The 5 Distinct Customer Relationship Strategies

have given up revenue in the short term, and the consumer would have gained money or time. But both sides would be under the impression that they got more from the transaction than the other side. Companies doing this are often willing to lose something in the short term to see long-term improvement.

A good example is Amazon's offering of its Prime option. For a fee of approximately $100 a year, Prime gives members yearlong access to discounts and perks. There's no question that Prime ends up costing Amazon money in the short term. But the assumption is that Amazon is also likely to see the same customers make more use of its services, which translates to more revenue.

"T-Mobile has done a really good job of shifting in this direction," Frankland says. He mentions a personal customer experience in which he felt the company worked with him to make both sides happy. "Between my wife and I, we were spending fourteen dollars a month on international texting. And they just eliminated that as a charge. They sent me a letter saying that they would eliminate the charge because they didn't think this was something people should have to pay for anymore." Likewise, he says, the company made it more affordable to use mobile data abroad.

Although the purely collaborative strategy is rare, companies that combine this strategy with others can use collaborative tactics to a good end. As mentioned in Strategy 2, GoDaddy, though operating under a more revenue-focused model, can use a cooperative strategy from time to time. And though Amazon and T-Mobile use collaborative tactics, it must be noted that they do not employ purely collaborative strategies. According to Frankland, it is the rare company that is able to thrive solely on this mindset, with Disney being an example of that.

As has been implied, it's not uncommon for companies to pick and choose tactics from each of the strategies listed, and many companies do go for a hybrid approach. But they should be totally aware of what they're doing, taking into consideration that each move they make should be intentional, made from the executive level, and focused on implementing the appropriate technology, knowledge, and processes. No one strategy is inherently superior to the others, but companies had better act and re-examine their every move if they want to maintain the right levels of control.

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Associate Editor Oren Smilansky can be reached at osmilansky@infotoday.com.

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