CRM Metrics

What the heck are CRM Metrics? Let’s start with some classic ones:

1. Coverage / frequency of sales force visit, by customer, by quarter
2. Complaints by Product, by month
3. Web site visits by referrer, by campaign

Each of these has a time component and an outcome component, and each is incomplete in its own way. Let’s try it again:

1. Coverage / frequency of sales force visit, by customer, by quarter. Put one version in order by customer sales volume, and another in order by customer profitability per unit sold.
2. Complaints by Product, by month. Trend this year over year (seasonal adjustments), and note times of new advertising campaigns and new product launches.
3. Web site visits by referrer, by campaign. See which sources of contact led to new purchases or new inquiries.

This is closer to something “actionable”. (The word in legal circles means something you can be sued for, but in CRM terms it’s data you use to can take useful actions.)

So now we might get answers we can do something with. Each of the insights below is based on actual results I’ve seen over my 20 years in CRM.

1. a) Acme & Sons doesn’t buy that much but they pay full price, a slight volume increase there would help a lot.
1. b) Beta Co. is our fourth-largest customer when you add all our product lines they buy. Each of the three sales reps we have calling on them thought they were a smaller customer, and didn’t know about the other reps.
1. c) Beauty Supply has low volume and low profits; the scantily-clad receptionist is not a valid reason to visit them every week!

2. a) Complaints about leaking bottles doubled in the past quarter. See if there is something wrong with the bottle-making process. Did we outsource something that we need to inspect better?
2. b) We had several dozen new “I love it” calls on the new Autumn Spice fragrance. Should we do a Christmas fragrance? Or continue this all year long?
2. c) All three members of the Flea and Cockroach Anti-defamation League call us each day, complaining about our advertising. Report on this separately so we can ignore it.

3. a) We got 17,000 visits from BigSite.com, average stay at our site, 5 seconds, 22 purchases. We got 150 visits from FocusedSite.com, average stay 7 minutes, 18 purchases. See if we can find more focused sites to advertise on!

Two related points to keep in mind: You can’t report on something if you don’t collect the data. But if you start always collecting extra data “just in case” you will do nothing but annoy your employees and customers. If you need that extra data only sometimes, do surveys. The amount of time you expect to take on a survey is different, and the chance of annoying the customer is less.

So, collect the bare minimum data to start; keep your interactions as smooth and quick as you can. Add questions (also known as ‘data fields in your CRM system’ and ‘friction between you and your customers’) only when you need to; make sure every additional question / time spent pays for itself.