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Customers' Attitude Towards Mobile Messaging Technology in Promoting CRM: A Study
INTRODUCTION:
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a system for managing a companys
interactions with current and futurecustomers.It involves using technology to organize,automate, and synchronizesales,marketing,customer service,and technical support.
TYPES
Marketing and Customer Service
CRM systems track and measure marketing campaigns over multiple networks. These systemscan track customer analysis by customer clicks and sales. Places where CRM is used include call
centers, heavily utilized in social media, direct mail, data storage files, banks, and customer data
queries.
CRM in customer contact centers
CRM systems are Customer Relationship Management platforms. It is a platform for progressing
the payments and other related query management. Their goal is to track, record, store in
databases, and then data mine the information in a way that increases customer relations(predominantly increasedARPU,and decreasedchurn). The CRM codifies the interactions
between you and your customers, so you can maximize sales and profits using analytics,KPIs,to
give the users as much information on where to focus your marketing, customer service to
maximize revenue, and decrease idle and unproductive contact with your customers. The contactchannels (now aiming to be Omni-Channel from Multi-Channel) use such operational methods
ascontact centers.The CRM software is installed in the contact centers, and help directcustomers to the right agent or self-empowered knowledge.
[2]CRM software can also be used to
identify and reward loyal customers over a period of time.
Appointments
CRM software programs can automatically synchronize suitable appointment dates, times, andmethods for customer contact. Once appointments are saved in a systems calendar the systems
calendar will remember. Then, later retrieve the appointment and send a represented message for
action.[citation needed]
CRM in B2B market
The modern environment requires one business to interact with another via the web. According
to a Sweeney Group definition, CRM is all the tools, technologies andprocedures to manage,
improve, or facilitate sales, support and related interactions with customers, prospects, andbusiness partners throughout the enterprise.
[3]It assumes that CRM is involved in everyB2B
transaction.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_servicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_revenue_per_userhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churn_ratehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_performance_indicatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_centershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-sap1-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-sap1-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-sap1-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-davenport-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-davenport-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-davenport-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business-to-businesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-zeng-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-zeng-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-zeng-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-zeng-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business-to-businesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-davenport-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#cite_note-sap1-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_centershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_performance_indicatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churn_ratehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_revenue_per_userhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_servicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customers8/10/2019 Customers' Attitude Towards Mobile Messaging Technology in Promoting CRM: A Study
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Despite the general notion that CRM systems were created for the customer-centric businesses,
they can also be applied to B2B environments to streamline and improve customer management
conditions.B2C and B2B CRM systems are not created equally and different CRM softwareapplies to B2B and B2C conditions. B2B relationships usually have longer maturity times than
B2C relationships. For the best level of CRM operation in a B2B environment, the software must
bepersonalized and delivered at individual levels.
Characteristics of CRM
Well-designed CRM includes the following characteristics:
1. Relationship management is acustomer-oriented feature with service response based on
customer input, one-to-one solutions to customers requirements, direct online
communications with customer and customer service centers that help customers solve
their questions.2. Salesforce automation. This function can implementsales promotion analysis, automate
tracking of a clients account history for repeated sales or future sales, and alsooordinate sales, marketing, call centers, and retail outlets in order to realize the
salesforce automation.3. Use of technology. This feature is about following the technology trend and skills of
value delivering using technology to make up-to-the-second customer data available. It
appliesdata warehouse technology in order toaggregate transaction information, tomerge the information with CRM solutions, and to provide KPI (key performance
indicators).
4. Opportunity management. This feature helps the company to manage unpredictable
growth and demand and implement a goodforecasting model to integrate sales historywithsales projections.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B2Chttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personalizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_orientationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_promotionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_warehousehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregate_datahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_performance_indicatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_performance_indicatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forecastinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_forecastinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_forecastinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forecastinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_performance_indicatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_performance_indicatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregate_datahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_warehousehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_promotionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_orientationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personalizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B2C8/10/2019 Customers' Attitude Towards Mobile Messaging Technology in Promoting CRM: A Study
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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Mobile messaging is an integral part of value added services offered by the mobile industry.
Mobile messaging does not simply mean sending text messages, its scope extends to Instant
Messaging (IM), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Mobile Messaging (MM), Short
Messaging Service (SMS), Unified Messaging (UM), Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS), E-
mail, etc. Short Messaging Service (SMS) is a very popular wireless communication protocol. As
a CRM medium, mobile provides an extraordinary force of intimacy that no other medium is
competent to do. Brand owners are quickly realizing the dominance of this screen as a valuable
CRM medium. It can be used as an integrated marketing effort to strengthen the brand and
promote customer acquisition and loyalty.
In the background of these developments, the present research has been conducted. The output of
this study is likely to provide a valuable input to corporate sector. It might also help marketing
persons to sponsor and create better customer relations by accurately distinguishing thepreferences of customers.
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Objectives and Hypothesis of the Study:
The study has been conducted to achieve the following objectives:
To study the socioeconomic, demographic status and usage pattern of mobile messaging
of the selected respondents.
To analyze the attitude of respondents towards promotional mobile messages.
To analyze and identify the preferable sectors in which the respondents would like to
avail interactive mobile messaging.
To analyze the respondents' opinion on mobile messaging as a tool for promoting CRM.
The study has formulated and tested the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1
H0: The respondents' opinion regarding preferred services for receiving mobile messages are
uniformly distributed.
H1: The respondents' opinion regarding preferred services for receiving mobile messages are not
uniformly distributed.
Hypothesis 2
H0: There is no association between mobile messaging and customer relationship management.
H1: There is association between mobile messaging and customer relationship management.
Research Methodology
The present investigation has been designed to study the customer's perception on mobile
messages received by them and its relevance to CRM. In order to fulfill the research objectives,
research methodology consists of the following sections:
Sample Size
In the present study a sample of 180 respondents has been taken. The respondents have been
selected from Coimbatore district. The samples have been selected using non-probability
method, i.e., convenience sampling method. The sample consists of both sexes, i.e., male and
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female, respondents of different age groups, having different educational qualifications and
belonging to different areas.
Sample Profile:
Table 1 shows the profile of the respondents with respect to gender, residential status, age,
education level, occupation and their income.
Analysis of sample profile in Table 1 reveals that the study is based on the responses from male
as well as female respondents. Out of a total of 180 respondents, the percentage of male and
female respondents is 75% and 25% respectively. The respondents are almost in unequal
proportion from rural and urban area, i.e., 80% and 20%. On the basis of responses, the
respondents have been classified into four age-categories. The highest percentage of respondents(80%) belong to the age group of >30 and the lowest percentage of responses (10%) to the age
group of 31-40,41-50. It is clear from the table that more than three-fourth percentages, i.e., 10%
are post graduates. On the basis of occupation, the maximum responses, i.e., 70% from Business
sector, followed by PG and Professional (10%).It has been observed that more than 20% of the
respondents have annual income of above Rs. 2 lakh, and the highest percentage of respondents
(60%) belong to the income category between Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 4 lakh.
Table 1:Sample profile
S.N
o
Profile Percentage
1 Gender Male 75%
Female 25%
2 Residential Status Urban 80%
Rural 20%3 Age >30 80%
31-40 10%
41-50 10%
2 lakh 20%
2-4 lakh 60%
4-6 lakh 15%
6 lakh< 5%
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Collection of Data :
Collection of data means assembling the data for the point of a particular investigation. One may
use one or more of the tools for gathering facts according to the nature and purpose of the study,
but questionnaire method is the most suitable and appropriate one for the current study.
Therefore, the questionnaire method has been used to collect the required information.
Results and Discussion :
As per the objectives of the study, the responses obtained through questionnaires have been
analyzed by using appropriate techniques such as percentage method and chi-square method
using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 22 AMOS evaluation version. The
findings of the study are represented in Table 2.
Table 2:Usage Pattern of Mobile Messaging
Type of Messaging Percentage
Sending text messages 75
Sending picture messages/MMS 0
Browsing news 5
Browsing companys information 0
SMS & win 0
Mobile e-mail 10
Voting (on/off line) 0Downloading mobile contents 10
The study depicted that majority of respondents (75%) use mobile for sending text
messages only. It is followed by mobile e-mail & downloading mobile contents (10%).
The discussion with the respondents revealed that downloading mobile contents is costly.
Hence, mobile messaging feature is most frequently used to send text-messages.
It is observed that majority of respondents, i.e., 96% have received some kind of
promotional messages from service/product providing companies (Table 3).
Table 3:Promotional messages/SMS received by respondents
Messages Received Percentage
Yes 95
No 5
Total 100
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The study found that majority of the respondents ignore and delete the messages after
reading. It is observed that 90% of the respondents ignore unsolicited promotional
messages, i.e., they don't bother to complain to customer care to block such messages
(Table 4).
Table 4:Respondents Attitude Towards Unsolicited Messages
Attitude Percentage
Ignore 90
Complain to customer care to block such messages 10
Total 100
The study shows that majority of the respondents, i.e., 85% state that they would like to
receive such messages, but with their prior consent (Table 5).
The study evaluated the preferences of customers to diverse sectors for receiving mobile
messages. The top five sectors emerged from the study for receiving mobile messagingare banking, insurance, brokerage/financial, retail store and telecom (Table 6). To test the
significance of difference between respondents' views with regard to preferred services
for receiving mobile messages, the following null and alternative hypothesis have been
tested:
Table 5: Respondents opinion on Sending messages with prior permission
Response Percentage
Yes 85
No 15
Total 100
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H0: The respondents' opinions regarding preferred services for receiving mobile messages are
uniformly distributed.
H1: The respondents' opinions regarding preferred services for receiving mobile messages are not
uniformly distributed.
Chi-square test statistics have been used to test the hypothesis. Table 6 shows the observed
values, values of chi-square and corresponding p-values.
Analysis of chi-square statistics shows that the p-value is more than 0.05 for messages in relation
to travel and lodging, healthcare, and media and entertainment. Hence, it has been decided to
accept null hypothesis in this regard. The acceptance of null hypothesis means that the
respondents' views on mobile messaging are equally distributed with respect to travel andlodging, healthcare and messages relating to media and entertainment. Further, it has been
observed that p-values for banking, insurance, telecom, brokerage/financial services and retail
store are less than 0.01. Therefore, null hypothesis is rejected with respect to these selected
services, and alternative hypothesis is being accepted. So, it can be stated that the respondents'
views with regard to these services are not evenly distributed. Hence, respondents would like to
receive messages in these services.
The respondents' views on various statements on mobile messaging help in effective
customer relationship and building customer loyalty and have been presented in Table 7.
Table 6:Respondents opinion regarding preference of selected services/sectors for receiving mobile
messaging sevices
Services Percentages Chi-square statistics p-value
Banking 96 81.00 0.000*
Insurance 92 73.96 0.000*
Telecom 61 6.76 0.009*
Travel & loading 52 0.16 0.689
Healthcare 32 0.64 0.424
Media & entertainment 26 5.76 0.076
Brokerage/financial 72 27.04 0.000*
Retail store 70 26.98 0.000*
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Table 7:Respondents opinions on statements on mobile messaging helps in effective CRM
Statements Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total
Customers are valuable
0 10 30 46 94 180
Enhances customer experience 0 9 19 43 109 180
Brand Promotion 0 10 24 47 99 180
Retain existing customer 0 15 20 65 85 180
Attract new customers 10 18 32 60 60 180
Develops customers intimacy 8 18 44 30 80 180
Fosters product adoption 12 20 40 58 50 180
Promotes customers satisfaction 6 19 25 52 78 180
Promotes customers loyalty 8 16 30 49 77 180
The study reveals that 94 strongly agree and 46 respondents agree with the statement that
customers are valuable for the business enterprise.
The study shows that almost 109 of customers strongly agree that mobile messaging
enhances customer's experience.
The respondents' opinion on mobile messaging helping brand promotion shows that 47
respondents agree and 99 respondents strongly agree with the statement.
The study shows that 60 agreed and 60 strongly agreed with the statement that messaging
helps attract new customers. Hence, majority of respondents are of the view that
messaging helps in attracting new customers.
The study reveals that 30 respondents agree and 80 respondents strongly agree to the
statement that messaging helps developing customer intimacy.
The study reveals that more than 58 of the respondents agree that mobile messaging
fosters product adoption as well as customers satisfaction.
The analysis revealed that almost 77 customers have favorable views on messaging
which promotes customers loyalty.
The investigation of responses to whether mobile messaging helps developing better
customer relations management depicted that almost 78 of respondents state that
messaging helps developing better CRM.
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To test whether significance of difference in respondents views on the statements on
mobile messaging helps build effective CRM and promotes customer loyalty, the
following hypothesis has been tested:
H0: There is no association between mobile messaging and customer relationship
management.
H1: There is association between mobile messaging and customer relationship
management.
The hypothesis has been tested by using chi-square test. Table 8 depicts the values of chi-
square statistics and p-values.
Table 7:Results of Chi-square test on association Between statements on mobile messaging
and CRM
Statements Chi-square value p-value
Customers are valuable21.980 0.000*
Enhances customer experience 71.120 0.000*
Brand Promotion 44.240 0.000*
Retain existing customer 52..400 0.000*
Attract new customers 86.300 0.000*
Develops customers intimacy 157.300 0.000*
Fosters product adoption 53.840 0.000*
Promotes customers satisfaction 54.560 0.000*
Promotes customers loyalty
52.400 0.000*
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Conclusion:
On the basis of findings of the study it is safe to conclude that respondents are of the view that
mobile messaging technology enhances customer experience, helps brand promotion, attracts
new customers, promotes customer satisfaction as well as customer loyalty and builds betterCRM. The top five sectors which emerged from the study for receiving mobile messaging are
banking, insurance, brokerage/financial, retail store and telecom. The discussion with the
customers depicts that there are security concerns, technological and registration issues revealed
by the customers creating obstacle to the popularity of the concept. Hence it is suggested that
customer awareness campaigns should be launched by the companies to resolve the problem.
The study revealed that greater numbers of customers intend to receive messages with their
consent only. Hence, it is recommended that customers consent prior to sending message may
help not only in building effective CRM but also in promoting customer loyalty.
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