A Two-Way Street: The Importance of CCM

August 11, 2021

Every company needs an effective strategy for communicating with their customers. As the digital world continues to evolve at a rapid pace, a simple website or one-way email blast simply won’t do. Digital communication channel options have exploded within just the last decade. Companies now have a buffet of choices at their disposal to support their customer communication strategies.

What is CCM?

In a world that is always “on”, how a business utilizes modern technology to communicate with their customers is vital to building trust and increasing market share.  Customer communications management (CCM), as defined by Gartner is “the strategy to improve the creation, delivery, storage and retrieval of outbound communications, including those for marketing, new product introductions, renewal notifications, claims correspondence and documentation, and bill and payment notifications.” This can include a simple document, email, direct mail piece or text message.

You will find a CCM approach used in many highly regulated industries like banking, education, healthcare, and government. However, anyone can employ CCM in their business. An effective CCM strategy ensures that communication is bi-lateral (two-way) and multi-experience. Customers want to hear and be heard in a way that suits their personal preferences – they want relevant and timely communication accessible at their channel of choice. Different strokes for different folks as they say.

The Benefits of a CCM Approach

In the digital age, the possibilities for companies to improve the way they communicate with their customers are (almost) endless! And a well-devised customer communications management approach has many benefits.

Reduced Strain on IT

• With new everyday trends to tackle, IT already has enough on their plate. Reducing their workload with an effective CCM software solution empowers business users to make their own changes.

Rev Up Engagement and Improve Timeliness

• Getting the right message to the right customers can be a game-changer in fostering healthy rapport and improving engagement. Analysis of the data gained with the right software can improve upselling and cross selling promotional efforts.

Streamline processes and amplify efficiency

• You can remove the middlemen and break down inefficient organizational silos with a solid CCM infrastructure in place. This opens the ability to create, approve and deliver customer communications all from one place or a few designated solutions that work in tandem.

How We Can Help

Lineage provides an array of solutions that support businesses in implementing and managing a healthy CCM strategy. Do you prefer an in-house machine with easy-to-navigate software?  Would you rather or  go the outsourcing route? We can help! Contact us to learn more about how Lineage can serve your B2B and B2C needs.