Apple Customer Relationship Management - Case Study Example

Apple CRM Report

Executive Summary

Within a framework of this paper was developed the customer touchpoint map of Apple and analysed the importance of an effective Customer Relationship Management within the organisation. Apart from this, in order to properly undertake a critical analysis of the effectiveness of each of touchpoints of the Apple’s customer map, was used appropriate theory/theories. In the end of the work, we have provided justified recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the Customer Relationship Management of the organisation in the context of the above-mentioned three criteria and have provided the conclusion with regard to the effectiveness of customer relationship management of Apple.

Introduction

Needless to say, customers are considered to be one of the key points of every type of business. The explanation of this lies in the fact that the main objective of business is to provide the clients with particular products or services and meet their requirements. As a result of this, it is safe to claim that over the past decade, there has been an explosion of interest in the customer relationship management, which is widely used as a unique marketing tool. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to develop the customer touchpoint map of Apple, analyse the importance of an effective CRM within the organisation, use appropriate theory/theories to undertake a critical analysis of the effectiveness of each of the touchpoints in the customer touchpoint map, make justified recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the Customer Relationship Management for the organisation in the context of the above-mentioned three criteria, and provide the conclusion with regard to the effectiveness of customer relationship management of Apple.

Before analysing the importance of an effective customer relationship management, there is a need to provide main definitions, which have to be mentioned within a framework of this paper. According to Payne and Frow (2005), “the term ‘customer relationship management’ emerged in the information technology (IT) vendor community and practitioner community in the mid-1990s” (Payne & Frow, 2005). Talking about academic community, it is worth to be mentioned that this term in most of the cases is used in the context of technology solutions. According to Business Dictionary, the term Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is defined as “a management philosophy according to which a company’s goals can be best achieved through identification and satisfaction of the customers’ stated as well as unstated needs and wants” (NA, 2016). Apart from this, the customer relationship management helps in profiling “prospects, understanding their needs, and in building relationships with them by means of providing the most suitable products and enhanced customer service” (NA, 2016).

The importance of an effective CRM approach

As it has been already mentioned in the previous paragraphs of this paper, the importance of the customer relationships management lies in the fact, that it “deals with all the interactions between a company and its customers, with an eye toward keeping the customers happy and helping the business succeed” (Bimlendu, 2015).

There are few main reasons, why it is profitable to implement an effective customer relationship management within a framework of conducting the business. The first and foremost, CRM “helps a company offer better customer service, which in turn supports increased revenue of the organisation” (Bimlendu, 2015). Secondly, by means of understanding the needs of the customers and adjusting all the operations in order to meet these requirements, the company obtains a unique opportunity to enhance the relationships with the clients and in its turn to increase their loyalty. As a result, this has a positive impact on the business and leads to increasing the overall revenue. Thirdly, an appropriate implementation of customer relationship management helps to identify the customers, “who are most likely to respond to cross-selling or up-selling products” (Bimlendu, 2015). The fourth positive aspect of an effective CRM involves targeting marketing efforts for a specific product toward a specific segment of the customer. The last but not least positive aspect of using customer relationship management lies in the fact, that “if you are losing customers to a competitor, that is a clear indication that you should improve your understanding of your customers” (Morgan & Hunt, 1994).

The customer touchpoint map of Apple

In order to properly develop and effective customer touchpoint map of Apple, the IDIC framework will be applied. It needs to be pointed out, that in order to build customer value through managed relationship, the company must engage the four step-process (IDIC), which will help to properly analyse the mechanics of any genuine relationship and will involve “mutually as well as customer-specific action” (Verhoef, 2003). The above-mentioned four steps include identification, differentiation, interaction, as well as customisation.

Apple’s Customer Touch Point Map

A critical analysis of the effectiveness of each of the touchpoints in the customer touchpoint map

As it has been already mentioned in the previous paragraphs of this paper, the customer touchpoint can be defined as all sorts of communication and interaction that customers experienced during their relationship lifecycle with an organisation. According to Erst, Hoyer and Krieger the main essence of touchpoints is "the fact that customers have the tendency of forming opinions on certain products or brand on the virtue of the cumulated experience that they have had with the brand or product" (Ernst, Hoyer, Krafft& Krieger 2011, p. 299). Customer touchpoint mapping has a huge strategic value to a business organisation. In the modern realities, the customer relationship is more than just sales and customer service.

Apple uses their customer touchpoint mapping strategy to target a specific segment of the market. The main market segment that is targeted by Apple is the people who are interested in getting most of the features from devices that are more portable in comparison with PC and laptops. For instance, such devices include smartphone and tablets. The company accomplish this by means of investing in technology and innovation in such a way, that it is able to produce the high-quality premium products that are mostly consumed by the high-end users in the market (Verhoef, Lemon, Parasuraman, Roggeveen, Tsiros & Schlesinger, 2009). This serves as an indication that most of the products are bought by customers with the financial capability of acquiring them. The experience that a customer has as a result of the customer touchpoint management at Apple can be exceptional.

As it has been already mentioned in the Appendix 1. Apple’s Customer Touchpoint Map, each of the touchpoints can be analysed in terms of three main aspects. These aspects include building/maintaining relationships, generating trust, retaining the customers. Therefore, it will be reasonable to critically analyse them with the usage of appropriate theories.

One of the touchpoints used by Apple is their website. It is worth to be mentioned that the website has crispy design and is easy to navigate. Apart from this, it is also highly informative, which creates a positive customer impression due to the impression that the brand welcomes communication through their website (Verhoef, Lemon, Parasuraman, Roggeveen, Tsiros & Schlesinger 2009, p. 37).

Talking about the first touchpoint that is mostly aimed at generating the trust and building relationships with the customers, it is worth to be mentioned that Apple pays an immensely notable attention is “being able to schedule an appointment with a representative in the store” (Yanovithc, 2014). Talking about this particular touch point, it is worth to be mentioned that it allows the “customer to plan his day and time, and it allow Apple to better staff their store as well as the employees in order to meet the supply and demand” (Yanovithc, 2014).

The next excellent touch point, which is widely used in all stores of Apple is t he use of the customer’s name. To be more specific, Apple employees “will try to call the customer by name before the customer tells them” (Yanovitch, 2014). In most of the cases this can be done by means of “scheduling process and then each employee will actually describe what the customer is wearing or look like, so the next employee that the customer is passed onto will be able to call her by name” (Canada, 2012). It is worth to be mentioned that such approach contributes to building strong relationships with customers and generates the trust.

The other excellent touchpoit, which is worth to be analysed is the interaction between the customer and the sales person. The essence of this particular touchpoint of Apple’s CRM approach lies in the fact that the representatives of the company “listen to what the customer is looking to do with their product rather than trying to hurry the customer in order just to make a sale” (Denning, 2011). Such attitude provides the company with an opportunity to enhance the trust and confidence of the customers as well as to build strong relationships with clients. The other thing, the majority of the customers would applaud Apple for is the fact that they have been able to make sure that the time that a customer waits before staff checks is minimal. This is made possible by means of providing all the employees at the stores with special registers on their hands. Therefore, such purchase process can be confidently described as a pleasant one.

Packaging has also been an important touchpoint for Apple. It is worth to be mentioned, that company pays a notable attention to packaging process and the choice of the materials. For instance, the iPod package has a nice blend of colors. This has a positive effect on customer perception of the brand due to the fact that they usually have a positive opinion on products even before they consume them.

In addition to all the above-mentioned, a few years ago Apple introduced an area called “Personal Set-up” in their stores. This is a divided space, which is dedicated to making sure that any customer who has bought a device for the first time leaves the store with the knowledge on how to use the device. Such step is immensely advantageous in creating customer satisfaction while at the same time reducing the company’s expenses on customer service that emerge after consumption.

Apple stores usually have in-store events and guest speakers. These appearances usually increase the traffic in the stores. A good example of such in-store events as well as guest speakers is the appearance of the director and actors of New York Soho Store. This performance has taken place during the Tribeca Film Festival. Apart from increasing the traffic and the number of sales, the involvement of events and guest speakers had an emotional impact on the customers. The explanation of this lies in the fact, that it makes visiting the Apple stores more than just a process of acquiring a device.

Apart from this, the use of iBooks, as well as phone support, has been a way through, by means of which the company has become able to make sure that their customers have the bests of experiences. The majority of the customers have shown their satisfaction with the phone support offered by iBooks. The people have the knowledge and are dedicated to helping the projects to get done. Apart from it, iBooks have generated trust and build great relationships with customers due to the fact that it has supported eBook publishers more that all online eBooks store together.

In addition to all the above-mentioned, the company has also availed software development kits that have been described to be relatively easily useable. This has resulted in the development of more than a million apps, which are approved by Apple for quality. This is a way through which the company is able to make their devices more useful (Kumar & Reinartz, 2011, p. 127.)

It needs to be pointed out, there is a number of ethical as well as social responsibility issues surrounding Apple's customer touchpoint approach. The company is ethically expected to make sure that the information it presents on the corporate website is about absolute truth and accuracy. It should also be noted that the use of plastic bags in the packaging process might be a contribution to pollution of the environment. Therefore, it will be reasonable for Apple to consider using environmentally friendly materials in production of their packaging bags in the future.

Recommendations

Despite the fact, that customer relationship management (CRM) of Apple is considered to the one of the most effective, still some recommendations can be made. First of all, it would be reasonable for the company to develop new touchpoints, which will help to provide the customers with even better services and experiences, and generate the trust and confidence of the customers. For instance, Apple should minimize customer service problems with tight quality control. The explanation of this might lie in the fact, that “no matter how well trained your technical support staff, how friendly your retail staff, no matter how carefully you have selected your customer management outsourcing partners, a company that produces shoddy products will have problems with customer loyalty and retention” (Micconet, 2013). Despite the fact that the company produces the goods of the highest quality, it also has some issues, which has to be properly resolved. Therefore, tight quality control will help Apple to generate trust and build strong relationships with customers.

In addition to this, the company can improve its current channels for the perfect customer service. Apple already has a perfect environment for customers to ‘hang out’, which is Apple stores. By means of improving them, the company wil increase the confidence of the customers and will make them sure that it does not just interested in selling the products. Instead of this, the company will show that it is interested in providing the clients with unique experience , which cannot be obtained in other stores.

Conclusion

To sum it up, it is safe to say that Apple is the company, which successfully uses customer relationship management in order to build the relationship with the customers, generate trust and increase their retention. In order to meet the requirements of the customers, the company has a few touchpoints, which help to obtain the confidence and loyalty of the customers, as well as contribute to building effective relationships. These touchpoints include corporate website, personal appointment with the customer, the use of customer’s name, the interaction between the customer and sales person, checkout process, packaging, etc. Despite the fact, that Apple has, probably, one of the most developed Customer Relationship Management approach, it constantly works on its improvement and further development.