CRM (Customer Relationship Management) automated systems are powerful tools that gather useful applications for business. As such, it is a topic that we find exciting to speak about as for their versatility and ease of use: CRM softwares provide benefits that go beyond the sales and/or marketing department we invite you to discover with us. On this occasion, we bring you 7 comprehensive approaches to use your CRM software for encouraging customer loyalty. But let’s go first for some essential concepts.
Generally speaking, when we refer to CRM, it means two things:
1. CRM as a management model focused on customer relationship.
In this particular, CRM it is not an automated software but rather a management model focused on achieving customer satisfaction. In other words, it is a Relationship Marketing strategy.
2. CRM as software for managing customer relationships.
About this second concept, we refer strictly to computer systems supporting the customer relationship management, sales, and marketing. It is responsible for the databases of these departments that also delivers interaction patterns with customers.
In both cases, the main objective of CRM is enhancing the quality of the customer service to strengthen the brand and conquering markets. For this, each company must spread campaigns to:
- Conquering new clients
- Maintain the existing customer base
- Regaining old customers
- Boosting the customer service
- Optimize marketing campaigns
Also, the operation of both concepts aims at promoting and enhancing the relationship with your clients to provide what they require of your service and products. And since this close relationship becomes more difficult as companies grow; it’s really smart to integrate CRM strategies to your CRM software for encouraging customer loyalty, and strengthen your brand in the market.
What is customer loyalty?
In simple terms:
Customer loyalty means to properly develop CRM strategies so that our customers do not go to with your competitors1.
As businessmen, losing customers is one of our constant concerns. It’s time to change the perspective and begin to deal with this issue by creating favorable environments and strategies to keep them up interested in our brand. Using CRM software for encouraging customer loyalty is a good strategy to achieve.
Why using CRM software to encouraging customer loyalty?
First of all, the process of customer loyalty is part of the strategy of Customer Management. By the same token, it’s also part of the strategic planning of the company. In this regard, the CRM will help you to determine consumption patterns and profiles to achieve the loyalty of your customers.
What does it take using CRM software to encouraging customer loyalty?
As encouraging the customer’s loyalty is a multi-party process, using CRM software requires the active involvement of marketing; customer service and sales department. These departments must give their individual contributions to pass your customers for the inverted pyramid to ensure their loyalty. For this reason, you need to choose the right CRM system; this means, the one that best suits your demands.
What is the Inverted Pyramid? How does it help to encourage customer loyalty?
It is a methodology focused on always keeping updated the datasheet of each customer. It is called the inverted pyramid because they follow are a series of events that ends in actions that guarantee the customer’s loyalty. Let’s see it in detail:
Now that we have clarified some essentials related to CRM, let’s move on the 7 approaches to use CRM software for encouraging customer loyalty.
7 approaches to use CRM software for encouraging customer loyalty
To successfully achieving your customer’s loyalty, is essential that you employ your CRM software to your operations. Your CRM software stores all, data and transactions that will guide you to develop your loyalty strategy. To do this, you can program your CRM software to provide interdepartmental solutions as it follows:
1. CRM focused on Marketing
On this first case, it helps to automate processes and procedures in the database for properly achieving your customer’s engagement with your services and products. This is possible once you have segmented and created the perfect offers for each of your customers.
2. CRM focused on strategy
Secondly, we find the strategic approach. It unifies both CRM concepts – those explained in the first section of this post- to achieve the best customer satisfaction.
3. CRM focused on analysis
Third, we have this CRM. It crosses real-time and historical data to contrast them with current market data to ensure results. This analysis allows adjustments to meet the established goals.
4. CRM focused on operations
Fourth, there’s the Operative CRM. It’s responsible for compiling and integrating all data related to how the client communicates and interacts with your company through all your possible channels. It delivers consumption patterns that makes easier customization.
5. Collaborative CRM
Fifth, the collaborative CRM. It integrates the company’s actions through partners that provide end customer data. It’s particularly useful for managing your end customer interactions with service providers.
6. CRM focused on sales
On this sixth approach, it monitors and controls the actions of the sales department. Delivers accurate data regarding closed sales and quality of service. This approach is perhaps one of the most complete, since the CRM sales profit margins obtained by product, sales force, cross-selling, recommendations, purchase flows, etc.
7. CRM with focus on services
Last but not least, we found CRM with focus on service which focuses on the after-sale in order to determine values for encouraging customer loyalty. Usually, CRMs for services are outsourced and controlled by collaborative CRMs.
Also, we highlight that one single CRM is more than enough to exploit all these approaches. In other words, the same CRM offers all these powerful approaches, which guarantees an integration between departments which enables comprehensive attention for your customers; which allows you to assess at any time the status of your relationship with them.
However, implementing a CRM software to encourage customer loyalty demands an integration plan with phases involving different areas all these departments. Ready to make your customer the center of your operations? Then contact us here to talk about it whenever you want.
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Pérez, D. and M. Pérez U, I. (2006) customer loyalty. CRM techniques. New applications of modern marketing. Translation: Lemon Digital
