Network Relationship Management & LALA

We call what we do Network Relationship Management (NRM). This is practise by which companies manage relationships with their customers and other stakeholders through digital social media. The digital signs left by customers span the internet and are noisy, so the process requires tools to manage the relationship, both for the individual and en masse.

This term recognises that customers – and suppliers – will be using social media, and the corporation sits at the hub of a network of conversations.  It is through listening to these conversations, analysing them, and learning from them, that the company can understand what actions it needs to take to improve its customer service and its reputation.

The Churnbar system provides the computing basis of NRM, and we provide consultancy to companies to assist them in developing a seamless, continuous, NRM process.

LALA is a mnemonic for the four processes by which NRM is implemented within a corporation.

It is important to note that the four processes all take place continuously and at the same time; while a contact centre agent is acting on a post, a new post is being discovered, and a third is being analysed.

Listen – using social media search to find all the posts on social media that refer to your company, your brand, or issues close to your business.  Many companies already have a social media monitoring program in place, but the extent that this is linked into customer experience or retention strategies varies considerably.  The initial set-up of the search will affect the effectiveness of the ongoing program, so it is important to get things right at this stage.

Analyse – The analysis stage is key to the NRM process. Without analysis to find the posts that need action, those individuals within a company who are tasked with responding to social media posts could be swamped, and not able to respond in time to urgent posts.  Classification should allow the team to respond through the most appropriate channel in a timely manner, and act as a form of filter, removing mentions that do not need a response.

Learn – Learning takes place in two areas: the analysis engine will be able to learn and improve its classification through continuous training, and the company will be able to learn where there are perceived or real problems with its systems and processes from reports and outputs from the system.  It will also be possible to change the classifications, and the actions taken as a result of them, in light of an enhanced understanding of the process of customer churn.

Act – without an action, all of the above is not worth anything.  The team in the contact centre will take the most appropriate action, through the most appropriate channel, to respond to posts, in an attempt to negate the negatives and accentuate the positives, thus improving the customer experience and reducing churn.  The management may also, through the reporting and learning process, discover other ways in which the company’s processes could be changed in order to improve the customer experience. The previous three processes all provide the materials with which the company can act to improve it’s position.