How effective are you at creating that great first impression with new customers or continuing to meet your current customers' expectations? If your program could be better, it's time to take a fresh look at the multitude of elements that make up your CRM system today: vendors, platforms, databases, channels, and more. Sometimes, with a little realignment of your assets, it's possible to streamline your work and enhance your results.

This month's eCRM Advisor talks about trends we see with our clients and how they are getting their houses in order.

Walking Uphill, Both Ways: How Today's Market Demands Make Jobs Harder Than Ever
By Teresa Caro

Customer-centric organizations are becoming more commonplace and individual departments are being asked to work together through leadership consolidations or task forces. This is great news.

Yet, as the groups come together and compare notes, I see them confronting the reality of a multitude of agencies, platforms, reporting and monitoring tools. They are finding disparate customer databases and missed monetization opportunities. They are receiving more reports and yet having less confidence in the findings. And yes, they are being asked to streamline their workforces and whoever is left is expected to be the expert in everything.

Why not take inventory of what causes you (or your resources) to walk up that very big hill everyday to get anything done? And then why not lay out a plan to fix it?

CASE STUDY: LasikPlus
By Jamie Schissler

INTRODUCTION

LCA-Vision Inc. is a leading provider of laser vision correction services under the LasikPlus brand. The corporation owns and operates 77 LasikPlus fixed-site laser vision correction centers in the United States and a joint venture in Canada.

LasikPlus independent surgeons have performed over 1,000,000 laser vision correction procedures since 1991.

CHALLENGES

LasikPlus approached the eCRM group at Razorfish with several requirements. They wanted to:

• Maximize conversion at each point in the customer journey for increased revenue.
• Drive down communication costs through efficiencies while improving customer experiences.
• Create a consistent, efficient and compelling online/offline customer experience from discovery and inquiry, through pre-op, treatment, and post-op.
• Develop and nurture patient relationships for post-op product, service marketing and referral value.

• Razorfish implemented new branding and communications across 40+ triggered multi-channel customer touchpoints.
• Achieved operational efficiency by consolidating vendors, strategically leveraging digital channels, and more.
• Optimized prospect and patient communications and experience using a multi-channel communication strategy.
• Implemented performance optimization tools and processes.

• Reduced print costs by 60%.
• Increased conversion from initial inquiry to scheduled appointment by 15%.
• Increased response rates by 24%.
• Improved turnaround time to get programs in marketing by 75%.
• Industry recognition

TECHNICAL CORNER – Where Is Marketing Automation Going?
By David Baker

The email industry prides itself on being the early adopter of, and in many cases the founder of, marketing automation. Marketing automation in itself is based on the foundation of data and your ability to take this data and coordinate campaigns and controls that support marketing and customer service activities.

In the early stages of email marketing, when there weren't 100 different ESPs on the market, the larger platform companies provided support systems to monolithic data environments and had very rudimentary email capabilities.

ABOUT US

Razorfish eCRM Solutions is a dedicated solutions group in the Razorfish Network, built to support the evolving needs of our clients in building best-in-class marketing programs. The team is a comprehensive set of experts in email marketing and relationship marketing that supports all forms of strategic services, including strategic planning, communication roadmaps, email delivery and technology, campaign management and optimization with an emphasis on experience and analytical optimization.