Reference no: EM132233910 , Length: word count:4750
Scenario: Customer loyalty
You are a Marketing Executive within the marketing team of your chosen organisation.
Your manager is keen to focus on building longer term customer relationships through improving customer loyalty and believes that these can be achieved through more effective customer communications.
You have therefore been asked to assist your manager in recommending and implementing appropriate customer communications to develop long-term customer relationships
TASK 1 - REPORT
You have been asked by your manager to produce a short report for your marketing colleagues which highlights the benefits of segmentation, how your chosen organisation could use technology to improve customer relationships, and how it could monitor customer satisfaction.
Required:
(a) Provide a background to your chosen organisation, using the organisation summary guidelines.
(b) Describe TWO examples of how segmentation can be used by your chosen organisation to improve customer relationships.
(c) Illustrate with examples, how customer relationship management (CRM) technology could be used by your chosen organisation to manage and develop customer relationships in ONE key customer segment.
(d) Discuss with examples, how customer satisfaction could be monitored by your organisation in the key customer segment identified in Task 1 (c)
Contents will contribute to the FIVE marks available in Part (a) of Task 1. The following headings must be included:
- Organisation name
- Type of organisation, for example, profit or not-for-profit, local, national, global, and type of legal entity
- Size of organisation in terms of turnover and/or number of employees
- Range of products and services provided
- Customer base, for example, B2B/B2C
- Main competitors
Other information relevant to the assignment may be included, within the maximum page count, to assist the Examiner in understanding the organisation
Task 1 (b): In this task, candidates are asked to describe TWO examples of how their chosen organisation can use segmentation to improve customer relationships. The examples should show how a targeted approach to communications by the chosen organisation can help build such relationships.
Examples of how segmentation can be used for targeting are geographic, demographic, psychographic, behavioural and benefits driven. Effective targeting through use of segmentation will lead to more relevant and specific communications which can help improve customer relationships.
Task 1 (c): This task explores Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology and its use by organisations to manage and develop its customer relationships. Candidates should start by briefly stating what CRM is and the role technology plays in collecting data. Candidates should then go on to illustrate, with examples how this data could be used by their chosen organisation to better manage and develop customer relationships with the identified customer segment.
Examples of CRM technology could be any software product/service that gathers customer data into a database and presents it in a searchable way (e.g. Sage, Salesforce, Zoho, Apptivo, Bullhorn, HubSpot, etc).
Examples of how the data could be used by the chosen organisation will depend on the nature of the organisation and the particular CRM product used. However, common data uses are for: customer segmentation, more targeted and relevant communications, monitoring of customer satisfaction levels, developing customer profiles, providing tailored online services and product suggestions, sales lead generation, forecasting to meet customer demand, etc.
Task 1 (d): Candidates should outline relevant ways in which their chosen organisation could monitor customer satisfaction in the key customer segment they identified in Task 1(c).
Candidates must clearly discuss with relevant examples how monitoring would be undertaken. This could be by use of a ‘customer satisfaction index', monitoring complaints, intelligence from defecting customers, rating system, competitor benchmarking, etc.
TASK 2 - BRIEFING PAPER
Your manager has asked you to prepare a briefing paper that demonstrates how communication processes and tools can help your chosen organisation improve customer loyalty.
Required:
(a) Describe the DRIP model and how elements of that model could be used in your chosen organisation's marketing communications to improve customer loyalty.
(b) Discuss, using an example, how an organisation in another industry has used customer communications to improve its customer loyalty.
(c) Explain, using examples, how TWO of the following tools could be used by your chosen organisation in a campaign to encourage existing customers to remain loyal:
- sales promotion
- direct marketing
- personal selling
- social media.
Guidance notes: Organisations need to be able to communicate effectively with customers for any given purpose. As well as understanding customer needs, marketers must also understand the purpose and process of marketing communications, including the wide range of marketing communications tools available to them.
Task 2 (a): This task asks candidates to apply their knowledge of the role and benefits of external marketing communications.
Candidates should describe what the DRIP model (Fill, 2002) is and its elements (i.e. Differentiate, Remind/Reinforce, Inform, Persuade).
Candidates should then move on to how one or more elements of the model could be used within a communications strategy for their chosen organisation, specifically to improve customer loyalty.
An example could be an organisation's use of an email welcome programme for new customers signing up to a subscription service. After sign-up, customers are sent an email reminding them of the service features and benefits (to reduce post purchase dissonance, initial defection, and churn). Subsequent communications can persuade customers to remain loyal by differentiating the organisation from competitors, offering discounts for repeat purchases or enhanced product/service functionality etc.
Task 2 (b): Candidates should choose an example of communications carried out by an organisation in a different industry to that of their own and discuss how that campaign was used to improve customer loyalty.
Areas for discussion could include, for example, how the message of the campaign was aimed at improving customer loyalty, or how a specific communications tool was used successfully to encourage such loyalty.
Task 2 (c): Candidates should select TWO of the tools listed and briefly explain what each tool is. Candidates should then go on to give an example that shows how each of the two chosen tools can be used within a campaign to encourage existing customers to remain loyal. For example, this could be by using sales promotion to reach out to existing customers with discounts for additional products and cross-selling.
TASK 3 - MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN
Your manager has asked you to develop an outline marketing communications campaign, specifically aimed at improving customer loyalty for your chosen organisation.
Required:
(a) Recommend an outline marketing communications campaign aimed at improving customer loyalty in the ONE key customer segment identified in Task 1 (c).
The campaign should include:
- TWO SMART campaign objectives
- a clear campaign message
- an appropriate marketing communication mix
- TWO methods you could use to evaluate your campaign
(b) Justify why preparing a schedule for your campaign in Task 3 (a) is important.
Guidance notes: Marketing and communications professionals need to be able to use the theory they have acquired and apply it in a practical and focused way. It is important therefore, that candidates can develop marketing communications campaigns and clearly illustrate how they will be put into practice.
Task 3 (a): This task requires candidates to recommend an outline marketing communications campaign for ONE key customer segment. Candidates should identify the group being targeted and then recommend:
• TWO SMART campaign objectives, candidates should ensure that these are marketing communications objectives (and not general marketing or sales objectives). They should focus on improving customer loyalty
• a clear campaign message, this should be brief, in line with corporate/brand values and aimed at improving customer loyalty
• a marketing communications mix, factors to consider here might include the effectiveness of the chosen tools, both in meeting the stated objectives and in carrying the stated message
• TWO evaluation methods relevant to the campaign, these should relate to the stated objectives of the campaign, as well as being appropriate to the tools chosen for the communications mix
Task 3 (b): Candidates need to justify why campaign scheduling is an important aspect in campaign planning.
Answers may include the importance of scheduling as a monitoring and control tool, as a resource planning tool (including when money is likely to flow out of the organisation across the campaign period), as a forward planning tool, or as a performance management tool etc.
Attachment:- Customer-communications.rar