It is important whose customer you are, both in CRM and CEM (customer experience management).

My wife decided to buy a carpet washing machine. She looked for it on an internet store, and made up her mind on one. She explained how happy she was when she got it sooner than she expected. (She is a lecturer with the title “Prof. Dr.” in University, and an e-commerce expert. She is often called for conferences as a spokesperson.)

Someone in the audience asked what brand it was. My wife couldn’t remember it. She was using it, but she was not a customer of that brand;  she was a customer of the virtual market .

Why? Not because my wife has a weak memory :-P  It was because she experienced the customer experience with the internet store rather than the machine. If the machine was broken or couldn’t respond to the needs of my wife, she would definitely remember its brand.

We were having a conversation with a company operating in durable household appliances sector. A member of the Board of Directors said; “Every family in Turkey is our customer!“.  While everyone nodded, I objected it. The conversation continued;

- Mr. Ugur, don’t you have products of our brand in your house?

- Yes! About 4 or 5 of them!

- Aren’t you one of our customers?

- No, I’m not.

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