Wanna see Social CRM ROI? Here it is!

In one of my previous post titled How to measure Social CRM ROI, I explained that Social CRM ROI depends on how well Social Media tools are used for achieving the goal of building trust or loyalty and why ROI is associated with how well the goal has been achieved and resultant business benefits and not with tools Per se. I received lot of great feedback and comments about this post, including some that asked where is the proof? or show me the ROI? Well, here it is!

Royal Dutch Airlines KLM had launched a pilot program called KLM Surprise. For customers checking in using Foursquare at one of KLM’s venues at Amsterdam Schipol Airport, KLM employees collected information from their Social Media accounts like Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare, selected an individual gift for the customers, located him or her in the airport terminal, delivered the surprise gift to them and shared this information on KLM’s Facebook page and Twitter account (for more, read my earlier post titled KLM Surprise: Is it Social CRM?)

You may ask what is the connection between Social CRM ROI and KLM Surprise? Watch the following video of KLM Surprise in action and observe the surprise and smile on customers’ face. Now think about KLM’s investment in this pilot project and resultant business benefits, not only in terms of loyalty, but customer advocacy and buzz this has generated on Social Media channels. Isn’t this a priceless proof of Social CRM ROI?

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