Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Strategy, Retention and Loyalty – London, 23–27 Aug 2027

Programme overview

Introduction:

Many organisations run Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a software project rather than a business discipline: customer records are duplicated across systems, every customer receives the same treatment regardless of value, loyalty schemes reward purchases that would happen anyway and churn is noticed only after revenue has gone. This Core Concept course equips managers to set a CRM strategy, value and treat customers by lifetime value, run lifecycle processes through CRM systems and act on churn signals. Participants build working value and churn models and leave with a CRM Strategy and Retention Plan.

Course Objectives:

• Assess the maturity of an organisation's CRM strategy, processes, data and technology against a recognised building-block model
• Calculate customer lifetime value and assign customers to value tiers with defined treatment rules
• Design lifecycle programmes for onboarding, growth, retention and win-back using CRM system triggers and control groups
• Specify a single customer view with data quality rules that service and marketing teams can maintain
• Measure relationship health with churn rate, retention rate, cohort analysis and Net Promoter Score, and act on early-warning signals
• Produce a CRM Strategy and Retention Plan with a loyalty and retention business case

Target Audience:

• Managers responsible for CRM strategy, customer value and relationship programmes
• Managers accountable for customer retention, churn reduction and win-back activity
• Managers who design and run loyalty or membership programmes
• Customer service managers who use CRM case history to resolve and retain customers
• Marketing operations and customer data managers responsible for CRM data, campaigns and reporting

Course Outline:

Day 1: CRM Foundations and the Customer Relationship Landscape

• Operational, Analytical and Collaborative CRM Scope Definitions
• Transactional Versus Relationship Economics: Acquisition Cost and Retention Value
• Customer Profitability Distribution and Cost-to-Serve Analysis
• Gartner Eight Building Blocks of CRM Maturity Self-Assessment
• Current-State CRM Process and Customer Data Inventory Worksheet

Day 2: CRM Strategy Frameworks and Customer Value Models

• Payne and Frow Strategic Framework: Five Cross-Functional CRM Processes
• Customer Lifetime Value Calculation with Margin, Retention and Discount Inputs
• Value-Based Customer Portfolio Tiers and Treatment Rules
• Customer Lifecycle Stage Model: Acquire, Onboard, Grow, Retain and Win Back
• Net Promoter Score Relationship Survey and Closed-Loop Follow-Up Design

Day 3: Running CRM Processes, Data and Systems

• Single Customer View Data Model and Record Matching Rules
• CRM Data Quality Rules: Completeness, Duplication and Timeliness Checks
• Service Case Management Workflow Using Customer History in the CRM System
• Lifecycle Campaign Set-Up with Event Triggers, Next Best Action and Control Groups
• Onboarding and Cross-Sell Contact Strategy Calendar

Day 4: Retention, Loyalty and Relationship Risk

• Churn Rate, Retention Rate and Cohort Survival Curve Analysis
• Churn Early-Warning Indicators and Propensity Scoring Worksheet
• Loyalty Programme Design: Tiers, Rewards, Breakage and Points Liability
• Complaint Recovery as a Retention Lever: Save Desk and Win-Back Offers
• Customer Consent and Privacy Controls for CRM Data Use

Day 5: Modelling Build and the CRM Strategy and Retention Plan

• Subscription Services Dataset Exercise: Lifetime Value and Churn Model Build
• Retail Banking Case: Loyalty Programme Economics Review and Redesign
• Relationship Health Dashboard: Retention, Churn, Share of Wallet and NPS
• CRM Strategy and Retention Plan Drafting with Business Case
• Plan Presentation and Peer Challenge on Retention Assumptions

Skills You Will Gain:

• CRM Maturity Assessment
• Customer Lifetime Value Modelling
• Customer Value Tiering
• Lifecycle Programme Design
• Churn Analysis
• Loyalty Programme Economics
• CRM Data Quality Management
• Retention Business Case Development

Why Attend This Course:

• Return with a CRM Strategy and Retention Plan built on your own customer base and tested by peers
• Show leadership which customers are worth the most and what each tier should receive from service and marketing
• Spot customers at risk of leaving early enough to act, instead of reporting churn after the revenue is lost
• Compare loyalty and retention practice with managers from other sectors and countries facing the same pressures

Conclusion:

Customer relationships create value when an organisation knows what each customer is worth, treats them accordingly and acts before they leave. The course moves from CRM scope and economics, through strategy frameworks and lifetime value models, to the data, systems and lifecycle processes that run CRM day to day, and then to churn, loyalty economics and privacy controls. The final day turns that work into value and churn models and a CRM Strategy and Retention Plan that participants take back to guide their customer programmes.