Topic Overview: Social CRM Goes Mainstream

Forrester's customer relationship management (CRM) research helps business process professionals embrace best practices — from process optimization to technology implementation — to improve customer interactions and drive top-line growth. Our research spans the business processes that support sales, marketing, customer service, the related topics of customer business intelligence, and data management. We are researching how the rise of the social Web affects the way customers buy from and interact with organizations of all types — a phenomenon that has become known as social CRM. Business process professionals should follow Forrester's seven steps for social CRM success: 1) initiate social CRM experiments immediately; 2) benchmark customer and prospect social readiness; 3) define your social customer objectives; 4) assess your social CRM capabilities; 5) understand the social CRM solutions landscape; 6) map out your social CRM capabilities-building plan; and 7) define your CRM metrics for success.