Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Customer Experience Management for the Romantically-Inclined

It's fun to see how we, as direct marketers, can impact all kinds of customer experiences. Often-times, we think of our direct marketing efforts as impacting the customer experience of car buyers, loan appliers, catalog shoppers, and the like. However, in a recent article by Earth Times, managing the customer experience for those in search of ultimate romance can be impacted by database marketing tools. Who would have thunk it?

eHarmony has recently entered into a relationship with Tealeaf (who touts itself as the leader in online customer experience management). You have probably seen the eHarmony commercials on TV that show lots of smiling, kissing, and overall happy couples who have met their true soul-mate at the relationship service website. In fact, "on an average day, more than 90 eHarmony members marry as a result of being matched on the site (Harris Interactive, 2005)."

The article goes on to state that "as eHarmony has grown, the company has sought out the most advanced technologies in order to provide an optimum user experience for its members." Hence, their speedy growth.

In fact, Tealeaf VP of Marketing, Geoff Galat, puts it all into perspective. Galat states that through their Tealeaf CX Solution, they enable eHarmony to "optimize its members' experiences, ensuring an exciting journey toward finding true love, and creating a more profitable venture for company stakeholders." So, there you have it . . . romance and profitability.

So, as a group, we direct marketers should be proud -- not only can we help our clients build more profitable customer relationships, but our techniques and theories can actually make love blossom!

No comments: