U4 Customer Profitability Analysis, Lifetime Value, and Benchmarking Flashcards
(180 cards)
1
Q
According to some statistics, every household in Europe has approximately ————– customer
loyalty cards. This underscores the importance of ?
A
four
customer relationship management
and the attention businesses give to such programs.
2
Q
According to some statistics, every household in Europe has approximately four customer
loyalty cards. This underscores the importance of customer relationship management
and the attention businesses give to such programs. This is a result of?
A
a quest
for sustainable competitive advantage whereby managers have sought to differentiate
their company by focusing on customers and becoming more active in their communication
with them.
3
Q
Companies are constantly looking for strategies to improve customer
experience, e.g.?
A
providing better product and service quality.
4
Q
The problem, however, can
be that a satisfied and loyal customer, who buys the company’s products over and over
again, may not necessarily lead to ——————————————–. This means applying —————to improve customer loyalty do not necessarily increase profits in and of themselves.
A
company profits
strategies
5
Q
Both measuring the improvements in quality and the profits from different customers
or customer groups require?
A
performance measurement techniques.
6
Q
In this section we
want to focus on the aspect of customer profitability and how customer profitability
analysis such as customer lifetime value can guide companies in their customer loyalty
efforts.
A
7
Q
Profitability Analysis
In this section we want to introduce the idea and concept of customer profitability
analysis. A customer profitability analysis is?
A
an evaluation process which focuses on
assigning costs and revenues to segments of the customer base, instead of assigning
revenues and costs to the actual products or the units or departments which compose
the corporate structure of the producer.
8
Q
A customer profitability analysis is an evaluation process which focuses on
assigning costs and revenues to segments of the customer base, instead of assigning
revenues and costs to the actual products or the units or departments which compose
the corporate structure of the producer. Approaching profitability from this angle can
sometimes provide?
A
valuable insights into how each step of the process of designing,
manufacturing, and ultimately selling goods or services incurs cost and generates revenue.
9
Q
Many businesses use a customer profitability analysis as a means of streamlining
processes in order to?
A
provide the highest degree of efficiency and return while generating
the lowest degree of cost.
10
Q
Increased customer costs can result from services such as:
A
- smaller order quantities
- customized and/or more frequent deliveries
- producing and/or stocking a greater number of products
- requirement to hold inventory
- increasing necessity for post-sales support
11
Q
Dealing with these extra costs may require?
A
an organization to charge for selected services,
cut back on services provided, increase efficiency of those services, renegotiate
contracts or even terminate a business relation with a customer.
12
Q
Awareness of customer
costs and profitability is crucial to ?
A
making the right decisions about current and
potential customers.
13
Q
In actual practice, a customer profitability analysis looks at each segment of the process
of?
A
creating and selling products to customers.
14
Q
The idea is to look closely at the
=========== which are associated with each of those ==========.
A
costs
segments
15
Q
These costs are then compared
with the gains which were achieved from?
A
the processes and procedures connected
with the operation of that segment.
16
Q
Breaking down the task into segments makes it
much easier to?
A
identify what is actually working to increase profitability with a major
client or a group of clients within the customer base.
17
Q
Eventually, this process will provide
clarity about elements which may contain ?
A
potential for earning more revenue from
those same clients.
18
Q
Apart from providing valuable information about all aspects of the business operation and their capability to earn maximum profits, a customer profitability analysis can also help to?
A
identify factors which could have a negative impact on the future of the company.
19
Q
For example,
A
most customer profitability analysis templates allow for determining what percentage of revenue is generated from a given customer or group of customers.
20
Q
There are cases when analysis makes it clear that the company is depending on?
A
two or three large customers to generate half or more of its business volume.
21
Q
In such a case, steps are taken to diversify and expand the —————————-, often by attracting more ———————————–customers.
A
client base
small- to mid-sized
22
Q
As a result, the business is less likely to be at risk should one of those major clients decide to
——————-, since an increased bank of smaller customers (who are—————————————————————) account for a larger share of the ——————revenue.
A
withdraw
less likely to opt out of the business relation
monthly
23
Q
A proper customer profitability analysis will also look closely at?
A
how much of the company’s resources are dedicated to producing goods and services for specific clients.
24
Q
The idea is to determine?
A
whether the maximum benefit is being earned from the current use of those resources,
or if there is some way to allocate a portion of those resources to other functions while still satisfying the customer.
25
Re-allocating resources also makes it possible to?
engage in responsible cost allocation, which in turn strengthens the business in the long term.
26
Generally, organizations work with customer profitability analysis via using the methodology called?
activity-based costing.
27
Determination of Customer Process\/Activity & Customer-Specific Costs
These factors include:
cost sales,
customer service,
warranty department etc.
28
each of these specific costs is relevant for
all customers.
29
It is of crucial importance to identify and understand these costs as well as ?
the major activities included and the key cost drivers.
30
These costs can be benchmarked internally and externally and best practices can be?
identified and implemented.
31
As a result, costs cannot only be better assigned to customers, but opportunities to ?
reduce or redirect them can be identified in order to decrease the total cost to serve the customer (see below).
32
Figure 6: Determination of Customer Process\/Activity and Customer-Specific Costs
33
Figure 6: Determination of Customer Process\/Activity and Customer-Specific Costs
34
Figure 6: Determination of Customer Process\/Activity and Customer-Specific Costs
35
Figure 6: Determination of Customer Process\/Activity and Customer-Specific Costs
36
Determination of customer profitability
All revenue and costs need to be?
matched with customers so that profit can be determined.
37
This information is critical to?
= support decisions with regard to strategic pricing,
=contract negotiations,
=and rationalizing customers or the services provided to them
=as well as implementing new services and seeking new customers.
38
Figure 7: Customer Profitability Framework
39
Figure 7: Customer Profitability Framework
40
Figure 7: Customer Profitability Framework
41
Determination of customer cost and customer profitability becomes critical for =======================================. Awareness of total costs for particular processes and activities in customer assessing allows for a focus on ==========================================.
an organization and its efficiency
reducing those costs and controlling them
42
Knowing costs for specific customers enables a business to?
reduce these services, change them, or charge additional compensation.
43
As mentioned above, the determination of customer costs and profitability can be performed by using?
activity based costing calculations.
44
The calculation is accurate and straightforward, despite the fact that it requires the availability of --------------------------------------data. Plus, there is an obvious advantage for an organization, since customer cost and profitability information becomes vital to an organization.
customer-related
45
If the right data is not available or does not exist, it must be?
made available or created.
46
Customer Lifetime Value
For many years organizations focused primarily on?
acquiring new customers, without taking into consideration how many purchases an individual customer made.
47
Acquiring a large number of customers who only purchase once is
not ?
an optimal strategy.
48
Instead, businesses should concentrate on ?
identifying how much each customer contributes to the overall profit and performance of the organization.
49
The customer lifetime value tries to provide this information by?
measuring the worth of a customer to the company.
50
With this information businesses can?
rank order their customers and formulate different strategies.
In other words, customer lifetime value helps organizations to treat customers differently based on their overall contribution to the company’s returns.
51
As a result, customer lifetime value addresses the following issues:
Calculating customer lifetime value helps companies to understand how much they can invest in retaining a customer while still achieving a positive return on investment (ROI).
52
Once the organization has calculated the customer lifetime value, it can optimally allocate its limited resources to maximize returns. Based on a customer-centric view, the customer lifetime value framework helps to select the right marketing strategies and activities.
53
Using customer lifetime value as a marketing metric provides an incentive for managers to place greater emphasis on customer service and long-term customer satisfaction for the right set of customers instead of maximizing short-term sales.
54
We will discuss different approaches to estimate the customer lifetime value, but conceptionally the customer lifetime value is calculated by?
discounting the forecasted net cash flows with the risk-adjusted cost of capital often referred to as the weighted average cost of capital (WACC).
55
A comprehensive understanding of customer value comprises all different aspects of ?
a customer’s contribution to the organization’s efficiency and the business success.
56
Therefore, the customer lifetime value can assist to ?
gain a profound understanding of customer value.
57
The customer lifetime value measures the profit streams of?
a customer across the entire customer life cycle.
58
While traditional metrics do not take into consideration the probability of ----------------------------------------, customer lifetime value incorporates these aspects and is able to give managers a ------------------------------------------------.
customers being active
much better perspective
59
It is clear that the customer lifetime value represents an application of the principles of?
contemporary finance to contribute to the evaluation of customer relations.
60
The model is aimed at assigning a profitability figure to the customer, which is based on?
profit forecasts and directly referable to in-payments and out-payments.
61
This procedure also explains all those effects which go beyond transactions performed by customers such as:
advertising the products to other potential customers through word-of-mouth marketing.
62
By segmenting customers across different dimensions and groups, businesses can better align?
their marketing,
sales,
and services
and allocate their resources and expenditures to optimize long-term customer value leading to long-term profitability.
63
However, despite the fact that a considerable number of customer lifetime value models have been developed until today,
there is no one approach which is widely accepted or superior to others.
64
Studying the basic customer lifetime value models reveals that different incorporated variables can generally be classified in three basic categories:
=retention rate
=revenue
=costs
65
When considering the practical side, which is characterized by ?
large and heterogeneous customer groups, the theory suggests that organizations should divide their customer bases into homogeneous segments which possess different lifetime values.
66
In order to create sufficiently detailed individual customer lifetime values, and minimize calculation efforts at the same time, each value component needs to be?
calculated separately for each customer segment.
67
These specific value figures of each group will then serve as?
a basis for the calculation of individual customer lifetime values.
68
Retention Rate
The retention rate is a factor which is typically defined with regard to the individual customer.
It refers to the possibility that an individual customer remains loyal to a particular supplier and keeps yielding expected revenue,
as well as costs, within a fixed period of time.
69
By means of retention rates, anticipated contribution margins are adjusted to?
the probability of occurrence.
70
The retention rate can be estimated with the help of empirically validated factors of loyalty, such as?
customer satisfaction, switching barriers, variety-seeking behavior and attractiveness of alternatives.
71
In 1999, S. Peter introduced the ‘LISREL-Approach’ which is ?
the ‘LISREL-Approach’
72
In 1999, S. Peter introduced the ‘LISREL-Approach’ which is ?
concerned with adequate analytical instruments to quantify the direction and strength of different customer-related factors.
73
Additional starting points for the analysis of retention rates are ?
customer loyalty models which cover different kinds of relationship settings (e.g. contractual vs. non-contractual).
74
In contractual settings, represented by the ‘lost-for-good model’, the customer is?
either totally committed to the vendor or totally left alone.
75
In this case, the retention rate and expected revenues can be forecasted fairly accurately, depending on?
the usage of the services in the previous period and the contract terms.
76
Other practical approaches which are more widely known as migration models, are often based on?
Markov-chains and are related to non-contractual situations in which customers split their category expenses among several organizations or companies.
77
In this ‘always-a share’ case, the retention rate is not regarded to be stable, but ?
a dynamic factor reflecting changes in purchase behavior throughout the entire customer life cycle.
78
RevenueThe second component-revenue-can be divided into four sub-categories:
-autonomous revenue
-up-selling revenuecross-selling revenue
-contribution margins which are all resulting from referral activities of existing customers
79
These aspects play a key role in ?
compiling a complete record of effects of a customer’s commercial behavior over the life cycle and are essential to the identification of operative starting points for controlling these effects.
80
The autonomous revenue represents factors which are not directly influenced by?
the organization or only affected by standard marketing measures such as TV advertising.
81
Therefore, this refers to basic revenue excluding targeted measures to ?
increase sales or cross sales.
82
Calculation is usually performed by means of ?
traditional procedures of demand forecast.
83
Those means include :
analysis of time sequences or stochastic brand choice frameworks such as the multinomial ‘Logit’ model.
84
Up-selling revenue is yielded by?
the additional selling of the same product as a consequence of increased purchase frequency and intensity in long-life relationships (otherwise known as quantity effect, i.e. higher purchase amount per transaction and more transactions per period).
85
Up-selling revenue also emerges from?
a price effect which is created by selling higher-priced substitutes of the same category to loyal, long-term customers who are less price-sensitive. Therefore, up-selling revenues symbolize the retention value of a customer.
86
Up-selling revenue also emerges from a price effect which is created by selling higher-priced substitutes of the same category to loyal, long-term customers who are less price-sensitive.
Therefore, up-selling revenues symbolize the retention value of a customer.
87
Cross selling revenues, in contrast to up-selling ones, can be defined as?
the selling of complementary products or product categories which have not been bought from the vendor such as selling life insurance to an automobile insurance customer.
88
The reference value measures margins which stem from new customers who were?
gained through the referral behavior of existing customers.
89
Its estimation can, for example,
be accomplished with the help of the reference value model developed by Cornelsen in 2000.
90
Costs
The principle methods for predicting customer costs are those which are commonly applied in product-related accounting.
91
Solely the reference object has changed over various stages from the product to the customer. The traditional forecast methods are being supplemented by?
findings about cost-reducing effects of long-term customer relationships.
92
Acquisition costs
This type of cost has to be considered when contemplating the customer lifetime value of a future customer.
93
With regard to existing customers, this cost has to be booked as?
a submerged cost.
94
Since this cost arises only once, it may be characterized as ?
an organization’s irreversible investment in the customer.
95
Its customer-specific calculation and assignment is based on ?
the acquisition procedure used (e.g. direct marketing vs. mass marketing through advertising).
96
Marketing costs represent costs of ?
customer retention and development.
97
This type of costs comprise all marketing measures aimed at?
the improvement of customer profitability,
98
for example
when the customer’s attention is drawn to higher-priced variants (up-selling) or other product categories of the same company (cross-selling).
99
when the customer’s attention is drawn to higher-priced variants (up-selling) or other product categories of the same company (cross-selling).
=Promotional expenditures and costs for soliciting,
=mailing catalogues or sending personalized greeting cards belong to this category.
100
Sales costs include both?
the production costs of the goods and all costs of serving the customer, including the cost of order procession, handling, warehousing, and shipping.
101
When a customer ends his business relationship and is not regarded to be worthy of recovering, an organization needs to?
include the costs of terminating that business relationship in its calculation of ‘final costs’.
102
The administrative expenses when closing an account or costs of taking back mature products are?
aspects which have not been integrated into a customer lifetime value model so far.
103
All in all, the following graph illustrates the main phases of ?
the customer lifetime cycle and depicts how it relates to the different costs and revenue which occur.
104
Figure 8: Customer Lifetime Phases
105
Figure 8: Customer Lifetime Phases
106
An appropriate calculation of customer lifetime value has to consider all elements included in:
customer value, as well as all sorts of indirect monetary contributions, such as information, cooperation and innovation value.
107
Calculating Customer Lifetime Value
Based on the main elements introduced and explained in the previous section, the customer lifetime value can be calculated in five steps:
The first component is the gross contribution margin, defined as the difference between recurring revenues minus recurring costs.
108
Gross contribution margin minus marketing costs results in the net margin.
109
If the net margin is constant over time, it can be multiplied by the number of purchases which are expected within a given time frame resulting in the accumulated margin. In many cases, the net margin and the number of expected purchases changes from period to period, hence the accumulated margin or gross profit needs to be calculated per period.
110
If the net margin is constant over time, it can be multiplied by the number of purchases which are expected within a given time frame resulting in the accumulated margin. In many cases, the net margin and the number of expected purchases changes from period to period, hence the accumulated margin or gross profit needs to be calculated per period.
111
The gross profit or accumulated margin needs to be corrected by any acquisition costs which usually only occur in the first period.
112
Finally, the results per period need to be discounted to calculate the net present value of the profit per period and the cumulative net present value over all periods. This results in the customer lifetime value. As mentioned earlier, the discount rate is usually estimated by the weighted average capital costs (WACC). However, there may be reasons to use a different factor as a discount rate.
113
Finally, the results per period need to be discounted to calculate the net present value of the profit per period and the cumulative net present value over all periods. This results in the customer lifetime value. As mentioned earlier, the discount rate is usually estimated by the weighted average capital costs (WACC). However, there may be reasons to use a different factor as a discount rate.
114
The next graph illustrates the five steps to calculate the customer lifetime value.
115
This graph is based on the assumption that the net margin is constant over time and that the time frame in question is three years.
116
Figure 9: Steps to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value
117
Regarding practical implementation, two scenarios or approaches can be distinguished.
Sometimes it is of interest to calculate the customer lifetime value of an individual customer.
118
Sometimes it is of interest to calculate the customer lifetime value of an individual customer.
In this case all the figures for the five steps mentioned above need to be available on a per customer base.
119
Very often, the customer lifetime value is calculated for?
a group or category of homogenous customers.
120
This does not change the steps of the calculation. However, figures are now only needed on?
a customer group or category level. Additionally, a retention rate is required to calculate the number of customers remaining from one period to the next.
121
Case Study on Customer Lifetime Value
To illustrate the customer lifetime value calculation we conclude this unit with
a simple case study.
122
The company Brand New Limited plans to extend its services to a new customer segment based in the following data:
The planning horizon is three years. It is expected to gain 20,000 new customers with the service provided.
123
The expected retention rate for the first year is 60 %. For the following two years it is expected that the retention rate will increase to 65 % and then to 70 %.
124
Moreover, it is expected that the customers make 1.8 orders on average in the first year. This is expected to increase to 2.6 in year two and 3.6 in year three.
125
The average order size in year one is $2,980. In year two it is expected that this increase to $5,589 and in year three to $9,106.
126
The direct costs are available as a percentage of the average costs. They are 70 % in year one, 65 % in year two and 63 % in year three.
127
To win the new customers, the average acquisition costs for marketing and other activities per customer are $630.
128
The weighted average capital costs (WACC) for the first year are 13.0 %. However, based on a market study it is expected that capital costs will significantly increase after year one. In year two, costs are estimated to be 34.5 % and for year three 36.3 %.
129
The following table shows the calculation of the customer lifetime value based on?
the above information and following the steps of customer lifetime value calculation.
130
Table 4: Example of Customer Lifetime Value Calculation
131
Table 4: Example of Customer Lifetime Value Calculation
132
Benchmarking
We will conclude this unit about customer profitability with some general aspects of benchmarking, since
this is an important tool not only in customer analysis, but also performance measurement and business improvement in general.
133
Benchmarking
Benchmarking has established its position as a tool to improve an organization’s performance and competitiveness in the business world.
Recently, the process of benchmarking has extended from only looking at large companies to also include small businesses as well as the public sector.
134
Experts and different theorists have provided?
various definitions and classifications in accordance with the time and criteria they focus on.
135
Some argue that benchmarking is?
first and foremost a tool for improvement and it is performed through comparison with more successful competitors. Therefore, it is clear that the central essence of benchmarking is learning how to improve activities, processes, and management.
136
Benchmarking is practiced and understood as an integrated matrix or system with two dimensions:
What is to be compared to what?
What the comparison is being made against?
137
What is important is that in the benchmarking matrix ?
each possible combination should be evaluated according to its relevance and subdivided into three categories: high, medium, and low.
138
Thus, the performance benchmarking can be defined as?
a comparison of performance measures for the purpose of determining how well the company is doing compared to others.
139
Process benchmarking concerns methods and processes aiming at?
improving the operation processes of organizations.
140
The basis of comparison using the benchmarking approach is ?
the organization itself (internal benchmarking), competitors, industry,
or technology (functional benchmarking)
and, finally, best practices irrespective of the specific industry (generic benchmarking).
141
The process of benchmarking research generates five different comparison targets:
performance
technology
process
competence
strategy
142
Graphically, the process can be presented in simple cycle shown below.
Figure 10: Benchmarking
143
Whichever methodology or type of benchmarking is used, it becomes an essential tool for؟
organizations to help them quickly identify benchmarks, benchmarking partners, and best practices.
144
Although experts tend to break benchmarking down into several types, most benchmarking experts apply two main types:
‘informal’ and ‘formal’ benchmarking.
145
Informal benchmarking is ?
a type of benchmarking that is unconsciously practiced by people at work or in their private life.
146
People constantly compare themselves to others and learn from their behavior and practices-whether?
it is how to use a software program,
how to cook a better meal,
or improve their performance in a favorite sport.
147
In the context of organizations, most lessons from informal benchmarking can be derived from the following:
talking to colleagues and learning from their experience (coffee breaks and team meetings are a great place to network and learn from others)
148
consulting with experts (e.g. business consultants who have experience in implementing a particular process or activity in many business environments)
149
networking with other people from different organizations during conferences, seminars and Internet forums
150
online databases\/websites and publications which share benchmarking information provide quick and easy ways to learn about the best practices and benchmarks
151
As far as formal types of benchmarking are concerned, there are two main types:
performance and
best practice benchmarking.
152
Performance benchmarking involves?
comparing the performance levels of organizations for a specific process.
153
This information can then be used to identify?
opportunities for improvement and\/or setting performance targets.
154
Performance levels of other organizations are normally called?
Performance levels of other organizations are normally called
155
Performance benchmarking may involve?
the comparison of financial measures (such as expenditure, cost of labor, cost of buildings and equipment, cost of energy, adherence to budget, cash flow, revenue collected, etc.)
or non-financial measures (such as absenteeism, staff turnover, the percentage of administrative staff to front-line staff, budget processing time, complaints, environmental impact, or call centre performance).
156
Best practice benchmarking is?
where organizations search for and study organizations which are high performers in particular areas of interest.
157
The focus lies on the actual processes within those businesses rather than?
just the associated performance levels.
158
This information is usually gathered through some mutually beneficial agreement which follows a ?
benchmarking code of conduct.
159
Knowledge gained through the study is?
evaluated and where feasible and appropriate, these processes are adapted and incorporated into the organization.
160
Therefore, best practice benchmarking involves?
the whole process of identifying,
capturing, analyzing, and implementing best practices.
There are a number of best practices benchmarking methodologies for undertaking this process.
161
There are a number of obstacles which organizations face when they actively participate in benchmarking. These obstacles prevent?
others from attempting active involvement.
162
Some recent findings have indicated certain key obstacles encountered during the process of benchmarking. These include:
=finding suitable partners
=difficulties in comparing data
=resource constraints (time, finance, and expertise)
=staff resistance
163
Since a benchmarking analysis is so closely linked to --------------------------------------, many of the benefits attributed to one organization can also be attributed to ------------------. When an organization desires to reach performance levels judged as ‘world-class’ or ‘best-in class’, it will focus on the importance of-------------------- and the process of -----------------------------, which is clearly indicated in various business excellence models and their -----------------------.
business excellence
the other
benchmarks
benchmarking
scoring systems
164
Many case studies solely focus on ?
organizations when determining the success gained through benchmarking.
165
The best known examples are perhaps ?
the experiences at Xerox and Chrysler.
166
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Xerox faced ruin due to?
more efficient Japanese competitors.
167
The process of benchmarking turned Xerox around and put it back at?
the top of the market.
168
The Chrysler Corporation saved three billion dollars in development costs and time by?
benchmarking new Japanese product development techniques prior to developing the new Viper sports car.
169
benchmarking new Japanese product development techniques prior to?
developing the new Viper sports car.
170
From a financial perspective, payback is likely to vary and depends on ?
the specific aims of the project.
171
When projects are carefully selected, planned, and managed,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------should not be gained.
there is no reason why major benefits (e.g. financial and non-financial)
172
In summary, there are many different ways to examine an organization’s activities and measure its financial and operational performance. Therefore, before looking at the organization itself, investors, creditors, and all key stakeholders should examine?
the respective financial and operating performance.
173
A variety of techniques come into play when ?
forecasting the cyclical short- and long-term trends of business conditions. But there is no one perfect approach.
174
Methods solely designed for measuring these conditions are -------------------------------
--not reliable.
175
These measures should be used in?
conjunction with a review of the organization’s financial statements in order get a better picture of the overall ‘health’ and condition of the association.
176
We looked at the ?
components that make up a customer profitability analysis and the basic categories of customer lifetime value.
177
Traditionally, profitability analysis assigns revenues and costs to actual products in order to ?
inform companies about which product is profitable and which one is not.
178
The customer profitability analysis takes a different approach. Revenues and costs are assigned to ?
segments of the customer base in order to determine customer profitability.
179
We now understand that customer lifetime value is a metric which is calculated by ?
subtracting the forecasted net cash flows from the risk-adjusted cost of capital.
180
The three basic categories of customer lifetime value are?
retention rate, revenue, and costs.
