Great customer communications are the foundation of creating a strong, profitable business. In this day and age, customers and prospects have access to more information than ever before. Without leaving their homes or offices, individuals can assess and evaluate an array of products and services. They can use the Internet to price shop on a local or even international basis. The most successful firms understand that the lifetime value of a customer is more important than the value of the initial transaction. Businesses of all sizes want to stand out from the competition and maximize the value of long-term customer relationships.

I had the opportunity to interview Chris Illman, President of OneTouchPoint (Oak Brook, IL). OneTouchPoint is a privately-held company with $140 million in annual sales, 950+ employees, more than 1,000 clients, and additional facilities in Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin. According to Illman, OneTouchPoint realizes the value of forging strong customer relationships. He elaborates, “People are bombarded by choices that are not easily differentiated. Today’s buyers trust their own ideas and advice from friends more than they trust advertisements. We want to work with our client base to create strategies for long-term relationships. This means that every single touchpoint must matter, and this starts with customer intimacy.”

Illman describes customer intimacy as the combination of technology and data-driven insight to deliver relevant, personalized communications across all channels. Each and every touchpoint must be personalized. Illman continues, “The basis of building an intimate customer relationship is leveraging data to demonstrate that you really know your customers. We work directly with our customers to identify our campaign objectives. We then analyze the customer’s data so they can deliver intelligent, insightful communications.”