The concept of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can be interpreted differently depending on the perspective. Large corporations often view CRM as a tool for immediate software response to customer requests, which may inadvertently reduce direct interaction between the company and the customer. This approach may not be suitable for small businesses that thrive on personal customer interactions. However, the high cost of comprehensive CRM systems often makes them inaccessible for small businesses.
A more beneficial aspect of CRM for small businesses could be the concept of personalization. By using software on their websites, businesses can enhance the experience of their visitors and customers. This could involve inviting visitors to check out new items since their last visit, or offering daily specials tailored to the visitor. When a customer reorders, the form could be pre-filled with their previous data, saving them time and effort. These simple yet effective strategies can be derived from CRM models at a reasonable cost.
Large corporations with substantial budgets can make personalization a core feature of their websites. This could range from addressing the visitor by name on each page, to customizing the entire site based on previously collected information about the visitor. However, building such a personalized website can be a daunting task for a small business due to the coding challenges and high software costs.
As a small business, it's crucial to avoid any technology that could potentially deter visitors. With website traffic being hard to come by, losing even a single visitor due to outdated software or complex JavaScript can be detrimental.
Your website should aim to accommodate all visitors, regardless of their software or hardware. This requires a simple recognition procedure. When a visitor arrives, a page in straight HTML should be displayed, without any complex features that could break older browsers. A brief JavaScript can then be run to check for a cookie. If the script fails, the website should default to displaying only HTML pages. If the script runs but does not find a cookie, the visitor can be asked if they would like a personalized visit. If they agree, the necessary information can be collected, saved, and used for personalization.
Will Bontrager, a renowned programmer, suggests using a standard database with all possible fields to keep costs down. This avoids the high expense of a customized database installation. With the database in place, JavaScript can handle a wide range of personalization functions. If you're not comfortable writing this kind of code, libraries and code generators can provide you with usable code that can be integrated into your pages.
Initially, CRM may not seem valuable to small businesses. However, by focusing on personalization and ensuring that no visitor is excluded due to lack of the latest tools, small businesses can enhance the visitor experience on their site.
Never, Ever Release Any Of Your Rights To Anyone
One of the grandest scams on the Web, which goes largelyunnoticed, is for a web-based bookseller or publisher to requiresome rights to your work in exchange for the service to beprovided. Many demand the electronic rights, for example.
The Hits That Matter Most
So you know what hits mean. Unique hits or user sessions,I mean. And you know what CR means. Right? If so, you're ingreat shape, for many people don't. They think they do. But they've got it wrong.
Customer Personality Types: Does It Matter?
Marketing types are fond of classifying people intocategories. Here are four which I took from "Differentiate OrDie," by Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin. (John Wiley & Sons, NewYork, 2000, p15.) Only the first few words of each are includedhere.
