The CRM Renaissance: From transformation to usefulness
By Jon Pollard, Head of Strategy at Precision Marketing agency, RAPP UK
“We’ve just spent a lot of money on Braze. We need someone to make sure we’re getting the most out of the investment.” That’s what one client lead said to us during a pitch process back in the summer. And in varying terms, I heard that exact need expressed by multiple clients through the year.
It feels like the primary topic we’ve talked about for the last few years is transformation, and with reason, obviously. But I’ve started using the term ‘post-transformation’ to describe this situation we’re increasingly encountering; one where we need to re-centre the customer in the conversation. Client businesses have upgraded their stacks, stitched in more data, redrawn operating models. The technology is modern. The integration works. And yet the customer experience often feels unchanged; except maybe louder.
So the issue isn’t capability. It’s clarity. Courtesy of their transformed architectures brands have precision (they can find the right person and moment) but lack empathy (context about what’s happening in someone’s life and world). The result: customers get too many messages that help too little.
Fortunately there’s an opportunity in this gap. What if brands stopped adding features and started asking: what would make this useful? That’s the starting point for a CRM renaissance: not adding a new tool, but resetting how we think about what CRM is even for.
Principles that work
Start with customer outcomes, not message volume. Every interaction should answer a question: what does this person need right now? Monzo and Starling Bank show this clearly. They don’t bombard you with promotional stuff. They solve problems: instant chargeback updates, real‑time fraud alerts, spending insights when you need them. The CRM serves the customer’s goal first.
Use context to choose ‘do’, ‘say’ or ‘wait’. This is where precision and empathy converge. You have a signal (customer service call, recent behaviour, life event, churn indicator), and you have a choice: take an action that advances the customer’s goal (do), inform them of something useful (say), or hold back because now isn’t the time (wait).
The Trainline is a great example: after a delay, they don’t send a generic email. You get clear eligibility for Delay Repay and a direct link to the relevant train operator – information you need, when you need it. Global payment service Wise does the opposite of pre-programmed frequency: it suppresses rate emails when you’ve just transacted, and sends ‘rate watch’ alerts only if your target rate is hit. That’s empathy dressed as restraint. Octopus Energy uses context too: during price spikes, they send usage tips and tariff guidance, not discount offers. They’re acknowledging what’s happening in the customer’s world.
Something as everyday as most couriers’ parcel tracking is ‘do’ in action. Instead of forcing a contact centre call, they give you in‑flight options: change the delivery day, select a safe place; all without speaking to anyone.
Measure usefulness alongside revenue. This sometimes feels like the hardest shift. Stop counting sends and clicks. Keep an eye on your preference adherence (are you respecting what people asked for?), measure the impact of send reduction vs. satisfaction, your complaint rate, your customers’ time‑to‑task completion, your service recovery speed. Track pathway shifts: how do journeys change when you remove friction or add control? Optimise for both the customer outcome and the commercial outcome.
What good looks like
‘Good’ will depend on your, and your customers’, context, but fewer contacts, higher task completion rates, clearer alignment between what customers report as useful and what moves business metrics would all be good signs. Focus your teams on spending time improving journeys. AO.com’s order‑to‑installation orchestration is a great example I experienced recently: timed prep emails with simple instructions, delivery countdowns, post‑installation care tips: a whole lifecycle orchestrated around the customer’s goal, not the brand’s campaign calendar.
If you want to try it, do what I do: take one journey or a part of one. Identify the customer outcome that matters most to them. What do they need to achieve or avoid at this moment? What will get them to the next stage in the journey?
List the context signals you have today and build a simple table: if this signal is true, do/say/wait. Add guardrails to make sure you’re not tripping yourself up over consent, fairness or cost.
Remove one friction point. One step, one rule, one mental calculation. Add one control the customer can set. Then run a test over, say, six to eight weeks. Measure it on both usefulness and growth. Repeat.
The brands winning right now and that will win going forward aren’t the ones with the biggest stacks. They’re the ones asking the simplest question: is this helpful? That question, applied consistently to connect precision with empathy, is what a renaissance looks like.
Jon’s Profile:
Jon Pollard joined RAPP in 2015 and has been Head of Strategy since 2022. In an agency career stretching back to 1998 he has worked with global brands across every major sector and led award-wining strategies for many of RAPP’s clients. His focus is to drive a customer-centric perspective in every aspect of strategy and to ensure that every member of his team is a champion for the customer in all of RAPP’s strategic engagements.
