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Follow these 10 strategies to strengthen your connection with your customers.
For marketing to be effective, it must place the right message in front of the right audience at the right time. You need a solid understanding of potential and existing customers’ needs and must create marketing campaigns that address those needs. Customer relationship management (CRM) software and tools can help marketing teams collect and analyze audience data to build more effective marketing campaigns.
CRM stands for “customer relationship management,” which is the process of managing interactions with current and potential customers as they move through the sales funnel. CRM’s goal is to improve business relationships with customers. CRM encompasses all the strategies, methods and processes that use data to develop, improve and manage customer relationships. It also describes the software, technology and applications that support CRM.
CRM software refers to the software, applications and technology that help organizations collect, organize, store and analyze data to better manage prospect and customer relationships. These solutions collect and track data at every customer interaction point, such as sharing their contact information via lead capture forms, engaging with marketing campaigns, communicating with customer support or purchasing a company’s products or services.
CRM software benefits various departments within organizations in different ways:
Knowing and understanding your target customers gives your business a competitive edge. CRM software gathers and stores a wealth of customer data that can steer your marketing campaigns in the right direction and ultimately improve sales.
CRM software helps you collect and organize customer information and identify their preferences. You’ll understand the problems they face, the solutions they seek and the products and services they need better. This detailed knowledge informs your marketing messages and presents your solutions in the best possible light.
CRM software can improve your marketing efforts in the following ways:
CRM features and tools vary. Your specific campaign, industry and target market will dictate the marketing functionality you’ll use. However, most businesses will benefit from the following essential CRM marketing features.
CRM software stores and organizes customer data ― including contact information, calls and emails, customer feedback and sales activities ― in a central location that streamlines contact management. Your marketing and sales teams can access this data repository to view and analyze customer information and uncover the trends, patterns and insights that will direct your marketing efforts. These platforms also have centralized CRM dashboards that make it easy to access and interpret vital information.
CRM software makes customer segmentation effortless. You can easily group customers by demographics, such as location, job role or industry, and activities, including recent and past purchases, email response rates, social media activity and personal preferences. After creating precisely defined customer profiles, you can personalize the marketing messages they receive (see more on this below).
Better data and personalization make email marketing more effective and CRM software provides detailed information that can customize messaging by the recipient. After all, no one wants to read an email addressed to “Dear customer.”
CRM software helps you leave behind impersonal marketing messages and address customers by name. More importantly, with access to their purchasing history and preferences and notes on previous communications, your message can appeal directly to them. For example, you can share pertinent ideas and opportunities, provide helpful information and guide the conversation to specific customer’s needs. Personalized content boosts response rates, increases positive brand perception and ultimately brings higher revenues.
Many CRM software solutions integrate with popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and more, allowing brands to interact with customers and meet them where they are. Marketers can nurture customer relationships via social media, gather data and customize social media marketing campaigns to suit specific customer segments.
Social media integrations give your marketing team an extra engagement channel to proactively monitor, converse with and learn from customers.
CRM software provides excellent tools for honing marketing campaigns. You can use the data you collect via your CRM to create campaigns and then test various elements to discover what’s most effective. For example, most CRM solutions provide A/B testing, which allows you to try out various subject lines, calls to action and graphics to fine-tune your campaigns.
Additionally, CRM analytics reports provide detailed information on email open rates, new subscribers and purchases, allowing marketers to tweak campaigns ― or even cancel ineffective ones. This data helps you maximize your marketing budget while improving results.
CRM software also makes it easy to reuse effective marketing campaigns. Recycling campaigns, templates, forms and other marketing materials for new customers and markets will improve the efficiency of your marketing resources.
CRM software supports efforts that can ultimately lead to business growth and success. You can gather significant customer data and apply your knowledge to new markets and more potential customers. Small businesses tend to have modest marketing budgets and CRMs help them stretch their resources and focus on the prospects and customers most likely to buy from them.
CRMs also help you boost customer loyalty ― another crucial element of business growth. These platforms help you maintain consistent customer communication that helps them feel acknowledged and valued.
Many types of CRM software solutions exist to suit the needs of various businesses and industries. To choose the right CRM software for your business, ask the following questions to narrow down your specific needs. Next, find a vendor that can meet your needs and work with your budget.
The best CRM software for you will be affordable, match your needs and grow with you. Here are some of our top picks to consider:
Incorporating a CRM platform into your marketing plan is an excellent way to customize your marketing campaigns and target the right audience. With detailed customer data at your fingertips, you can tailor your marketing and reach a broader yet more accurate customer base, helping you attract new customers and retain current ones. You can also better identify audience trends and preferences to ensure more efficient marketing going forward.
Sammi Caramela contributed to this article.