-7e5443bc8bfc. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.
MITHAS, S.; KRISHNAN, M. S.; FORNELL, C. Why Do Customer Relationship Management Applications Affect Customer Satisfaction? Journal of Marketing, [s. l.], v. 69, n. 4, p. 201–209, 2005. DOI 10.1509/jmkg.2005.69.4.201. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=08fd4481-c1fa-386a-9370-cb7f14c269ed. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.
PADILLA, N.; ASCARZA, E. Overcoming the Cold Start Problem of Customer Relationship Management Using a Probabilistic Machine Learning Approach. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), [s. l.], v. 58, n. 5, p. 981–1006, 2021. DOI 10.1177/00222437211032938. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=2894f741-2963-3e0e-a3e8-27c3c2899ee8. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.
RYALS, L. Making Customer Relationship Management Work: The Measurement and Profitable Management of Customer Relationships. Journal of Marketing, [s. l.], v. 69, n. 4, p. 252–261, 2005. DOI 10.1509/jmkg.2005.69.4.252. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=2aca882c-dbd1-3ee7-9891-64d4831054f4. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.
VOMBERG, A.; HOMBURG, C.; GWINNER, O. Tolerating and Managing Failure: An Organizational Perspective on Customer Reacquisition Management. Journal of Marketing, [s. l.], v. 84, n. 5, p. 117–136, 2020. DOI 10.1177/0022242920916733. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=77b00784-0192-3b87-965b-ce039a528590. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.
- ZHANG, J. Z.; CHANG, C.-W.; NESLIN, S. A. How Physical Stores Enhance Customer Value: The Importance of Product Inspection Depth. Journal of Marketing, [s. l.], v. 86, n. 2, p. 166–185, 2022. DOI 10.1177/00222429211012106. Disponível em: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=6bec7142-700a-39d5-b411-e57fed192b75. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2024.