MARK 7397 - Selected Topics in Marketing: Prof. James D.

Hess
Customer Relationship Management 375H Melcher
[email protected]
Off. Hrs. Tu&Th 3:00-5:00
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES
“Customer Relationship Management” (CRM) came into vogue in the mid 1990’s and refers to the
selection or identification, acquisition, growth and retention of desired customers to maximize profit.  
CRM requires a shift in mindset from product-centric to customer-centric management and a new set of
tools for understanding and predicting the behavior of current customers. This course focuses on analytical
CRM: identifying good prospects and customer acquisition, customer development via up-selling, cross-
selling and personalization, customer attrition, retention, and customer lifetime value.
Since the customer base is now treated as one of the most valuable assets of the organization, the
customer database becomes the focus of analysis and the platform for developing and implementing CRM
initiatives. The course focuses on analytical CRM (in contrast to operational CRM which focuses on
managing customer touchpoints) and its applications for strategic marketing initiatives. The course will
introduce issues, techniques and terminology associated with database marketing and data analysis. A
major component of the course is hands-on analysis of customer databases using SPSS statistical software.
Specific analyses will address the following: assessing lifetime valuation (LTV) of customers and
identifying 'high potential' customers; estimating return on marketing investment; and building predictive
models to estimate the probability of response to a marketing campaign.
Learning Objectives
• To build your knowledge of a rapidly emerging marketing arena - customer-centric marketing -
which some claim is the beginning of a new business paradigm.
• To emphasize how analytical CRM can help accomplish strategic marketing initiatives and improve
firm profitability
• To recognize that there are often two sides to customer-centric marketing or customer relationship
management (CRM) - what is good for the firm may not always be good for the customer, and that
what is desirable from the customer’s point of view is not always desirable for the firm.
• To develop basic analysis skills using the SPSS statistical software package.
• To increase your analytical skills and expose you to several commonly used 'advanced' modeling
techniques
• To illustrate the financial benefits of implementing various “Customer Lifetime Value” based
marketing strategies
REQUIRED COURSE MATERIAL
This is a computer intense class and you should bring a laptop to class loaded with SPSS and
Microsoft Excel on Jan 16, 30 Feb 13, 20, Apr 3, 17 . If you do not have access to a laptop
computer, you must immediately contact me at [email protected] or 713 743-4175.
1. Textbook: Customer Relationship Management: A Databased Approach, V. Kumar and Werner J.
Reinartz, 2006, John Wiley, ISBN 0-471-27133-0.
2. Cases: Seven Harvard cases may be purchased, downloaded, and printed from
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/relay.jhtml?name=cp&c=c09974
If you have not registered with Harvard Business Online, you will be required to do so. The downloaded
course materials are encrypted using SealedMedia. Use the following link to download the plug-in.
http://download.sealedmedia.com/unsealer/index.asp . You will have immediate access to the materials
upon placing your order, for subsequent access, you must login to http://harvardbusinessonline.org .
For technical assistance, please view the Quick Tips section or contact Harvard Business School
Publishing at 1-800-810-8858 or 617-783-7700. They are open 8am-6pm Eastern Standard Time. They
 MARK 7397 Customer Relationship Management Page 2

can also be reached at [email protected]

Several other non-Harvard cases (ABB Electric, Cell2Cell, CLV Calculator, Tuscan Lifestyles, and
Book Binder Book Club) are posted on WebCT.
3. SPSS Statistical Software: Computer applications will use SPSS 15 for Windows Graduate Pack
(older versions like 13.0 will work just fine). Two options are 1) buy a six month license and download
the software at http://estore.e-academy.com/index.cfm?loc=spss/6MonthRentals for $79.99; 2) at
website http://www.journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?T1=62391573+R a student may buy a 4 year license
for this for $199.98 + $14.00 S&H. (SPSS is available for free for students at Central Site Computing
Center, located in room 110 of the Social Work building, but because we are going to be using SPSS in-
class, this is not a great option.)
 If you go to Central Michigan’s website http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/lee1c/spss/ you can view
and listen to nice tutorials for many SPSS methods. It will require a Quicktime Movie player, but that
can be downloaded free (see instructions on the tutorial web page). Other such websites are
http://www.utexas.edu/its/rc/software/ and http://www.spsstools.net/.
 If you would like to see innovative statistical research software explained, register at
http://www.spss.com/downloads/ to download SPSS’s white papers on a variety of topics.

WEBCT
We will use the WebCT system as a bulletin board to facilitate electronic communication. On our MARK
7397, I will post datasets, simpleton’s guides, and lecture notes. You can log onto WebCT from any
computer that has Web access to http://uh.edu/webct/index.html .

ASSIGNMENTS
First, the good news: there are no examinations in MARK 7397.
Second, to keep the classroom lively, almost all sessions will include a discussion of a case. Some
specific questions to help you organize your thoughts about the case are provided in the table below. Each
of you is expected to contribute to class discussions. This is wonderful opportunity to practice presenting
and discussing marketing issues from an analytic perspective.
I would like each of you to select two cases to act as a discussion leader or commentator. That
guarantees that you will have lots of airtime for those cases. Please send me via e-mail ([email protected]) a
rank ordered list of cases by Friday January 19 and I will make discussion leadership assignments trying to
account for your tastes. To get the most out of any case discussion, you should come to class with your
own ideas group but form a final opinion based upon the discussion.
For each case discussion, a student will receive a grade of 5, 3, 1 or 0 as follows:
5= Excellent contribution to the discussion
3= Relevant contribution to discussion.
1= Minor contribution to the discussion
0= Lack of contribution to discussion.
At the end of the semester your accumulated points will be z-scored in comparison to other students.
Note: if for any reason you cannot make it to class, but can e-mail a case report on time, you may in lieu
write a one page report. This would not count as one of your four case reports mentioned below, but rather
as a partial substitute for class attendance.
Third, three case reports. You must write precisely three short (2 page) reports on cases of your
choice. These are due via e-mail attachment to [email protected] by noon Wednesday, the day after the case
discussion. The usual warning applies: you should not discuss cases with any students who may have
studied them in a prior years or get any input on these cases outside class discussion. This includes, but is
not limited to, input from any other external file or written material including those on the Internet.
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Fourth,each student should select an industry or a topic to research and write a white paper. For
industries, the goal is to summarize current CRM practices, issues, best practices, threats and opportunities.
Potential industries include pharmaceuticals, retail, financial services, high-tech, media or entertainment.
Potential topics relevant to CRM include privacy, personalization, data warehousing, CRM software, and
data mining. The goal of the ‘white paper’ assignment is to give you an opportunity to delve into a CRM
topic that is of interest to you. No later than February 6, you need to submit to me via e-mail the topic or
industry you have selected. Your paper should be approximately 5-10 pages (double-spaced) plus
appropriate exhibits. Each student should prepare a 15-minute presentation for the last day of class April
24, when the white paper is also due.

GRADING
Class participation 40% Case reports 20%
White Paper Presentation 10% White paper 30%

Other Sources of Information on CRM

Reichheld, Fredrick (2006), The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits Through Growth, HBS Press.
Sunil Gupta and Donald Lehmann (2005), Managing Customers as Investments: The Strategic Value of
Customers in the Long Run, Wharton School Publishing
Peppers, Don and Martha Rogers (2005), Return on Customer: Creating Maximum Value From Your
Scarcest Resource; Currency
Rust, Roland T. Katherine N. Lemon and Das Narayandas (2004), Customer Equity Management,
Pearson Prentice Hall.
Peppers, Don and Martha Rogers (2004). Managing Customer Relationships: A Strategic Framework,
Wiley
Hesket, James L., W. Earl Sasser and Leonard A. Schlesinger (2003), The Value Profit Chain, Free Press.
Blattberg, Robert C., Gary Getz and Jacquelyn S. Thomas (2001). Customer Equity, Harvard Business
School Press.
Reichheld, Fredrick (2001), Loyalty Rules, Harvard Business School Press
Peppers, Don and Martha Rogers (2001), One to One B2B, Doubleday.
Keiningham, Timothy and Retty Vavra (2001) The Customer Delight Principle, McGraw-Hill
Rust, Ronald T., Valarie A. Zeithaml and Katherine N. Lemon (2000). Driving Customer Equity, The Free
Press.
Brown, Stanley A. (2000) Customer Relationship Management, John Wiley and Sons.
Thompson, Harvey (2000). The Customer Centered Enterprise, McGraw-Hill.
Reichheld, Fredrick (1996). The Loyalty Effect, Harvard Business School Press.
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Schedule of Topics, Readings and Cases

Date Topic Readings and Cases

1 Jan 16 Introduction to CRM Readings:
Kumar and Reinartz Chapters 1-2
Case: ABB Electric (handout in class)
 At present you have information about the location of customers
(districts 1, 2 and 3) and the sales potential of each account or prospect.
Based on this information alone, to what companies would you direct
the new direct marketing program? Specify the accounts and customer
or prospect types.
 Use the choice modeling approach based on the responses provided by
88 firms from your region. The data consists of the evaluation of ABB
Electric and the three main competitors on eight variables. Perform a
customer-loyalty–based segmentation for your customers and
prospects. Which variables are the key drivers of choice in this market?
 Based on your analyses, on which firms would you focus your efforts?
2 Jan 23 Perils of CRM Readings:
Rigby, Darrel, Frederick Reichheld, and Phil Schefter (2002), “Avoid the
Four Perils of CRM,” HBR, February.
Fournier, Susan, Susan Dobscha, David Mick (1998), “Preventing the
Premature Death of Relationship Marketing,” HBR, January-February.
Brady, Diane (2000), “Why Service Stinks,” BusinessWeek , October 23,
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_43/b3704001.htm
Case: Canyon Ranch, HBS 9-805-027
 Should Canyon Ranch engage in a personalization and CRM
strategy? Why?
 How do you judge their current use of CRM concepts?
 What should Canyon Ranch in the Berkshire’s strategy look like?
3 Jan 30 Customer profitability Readings:
analysis: SPSS basics On webpage http://calcnet.mth.cmich.edu/org/spss/index.htm, review
tutorials on the following topics
 Overview of SPSS
 Getting Started
 Data Editor Window
 Data Transformation and Recoding
 Statistical Procedures
Case: Pilgrim Bank (A) Customer Profitability HBS 9-602-104
 How do retail banks make money from their customers? How much
variation is there in profit across customers? Based on this, what do
you recommend the bank do in terms of matching service levels to
customer profit levels?
 Based upon the sample of customer data for 1999, what can Alan
Green conclude about average customer profitability for Pilgrim
Bank’s entire customer population?
 Is the difference in average profitability between online and offline
customers in the sample indicative of a meaningful difference in
profitability across there groups for Pilgrim Bank’s entire customer
population?
 What role do customer demographics play in analyzing customer
profitability for online and offline customers?
 Should the bank charge fees, offer rebates, or do nothing regards to
pricing for online channel use?
 How does customer channel use in 1999 predict customer profitability
in 2000? Customer retention in 2000?
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Date Topic Readings and Cases

4 Feb 6 Acquisition, Readings:
Development, Retention Kumar and Reinartz Chapter 5, 7
Case: The King Size Company HBS 9-595-013
 What does King-Size seem to be paying to generate a "prospect," a person
who is not currently a customer but who asks for a catalog? What does it
cost to generate a prospect using mail order? Cable?
 On average, what does King-Size pay to generate a new customer: one who
is buying for the first time (include the expenses above).
 What are the average sales per customer in a given year? What is the
average gross margin (in dollars) per customer per year?
 Assume that the catalogs in Table A are directed at existing customers only.
How much is King-Size spending on catalogs per buying customer in 1993?
 If Jessie were to increase her promotional budget, should the extra money go
to attract new prospects (Table B) or to encourage past customers (Table
A)?
 Consider Exhibits 10 and 11. Which of the five cable networks (including
the two CNNs) gave the best results?
 What is the lifetime value of a customer to King-Size? Assume a discount
rate of 10%.
5 Feb 13 Churn: Choice modeling Readings:
McFadden, Daniel (2001), “Economic Choices (Nobel Prize Lecture),”
American Economic Review, June, 351-378.
On webpage http://calcnet.mth.cmich.edu/org/spss/index.htm, review
tutorial on Logistic Regression
Case: Cell2Cell:The Churn Game (with data), on WebCT
Your task is to execute the 3-stage process for proactive churn
management as stated by Charles R. Morris on page 7 of the case.
 Describe your predictive churn model. What statistical technique did
you use and why? How did you select variables to be included?
 Demonstrate the predictive performance of the model. Is the
performance adequate?
 What are the key factors that predict customer churn? Do these factors
make sense? Why or why not?
 What offers should be made to which customers to encourage them to
remain with Cell2Cell? Assume that your objective is to generate net
positive cash flow, i.e., generate additional customer revenues after
subtracting out the cost of the incentive.
 Assuming these actions were implemented, how would you determine
whether they had worked?
6 Feb 20 Customer Lifetime Value Readings:
Kumar and Reinartz Chapters 6
Arthur Hughes, “How Lifetime Value is Used to Evaluate Customer
Relationship Management,” www.dbmarketing.com/articles/Art194.htm
“Do You Know Who Your Most Profitable Customers Are?”
www.businessweek.com/1998/37/b3595144.htm
Case: CLV calculator (on WebCT)
 Build a model for contribution margin and customer lifetime value
7 Feb 27 Customers as Assets Readings:
Malthouse, Edward and Robert Blattberg (2005), “Can We Predict
Customer Lifetime Value?” J. Interactive Marketing, Winter 2-16.
Gupta, Sunil and Donald Lehmann (2003), “Customers As Assets,” J.
Interactive Marketing, Winter 9-24.
Case: Tuscan Lifestyles: Assessing Customer Lifetime Value on WebCT
 What is the average lifetime value of a customer whose initial purchase
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Date Topic Readings and Cases

is less than $50?
 What is the average lifetime value of a customer whose initial purchase
is $50 or greater?
 Based on these expected lifetime values, what marketing plans might be
advisable?
 Do you agree with Joan’s assumption that 5 years is a reasonable time
horizon? Why or why not?
 Do you have suggestions for other ways to group customers for
determining lifetime value?
 What additional information might be helpful to Joan?
8 Mar 6 Customer Development Readings:
Booz Allen Hamilton (1998), “Power in Cross-Selling – A proven
approach” (on WebCT)
Case: Harrah's Entertainment, HBS 9-502-011
 What are the objectives of the various data base marketing programs
and are they working?
 Why is it important to use “customer worth” in the dbm efforts rather
than observed level of play?
 What is the sustainability of Harrah’s actions and strategy?
Mar 13 Spring Break No Class
9 Mar 20 Loyalty Programs Readings:
Kumar and Reinartz Chapters 8
Case: Cabo San Viejo: Rewarding Loyalty HBS 9-506-060
 What are the characteristics of Cabo San Viejo’s customer base? How
healty is this customer base?
 Should Cabo San Viejo adopt a rewards program?
 If the firm were to adopt a rewards program, what should its strategic
objective be? What problem should the firm be trying to solve? What is
the biggest problem facing this firm in terms of customer management?
 If the firm were to adopt a rewards program, how should it be
structured? On what basis should points be awarded? What type of
rewards should the firm offer?
10 Mar 27 CRM Competition Readings:
Kumar and Reinartz Chapters 9
Case: Hilton HHonors Worldwide: Loyalty Wars HBS 9-501-010
 How can a loyalty program help Hilton (the brand owner) and property
operators manage customers better?
 Can you quantify the value of the Hhonors program to Hilton? How
does this value compare to the program’s costs?
 Now look at the program from the perspective of a property
owner/franchisee. If the franchisee had a choice of using the Hilton or
Starwood brand onto its property, how would it assess the value of
doing so?
 Imagine a franchisee would pay Hhonors 10 cents on the dollar,
instead of the current 4.5 cents. How would you recommend that
Hhonors should spend the additional revenue? Would the franchisee
get value from this extra expenditure?
 How should Hilton react to Starwood?
11 Apr 3 Segmentation Readings:
Coyles , Stephanie and Timothy Gokey (2002), "Customer Retention Is
Not Enough," McKinsey Quarterly 2, 80-90,
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/articles/articles_template.asp?
ID=6.
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Date Topic Readings and Cases

On http://www.ncl.ac.uk/iss/statistics/docs/discriminant.html, “How to
Perform and Interpret Discriminant Analysis”
Case: Book Binder Book Club (with data) on WebCT
BBBC is evaluating three different modeling methods to isolate the factors
that most influenced customers to order The Art History of Florence:
ordinary linear regression model, a binary logit model, and a discriminate
analysis model.
 Summarize the results of your analysis for all three models. Develop
your models using the following data files:
BBBC.XLS - 1600 observations for model development.
BBBCPRED.XLS contains 2300 observations for holdout prediction
using the coefficients of the models.
 Interpret the results of these models. In particular, highlight which
factors most influenced customers’ decision to buy or not to buy the
book.
 Bookbinders is considering a similar mail campaign in the Midwest
where they have data for 50,000 customers. Such mailings typically
promote several books. The allocated cost of the mailing is
$0.65/addressee (including postage) for the art book, and the book
costs Bookbinders $15 to purchase and mail. The company allocates
overhead to each book at 45 percent of cost. The selling price of the
book is $31.95. Based on the model, which customers should
Bookbinders target? How much more profit would you expect the
company to generate using these models as compared to sending the
mail offer to the entire list?
 Based on the insights you gained from this modeling exercise,
summarize the advantages and limitations of each of the modeling
approaches. Look at both similar and dissimilar results.
12 Apr 10 Customizing the Offer Readings:
Wind, Jerry and Arvind Rangaswamy (2000), “Customerization: The
Second Revolution in Mass Customization,” Marketing Science
Institute Working Paper 00-108, on WebCT.
Case: Capital One Financial Corporation HBS 9-700-124
 What distinguishes Capital One from the many other companies that
use and exploit information in their interactions with customers? How is
this strategy different from other mass customization strategies?
 What are the effects of mass customization strategies on industry
structure?
 What are the limits to the sustainability of such a strategy?
 What are the consequences of an information-based strategy for
expansion into different segments of the credit card industry, and into
other industries?
 How well-positioned is Capital One to leverage its skills to compete via
the Internet?
13 Apr 17 Customer Experiments Readings:
Trochim, William M. (2006), “Design,” in The Research Methods
Knowledge Base, 2nd Edition at URL
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/desintro.php (version current
as of 10/20/06).
Activity: Design an Experiment for Capital One (on WebCt)
14 Apr 24 Presentations

Note: the papers from Harvard Business Review, American Economic Review and Journal of Interactive
Marketing are on e-Reserve at the UH website http://p8081-docutek.lib.uh.edu.ezproxy.lib.uh.edu/eres/ .
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