Most important, maybe, is the benefit of CRM to customers as "it is ten times more expensive to acquire new customers than it is to keep existing ones." For example, CRM can greatly enhance circulation performance by determining which customers are reducing purchase or cancelling and when the best time to retain customers is. CRM can also create more effective promotions and incentives through a better understanding of readers’ needs and interests.

The report provides information for newspaper publishers to establish good understanding of the needs of their two groups of customers: their readers and advertisers. The stronger the relationship between a newspaper and its readers is, the greater the ability to bring advertisers and readers together, says the report.

On the advertising field, CRM allows to retain current advertisers as well as it can reduce error rates in pricing and production.

Another example of CRM benefits is the application of its principles in the newsroom, as it improves product quality through feedback of readers’ needs, as it brings more interaction with readers or as it controls and measures story accuracy.

For a copy of the report, contact rap21@wan.asso.fr