The CRM-KDD Nexus

Abstract

Customer relationships are increasingly central to business success (Kotler, 1997; Reichheld & Sasser, 1990). Acquiring new customers is five to seven times costlier than retaining existing customers (Kotler, 1997). Simply by reducing customer defections by 5%, a company can improve profits by 25% to 85% (Reichheld & Sasser, 1990). Relationship marketing—getting to know customers intimately by understanding their preferences—has emerged as a key business strategy for customer retention (Dyche, 2002).