How to Enhance User Experience & Increase Conversions through CRM
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Why You Need a CRM Strategy This 2020
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Over the years, competition in the business world has become more evident since technological advancement and innovations are on the rise and this makes business owners adapt to it so that they can continue to be in the playing field. If you want to see your business evolve, grow, and be somewhere greater than where it is right now, then you probably need a CRM strategy.
What is a CRM strategy?
A CRM strategy is a plan wherein a company uses the technology of a CRM software to help them increase sales and revenues, grow customer retention rates, and improve the quality of customer service. It involves different CRM tools that are used for various business strategies related to sales, marketing, and customer support.
Big companies and even SMEs are adapting to this kind of strategy since it has given positive outcomes once implemented very well. If you are keen and serious about putting your business to the next level, then you need to adopt a CRM strategy as well.
How do you create a CRM strategy?
Creating a CRM strategy is not just an overnight task. Here are some steps you could follow that might help you create the perfect plan of action for your CRM strategy:
1. Set your goals.
You need to foresee where you want your business to be a year from now. You should have visions and goals to set so that you will know where to go. Do not create goals that you cannot accomplish. Instead, make achievable objectives that can be reached by your company.
Once you know your objectives, you then need to create plans that will lead you to achieve those targets. Your objectives should be specific so that it will be easier for you to measure it once attained. Also, you need to keep in mind that your goals contribute to the improvement of customer experience your company will give.
2. Establish your KPIs.
Without key performance indicators (KPIs), you cannot measure the success of your CRM strategy. You need to set the standards that will measure accurately the success of the goals you have set for your business.
Set specific metrics for the performance of your sales reps, customer support team, or even for the overall efficiency of your company. KPIs can be measured and tracked easily in a CRM software so you do not have to worry about not meeting the standards in the timeline you have created.
3. Categorize your customers.
Being able to segment your customers can help you target each of them specifically. Since you can categorize them, your interactions with customers can be more personalized. Separate the data you have collected for each segment so that it will be easier for you to analyze each of them.
4. Have an overview of your customer’s journey.
The customer journey is the overall experience of your clients from when they were still potential customers up to where they are in on their buying stage in your company. All the data about how they have interacted in with your business across all channels can be tracked within the CRM system.
This is an important aspect that you should remember in your strategic plan. Since customers are vital for your business to keep going, you need to know what they want based on how they interact with your brand.
Once you know how your customers interact with you, you will be able to know what your team should do to address what they want based on their actions. That is why mapping out your customer journey is substantial to create a better customer experience for your clients.
5. Find the right CRM software.
With Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software flooding the internet, finding the right one for you might be challenging. Investing in CRM solutions might be costly if you do not know how to maximize it properly. Also, you need to have a CRM platform that can adapt to your business’ needs. It should be scalable and can grow along with your company.
You should put in mind that having the right CRM system should help you:
- Advertise your products well
- Focus on giving better customer support
- Track your sales and marketing efforts
- Increase collaboration across your different teams
- Produce data-driven decisions
There are lots of CRM software that are readily available on the internet with just one search away. Almost every CRM system offers a 30-day trial period and you should take this opportunity to know how each of it works. Here are some of the CRM systems that offer trial periods and you could try them right now:
Let yourself do the research and know these CRM products well. Familiarize yourself with each provider and decide which CRM best fits your company’s needs.
6. Make decisions along with your team.
You should always involve your team in your CRM strategy since they will also be the end-users of the CRM software you want to use. When you associate your staff in your strategic plans, they will be more inclined to the goals you have set for everyone in your company.
Once your team is on the same page as you, then they can integrate the CRM technology which will be advantageous for them, as well as for your business.
7. Evaluate and improve your strategy.
No matter how perfect and no loopholes you think your CRM strategy is, there is still a possibility of unwanted outcomes. Being able to know the ineffective approaches you have used is as important as those effective ones. The ability to distinguish weaknesses in your business is a good practice, too.
Once you have evaluated your strategy, you should create plans that will help you improve it. This might be challenging for you but having room for improvement is an avenue to bring your business to greater heights.
How does a CRM strategy help your business?
1. Streamline your workflow processes.
You do not have to jump from one software to another and have cluttered information across different locations. In a CRM, you can do your sales efforts, marketing campaigns, and customer support in one software which will boost your productivity and efficiency.
2. Give better customer service.
Because of the real-time customer information in the CRM system, your customer support team can provide quality service for your customers. They will be able to know relevant information from various touchpoints including up-to-date contact information, social media, email, and other platforms, and give support to your customers that are tailored to their needs.
3. Make decisions based on real-time data.
The data entering the CRM system automatically updates, thus, you are accessing real-time information. This will help your team make better decisions about certain areas in your business processes and become more efficient with it.
4. Boost customer retention.
By giving the right customer support and better customer experience with the help of CRM, you can increase your customer retention rate and attain customer loyalty. Being able to retain an existing customer is not that costly compared to acquiring a new one. With higher customer retention rates, you are guaranteed to have customers for life.
5. Seamless workforce in action.
It helps your staff from different departments like sales, marketing, and support to work all together with no gaps in between. Everyone can have access to the data in the CRM platform and can interact accordingly to the available information about your customer.
Because there are no organizational silos in your company, different teams can collaborate and be more efficient in their tasks and also in handling customers.
Conclusion
Customer relationship management (CRM) is indeed a must-have today. Although it has many advanced features and tools, when you do not have the right plans and course of actions with it, then it is just a waste of resources. That is why when you partner it with the correct business strategies, CRM can help you achieve the goals you have set for your company especially those that will build long-term relationships with your customers.