Application of CRM (Customer
Relationship Management) in
Libraries
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Libraries
Service Centers
Aim
to provide quality services to its
customers/readers
Readers in an era of profusion of
information resources & services have
become more knowledgeable & demanding
Challenge
meet user expectations while
dealing with budget constraint &
competitive environment
Answer…..
• Add value to services
• Apply Marketing strategies
• Better relationship with users
• Maximum utilization of existing
resources
• Add variety of new resources
Build up an excellent
relationship with readers- is need
of time.
CRM is a process used to learn more about
customer’s requirements & behaviors to develop
stronger relationship with them.
“A business strategy that aims to understand,
anticipates and manages the needs of an
organization's current & potential customers.”
“A customer-focused business strategy that
aims to increase customer satisfaction and
customer loyalty by offering a more responsive
& customized services to each customer.”
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Information
User’s profile & their preference data
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Process
Methods & inputs for service
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Technology
Tools/system that enables CRM easily
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People
Customer ♫ skilled library personnel
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Challenges to meet customer expectations
Readers have too many choices to get inf.
rather than visiting a library
While almost everything is available at the
click of the mouse, work towards satisfaction
of users is needed
CRM offers integrated approach to achieve
good relationship with users
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CRM could help library materialize the goal of
increased no of satisfied users
Addresses users need directly, improves
service quality and add value for library use.
Technology oriented library process
New analytics and new strategies that enables
lib. Personnel to work harder & smarter to
capture customer information.
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Access CRM Needs
Understand user
Involve staff
Motivate the staff
Communication with users
Avoid overspecialized solutions
Be critical in choice of methods, tools
equipments
Factors to be considered while selecting a CRM
solution…..
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Flexibility
Interactivity
Product reliability
Information security
Economy & user friendliness
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Open source CRM solutions, designed to
cater the needs of non profit seeking org. can
be better alternatives for service sectors like
LIC; as most of the established CRM solutions
are highly expensive & require technical
expertise for customization.
Some well known open source CRM software
are..
CiviCRM
(http:/www.civicrm.org)
MPower
(www.mpoweropen.com)
Ubercart
(http:/www.ubercart.org)
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Increases the usage of library
Helps to match the tastes, preference &
requirements of users with library collection.
Improves loyalty & contribution of user
community.
Compliance & cooperation between users &
library staff.
Encourage feedback & suggestions from the
users
Quality service to users
Financial benefit from mgt.
Gain trust & loyalty from the valued customers
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British Library decided to have a CRM system
that would help record information on
interactions with customers .
British Library’s executives streamlined all
systems into one single point of customer
contact.
“We are now able to tailor our service
provision to achieve the aim of delighting
customer, not just go through the mechanics
of responding to the customer.”
 -
Team members of CRM Project
The result of these system improvements, is
that….
 less time is spent on retrieving files, and
history of each customer can be accessed every
time they call.
 Better understanding of the customer.
 Better level of service to customers, as queries
are handled faster & more efficiently
 Business progresses, while keeping customers
happy.
1.Value added services
 To
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be value added service provider, librarian
need to add value to the reader’s contact by..
Asking questions to understand user’s
inquiry or situation
Determining if there is more service to offer
Asking about the satisfaction
2. Quality Services
 Raise satisfaction level of readers by
offering good services consistently.
 Use creativity in promoting library collection
 Library atmosphere should be clean &
inviting.
3. Leadership
 Any query should be satisfied, as a friendly
partner of users.
 User should like to approach the librarian
4. Perceived value
 Promote what makes library special.
 e.g. information service, reference service,
Ask librarian service etc.
5. Personality
 Hard working, pleasant, communicative, soft
spoken, updated..
6. Organizational issues
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Trust, reliability within library’s system.
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Let customer know what else library can do
for them.
Measuring reader satisfaction
Think upon these questions
 Did I completely understand what the user
wanted?
 Was presentation of information in a clear
manner
 Quality service was provided?
 Whether user was satisfied?
Steps to measure user satisfaction
Following statistics should be analyzed.
 No of new Readers per month
 Readers lost per year
 Average usage of library usage
 Cost per reader
 Reader testimonials & endorsements
 Reader satisfaction survey score
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We are here to help
Fulfilling Expectations
Interaction=profitability
Put the book in hand
Information needs of user---build library
collection accordingly
Cooperation & Resource sharing
Think before saying no to user
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What are needs & expectations of users?
How do you define an ideal service
interaction?
Do you resolve problems efficiently &
courteously?
How to personalize interactions to foster
relationship ?
What services could set us apart as caring
about quality & users
How to get feedback from users?
“
Successful CRM is about
competing in the relationship
dimension. Not as an
alternative to having a
competitive product or
reasonable price--- but as a
differentiator”
-Smallbiz-CRM