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Marketing carries with it a lot more challenges today than it did even five years ago. Many internal and external forces work to undermine the prospects of marketing alignment in ever more subtle ways.

Over the years, most companies have acknowledged that happy customers are more likely to be repeat customers than unhappy ones. Owing to the difficulty of defining “happy,” loyalty indicators predominantly have been linked to satisfaction measurement. Some have even gone further, setting their sights on nothing less than “delighting” customers or eliciting the rare reaction of “wow.”

Few people are opposed to implementing Six Sigma processes, if the right areas can be found within the Company. The challenge is even greater within marketing departments with their ad hoc processes and short timelines. There are, however, a couple of Six Sigma "tools" that can be immediately implement in marketing with almost guaranteed success. Better yet, no statistics are required!

Process Mapping

Want to get 25% to 33% more accomplished with the same resources? That is a typical outcome from a Six Sigma process-mapping exercises.

The key to loyalty measurement is having a very clear picture of the economic value you are trying to create. If there is no expectation of superior economic value in either the short or long term, then initiatives intended to inspire customer loyalty can't possibly pass the basic business-case test that returns must exceed investment.