Robert Haynes considers what customer metrics can mean in the real world of the consumer.


Whilst walking through the Sydney Airport rail station this week I noticed a
large billboard advertising the number of passengers that made use of that
station in the previous year, now I don't know if you, like me like to utilize
public transport to vainly attempt to neutralize your carbon footprint - but I
do, particularly when I'm about to produce 5 tonnes of carbon dioxide by flying
across the country!  However I saw these words on the billboard and it
made me think, to think that how surprising it was that a customer oriented
organization like a rail service would not have a true understanding of who
their customers (passengers) actually are and how many times they actually used
its service.  For example if my local supermarket can actively market
deals to us, that are so targeted and based on our spending patterns - then how
hard would it be for a transport provider to be able to accurately understand
that some passengers used this station at least 20 times in the last 3 months.

 
 
 
So why would such an organization care? Well I suspect that this level of
customer profiling and marketing makes the difference between an organization
and a true customer focused enterprise. An Enterprise knows its customers, know
their habits and actively understands how to encourage them to be loyal to
their service when there are many other alternative services out there. Many
times when we step on an aircraft we are reminded that the airline is happy to
see its frequent flyers back with them once more, and those who have reached
the dizzy heights of airline status feel a warm and fuzzy glow, from the
knowledge that they are being loyal?  Loyalty can also be seen as a trap -
a lock in - almost a prevention to keep customers faithful, customer status
gives us a target and a ambition to aspire to.



So what's this all got to do with Master Data Management (MDM) - and why would
I write about this? Because MDM is a key enabling technology for Enterprises to
understand who their customers are, and understand how we should be treating
them, a happy customer is a repeat customer - for whatever reason.