module specification

This 30-credit module gives a well-balanced coverage of customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing analytics. It is intended to cover the entire scope of CRM and analytics from a marketing management angle and tackle challenges in relation to B2B as well as B2C relationship marketing.

The first part of the module focuses on CRM as an integral business strategy, strategic management of exchanges in the relationship, operational CRM, systems and implementation process, measures of CRM performance, CRM ethics and customer data protection. The second part of the module is centred on marketing analytics including analytical CRM introducing students to relevant online revenue models and statistical techniques of customer acquisition, conversion and retention and. Students will learn how to plan and evaluate customer journeys for a variety of marketing companies. All students enrolling onto this module have access to customer data and sales forecast.

This module targets level 6marketing students, as well as those advanced students taking courses in direct, database and digital marketing and business intelligence.

The module aims to:

1. Broaden students’ understanding of the role CRM plays in customer conversion and retention but also in generating loyalty and long-term profitability for businesses.
2. Help students understand the different types of relationships at consumer and industrial level, and appreciate the complexity of relationship management.
3. Help students understand the challenges of managing customer information databases, as well as aspects related to CRM ethics and customer data protection.
4. Enable students to enhance their numeracy and analytical skills, critical thinking abilities and their capabilities to develop strategic CRM solutions to businesses in a variety of contexts and situations.

This module bears a critical element of employability in that it adopts an applied, problem-solving approach and aims to equip students with the relevant customer information management skills,quantitative data analysis and interpretation skills,data presentation and reporting skills, problem solving and decision making skills required by employers within the marketing industry. In particular, students taking the module will develop the following analytical skills: customer data analysis and data mining, CRM segmentation and selection, acquisition, retention and churn rate analysis, cross-sell/market basket analysis, Pareto optimality, Percentile rank and decile analysis, recency-frequency-monetary (RFM) analysis, cohort analysis, multi-channel funnel groupings, cluster analysis,using time series analysis and multiple regression to forecast sales, return on investment and customer life-time value analysis,using the latest version of Excel and SPSS software packages.

The module also aims to assist students in the acquisition of the following skills:

1. Researching & analysing
2. Academic writing & reading
3. Application of knowledge and presenting data 
4. Critical thinking
5. Communicating/Presenting, orally and in writing
6. Being creative
7. Inter-cultural communication

LO1 -

INTRODUCTION
Relationship marketing
The evolution CRM, its current state and scope
Social networks and social CRM
CRM’s critical building blocks, satisfaction and loyalty programmes in marketing organisations

STRATEGY AND ORGANISATION
CRM as an integral business strategy
The relationship-oriented organisation
Developing a customer-centric organisation

CRM MARKETING ASPECTS (Managing the exchanges in the relationship)
Customer value creation
The value proposition
Omnichannel management, the online environment
Personal selling
Retail service quality management
Operations, systems  and implementation
Implementation of CRM systems
Measuring CRM performance
The Future of CRM

LO2 -

MARKETING ANALYTICS/ANAYTICAL CRM
Customer knowledge strategy
Customer (relationship) database management
Segmentation and selection techniques using the latest version of Excel and SPSS software packages
Data analysis and data mining
Computing acquisition, retention and churn rate
Return on investment and customer life-time value analysis
Predicting customer behaviour using analytical models
Using time series analysis and multiple regression to forecast sales
Pareto optimality, Percentile rank and decile analysis
Recency-frequency-monetary (RFM) analysis
Cross-sell/market basket analysis, cohort analysis, multi-channel funnel groupings
Cluster analysis

LO3 -

RETENTION STRATEGY
Planning and implementing a profitable retention strategy for a chosen segment of customers as well as developing a commercially viable loyalty programs
Creating targeted messages
Managing relationships and building loyalty
Developing, implementing, and controlling an effective loyalty program
Management reporting

The module adopts a student-led blended learning approach in which a high degree of student in-put and interaction is encouraged. To achieve this, the module is delivered over 30 weeks period through a combination of one hour lecture and two hours student-centred seminars. Lectures will provide an overview of the key concepts and theories of customer relationship management and marketing analytics with application to real life business situations.Seminars and workshops will be used to contextualise and operationalise the theoretical material presented in lectures, hence bridging the gap between theory and practice. Autumn period seminar sessions focuses on case study analysis, on-lineand hard copy research exercises and problem based interactive discussions. Spring period seminars will take place in the ICT labs to enable students describe, analyse, interpret and report on marketing data using the latest version of Excel and SPSS.
A flipped classroom will be used to support learning, where teaching materials are made available online, and the classroom time is used for more interactive questioning, student content creation and idea exploration. To achieve this, students will individually and/or in their respective teams, prepare all assignments well in advance of the date on which materials will be covered. For independent learning, students will be required to access a mix of directed reading from texts and journals as well as external research. Students are advised to maintain a log of any group meeting.
WebLearn will facilitate the learning of students taking this module. Lecture and workshop materials, case studies, journal articles will be posted on the site. Weblearn will also be used for student feedback purposes.

On successfully completing the module students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a critical understanding and use of appropriate concepts, theories and models of CRMin a customer-centric organisation.
2. Critically evaluate marketing data and identify a profitable customer segment using appropriate techniques.
3. Plan, devise and implement a profitable retention strategy for a chosen segment of customers as well as develop a commercially viable loyalty programs.

The assessment has been designed to test the achievement of the module’s learning outcomes and requires students to complete three assessments. These assessments require students to think critically and apply the knowledge gained during the module.

Assessment One: Individual unseen exam (40%) - LO1
This 2 hours exam will comprise a choice of essay type questions in an unseen examination. Students are required to demonstrate a critical understanding and use of appropriate concepts, theories and models of CRM in a customer-centric organisation.

Assessment Two: In-class group presentation and supporting material (20%) - LO2
In small teams of 3-4 students, each teamwill be required to give a 15-minute group presentation demonstrating their ability to critically evaluate marketing data and identify a profitable customer segment using appropriate techniques.

Assessment Three- Individual report (40%) - LO3
Students will be required to individually produce a 2500-word report demonstrating their ability to plan, devise and implement a profitable retention strategy for a chosen segment as well as develop a commercially viable loyalty programs.

Arrangements for formative and summative feedback

To ensure the portfolio remains on track and to provide opportunities for feedback and intervention, interim deadlines for the completion of certain tasks are specified. Formative and (indicative) summative feedback will normally be given within 10 working days of the deadline. Students will be provided with a detailed feedback both in-class and via Turnitin.  Students are strongly encouraged to show their draft to their tutor for comments. Provisional marks will also be offered which are only indicatory and will only be confirmed at the end of the module after all coursework has been second marked.

Core texts
-Payne, A. (2013) Strategic Customer Management: Integrating Relationship Marketing and CRM, Cambridge University Press.
- Grigsby, M. (2016) Advanced Customer Analytics: Targeting, Valuing, Segmenting and Loyalty Techniques, Kogan Page.
-Hughes, A.M. (2012) Strategic Database Marketing: The Masterplan for Starting and Managing a Profitable, Customer-Based Marketing Program, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill Education.
-Wayne, L.W. (2014) Marketing Analytics: Data-Driven Techniques with Microsoft Excel, Wiley.

Additional reading
Alexander, M., Decker,J. and Wehbe,B. (2014) Microsoft Business Intelligence Tools for Excel Analysts, Wiley.
-Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2016) Digital Marketing Strategy Implementation & Practice, 6th Edition Pearson Education Limited.
-Chaffey, D. and Smith, PR (2017) Digital Marketing Excellence: Planning, Optimising and Integrating Online Marketing, 5th Edition, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
- Evans, m., O’Malley, L. and Patterson, M. (2009) Exploring Direct and Customer Relationship Marketing, 2nd Edition, South-Western, CENGAGE Learning. 
-Goldenberg, B.J. (2015) The Definitive Guide to Social CRM: Maximizing Customer Relationships with Social Media to Gain Market Insights, Customers, and Profits, Pearson FT Press.
- Linoff, G.S. and Berry, Michael J.A. (2011) Data Mining Techniques: For Marketing, Sales, and Customer Relationship Management, 3rd Edition, Wiley.
Malhotra, N. K., et al. (2017) Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, 7th Edition, Global Edition, Pearson Education.
-Payne, A. (2005) Handbook of CRM: Achieving Excellence through Customer Management, Routledge.
- Peelen, E. and Beltman, R. (2014) Customer Relationship Management, 2nd Edition, Pearson. 
-Seufert, E.B. (2014) Freemium Economics: Leveraging Analytics and User Segmentation to Drive Revenue (The Savvy Manager's Guides), Morgan Kaufmann.
-Shaw, C. (2007) The DNA of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value, Palgrave Macmillan.
-Tapp, A., Whitten, I. and Housden, M. (2013) Principles of direct, database and digital marketing, 5th Edition, Pearson.
- Tsiptsis, K.K.  andChorianopoulos, A. (2011)Data Mining Techniques in CRM: Inside Customer  Segmentation, Wiley.
-Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J. Gremler, D.D. (2016) Services marketing: Integrating customer
focusacross the firm, 3rd European Edition, McGraw Hill Education.

Journals
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Journal of Consumer Research
Journal of marketing Research
Journal of Services Marketing
Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing
Journal of Marketing Analytics
International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management