After planning and implementing a CEM strategy, a post-launch review is advisable to assess what worked, what didn't, and where further attention is most needed in the future.

Return on Investment Analysis

Like any business endeavor, a CEM strategy ultimately must be measured by bottom line results. ROI analysis is a review of the measurable financial impact of your CEM program.

Key ROI drivers for CEM strategy on an annual basis are below. Many organizations can trace ROI to a single transaction in any one in these areas so, taken together, return on investment is typically very short.

• Customer Acquisition Trace new accounts to their source. How many came from referrals from your existing loyal and satisfied customers? How many heard about your commitment to customer service excellence through your CEM Communications program and wanted to be with a company like yours? How well have you trained your sales and account management teams in your CEM strategy so they, in turn, can lock in long-term loyalty and profitability of newly-acquired customers? How are you imbedding your CEM strategy into your RFP/RPQ? Are you surveying new customers to determine whether your CEM program was a factor in their decision to do business with you?


• Customer Retention - How much business did you retain by using Action Alerts and other CEMDNA Playbook components designed to identify at-risk accounts? Tabulate all the efficiencies and operational streamlining you've instituted based on your CEM program across all customer touchpoints. These all help to prevent operational losses. Also consider reduced costs to serve, as loyal customers need less human and financial resources to serve and support.


• Upgrades Are you getting more of your customers' spending? Look at the increase in cross-sells and up-sells to existing accounts, as well as increases in service revenue (e.g., service contracts vs. time-and-materials contracts). How did actual results compare with projections?


• WinBack - Based on the significant, measurable success of your CEM program, you have the most persuasive argument possible to recover lost customers, particularly those who have been your most profitable or strategically important accounts. The CEM WinBack strategy helps you rebuild relationships by identifying re-entry opportunities by addressing how you have corrected the key issues behind a given customer's defection. Calculating revenue from regained accounts is one of the more rewarding benefits of a CEM program.

To identify the bottom line impact of your CEM strategy, we have devised a set of survey questions that would be sent to decision makers, recommenders and influencers within your customer base. Omega's Center for Loyalty Research would then analyze the survey results, which may include a linkage analysis to assess the impact of customer satisfaction on revenue.

Sample Survey Questions For ROI Analysis

For Newly-Acquired Customers

Please select from the choices below your single most important reason for becoming a customer:

1. Price


2. Capabilities of products/services


3. Industry innovator


4. Reputation for superior customer service


5. Referral or recommendation from an existing customer, partner or other knowledgeable third party


6. Other (please specify)

For Retained Customers

Please select from the choices below your single most important reason for remaining a customer:

1. Price


2. Superior capabilities of products/services over time


3. Sustained record of industry innovation


4. Consistently superior customer service


5. Ease of doing business with us


6. Other (please specify)

For Customers Who Upgrade Within Product Line or Purchase Additional Products/Services

Please select from the choices below your single most important reason for upgrading your current product and/or purchasing another product from us:

1. Price


2. Capabilities and compatibility of products/services


3. Sustained record of industry innovation


4. Consistently superior customer service


5. Ease of doing business with us


6. Other (please specify)

For WinBack Customers

Q1: Please select from the choices below your single most important reason for discontinuing doing business with our firm.

1. Price


2. Capabilities of products/services were substandard


3. Insufficient evidence of being an industry innovator


4. Unacceptable levels of customer service


5. Negative feedback from other customers, partners or other knowledgeable third parties


6. Other (please specify)

Q2: If our firm can demonstrate that we have taken corrective action to address the area most responsible for your dissatisfaction, would you be open to discussing this corrective action with us?

1. Yes


2. No

Executive Briefings

Reviewing your CEM strategy is a significant task, requiring the active preparation and participation of the CEO and staff along with the VP of Service and staff. Components of the Executive Briefing include:

• Key account analysis Cover the strengths and weaknesses of how the CEM strategy worked with your most important customers. Consider the satisfaction/loyalty scores obtained from surveys and analysis of decision makers, recommenders and influencers at each key account.


• Benchmarking Review your objectives and results in this vital area, comparing rankings against NorthFace ScoreBoard Award℠ recipients, Top 10 ScoreBoard Index and, in particular, against key industry competitors to see where you stand. Pay particular attention to industry benchmark results to see if you can verify best-in-class CEM performance in this area. If so, you have a substantial and verifiable advantage over all of your direct competitors. Be sure to emphasize this in your stakeholder communications.


• Summary - Draw conclusions, update objectives for the future and approve plans for implementation. CEM must be part of your organization's DNA. It cannot be a one-off experiment if you expect to sustain customer service excellence year after year.

• View Measure Phase
• View Analyze Phase
• View Act Phase
• Assess Phase