In such a highly competitive industry as marketing, teams are looking for anything which might give them the edge over rivals. Marcin Malinowski, Director of International Services at CRM consultancy Outbox, explains why Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems have the ability to revolutionise the way your marketing teams work.
The huge surge in social media and e-commerce has both its benefits and drawbacks for today’s marketing teams. Whilst these platforms have enabled companies to be ever more targeted and customer focused, it has also left them exposed to negative sentiment, with an increasingly vocal customer base who expects more from the relationship process.
So what can marketing teams do to make sure they address this? Particularly at a time when so many teams are seeing their budgets cut or under threat? Many are increasingly turning to existing CRM systems to provide insight into this ever changing market.
CRM has become an integral part of an organisation’s marketing processes, combining a goldmine of data on customer relationships, purchase history and support issues to guide marketing teams towards more effective campaigns. As we automate more and more processes, and the data we hold on our customers grows larger and larger, the potential for marketing teams to learn from this data increases exponentially.
However, many organisations are still failing to realise the full value of these systems, with some marketing teams even believing that CRM does more damage than good in terms of building customer relationships. So what can be done to ensure the marketing team gets the most from CRM systems and has access to the customer data to help maximise company profitability? Here are a few things to consider.
Four ways to connect the dots between CRM and Marketing
1. Encourage Adoption
The first step in getting value from your CRM system is to ensure companywide adoption, make sure all your users actually want to use your system. This may be because they see the value in it for themselves, not just the company, or because they are incentivised to use it, for example through a bonus, either way the more users you have, the more data will be in the system.
Make sure your users are properly trained and kept informed of any system updates or enhancements. Run regular training sessions and send out useful hints and tips to users.
Finally, make sure you regularly listen to your users. Those who use it on a daily basis will usually have the best ideas on how the system can be improved, what needs to be made easier, simpler or quicker. Encourage your teams to give you regular feedback on improving the system; this will not only improve functionality but makes user feel more invested in the software they are using.
2. Data is Essential
Data is central to any CRM system; those with missing or inaccurate data can often leave customers frustrated and lead marketing teams down a dead end in terms of customer analysis. Instead, make sure that every interaction with a customer is tracked, from emails, phone calls and chats through to purchase and support history. This way marketing teams can have access to a complete picture of customers, making it easier to create compelling campaigns and offer deals which will resonate with them.
Once you have this data, use it! CRM should be a minefield for discovering new opportunities for cross sell, up sell and preventing churn. Make sure marketing has access to reports and dashboards which are customisable to show them anything from sales forecasts to outstanding support cases.
3. Get to know your customers
CRM solutions can be particularly valuable to marketing teams in providing insights into your customers and their interests. Identify your best and worst customers and develop an appropriate marketing strategy for both of them. Segment your customers in multiple ways – age, location, gender – so you can build a better picture to understand who is buying your product and the best ways to market to them.
A good CRM system will be able to go even deeper and look at the personal interests of your customers. Do they like wine? Are they skiing fans? This is all valuable information for creating campaigns and appealing to customers.
4. Integrate and Customise
Integration is what can turn your CRM system from the run of the mill to the cutting edge. Firstly to make sure it is linked with your other backend systems, such as support or finance, to ensure useful information is shared automatically.
Next integrate your CRM with social networks to monitor sentiment about your brand and identify the key influencers in your market to target. Reach out to those customers who have complained about your brand and ensure they are passed onto the relevant team to get this resolved – turning a potential threat into an evangelist.
These points should set marketing teams on their way to getting the most from their CRM systems. These few simple steps can provide teams with the valuable data on customer behaviour and provide the communication to change a marketing team from average to leaders.
For more information visit the Outbox website or follow Outbox on Twitter
