Q1A customer management system such as the one used by Virgi

Q1.A customer management system such as the one used by Virgin Mobile in this case study requires effective marketing, sales, and service to customers. The goal is to share a single view of the customer across all touch points and interactions before, during, and after the sales cycle. It is incumbent upon marketing, sales, and service managers to track customer history, interactions, behaviour, and preferences and use this knowledge to build the relationship. Key CRM process steps for customer marketing include”

- Customer Segmentation

- Campaign Management

- Marketing Content Management

- Customer and Transaction Analysis.

Key CRM process steps for customer sales include”

- Sales Force and Forecast Management,

- Account Management

- Opportunity Management

- Order Management

Finally, the customer service includes key CRM process steps for:

- Service Delivery

- Inquiry and Service Resolution

- Customer Satisfaction

- Measurement.

The objective of the purposeful customer segmentation process in the customer marketing function of a CRM is to group customers based on their similarities and differences with respect to lifetime value and loyalty, channel preferences and expectations, product/service needs and usage requirements, and demographic profile. Effective customer segmentation provides a range of benefits, including:

- the ability to pursue the right customers with the right offers

- identifying and segmenting customers based on their value

- meeting customers’ service expectations across all channels

- cross-selling and up-selling customers by knowing their preferences in advance

- defining marketing campaigns to target those most likely to buy

You are required to

Identify the necessary functions of a simple customer segmentation service (at least three)

For each of the above functions, identify the input/output messages

Use WSDL interface definition constructs to specify the above identified functions with input/output messages

Solution

At its most basic, customer segmentation (also known as market segmentation) is the division of potential customers in a given market into discrete groups. That division is based on customers having similar enough:

There are three main approaches to market segmentation:

This guide will focus on the value-based approach, which allows expansion stage companies to clearly define and target their best prospects (based on its current knowledge of the market) and satisfy most of their needs for segmentation in the expansion stage, without consuming the time and resources of a traditional, descriptive segmentation research process.

If best current customer segmentation is done right, however, the business benefits are numerous. For example, a best current customer segmentation exercise can tangibly impact your operating results by:

Conducting best current customer segmentation research can have numerous other ancillary benefits, of course, but this guide will focus primarily on how it can impact the four cited above. The bottom line is that if you are able to sell more of your product to your most profitable customers, then you will be able to scale the business more efficiently and ensure that everything you do — from lead generation to new product development — revolves around the right things.

b)

What makes a segmentation analysis valuable? Market segmentation research includes more “art” (although no less \"science\") than other types of market research. This is the case because analysis often turns up two or more different sets of segments, that is two or more different ways of dividing the market. For example, one analysis might subdivide a segment; another might not recognize that division.

In these circumstances, what counts is a segmentation scheme that the firm can implement to create real marketing advantages. Which scheme is best depends not just on which provides the best description of the market, but also on the company’s strengths and marketing goals:

Thus, the best segmentation analysis is the one that is most useful.

Deciding what Data Inputs to Use: Prior to carrying out a segmentation study, a firm should carefully consider what data inputs to use to ensure that the different segments identified can be targeted for actual marketing. If segments cannot be targeted, the most descriptive segmentation scheme may not be very useful.

SOM: In our segmentation projects, we have used a neural network based method that allows a computer to “learn” the structure of the market. The specific type of network used is called a \"Self-Organizing Map\" or SOM. SOMs have important advantages over other more traditional segmentation techniques:

c)