Mafalda Martins Contrary to what some people may believe, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is an extremely useful software for all companies, regardless of their size, industry sector or business model. Within the wide range of platforms currently available, there are some that are more suited to B2B and others that are more geared to B2C. But they all have one benefit in common: putting the end customer at the center of the entire organization, improving the experience throughout the entire buying journey. Discover below what CRM software is and some of the benefits it can bring in each industry.
What is CRM software?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a system that manages the entire customer relationship, aiming at customer satisfaction and loyalty by automating and organizing processes. In this way it becomes possible to reduce costs and increase business profits. But more than software, CRM is a mindset where marketing, sales and customer service go hand in hand.
The benefits of CRM software in each industry
1. Manufacturing Industry
Right now, we are living in the 4th industrial revolution. The digital age and trends such as the Internet of Things have transformed the day-to-day life of the manufacturing industry.
REACTIVE VS. PROACTIVE APPROACH TO MEETING CUSTOMER NEEDS
Along with this, there has also been a profound change in the industry: the industry is no longer reactive to customer needs, which increased the time spent between conceptualization and go-to-market. Today, there is countless data about what customers want, so it is imperative that companies take a proactive approach in forecasting needs and produce their offering in a timely manner.
MARKETING AND SALES DATA REMAIN SILOED
On the other hand, ERP, which used to be used as an aggregator of customer information, is no longer sufficient. While this system is very effective in providing a real-time view of all the company’s processes, bringing together data from different departments on the same platform, there are still silos of customer-related information. For example, a sales person may keep data regarding prospecting and opportunities in one Excel and the history of emails, calls and notes in another software.
LACK OF DATA ON THE AFTER-SALES PHASE
In manufacturing, the customer journey extends far beyond the moment of purchase. It is also necessary to maintain a good relationship with the customer in order to lead to customer loyalty, repeat purchases, and new business opportunities. The lack of a system that supports not only the early stages of the decision journey, but also pre-sales and customer service, and enables feedback on product quality to be passed on to the planning and production teams, is essential for the manufacturing industry and CRM plays a key role in this objective.
Benefits of CRM in the Manufacturing Industry
- Detailed history of each customer in a single platform, including interactions, campaigns, orders, proposals, opportunities and support cases;
- Flexibility: access to all information at any time and place, through mobile devices;
- Detailed view of the sales pipeline;
- Territory management, so that each sales rep can focus on his geographic area and understand the performance and profitability in each territory.
2. Software and Technology
According to a study conducted by Totango, 86% of SaaS companies consider that acquiring new customers is the main priority to promote growth and 56% admit that renewals of existing customers and upselling (54%) have high priority.
However, these challenges can only be overcome with an effective customer relationship management, especially in a market where there is increasing competition and where the differentiating link is the customer experience.
ACHIEVE THE ACQUISITION OF NEW CUSTOMERS
This may not be the main challenge for large Software and Technology companies, but it certainly is for small and medium-sized ones. In this case, it is essential to know the ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) and use CRM to define journeys and personalized messages and segmentation campaigns that help each customer evolve along the decision journey. In addition, CRM also allows you to interact with website visitors and track each visit to the website in detail.
POTENTIATE THE UPSELL
According to Forbes, winning a new customer is 5 times more expensive than selling something to a current customer. However, this task is made more difficult when sales teams do not have access to the right tools. To achieve good upsell results, salespeople must have the behavioral insights of their customers. For example, in the case of a company that sells SaaS, it is very important to understand what level of platform usage and type of subscription the user is in, to prepare a personalized upsell approach.
RETENTION OF EXISTING CUSTOMERS
67% of customers indicate that poor shopping experience is the main reason for not renewing their subscription (churn) (Huffington Post). By tracking all touchpoints of each customer with the company, the sales team can understand which issues are most important to each customer. In addition, the CRM can collect feedback from each customer by sending an automated Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey.
Benefits of CRM in the technology sector
- Tracking and collection of website interaction data;
- History of interaction and use of the SaaS platform, via API;
- Alerts, for the commercial team, of users at the end of contract;
- Integration of the Marketing, Sales and Support areas in one place, improving the customer experience.
3. Financial Services
The financial sector has been one of the most revolutionized by the digital age. Today, customers expect the same experience when contacting a retail company as when talking to a bank, for example. That is, whether through the website or in person at a bank branch, they expect the same degree of personalization and access to the history of interactions as if they were buying any other product or service of a non-financial nature. This is making customer experience optimization a priority in most banks around the world.
PERSONALIZE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AT SCALE
The customer experience in financial institutions now depends on the degree of knowledge they have of each customer and the ability to customize the offer. Only by using a CRM it becomes possible to keep all customer information management in one place, and accessible to the entire organization.
Benefits of CRM in the financial sector
- Up-to-date history of every interaction with the company, namely through e-mail and telephone;
- Automatic segmentation and sending of campaigns with personalized messages;
- Improved post-sales support, through various channels;
- Centralization of information.
Commerce and Retail
Although eCommerce is growing rapidly, physical stores still represent an important part of the retail sector. However, physical stores need to adapt to digital transformation if they are to continue to attract consumers.
PERSONALIZATION IN THE OFFLINE WORLD
According to Accenture, 72% of consumers are more likely to buy from a salesperson who recognizes them by name, makes personalized recommendations based on purchase history, and knows this history.
A CRM allows you to get all this information in a few seconds, enabling you to increase the average value per purchase by 40% or more (Cloudswave).
Benefits of CRM in Commerce and Retail
- Get to know each customer in detail, as well as their purchase history and preferences; Personalize each customer’s shopping experience;
- Segmentation and personalized promotions;
- Omnichannel relationship management.
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