Research Project

This was part of my final year project and the module for which I recieved my highest mark. The topic was "Analysing the uses of eCRM in the web based retail sector." CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and eCRM is Electronic Customer Relationship Management. eCRM allows customers to reap a positive relationship with its existing customers through the internet or technology such as SMS tex messaging.

In the report I discussed the different types of eCRM. Database marketing helps organisations to market to customers based on their past behaviour and is an effective way of reminding customers about the products an organisation offers. I also discussed opt-in E-mail marketing where the customer chooses to recieve e-mails about special offers, new stock or news about the organisation. This is an important part of using a database to market to customers.

I also discuss the use of SMS text messaging as a marketing tool and highlighted some companies that use this technique to inform customers about the progress of their order. However, my research found that many businesses didn't use SMS marketing because it has failed to live up to expectations.

My report concludes that eCRM techniques when implemented properly, such as user profiling, loyalty schemes and database marketing can significantly improve the relationship between organisations and customers. I also recommend using data mining to create customer profiles and establishing an eCRM best practice strategy.