Measuring and managing customer value外文翻译.docx

Measuring and managing customer value外文翻译.docx

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Measuringandmanagingcustomervalue外文翻译

标题：

Measuringandmanagingcustomervalue

原文：

Keywords:

value,management,customersatisfaction,marketing

Abstract

Customervaluemanagement（CVM）aimstoimprovetheproductivityofmarketingactivity,andtheprofitabilityofbusinessbyidentifyingthevalueofdifferentcustomersegmentsandaligningmarketingstrategies,plansandresourcingaccordingly.TherearetwocomplementaryapproachestoCVM.Thefirstattemptstomeasureandevaluatetheperceivedvalueplacedongoods/servicesbycustomers.Thisinformationisusedasthebasisofcontinuousreviewandimprovementofthosegoods/services.Thesecondapproachmeasuresthevalueofspecificcustomers,orcustomersegments,totheorganizationandusesthistotailormarketingactivity.Addressedtogethertheseapproachesensurethatbothsidesofabusinessrelationshipgainaddedvalue.ThispaperexplainstheconceptofCVMandkeyissuesinusingittodrivemoreeffectivemarketingactivity

Introduction

Therearetwocomplementaryapproachestomeasuringandexploitingcustomervalue.Thefirstseekstoidentifythevalue’’perceivedbycustomersoftheorganization’sgoodsand/orservices.Wheresuchvalueisbetter’’orhigher’’thantheperceivedvalueofcompetitors’offerings,theorganizationhasthepotentialtosucceedinthemarketplace.However,wherecustomersplaceahighervalueoncompetitors’offerings,theorganizationneedstotakesomeactiontomaintaincompetitiveness.

Thesecondapproachistomeasurethevaluethatacustomer（oracategoryofcustomer）bringsintotheorganizationandusethisasthebasisof,forexample,targetedmarketingcampaigns.Thiscanworkintwoways:

usingtheknowledgeofhighvaluecustomerstoofferthemadditionalinformationorincentivetomaintaintheirloyalty,orofferingincentivestothelowervaluecustomerstotryandmovethemintothehighvaluecategory.

Customersatisfaction

Sincewehave（allegedly）beenthroughaqualityrevolution’’,productsandservicesdeliveredtocustomersshouldbeofappropriatequality,andweshouldhavesatisfiedcustomers.Ofcourse,theissueisnotquitesosimple.Raisingquality—assumingitisdoneatall—cansimpleraiseexpectationlevels;thenetresultmaybenochangeinsatisfactionlevels.And,ifcourse,satisfactionisnotonlybasedonperceivedqualityevenifwedefinethataswidelyaspossible;itisinfluencedbyotherfactors—especiallyprice.

Valuecanbedefinedsimplyastheratioofperceivedbenefittoperceivedcost.

Anysimplisticapproachtocustomersatisfactionmeasurementthatfailstorecognizetheconceptofvalueislikelytofail.Itcanbeusefultoaskcustomerstoexpresstheirsatisfactionandmanyorganizationsdotheseusingsimplequestionnaireswithequallysimplescoringsystems.However,theytendtogiveasnapshotofthecustomerperception,andusingsuchsimpledataasthebasisofanytimeseriesistoounsophisticatedtouseasthebasisofreal,harddecisionmaking.Arecognitionofthislimitationhasgivenrisetotheconceptsofcustomervalue’’

（CV）andcustomervaluemanagement’’（CVM）

IfwearetouseCVMstrategically,thefirsttaskistoidentifythestrategicallyimportantproduct/marketswithineachbusinessunit;thesearenaturallytheproducts/marketsthatwillbeprioritized.Thenexttaskistounderstandwhatisimportanttothecustomerbasewithinthoseproduct/markets.

Atthemostbasiclevel,CVMreliesonenhancedmeasurementofcustomersatisfactionincorporatingpriceandvaluefactors.Thus,CVMmeasuresnotjustsatisfaction’’withaproductorservice—i.e.themeasureofquality’’—butalsorelatesthissatisfactiontothepricepaidtoarriveatameasureofperceivedvalue.

ItisnecessarybutnotsufficientforeffectiveCVMtomeasurethevalueperceptionsofcustomerswithourproducts/services;togatheratruepicture,itisalsonecessarytomeasurethevalueperceptionsofcompetitors’customerstoarriveatcomparativeassessmentsofvaluewithinagivenmarket.

Thecustomervalueapproachthusattemptstoidentifyhowpeopleevaluatecompetingofferings—assumingthatwhentheymaketheirpurchasingdecisions,theydosowithvalue’’asakeydriver.Thisapproachtovaluemanagementalsorecognizesthatitisessentialinidentifyingthecompetitivevalueproposition’’foraspecificmarketsegment,toexaminethekeynon-pricedriversofcustomervaluerelativetoprice.Oncethosekeyvaluedriversareidentified,customerperceptionsofcompanyperformanceonthesedriversbecomesthemeansbywhichallcompetitorscanbeplottedonacompetitivematrixtounderstandpositioningwithintheproduct/market.

Thisrequiresthedeterminationofanswerstothreebasicquestions:

（1）Whatarethekeyfactorsthatcustomersvaluewhentheychoosebetweencompetingofferingsinthemarketplace?

（2）Howistheorganization’sperformanceratedoneachfactorrelativetoeachofthemaincompetitors?

（3）Whatistherelativeimportanceorweightingassigned（presumablyintuitively）bycustomerstoeachofthesecomponentsofcustomervalue?

Itisthenpossibletoconstructaweightedindexofcustomervalueforthecompanyanditscompetitorsandconstructthecompetitivematrix.

Abreakdownofthisanalysisbycustomertypealsoallowstheorganizationtoassesstheloyaltyofthevariouspartsofthecustomerbase—andthedegreetowhichthatpartofthecustomerbaseisvulnerabletocompetitiveintrusion.Themodelcanbefurtherextendedtoassessandincludequalitymetricstocompletetheassessmentofproductattributesandtheireffectoncustomersatisfaction.

Thisstageofanalysisaimstoarriveatasharedunderstandingandagreementonthekeyproduct,serviceandpricepurchasecriteriathatinfluencecustomers’purchasingandloyaltydecisions.Thenextstageistoworktowardsanactionplantomoveforwardandimprove,sincethisassessmentofthenatureofthecompetitivepositionwithinthemarketplacecanthenleadtoare-focusingofmarketingcampaigns,abetterunderstandingofthepotentialofparticularacquisitions,andevenre-prioritizingofcapitalinvestment.ThusCVMbecomestheheartoforganizationalstrategy,usingthisimprovedunderstandingofcustomersatisfactiontomaximizethevaluedeliveredtotargetmarkets,togainstrategicadvantageandtoenhanceprofitability.

Muchofthecustomer-relatedinformationmayariseasaresultofquestionnairesandsurveys.Obviously,ifwearetousetheresultstodrivestrategicdecisionmaking,thesemustbewelldesigned（withoutside,experthelp）andsystematicallyissuedandanalyzed.Itisobviouslyimportanttoprioritizecustomersinkeymarkets—eitherbecausetheyaregrowingorshrinking,wherethepotentialforgainishighest.Itisusefultomaintainacoresetofquestions—toensuresomecomparisonovertime—buttheinclusionofnew,freshquestionsalsohelpstokeeptheattentionofthosecompletingthesurvey.

Tomonitorandmanagethesurvey/fieldworkqualityeffectively（especiallywhenundertakenbyanexternalagency）,itisimportanttoconsiderthemethodologyandthequalitystandardsthatwillbeadopted（includingtheproceduresforeliminating/minimizingsamplingandnon-non-samplingerrors）.

Sincewewishtorepeatthedatacollectionatregularintervals,itisofcourseimportanttorecognizethatcustomers（andespeciallypotentialcustomers）mayresentquestionnairespresentedatfrequentintervals.Thiscanbepreventedbyusingdifferentsamplesfromthesameconstituentgroups.Sincequestionnairesandsurveysareoftenbestcarriedoutintandemwithlessstructuredwaysofgatheringinformation,afocusgroup’’approachcanbeusedbothtocollectdataandtorewardcontributorsfortheirparticipation—perhapssimplybygivingthemagooddinner.

Datamining

Thealternativeapproachtocustomervalue—thatofidentifyinghighvaluecustomersorcustomercategories—requiresanorganizationtoevaluatecollecteddataonpasttransactionstoidentifysuchcustomers.Forlargeorganizations,withalargecustomerbase,thisprobablyneedsadatawarehouse/dataminingapproach—asthebasisofdatabasemarketing.

Adatawarehouseissimplyarepositoryforrelevantbusinessdata.Whiletraditionaldatabasesprimarilystorecurrentoperationaldata,datawarehousesconsolidatedatafrommultipleoperationalandexternalsourcesinordertoattainanaccurate,consolidatedviewofcustomersandthebusiness.

Databasemarketinginvolves,first,theidentificationofmarketsegmentscontainingcustomersorprospectswithhighprofitpotentialand,second,thebuildingandexecutionofmarketingcampaignsthatfavorablyimpactthebehavioroftheseindividuals.

Thefirsttask—thatofidentifyingappropriatemarketsegments—requiressignificantdataaboutprospectivecustomersandtheirbuyingbehaviors.Intheory,moredataisthebasisofbetterknowledge.Inpractice,however,verylargedatastoresmakeanalysisandunderstandingverydifficult.Thisiswheredataminingsoftwarecomesin.Dataminingsoftwareautomatestheprocessofsearchinglargevolumesofdata（usingstandardstatisticaltechniquesaswellasadvancedtechnologiessuchasdecisiontreesandevenneuralnetworks）tofindpatternsthataregoodpredictorsof—inthiscase—purchasingbehaviors.

Datamining,byitssimplestdefinition,automatesthedetectionofrelevantpatternsinadatabase.Forexample,apatternmightindicatethatmarriedmaleswithchildrenaretwiceaslikelytodriveaparticularsportscarasmarriedmaleswithnochildren.Ifyouareamarketingmanagerforacar（orcarsupplies/accessories）manufacturer,thiss