Mini Case Studies of Customer Relationship Management

Mini case study: defining loyalty and customer value 

While most companies define customer loyalty based on the repeat purchases of happy customers, some businesses are built around one-off purchases. Wedding photography is one of those businesses. With so much time and effort invested in each customer relationship, how can this be returned into repeat business? Bella photography focuses on ensuring that its very satisfied brides refer their service to friends and family. In fact 18% of new business comes from these referrals.

They also offer services to wedding guests, such as allowing them to make orders of wedding photos themselves, which increases their customers for each wedding.

Source: http://www.insidecrm.com/features/new-definition-loyalty-102308/

Mini case study: Customer service as PR 

Zappos (www.zappos.com), a US online shoe retailer, bases much of its success on its customer service. It offers free shipping on all its purchases, as well as free returns. In fact, goods are shipped with a pre-printed return label, making the process straightforward for customers. Zappos also invests heavily in its customer service team, empowering each member of the team to do what they need to do to delight customers.

For example, Zaz LaMarr blogged about her experience with Zappos. Have some tissues handy, because it’s heartwarming stuff, and read her post “I heart Zappos” at http://www.zazlamarr.com/blog/?p=240. She had meant to return some shoes to appos, but her mother passed away and, naturally, she just didn’t have time. Zappos arranged to have UPS come pick up the shoes. And then sent her flowers. 

Yahoo! shows nearly 2,000 links to her blog post, which has generated comments

such as: “Zappos is the best company in America.” “Zappos is pretty amazing...you can sometimes find better prices at other stores for the same shoes, but their customer service is worth a few extra dollars.” “Wow, customer service still exists. This company will get my business.”

There is no doubt that Zappos customer service costs are high. Not only is shipping free, but their customer service team has been given the authority to make gestures like the one above. The return to Zappos in terms of goodwill is almost immeasurable (although, their online reputation is excellent), but no doubt leads to increased referrals and sales and customer loyalty. Source: http://consumerist.com/consumer/above-and-beyond/zappos-sendsyou-flowers-311369.php, http://www.zazlamarr.com/blog/?p=240