The starting point of customer lifetime value lies in making sure that the input of data is correct, valid, complete and standardized. This guiding principle is used in traditional data quality management, but it most definitely applies to "new" ways of dealing with customer data. New channels, online contact forms, self-service portals, different customer behavior - the changing environment adds new challenges to the art of intelligent data management.
In traditional customer contact processes, there is an interaction between people and people and/or systems. In online customer contact processes, the initial interaction is between the customer and the system. This calls for a data quality strategy in which the data will be captured and processed; The first time, right! Whether it is to prevent pollution in your existing database, to raise the customer's confidence in your company or to guide your customer to the right product; the design of the online interaction process has a substantial impact on the quality of the customer data.
How do you "guide" your (potential) customer to enter the right data in a self-service portal or in a web contact form? How do you make sure you that you check online loan applications correctly? How do you identify the returning customer? All these and many more questions add an extra dimension and another degree of complexity to the management of online customer interaction.
I think that it eventually boils down to listening to the customers – even if the customer’s first point of contact is with the system. See for yourself how the intelligent management of your online, multi-channel customer interaction will have an increasingly positive effect on the total data quality in your organization.
