Kim Gazlay, national hospitality/gaming sales manager, Infor
CRM Epiphany notes that according to a 2009 Aberdeen (News -
Alert) report, "Cutting Edge Customer Loyalty," the two main
challenges facing hospitality organizations in their efforts to
keep customers in a down economy are "increased competition and
customers seeking the best price."
But a more recent Aberdeen report cited by Gazlay, titled
"Building Lifetime Customer Value and Brand Advocacy in the
Hospitality Industry," says the best-in-class hospitality
enterprises are using loyalty programs to build customer value
and "seeing higher customer retention, less attrition, and
improved lifetime value" as a result.
Gazlay does everyone a service, reminding us that "customer
preferences constantly evolve, especially in a tight economic
environment," something it's easy to forget. So often in CRM we
get the customer preferences nailed and there they sit, as far
as we're concerned, never to be changed.
Gazlay offers some highly practical advice on how to keep your
customer service fresh, relevant and effective:
Review all lapsed customers over the past 12 months and develop
promotions geared toward getting them to your property. Identify
customers that are most profitable to you and develop
personalized promotions for them.
Use customer analytics with a CRM system and database marketing
application to personalize your offers, and use a segmentation
process based on customer tiers, spending patterns, preferences,
and demographics. Do monthly updates of these segments to
reflect changing customer needs.
Monitor and measure loyalty program sign-ups, redemption, and
satisfaction rates with regular reporting of these numbers, and
implement incentive plans for your top-performing locations.
Adapt your messaging, promotions, and brand image using mobile
and online channels to keep customers -- and be consistent in
your offers across all channels.
And find a good technological tool suited to your needs. "An
example of the success from taking these actions is a global
vacation exchange service provider," she says, adding that using
Infor CRM Epiphany for hospitality, "the company can now deliver
150+ offers from its website, whereas previously it could only
deliver 12 offers on two spots."
Source: David Sims
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