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When one thinks of customer relations, it is not often that a government‐owned entity would
come to mind. But this is precisely the case for Canada Post, a Canadian government‐owned
mail delivery company with revenues of close to $8 billion in 2016. Canada Post has such a
strong focus on customer relationship management (CRM) that it lists under its assets:
“Customer Relationships.”
Canada Post has earned plaudits from its business customers for helping them with their
customer relationship management programs. It started working with Accenture in 1990 to
build a CRM system that was focused more on customers and their needs than on technology.
Canada Post has earned numerous awards for its CRM systems, including one from renowned
research firm Gartner Inc.
Canada Post’s rise in the CRM world started in a very humbling place: a late 1990s government
report that classified postal delivery as a “sunshine industry.” The Internet was becoming a
significant factor in people’s lives just before the 21st century, and Canada Post had to learn to
evolve.
Given its position as a Crown corporation, Canada Post has to be very responsive to its ultimate
owner: the Canadian taxpayer. In 2012, after many complaints, Canada Post introduced a new
CRM system that responded better in handling complaints. And since most of the concern
around Canada Post and its services has to do with prompt delivery of materials, the new CRM
system featured improved tracking of packages and identifying root causes of problems. This
CRM was also tied into an ombudsman process that ensured a neutral third party would assess
any customer concerns relating to mail delivery.
In order to truly understand the needs of its customers, Canada Post surveys tens of thousands
of Canadian companies and citizens. It asks a few questions about how respondents feel about
Canada Post, and then looks at the relative level of loyalty from that customer. This way,
Canada Post can determine those customers that are negative and might be lost, and those that
are more positive or loyal to Canada Post. This customer value assessment is vital to help
Canada Post develop the necessary sales process in its CRM.
Sales managers and sales representatives at Canada Post are then asked to look over the
customer loyalty data to determine the customers that are in need of contact, help, and overall
support. The goal is to strengthen relationships overall, be it damage control to further loyalty
incentives, the overarching goal is to use the data to help make decisions.
With any CRM system, Canada Post has to ensure it has the necessary IT solutions. Given that
anyone living in Canada and any business operating in Canada is a potential customer, it
becomes a significant challenge to manage the technological demands of that much data.
Internal buy‐in has been essential for Canada Posts’ success with CRM systems. The company
continually updates its employees on new processes and technologies that are to be used with
the CRM system. Internal workshops, surveys of marketing management in Canada Post, and
company retreats have all been used to ensure buy‐in for the iterations of CRM systems over
the past 27 years. Since employees are key to the success of the three‐stage CRM process, it is
vital that they are engaged and empowered to make decisions to keep the system running
smoothly.
Instead of simply relying on its internal CRM system success, Canada Post has been able to pass
on this expertise to its business clients. Canada Post has created a series of case studies of
companies that have used Canada Post to help in the development and enhancement of a
customer relationship management system.
The focus of Canada Post’s case studies is on customers, data, and technology. Each case study
provides a scenario of a company and then details the solutions that Canada Post was able to
provide to the customer (mostly business) to meet the needs of its clients. While much of the
focus is on direct mail, since Canada Post has a strong stake and expertise in this area,
businesses of any size request access to the Canada Post CRM expertise simply by contacting
the company.
The scenario for you in this case is to assume that you are small business that is developing a
new offering: you will offer a new service for students. You are thinking of developing an online
sharing site where students can request assistance with, for example, homework, moving, and
financial management. You are tasked with creating a CRM system for this company, using the
services provided by Canada Post. You want to contact Canada Post, but first you want to put
together the three‐stage CRM process that is in the written part of your textbook or M4M. You
need to make sure your proposed CRM model has all of the necessary parts, to ensure that you
won’t have to contact Canada Post more than once.
Multiple‐Choice Questions
Q1. By putting together a system that incorporates marketing research, sales, and big data,
Canada Post is creating what type of system?
a) Customer Database
b) Customer Relationship Management
c) Customer Value Management
d) Customer Relationship Marketing
Q2. If Canada Post had chosen to create an online listing of companies and customers, along
with pertinent purchasing data, it would be engaging in what type of system?
a) Customer Database
b) Customer Relationship Management
c) Customer Value Management
d) Customer Relationship Marketing
Q3. In which stage of the CRM process would Canada Post be sitting down with its sales staff to
go over data from focus groups and expert interviews?
a) Customer Database
b) Business Development
c) Marketing
d) Operations/IT
Short‐Answer Questions
Q1. In the M4M Video in Section 1.2, CRM is described as both a function and a philosophy.
Describe how this applies to Canada Post in this case, and be sure to explain it based on the
fundamental question behind CRM.
Q2. Show visually the three‐stage CRM process as described in the Canada Post case.
Q3. You have completed your three‐stage CRM system for your meeting with Canada Post.
Present your ideas using a three‐slide presentation in the space below.