Electronic Customer Relationship Management: Benefits, Considerations, Pitfalls and Trends Shannon Scullin School of Management New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 07102 Jason Allora School of Management New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 07102 Geoffrey Owen Lloyd School of Management New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 07102 Jerry Fjermestad School of Management New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 07102 (973) 596-3255 Fjermestad@adm.njit.edu Abstract Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM) has become the latest paradigm in the world of Customer Relationship Management. ECRM is becoming more and more necessary as businesses take to the web. No longer can web-enabled companies rely on the traditional brick & mortar strategies that have gotten them to where they are today. Such organizations have to evolve with the market instead of behind it. This paper promotes the value of ECRM, explores its benefits, outlines the focal points to address prior to implementation, outlines potential pitfalls during implementation and ways to avoid, takes a look at recent trends and presents a proven ECRM success story. Introduction All organizations involved in on-line business to business and/or business to consumer selling need to educate themselves about the new phenomenon of electronic customer relationship management (ECRM). According to Romano (2001), ECRM is concerned with attracting and keeping economically valuable customers and eliminating less profitable ones. Romano and Fjermestad (2002) are convinced that ECRM will continue to develop as an important area of study in MIS and such relevant referent disciplines as Computer Science, Marketing and Psychology. What, then, is the relationship between customer behaviors and corporate opportunities to implement