Managing Customer Relations and Value in Organizations with the Use of IT Tools: Customer Segmentation on the Market of Eco-Innovative Services

Abstract

The subject of the article relates to customer segmentation in the process of managing customer relationships and value in organizations, which aims to adapt products and services to customer expectations in the best way possible. In relations with the customer, it is very important to collect and use information about customers, their preferences and likings, in a skilful manner – recognising the needs and expectations of customers and creating customer profiles. Knowledge in this area makes it easier to make decisions about investing in specific customers and allows you to customize your marketing activities to a specific customer segment.The specificity of each customer requires the development of a unique customer typology. After a general introduction to the theoretical part, the research part of the article has been narrowed down to the issue of eco-innovation. The primary objective of the article is to categorize enterprises operating in the SME sector in terms of eco-innovative attitudes – defining the basic eco-identity profiles (user personas). The empirical part of the article was developed on the basis of the following project: "Network of Service Providers for Eco-innovations in Manufacturing SMEs - ECOLABNET", implemented under the Interreg Program of the Baltic Sea Region 2014-2020. Based on the research, six types of eco-innovative attitudes have been distinguished: Eco-Opportunist, Eco-Booster, Eco-Developer, Eco-Optimizer, Eco-Cautious, Eco-Laggard. Managing customer relationships and value can be supported with the use of CRM-class IT systems. The typology was implemented in the Digital Collaboration Tool system.