Customer intelligence

<h2 id="customer-relationship-management">Customer relationship management</h2>
<p>Customer intelligence is a key component of effective <a href="/facts/Customer_relationship_management/Y74q0uXB">customer relationship management</a> (CRM), and when effectively implemented it is a rich source of insight into the behaviour and experience of a company's customer base.
</p><p>As an example, some customers walk into a store and walk out without buying anything. Information about these customers/prospects (or their visits) may not exist in a traditional CRM system, as no sales are entered on the store cash register. Although no commercial transaction took place, knowing <i>why</i> customers leave the store (perhaps by asking them, or a store employee, to complete a survey) and using this data to make inferences about customer behaviour, is an example of CI.
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<h2 id="process">Process</h2>
<p>Customer intelligence begins with <a href="/facts/Reference_data/r5lJzB6M">reference data</a> which contain basic key facts about the customer, such as their geographic location.
</p><p>This data is then supplemented<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> with <a href="/facts/Transaction_data/RNMl4LrK">transaction data</a> to achieve reports of customer activity. This can be <a href="/facts/Commercial_Information_Exchange/kR1TM5S9">commercial information</a> (for example purchase history from sales and order processing), and interactions with service contacts over the phone and via <a href="/facts/Email/6pD9GLtI">email</a>.
</p><p>A further subjective dimension can be added, in the form of customer satisfaction surveys or agent data.
</p><p>Finally, a company can use competitor insight and <a href="/facts/Mystery_shopping/J0a68wfd">mystery shopping</a> to get a better view of how their service benchmarks in the market.
</p><p>By mining this data, and placing it in context with wider information about competitors, conditions in the industry, and general trends, information can be obtained about customers' existing and future needs, how they reach decisions, and predictions made about their future behavior.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>[<i>verification needed</i>]
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<h2 id="example-sources-of-data">Example sources of data</h2>
<p><a href="/facts/Speech_analytics/EnTRJLeP">Speech analytics</a> can be used to monitor telephone conversations taking place between companies and customers, using phonetic analysis or <a href="/facts/Speech_recognition/z7S7Pgk6">speech to text</a> to find keywords and phrases, classify call types and identify trends.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>[<i>verification needed</i>]
</p><p><a href="/facts/Customer_relationship_management/Y74q0uXB">Customer relationship management</a> are software solutions used for to manage customer relationships which can store data on the quantity, type and category of customer and prospect contacts.
</p><p>Frontline data capture may (or may not) form part of a CRM software solution, but which is used by front line agents to record more subjective data regarding customer contacts, such as the <a href="/facts/Root_cause_analysis/a3Da5qJI">root cause</a> of the customer picking up the phone (e.g. they received their bill) or their emotional state.
</p><p><a href="/facts/Customer_satisfaction/upP4jHb9">Customer satisfaction</a> and <a href="/facts/Market_research/grCXQpTf">market research</a> surveys, often mined via <a href="/facts/Text_analytics/5QsIa3Cz">text analytics</a>, which can additionally be applied, for customer intelligence purposes, to contact center notes, e-mail, and other textual sources.
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<h2 id="benefits">Benefits</h2>
<p>Customer intelligence provides a detailed understanding of the experience customers have in interacting with a company, and allows predictions to be made regarding reasons behind customer behaviors.
</p><p>This knowledge can then be applied to support more effective and strategic decision making – for example, understanding why customers call makes it easier to predict (and plan to reduce) call volumes in a <a href="/facts/Contact_centre_(business)/jxKon6G8">contact centre</a>.
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<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Customer_analytics/lmdFwPBe">Customer analytics</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Customer_insight/9avvtEnv">Customer insight</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Customer_knowledge/RvhEzXyK">Customer knowledge</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Speech_analytics/EnTRJLeP">Speech analytics</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.crm.ugent.be">"Academic Papers about Customers Intelligence"</a>. Universiteit Gent.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Shaw, Robert, Measuring and Valuing Customer Relationships (2000) Business Intelligence ISBN 978-1-898085-33-1 <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Joch, Alan (May 2005). "Capturing Customer Intelligence". Profit – The Business of Technology. Archived from the original on 21 September 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2009. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060921020455/http://www.oracle.com/oramag/profit/05-may/p25feature.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20060921020455/http://www.oracle.com/oramag/profit/05-may/p25feature.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"What is Customer Intelligence". CRM Today. Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081219171140/http://www.crm2day.com/customer-intelligence/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20081219171140/http://www.crm2day.com/customer-intelligence/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"Customer Intelligence". Gateway2Investment. Archived from the original on 24 April 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2009. <a href="https://archive.today/20090424045459/http://www.g2i.org/article/2005/09/customer-intelligence" target="_blank">https://archive.today/20090424045459/http://www.g2i.org/article/2005/09/customer-intelligence</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Nexidia. "Drive your business growth with Nexidia's advanced speech analytics solutions". Archived from the original on 18 December 2008. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081218235705/http://nexidia.com/solutions/contact_center" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20081218235705/http://nexidia.com/solutions/contact_center</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Customer intelligence open-in-new

Customer intelligence