Do you want to know your customer?
…and does the customer want to be known? These are two very important questions you have got to ask yourself, when considering CRM. First make sure that you are really going to use the information that you request from you customers, because obtaining and maintaining the data is non-trivial.
Is their name really important? If you want to address them in your marketing campaign it is, but for cross-selling it is not. Address information is relevant for delivery, but usually not for personalization. Information is only relevant in certain aspects of CRM, but certainly not all of them. So you have to decide on how you want to interact with your customer and get the necessary information accordingly.
This brings us to obtaining the data. People are generally reluctant to provide personal information, so don’t bother them unless you have to. One way you can do this is by analyzing behavior on your website. This can be done automatically and provides a wealth of information. Another way is to offer after-sales services, in return for some contact details. That way they get real value for their information currency. Never ask for personal information up front, or for no reason. People value their privacy.
So only take what you need from you custeromer and use really it. That will keep your customers happy and your systems light.