CRM

(CUSTOMER RELATIOSHIP MAAGEMET)

Enrollment umber

- 06502920

ame of Student

- Prateek Gupta

ame of Supervisor - Dr. Ayushi Gupta / Dr. Vandana Ahuja

May 2009

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of

5 Year Dual Degree Programme B. Tech - MBA

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

JAYPEE ISTITUTE OF IFORMATIO TECHOLOGY

UIVERSITY, OIDA

TABLE OF CO
TE
TS

Chapter
o.

Topics

Page
o.

Certificate from the Supervisor

III

Acknowledgement

IV

Summary

List of Figures

VI

List of Tables

VII

List of Symbols and acronyms

VIII

Introduction

1.1 CRM and e-CRM

1.2 CRM in Telecommunication industry

1.3 Customer Lifetime Value

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Research Questions and Methodology

2.1 Research Questions for Phase 1 (e-CRM)

2.2 Research Questions for Phase 2 (CLV)

2.3 Methodology for e-CRM Research work

2.4 Methodology for e-CRM Research work

Chapter 3
3.1

Evaluation of Website attributes of Telecom

companies for the process of e- CRM

Identification of Website attributes

3.2 Functions of Web attributes

10

3.3 User Perception of Customer Centricity

11

Chapter 4

3.4 Factor analysis

12

3.5 Result of Factor analysis

14

3.6 Calculation of customer centricity score

16

Calculation of Relation between degree of customer

3.7 centricity and Reach of Website

18

Customer Lifetime Value(CLV)

19

4.1 Importance of CLV

19

4.2 Parameters of CLV

20

4.3 Correlation between parameters

24

4.4 Weighting of parameters

27

4.5 Clustering of parameters

27

Chapter 5

Limitation and Implication

31

Chapter 6

Conclusion

33

APPE
DICES
A List of Global Telecom Companies

34

B List of attributes

35

C Questionnaire for user perception of customer centricity

36

D Listing of Website and attributes

37

E Questionnaire for relating attributes with parameters

42

F Correlation Figure

43

G Dentrogram

44

REFRE
CES

45

PUBLICATIO

47

Resume

ii

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work titled CRM (Customer Relationship Management) submitted
by Prateek Gupta in partial fulfillment for the award of 5 year dual degree programme of B.
Tech MBA of Jaypee Institute of Information Technology University, Noida has been carried
out under my supervision. This work has not been submitted partially or wholly to any other
University or Institute for the award of this or any other degree or diploma.

Signature of Supervisor

Name of Supervisor ..
Designation

..

Date

..

iii

ACK
OWLEDGEME
T

I would like to express my deep gratitude to my project supervisors, Dr. Ayushi Gupta and
Dr. Vandana Ahuja for their guidance, suggestion and support throughout the project. They
have been of tremendous help right from deciding of the project domain to the completion of the
report. Their constructive criticism of the approach to the problem and the result obtained during
the course of this work has helped me to a great extent in bringing work to its present shape.

Signature of the student

..

Name of Student

PRATEEK GUPTA.

Date

..

iv

SUMMARY
Business is moving online, not as a matter of choice, but as a matter of necessity.. Despite
widespread agreement that (CRM)/(e-CRM) has direct or/end indirect impact on customer
satisfaction , sales ,profit and loyalty , the significance of e-CRM and the various e-CRM
features in influencing customer centricity has not been well researched. This study attempted to
uncover relation between e-CRM and customer centricity by determining the presence of e-CRM
features on Website of some major telecom companies across the globe .For this purpose, we
make use of the Reach of a website of a telecom company to explore the link between increase
in consumer traffic on an organizational website and the degree of customer centricity of the
website. As we proceed to identify relevant website attributes related to the degree of customer
centricity, the objective would be to help companies concentrate on attributes which have greater
contribution to the degree of customer centricity. It was found that Websites differ in the
presence of 27 different e-CRM features; that there is a positive relationship between the amount
of e-CRM on a Website and reach of a website (hit count ranking) and that not all e-CRM
attributes are equal- some are related to customer centricity , some are not as important.
The study further moved on to explore the concept of Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
Customer lifetime value (CLV) for a project is the net present value of the future profit that is
realized on the average new customer during a given tracking window. Study focuses on
identifying parameters contributing to Customer Lifetime Value of consumers in organizations. I
further proceed to create a premise for targeting strategically significant customers.

Signature of Student

Signature of Supervisor

Name PRATEEK GUPTA

Name Dr. Ayushi Gupta/

Date

Dr. Vandana Ahuja

Date

List of figures

1. Figure 1: Alexa Customer Reach18

2. Figure 2: Classification of CLV parameters...22
3. Figure 3: Correlation between PPP and BC...25
4. Figure 4: Correlation between PCP and CM..25
5. Figure 5: Correlation between PPP and SC26
6. Figure 6: Correlation between BC and SC.26

vi

List of symbols and acronyms

CRM: Customer Relationship Management.

e-CRM: Electronics Customer Relationship Management.
CLV: Customer Lifetime Value.
CE: Customer engagement on Website.
RB: Building Relationship with Customer
HELP: Help Customer to locate information
BI: Brand image
CR: Customer Redressal
CE
T: Customer Centricity
PPP: Past Purchase Pattern
BC: Bidirectional Communication
PCP: Product Category Purchased
SC: Switching Cost

vii

CHAPTER: - 1
ITRODUCITO

1.1 CRM and e-CRM:

Customer Relationship Management is the comprehensive strategy and process of acquiring,
retaining and partnering with selective customers to create superior value for the company and the
customer. It involves many kinds of inputs by organizations to achieve greater efficiencies and
effectiveness in delivering customer value, (Parvatiyar, Sheth, 2001). It is mostly defined in terms
of the acquisition and retention of customers and the resulting profitability (Menconi, 2000).
Effective CRM is assumed to lead to bottom-line benefits for the organization, (Anton and Hoeck,
2002). Investing in customer relationships can be an effective strategy that organizations can
implement to enhance brand loyalty. The goal of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is to
help create and increase customer equity. Numerous studies have found that a CRM emphasis can
give mutual benefit to both the company and customer (Gronroos, 1996). Customer retention
studies have also shown that by increasing customer retention levels, profitability can be increased.
The internet has witnessed dramatic evolvement over the past 30 years, and is now providing a
platform for interaction between the organization and the consumer. In an era of the empowered
consumer, where online access opens up consumers to a plethora of choices, there is a need for the
organizations to retain their consumers. Consumer engagement and retention are fast becoming
important components of the marketing programs in organizations today. The electronic media
offers a significant virtual platform to companies today to build relationships between organization
and consumer, hence contributing to the e-CRM process. As organizations become increasingly
customer focused and driven by customer demands, the need to meet customers expectations and
retain their loyalty becomes more critical (Disney, 1999).
Despite the belief that CRM and e-CRM have direct and indirect effect on customer satisfaction,
sales, profit and loyalty (Swift, 2001) the significance of e-CRM and the various e-CRM features in
influencing customer satisfaction have not been adequately researched. With this paper we are
trying to uncover the relationship between e-CRM and customer-centricity by determining the
presence of features contributing to the function of e-CRM on websites of major telecom companies
across the globe. For this purpose, we make use of the Reach of a website of a telecom company
1

to explore the link between increase in consumer traffic on an organizational website and the degree
of customer centricity of the website. As we proceed to identify relevant website attributes related
to the degree of customer centricity, the objective would be to help companies concentrate on
attributes which have greater contribution to the degree of customer centricity.
Organizational benefits would include reduction in cost, better customer experience management
and greater time spent by the consumer on the organizational web spaces. This eventually leads to
greater sales volumes and profitability through increased consumer loyalty. It is clear that we are on
the threshold of a shift from a transaction-based economy to a relationship based economy. The
increasing importance of fostering and managing customer relationships is the motivation for this
paper.

1.2 e-CRM in telecommunication industry:

An effective CRM (Customer Relationship Management) strategy for the telecom industry needs to
be proactive and include the front end, which combines all channels of communication to the
customer base, as well as the CRM system itself and the back office to which it must be integrated.
Providing adequate and appropriate consumer touch points to enable consumer data capture are the
need of the day. This consumer data can be used for decision making and strategy formulation.
Although the ideal method of relating to customers is through face-to-face contact or via telephone,
this is often difficult or too costly with extensive customer bases. As a result, self-service via web
and e-mail channels offer useful contact points. e-CRM opportunities today are offering a way
forward, providing both a decisive competitive edge in some sectors and an advantage-winning
factor in others. Adopting the multi-channel 'anytime, anywhere' capability of e-CRM is no longer
an option but a necessity for future success. With transaction intensive services (i.e. banking,
financial and entertainment) delivered through 3G networks, operators will need a truly webenabled CRM solution to ensure the satisfaction of customers. This is the only way to achieve
effective service activation and troubleshooting. Another easy trap for service providers to fall into
is, believing that developing an e-fronted CRM, where customers can contact them through e-mail,
is enough. To be truly web-enabled the user has to be able to interact with the back-end system.
Without this the customer would not be able to pay bills or order more services through the web. If
this level of integration does not exist, operators risk alienating their customers all together.
In order to cope with the growing complexity of services and lower tolerance thresholds of
customer service on converged 3G platforms, e-CRM is a necessity. Understanding the customer
2

requirements and effectively troubleshooting problems will be fundamental for these networks and
e-CRM provides the tangible solution. In mature mobile markets e-CRM proves decisive because
with mobile uptake reaching high levels it becomes more important to increase services to current
customers than finding new ones. Customer retention will be decided by quality of service, which
in turn is improved by e-CRM.
We commence our study by exploring the relationship between e-CRM attributes and customer
centricity using a random sample of websites of telecom companies. We focus on the consumer
perception of customer centricity and then attempt to study the structural attributes of the websites,
catering to specific e-CRM functions. We then calculate the customer centricity score of each
website which is a weighted combination of structural attributes and consumer perception of
customer centricity.

1.3 Customer Lifetime value:

It has often been said that marketing means putting the customer at the center of everything a
business does. A customer-centered company is therefore one that continually learns how to find
out what it can do for customers at a profit. To the customer-centered organization the biggest
question that must be answered and tracked over time is: how are we doing at improving our
predicted profit per customer? This ought to be at least one key criterion for measuring success in
the organization. The bad news is there is no standard way to do this and report it to directors and
shareholders. The good news is that this challenge can be overcome and tried and true techniques
already exist. The profit value of customers is different from either product profitability or
contribution from advertising and other communications but is related to both. As a distinct metric,
customer lifetime value (CLV) for a project is the net present value of the future profit that is
realized on the average new customer during a given tracking window (Hughes, M., 1994).
Weighting the future net contributions against current investment, CLV study reveals the most
complete picture of business on the strategic whole ( Berger, P. D. and Nasr, N. I. 2002) .Put
another way, companies can only afford to acquire new customers for amounts less than the CLV.
The lifetime computation attains this affordable rate that could significantly add to the short-term
bottom line.
Customer lifetime value (CLV) is rapidly gaining acceptance as a metric to acquire, grow, and
retain the right customers in customer relationship management (CRM). However, many
companies do not use CLV measurements judiciously. Either they work with undesirable customers
to begin with, or they do not know how to customize the customers experience to create the highest
3

value (Thompson 2001). The challenge that most marketing managers currently face is to achieve
convergence between marketing actions (e.g., contacts across various channels) and CRM.
Specifically, they need to take all the data they have collected about customers and integrate them
with how the firm interacts with its customers. In the academic literature, Berger and colleagues
(2002) support the allocation of resources to maximize the value of the customer base, and they
strongly argue that such resource allocation.
Without knowing the future value of a customer, it is difficult to project how much an investor can
afford to spend to acquire one (Middleton Hughes, A. 2002) .With an accomplished CLV analysis,
investing in new customer acquisition becomes a very simple and practical process CLV can show
which customers are the most costly to lose and deserve more careful attention. This means a shift
in emphasis away from spending the most on new customers where cost is high and benefit is
uncertain. Using CLV as a metric is consistent with being a customer-centered organization

CHAPTER: - 2
Research questions and Methodology

2.1 Research questions for phase 1 (e-CRM):- First part of research focuses on how certain
Telecom companies can use specific attributes on their websites to cater to the CRM functions in an
organization. So this phase of the research comprises some broad research questions.
(i) Identification of specific website attributes which cater to the function of customer-centricity.
(ii) Linking the structural perception of customer centricity to the organizational perception of
customer-centricity. Organizations have specific CRM functions which they hope to achieve by
building attributes in their websites. The organizational perception of customer centricity, in terms
of specific objectives that they aim at attaining through their websites is mapped by collecting data
from organizational employees.
(iii)The degree of customer centricity of an organizational website needs to be measured.

2.2 Research questions for phase 2 (CLV):

(i) Identification of parameters contributing to Customer Lifetime Value of consumers in
organizations.
(ii) Creating a premise for targeting strategically significant customers.

2.3 Methodology (e-CRM):

Creation of an evaluation grid of websites to extract volume of attributes present across
different categories.

Creation of research instrument(questionnaire)

Consumer survey to link website attributes to consumer perception of organizational
objective behind hosting the attributes.

Linking the consumer perception and the tabulated website attribute data.

Extraction of customer centricity score.
Interpretation and implications of the score for organizations
2.4 Methodology (CLV): A detailed literature review helped us identify important parameters
contributing to Customer Lifetime Value in organizations. .

A questionnaire was administered to a focus group of 50 persons (age 20-50, who were Dell
laptops user).

A weighting criteria was used to identify the most important parameter contributing to CLV.

Studying correlations between different CLV parameters.

Using a dendrogram to cluster consumers to create a premise for identifying strategically
significant consumers and creating appropriate targeting strategies based on presence of
consumer in appropriate cluster.

CHAPTER: - 3
Evaluation of website attributes of telecom companies for the process
of ECRM
3.1 Identification of Website attributes:
Table I shows the complete list of attributes.

Store locator: this is a very helpful feature in telecom industry since consumers search for
information from the web and many of them procure the product or service from a nearby
store.

Flash advertisement: this is a kind of advertising which can attract consumers easily, as it
highlights the new offers or schemes being presented by the organization for the consumer,
for e.g. Festival offers or introductory offers. As the customer starts using the web,
something flashy catches his attention faster than anything else. Hence it is a new and better
way to advertise the product and enhance the beauty of the websites homepage.

Online entertainment: this feature gives the edge to the website in terms of time spent on a
website by each individual customer. If a customer spends leads to higher chances of sales
and profitability.

My account: this is an important feature which allows customer to access the information
regarding their bills ,usage data ,connection plans etc .customers are provided one password
for their account and using this attribute they can make changes in their billing address ,plan
or any other such things. other benefit of this feature is , it helps company to know about
the customer uses of Website, so that company can track the frequency on Web by that
particular customer

Online purchasing: by using websites Consumers can purchase product or service or both
with just one click, through the online medium. It is hence, the most critical feature for any
website.

E-bill: customers can register for the e-bill service and then they can get their bills on their
e-mail account (given by the customer).As the postal bill takes time to deliver, customers
can get soft copy of their bill instantly.

Online payment/recharge: This attributes gives the freedom of paying bills any time
anywhere. Customers can pay their bills and recharge (in case of prepaid plan) by just going
on the company website. The profitability of the company also increases because the direct
transaction between front end and back end takes place. So this is beneficial for both
customer and company.

ews letter: companies send their latest information, happenings, launches, new plans and
offers etc. to their customers periodically by e-mail. For this, the customers need to register
for the newsletter and need to give their e-mail id.

Reviews: A review is an evaluation of anything (product, service, brand etc). This feature
allows customers to share their experience on an organizational website about various
aspects related to a company. It not only helps the company to know what customers think
about their product or service but also helps the new customer to know the views of past
purchasers. So its an important attribute for both company and customers.

Feedback: Feedback describes the situation when information about the product or service
in the past will influence the same product or service in the future. This attribute gives the
opportunity to customers to tell their views about product or service directly to the
company. And with the help of customers feedback, companies can improve their future
service.

FAQs: Frequently asked questions and their answers are present on the website. This
attribute is selfhelp for the customer who is looking for some common problem or query.
This could potentially help in reducing traffic at a contact centre.

Sitemap: This attribute gives a hierarchical model of all links available on the Website. This
function helps in providing the consumer with a better understanding about the website.

Search bar: Also known as local search engine, it makes the consumer search easy. By
using certain keywords, a consumer can directly reach his desired information or attribute.

Online complaints: Customers can register their problems related to product or service
directly on Web.

Customer care detail: Customers can get all details like mail addresses, phone numbers,
fax number and all details of concerned people from the web site itself.

Product comparison: Customers can choose between two or more products by using this
feature, thereby comparing all features, prices etc.

Online gifts/offer: A visitor can participate in many quizzes, draws or other activities
available on a company website. These things can help in attracting more customers to a
webpage.
8

Product information: By just one click of a mouse, a visitor can get the whole information
regarding any product-either goods or services.

Coverage meter: This is a very newly launched feature. A visitor can check the network
availability and strength of the particular telecom company in the specific area. It can be
more helpful for a new customer if he is seeking for a new connection.
Table 1
Table shows number of Website having that feature

ECRM feature

Frequency

ECRM feature

Frequency

1.Product categorization

23

14.searchbar

21

2.store locator

19

15.online complaint

17

3.flash advertisement

21

16.customer care detail

25

4.online entertainment

12

17.product comparison

16

5.My account

21

18.online offer/gifts

16

6.online purchasing

18

19.product information

23

7.e-bill

22

20.coverage metre

16

8.online payment/recharge

22

21.privacy policy

22

9.newsletters

18

22.order status

12

10.reviews

07

23.online backup

02

11.feedback

13

24.repair request online

08

12.FAQs

19

25.language/font portability

14

13.sitemap

18

26.on line games

03

27.bill customization

11

3.2 Functions of web attributes: Psychology of users varies as we refer to their perception of what
purpose the customer centricity serves in a Website of a telecom company. Success of Customer
Relationship management (CRM) endeavors of organizations depends on their ability to establish a
better customer centricity on their Webpage.
For finding the user perception of various functions of Web attributes we putted a question to a
set of user who use the website of any of the telecom company and with the help of their responses
a weight score was calculated (table 2) . and in context the main function which caters the customer
centricity on Website appeared was soliciting feedback, customer engagement, build a relationship
,help customer in search of information, brand image, customer redressal.

Functions3.2.1 Soliciting feedback: - CRM is a two way process so the need to involve customer in the
process of co-creation have increased the organizational need to seek feedback from the consumers.
For this we can use some interactive tool on the web site to collect the information. This
information can be with respect to organization, product, brand or services.
3.2.2 Customer engagement:- in this context refers to the engagement to the customer with the
organization or the brand through the features available on the web , spelled out in the customers
willingness to get involved in an online feature available on the web site of the organization. This
can be through the feature of online entertainment, flash adds or any other participatory mechanism
.it not only helps in build up a relation but continually strengthens an emotional or psychological
connection between customer and organization.
3.2.3 Relationship building: - by creating some attributes which give the authority to the customer,
organization can also build a long term relation with the customer. Features like my account or
online contact with the customer care can help to build a relationship.
3.2.4 Help customer in searching information:- for a customer centric Website it is necessary to
have a feature of helping them in information searching .it can be regarding any product ,services or
brand. By using some attribute customer can locate desired information easily and quickly.
3.2.5 Brand image: - A interactive visit on the website can not only reinforce the product message
but also build a brand awareness and strengthen brand recall. By creating some touch point to give
the customer access of various facts of the brand, we can set up a brand image in customers mind...

10

3.2.6 Consumer Redressal: - responding to the customers problem and solving them. There can be
some attribute which can help in addressing the problems of customer on the Web only. Attributes
like online customer care (web telephony to customer, direct chat option to executive).

3.3 User perception of customer centricity:

Success of Customer Relationship management (CRM) endeavors of organizations depends on their
ability to establish a better customer centricity on their Webpage.
For finding the user perception of various functions of Web attributes we putted a question to a set
of user who uses the website of any of the telecom company and with the help of their responses a
weight score was calculated (table 2). And in context the main function which caters the customer
centricity on Website appeared was soliciting feedback, customer engagement, build a relationship,
help customer in search of information, brand image, customer redressal. So for taking user
perception in account, a small survey of focus group of 60 persons who are related to relationship
management field is done. And with the help of their responses a table is made and weight of each
function is calculated
To relate the attribute with all these function a questionnaire (provided as appendix A) was
designed. And with the help of responses we used SPSS 16.0 tool to relate these attributes to their
functionality.
Formula for calculating F and weight
F = (strongly agree*4) + (slightly agree*3) + (cant say*2) + ('ot at all agree*1)
Weight(factor) = F(factor) / F(factor)

11

Table II: User Perception of Customer centricity

Function

Strongly

Slightly Cant ot

Agree

Agree

say

at all

weights

agree
Soliciting feedback

28

18

07

Customer

28

22

08

02

196 .1995

22

29

05

04

189 .1924

43

10

04

03

213 .2169

Brand image(BI)

28

24

06

02

198 .2016

Customer redressal(CR)

24

18

10

08

186 .1894

Engagement(CE)

Relationship building
with customer(RB)
Help customer to locate
information(HELP)

3.4 factor analysis:

A factor analysis (Table III) was performed to load the various attributes onto different objectives
(functions). The factor Analysis with Principal Component Analysis and Varimax Rotation was
conducted using SPSS 16.0. Eigen values>1 were considered for extracting the factors (Table
IV).The attributes viz. language/font personalization, product categorization, site map, search bar,
product comparison and product information loaded onto feature help customer to locate
information. Attributes-store locater, my account, e-bill, bill customization, on-line backup, order
status loaded onto the feature of building relationship with customer and online payment, FAQs,
online complaint, online customer care and repair request online loaded onto customer redressal
12

and some attributes like flash advertisement, online game, other entertainment and other features
were taken under function customer engagement. Some attributes like newsletter and coverage
meter loaded onto the factor of brand image.
The other function soliciting feedback has been ignored.
With the help of this data we can check frequency of each function. In frequency table each of these
five functions are mentioned. We calculated their frequency by extracting the sum of total no. of
attributes available on each website which cater to that particular function.

Table III - Rotated Component Matrix

Component
1

lang_font

.971

-.149

-.179

.006

-.052

prod_cat

.977

.135

-.131

-.019

-.095

Storeloc

.322

.944

-.016

-.038

.063

Flashadv

-.042

-.171

-.138

.957

.187

onlinegame

-.112

.020

-.119

.981

-.107

entertainment

-.085

.074

-.149

.973

-.133

myaccount

-.121

.895

-.220

.166

-.330

onlinesell

-.094

.970

-.157

-.063

.145

Ebill

-.192

.950

.160

-.171

.071

onlinepaym

-.259

.003

.965

.006

.026

newsletter

-.480

.033

-.128

-.257

.829

Review

-.590

-.269

-.416

-.191

-.609

Feedbk

-.502

-.282

-.391

-.440

-.568

13

Faq

.096

.010

.990

-.093

-.045

Sitemap

.978

-.126

-.085

-.138

-.025

searchbar

.941

-.135

-.049

-.276

-.136

-.234

.002

.962

-.133

-.054

.060

-.060

.954

-.205

.203

-.264

.955

.115

.039

.056

prodcomp

.995

-.009

.027

.004

-.092

onlineoffer

-.162

-.059

-.182

.968

.022

onlinebackup

-.289

.941

-.151

.088

.005

.951

-.142

-.228

-.149

.023

-.160

-.137

.070

.020

.975

.315

.936

.032

-.091

-.121

-.280

-.224

.873

-.318

.083

onlinecomplain
Custcare
Billcust

Prodinfo
coveragemeter
Orderstat
repreqonline

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

a. Rotation converged in 7 iterations.

3.5 Results of factor analysis:

We performed a factor analysis to load the various attributes onto different objectives (functions) .
The factor Analysis with Principal Component Analysis and Varimax Rotation was conducted.
Eigen values>1 were considered for extracting the factors.
The attributes viz. language/font personalization, product categorization, site map, search bar,
product comparison and product information loaded onto feature help customer to locate
information. Attributes - store locater, my account ,e-bill ,bill customization ,on-line backup ,order
status loaded onto the feature of building relationship with customer and online payment ,FAQs,
14

online complaint ,online customer care ,and repair request online loaded onto customer redressal
and some attributes like flash advertisement, online game ,other entertainment and other features
taken under function customer engagement .and some attributes like newsletter and coverage
meter loaded onto the factor of brand image
The other function soliciting feedback has been ignored.
With the help of this data we can check frequency of each function. In frequency table each of these
five functions are mentioned. We calculated their frequency by extracting the sum of total no. of
attributes available on each website which cater to that particular function.

Table IV - Factor analysis results

Language/font portability
Product categorization
Site map
Help customer lo locate information

Search bar
Product comparison
Product information
Store locater
My account

Building relationships with customers

e-bill
Bill customization
Online-back up
Order status
Online payment
FAQs

Customer redressal

Online complaint
Online Customer care
Repair request online
15

Online game
Customer engagement on Web site

Flash advertisement
Other entertainment
Online offer

Brand image

News letter
Coverage meter

Solicit Feed back

review and feedback

3.6 Calculation of customer centricity score:

A customer centricity score was calculated for each Website (of selected telecom companies).This
would reflect the degree of customer-centricity reflected by each website. In order to calculate
customer-centricity, responses were collected from 60 respondents who were related to the telecom
industry and were asked to relate theses attributes to their functionality.
Based on these responses we calculated the frequency of each function (Table V).
Table V-Frequencies of respective functions

Factor

Frequency

CE

52

RB

83

HELP

115

BI

34

CR

90

The customer centricity score for each website was calculated using the following formulaCENT=f(CE)*w(CE)+f(RB)*w(RB)+f(HELP)*w(HELP)+f(BI)*w(BI)+f(CR)*w(CR)
[CENT= customer centricity]
Where the weights were lifted from Table II.
16

Table VI-CustomerCentricity Score

S.no.

Telecom company

Website

Customer
Centricity

Vodafone

www.vodafone.in

Bharti airtel

www.airtel.in

2.9872

Tataindicom

www.tataindicom.com

3.4292

Ideacellular

www.ideacellualr.com

1.8154

Reliance mobile

www.rcom.co.in

3.0046

AT&T

www.att.com

3.6063

Verizon

www.verizonwireless.com

3.6063

Orange

www.orange.co.uk

3.8202

T-mobile

www.t-mobile.com

4.0023

10

BT

www.bt.com

3.6165

11

Sprint

www.sprint.com

3.6033

12

Telstra

www.telstra.com.au

3.4068

13

O2

www.o2.co.uk

3.8088

14

China Unicom

www.china-mobile-phones.com

15

Qwest

www.qwest.com

4.0105

16

Softbank

www.mb.softbank.jp

3.0525

17

KDDI

www.kddi.com

2.2636

18

Telenor

www.telenor.com

2.4038

19

Swisscom

www.swisscom.ch

2.4242

20

Telecom italia

www.telecomitalia.com

2.2155

21

Movistar

www.movistar.com

3.1949

22

Ntt Docomo

www.nttdocomo.com

1.8246

23

Telefonia

www.telefonica.com

3.8181

24

America movil

www.americamovil.com

2.6136

25

MTS

www.mtsindia.com

2.0027

17

3.596

2.0192

3.7 Calculation of relationship between degree of customer-centricity and Reach

of a website:
This was done by studying the relationship between the customer centricity score of the websites
and their Alexa reach. These figures positive correlation between the Alexa Reach figure and the
customer centricity was deduced in the case of at least 5 global telecom companies.
Table VII - Customer Centricity and Reach.
S.No.

Company

Customer Centricity
Score

T-mobile

4.0023

Orange

3.8202

O2

3.8088

BT

3.6165

Vodafone

3.4057

Fig 1 - Customer Reach

18

CHAPTER: - 4
Customer Lifetime Value

4.1 Importance of CLV:

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is rapidly gaining acceptance as a metric to acquire, grow, and
retain the right customers in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Use of Customer
Lifetime Value as a marketing metric tends to place greater emphasis on customer service and longterm customer satisfaction, rather than on maximizing short-term sales.
Churn Rate: The percentage of customers who end their relationship with a company in a given
period. Churn prevention is keeping the customer interested in your business. Also it is well
accepted that acquiring a new customer costs significantly more than retaining an existing one.
Since CLV is reaching, keeping and protecting the most valuable customers for long term, it can
be used as a tool to increase the profitability of the business.
Cost of a customer: CLV is typically used to judge the appropriateness of the costs of acquisition of
a customer. The lifetime value of a customer is a measure of the value of the customer to a
business. It is the potential contribution of the customer to a business over a period of time. When
the lifetime value of a customer is known, it is a benchmark for how much a business would or
should be willing to invest to acquire a customer. . For example, if a new customer costs Rs. 50 to
acquire (CPNC, or Cost per New Customer), and their lifetime value is Rs. 60, then the customer is
judged to be profitable, and acquisition of additional similar customers is acceptable.
When the effectiveness of marketing is evaluated, instead of focusing on the response ratio (how
many responded compared to messages delivered), business should focus on the return received
(number of customers times lifetime value) for the investment made (campaign cost). Suddenly
business finds it can justify a much greater promotional investment when it looks at its returns in
this way, and this provides the engine for significant business growth. Chances are that the firms
competitors are too cheap to make the necessary investment, and this can give the firm a
competitive advantage.

19

4.2 Parameters of CLV:

The various parameters affecting CLV were exhaustively discussed by Rajkumar Venkatesan & V.
Kumar in their research work A Customer Lifetime Value Framework for Customer Selection
and Resource Allocation Strategy. The various components of CLV include purchase frequency,
contribution margin, and marketing costs (however, the various CLV components can vary
depending on the industry). Some of the antecedents of purchase frequency and contribution margin
(e.g., marketing communications) are under managements control and affect the variable costs of
managing customers. All the possible factors considered in previous research work are depicted in
Table VIII.
Table VIII.
Summery of all existing parameters in previous researches

Variable

Definition

Corresponding
Research work
example

Upgrading

Cross-buying

Bidirectional
Communication

Number of product purchase

upgrades until an observed
purchase

Number of different product

categories a customer has
purchased
Ratio of number of
customer-initiated contacts
to total number of customer
contacts (customer initiated
and supplier initiated)
between two observed
purchases
20

Customers who upgrade

have higher switching costs
with each upgrade, which
can lead to lower propensity
to leave and higher recurrent
needs (Bolton, Lemon, and
Verhoef 2004).
Customers who purchase
across several product
categories have higher
switching costs and recurrent
needs (Reinartz and Kumar
2003).
Two-way communication
between parties strengthens
the relationship and
ensures that the focal firm is
recalled when a need arises
(Morgan and Hunt
1994).

Frequency of
Web-based
Contacts

Relationship
Benefits

Frequency of
rich modes
of communication

Intercontact
Time

Product
Category

Lagged
contribution
margin

Customers who use online

communication want
Number of times in a month transaction efficiencies, and
the customer contacts the
customers who want to
supplier through
create efficiencies are highly
the Internet between two
relational and have recurring
observed purchases
needs (Grewal, Corner, and
Mehta 2001).
Acknowledgment of
customers with relationship
Indicator variable of whether benefits reduces the
a customer is a premium
propensity of customers to
service member (based
quit and increases the
on revenue contribution in
probability that the focal
the previous year)
firm is recalled when a need
arises (Morgan and Hunt
1994).
Timely communication
between parties
Number of customer
reduces the propensity of a
contacts by the
customer to quit a
supplier in a month (through relationship ( Morgan and
sales
Hunt 1994),
personnel) between two
observed
purchases
Average time between two A long time between
customer
contacts can lead
contacts by the supplier
to forgetfulness, but contacts
across all
that are too soon can cause
channels of communication dysfunction
between
two observed purchases
Two indicator variables: one A customers purchase
indicates a
pattern may depend on the
hardware purchase; the other product category purchased.
indicates
a software purchase
Previous revenue is a good
predictor of current revenue
Customers contribution
and accounts for any model
margin from the
misspecification (Niraj,
previous year
Gupta, and Narasimhan
2001)

21

Total quantity
Purchased

Total quantity of products

the customer
purchased across all product
categories

Size of firm

Number of employees in the

customer
firm

Previous marketing
communications
and depth (quantity) of
purchases positively affect
contribution margin
( Tellis and Zufryden 1995).
Control variables that
accommodate for customr
heterogeneity (Niraj,
Gupta,and Narasimhan2001)

The given variables are categorized in five broad parameter.

Fig 2: CLV Parameters

Past Purchasing Pattern (PPP):

Typical manner

in

which consumers purchase goods or services (or firms place

orders) in terms of amount, frequency, timing, etc

22

their purchase

Bidirectional Communication (BC):

Ratio of number of customer-initiated contacts to total number of customer contacts (customer
initiated and supplier initiated) between two observed purchases Two-way communication between
parties strengthens the relationship and ensures that the focal firm is recalled when a need arises
(Morgan and Hunt 1994) .it can be in form of Web-based contact or Telephonic or filling feedback
form by customer etc.
Customers who use online communication want transaction efficiencies, and customers who want
to create efficiencies are highly relational and have recurring needs (Grewal, Corner, and Mehta
2001; Rindfleisch and Heide 1997).

Contribution Margin (CM):

Typically, CLV is a main function of the predicted contribution margin, the propensity for a
customer to continue in a relationship (customer retention), and the marketing resources allocated to
the customer. In general, contribution margin can be calculated as follows:
Product Revenue - Product Variable Cos
Product Revenue

In contractual settings, managers are interested in predicting customer retention or the likelihood of
a customer staying in or terminating a relationship. However, in noncontractual settings, the focus
is more on predicting future customer activity because there is always a chance that the customer
will purchase in the future. Therefore, managers who calculate CLV in noncontractual settings are
interested in predicting future customer activity and the predicted contribution margin from each
customer

Product Category Purchased:

In case of Laptop Purchase (DELL), there are two broad categories one is a hardware purchase; the
other one is software purchase. A customers purchase patterns may depend on the product category
purchased.

Switching Cost:
The negative costs that a consumer incurs as a result of changing suppliers, brands or products. It
consist two broad factors

23

Upgrading - Number of product purchase upgrades until an observed purchase. Customers who
upgrade have higher switching costs with each upgrade, which can lead to lower propensity to leave
and higher recurrent needs (Bolton, Lemon, and Verhoef 2004).

Cross-buying - Number of different product categories a customer has purchased Customers who
purchase across several product categories have higher switching costs and recurrent needs
(Bowman and Narayandas 2001; Reinartz and Kumar 2003).
Example: Many cellular phone carriers charge very high cancellation fees for canceling a contract.
Cell phone carriers do this in hopes that the costs involved with switching to another carrier will be
high enough to prevent their customers from doing so.

4.3 Correlation between parameters:

To find out correlation between parameters set of questions (annexure) being asked to a focus group
of around 50 persons in the age group of 20-50, all questions were related to different parameters
used in research. And based on their responses a correlation between parameters were found using
EXCEL static application. Each of the question was directed towards linking the relevant
parameters with Customer Lifetime Value. It was observed that Past Purchase Pattern (PPP) of
buyers for DELL Laptop is positively correlated with Bidirectional Communication (BC) of
consumer and firm and correlation coefficient between these two is 0.82193(it came out the
maximum correlation factor among all). And product category purchased (PCP) was positively
correlated with Contribution margin with the coefficient of correlation 0.4771. Other positive
correlation is between [Past purchase pattern (PPP) and Switching Cost (SC)] and [Bidirectional
Communication and Switching Cost], coefficient of correlation came 0.3351 and 0.3823
respectively. No significant negative correlation has been found between any parameter.

24

Correlations
Between PAST PURCHASE PATTER' and BIDIRECTIO'AL COMMU'ICATIO'
(Coefficient 0.82193)

Fig 3: Correlation between PPP and BC

Between Product Category Purchased and Contribution Margin

(Coefficient -.4771)

Fig 4: Correlation between PCP and CM

25

Between past purchase pattern and Switching Cost

(Coefficient: .3351)

Fig 5: Correlation between PPP and SC

Between Bidirectional Communication and Switching Cost
(Coefficient: .3823)

Fig 6: Correlation between BC and SC

In case of other parameter there is no significant positive or negative correlation. (For other

correlation curves refer Annexure)

26

4.4Weighting of Parameters
No. of respondents who agree upon specific parameters..
Formula used:
f= (no. of strongly agree *4) + (no. of agree*3) + (no. of disagree*2) + (no. of strongly
disagree*1)
And weight = f / f

Table IX
Weight of Parameters
Parameter

No. of resp

Agree

Disagree

Strongly
disagree

Strongly
agree

Weight

PPP

15

75

.215

BC

12

72

.206

PCP

67

.192

70

.201

65

.186

CM
SC

12
9

On the basis of the weights it was observed that PPP (Past Purchase Pattern) was the most
important driver as per a consumer perception with regard to its contribution to CLV. Since the
objective of this study was to define a premise for identifying strategically significant customers,
with respect to their profitability, it appeared that PPP would be a significant basis for consumer
profiling.

4.5 Clustering of parameters:

Consumer targeting involves creating a basis on which a marketer can decide on the right strategies
and tactics to segregate the consumer population. Consumer groups or clusters can be formed based
on their purchase data or any other behavioral data. In this context we use the PPP as a basis for
27

consumer segregation. This is be done by subjecting the PPP scores of a set of consumers to
univariate hierarchical cluster analysis, using SPSS 16.0. This will enable extraction of separate
consumer clusters. Cluster Analysis, also called data segmentation, relates to grouping or segmenting
a collection of objects (also called observations, individuals, cases, or data rows) into subsets
or "clusters", such that those within each cluster are more closely related to one another than objects
assigned to different clusters. Hence, objects in a cluster are similar to each other. They are also
dissimilar to objects outside the cluster, particularly objects in other clusters. Clustering algorithms
function such that intracluster similarity is the maximum and the inter-cluster similarity is minimum.
There are two major methods of clustering-hierarchical clustering and k-means clustering. For our
study I use the technique of Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. This is a statistical method for finding
relatively homogeneous clusters of cases based on measured characteristics. It starts with each case
in a separate cluster and then combines the clusters sequentially, reducing the number of clusters at
each step until only one cluster is left. When there are N cases, this involves N-1 clustering steps,
or fusions. This hierarchical clustering process can be represented as a tree, or dendrogram, where
each step in the clustering process is illustrated by a join of the tree.
Classification of consumers under separate clusters can help organizations target them appropriately.
For instance if members of Cluster 1 depict consumers with high PPP, they are apparently more
significant to the organization.
Further, as and when a new customer enters the system, the nearest neighbor approach can enable
allocation of the consumer to the right cluster and ensure that he is targeted appropriately. The human
ability to reason from experience depends on the ability to recognize appropriate examples from the
past. Identification of similar cases from experience and application of knowledge of those cases to
the problem at hand is the essence of memory based reasoning. A distance function can be used to
allocate every new entrant to the appropriate cluster.

28

Table X
Cluster
Membership
Case

3 Clusters

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

29

22

23

24

25

30

CHAPTER: - 5
Limitations and Implications

5.1 Limitations:
The website traffic using the Alexa Traffic tool is available for measuring traffic on certain
websites. While website traffic is a function of several other external factors as well, for instance,
other promotional activities by the organization, along with longevity of the web site in terms of
date of establishment of the same. Demographic status of the country where the particular website
is mainly used and number of subscribers of Telecom Companies are also important factors to
influence traffic on websites. The same has been ignored here as the idea is to use the available data
to justify the importance of maximizing the customer centricity score in the interest of the activities
of the organization directed towards increasing web presence and consumer engagement and not to
go into a detailed analysis of traffic figures.
With regard to our study in the domain of Customer Lifetime Value, while the right approach
would have been to secure cash flows of an organization across several years and use the same to
calculate NPV of strategically significant consumers, our inability to collect data for the same made
us limit our study to the realm of extracting relevant parameters and creating a suitable premise for
consumer clustering and targeting.

5.2 Implications:
As the reach of a website is indicative of the number of global internet users visiting a site,
increasing the reach would be in line with any efforts of an organization directed towards
increasing web presence and directing more traffic to the online site. A positive relationship
between reach and customer centricity score clearly outlines the need to maximize the customercentricity score.
31

As Past Purchase pattern is a key driver in contributing to enhance Customer Lifetime Value,
organizations need to focus more towards consumers with appropriate Past Purchasing pattern as
also driving greater sales. Besides good PPP can be obtained by driving consumer loyalty,
increasing consumer satisfaction levels and good Consumer Experience Management (CEM). Good
volume of bidirectional communication can be a useful driver in this context.
Segregation of consumers to relevant clusters can help organizations in developing differentiated
market coverage strategies. Consumers with high past purchasing pattern can be subjected to well
directed loyalty programs and added incentives. However consumers with low PPP can be
subjected to voluminous marketing messages to stimulate further purchases. Focus can be on
discounts or increased switching costs, which would not make a consumer switch to another brand.

32

CHAPTER: - 6
Conclusions
From a user perspective, helping users to locate information is the most significant purpose of
presence of customer centricity in an online tool. The structural features related to customer
centricity of a Telecom website, however significantly cater to the function of building relationships
with customers. Further, there exists a positive relationship between the Customer centricity Score
of a website and the reach of the website, which is indicative of volume of brand communication.
Maximizing the customer centricity score helps an organization in its goals towards building greater
brand awareness and popularity. Organizations are in the process of using website as tools for
marketing and fostering consumer relationships. Focusing on the right combination of key
structural features in these online tools which will be beneficial to the organizational goals will be
the right strategy for any organization.
Past Purchasing Patterns of consumers in organisations and volume of bidirectional communication
between organization and consumer are important parameters contributing to increase Customer
Lifetime Value. Companies should focus on segmenting consumers based on specific parameters
and then identify strategically significant customers. These strategically significant consumers can
be subjected to well directed marketing messages to help the organization increase revenue share
from them.

33

Appendices:
Annexure A: List of global telecom companies and their web sites


Vodafone

AT&T

Verizon

Orange

Telecom Italia

T-mobile

Movistar

NTT DoCoMo

BT

Sprint

Telefonia

AMERICA MOVIL

Telstra

O2

China Unicom

Qwest

Softbank

Kddi corp.

Telenor

Swisscom

MTS

CNC

Airtel

Tata indicom

Reliance

34

Annexure B: List of attributes

Language and font portability
Product categorization
Store lo-cater
Flash advertisement
On line game and music
Other entertainment (joke, movie news etc.)
My account
On line selling
E-bill
On line payment/recharge
Newsletter
Review
Feedback
FAQs
Site map
Search bar
On line complaint/support
Customer care detail on website (no. and office address)
Product comparison bar
On line offer/quiz/gifts
On line backup
Bill customization
Coverage meter and Order status

35

Annexure C: Questionnaire for finding user perception of customer centricity

36

Annexure D: Listing of website and Attributes

(Score 1 is given in case of availability of that attribute on companys web page , otherwise 0 is
given)

Vodafone
Airtel
Tataindicom
Idea
Reliance
AT&T
Verizon
orange
T-mobile
BT
sprint
Telstra
o2
China Unicom
Qwest
Softbank
KDDI
Telenor
Swisscom
telecom Italia
Movistar
NTT Docomo
Telefonia
America Movil
MTS

language/font
portability
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
0

product
categorization
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1

store locater
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
1
1

14

23

19

37

flash
advertisement
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1

on line game/music
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0

entertainment
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
0

my account
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0

on line
selling
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
0

e-bill
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1

21

12

21

18

22

38

online
payment
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1

newsletter
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
0

review
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0

feedback
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
1
1
1

FAQs
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
0
1

sitemap
1
0
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
1
1
0

search bar
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
0

22

18

13

19

18

21

39

on line
compaint
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
1
0

cust. Care
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

17

25

bill customization
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0

11

40

product
comparison
0
0
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1

online offer
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
1
1

16

16

online backup
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0

prod. Info
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1

coverage
meter
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
0

order status
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0

rep. req
online
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0

21
16
19
9
15
19
19
21
23
20
20
19
22
12
22
15
11
13
13
12
18
10
22
15
11

23

16

12

417

41

Annexure E: Questionnare for relating attributes with e-CRM parameters

42

Annexure F: correlation between parameter

Between volume of bidirectional communication and product category purchased
(Coefficient -0.03803)

Between Past purchase patten and product category purchased

(Coefficient -0.0878)

43

Annexure G: Dentrogram using single linkage

* * * * * * * * * H I E R A R C H I C A L

C L U S T E R

Dendrogram using Single Linkage

Rescaled Distance Cluster Combine

C A S E
Label

Num

10

15

20

25

+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

21

25

19

16

10

17

13

23

24

15

20

14

22

11

18

12

44

A N A L Y S I S * * * * * * *

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PUBLICATIO

Research paper Evaluation of website attributes of telecom companies for the process of eCRM is communicated to PRABHADHA: Indian Journal of Management on Jan 2010
and is under revision till May 2010.

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