Personalizing CRM – The Age of Customer Experience

Introduction

As we look back on the last decade, we can clearly state that the importance of Customer Experience has become a top priority for most businesses. Everyone out there is trying to engage customers through personalization. CRM software companies have taken notice of this and are focusing on providing the best-in-class customer experiences through their strategies and solutions.

CRM software is an aggressive, developing space. It plays a vital role in propelling businesses forward as the market intensifies. Therefore, it, too, needs to focus on the growing trend of personalized user experiences to attract and retain customers!

The Age of Customer Experience

Now more than ever, companies focus on the Customer Experience. It is just as important as the price and quality of the product in today’s competitive market. A product alone cannot win in this all-rounded, highly demanding market.  Customers now look at the whole package, and honestly, it is harder on the pocketbook to create a new customer than to retain one.

Keeping this in mind, organizations now strive to provide a better service than other players in the market. This not only helps attain new clientele, but it also helps these companies boost customer loyalty. Therefore, customer experience trumps almost all other factors when it comes to the market we operate in today.

Benefits of a Positive Customer Experience

  • Increased customer satisfaction
  • Increased brand loyalty
  • Reduces the cost of customer retention
  • Provides companies with a competitive advantage
  • Increases overall revenue

Customer Experience and CRM Platforms

If we look at the CRM platforms available today, we can see that they are much more robust than their former versions. CRM deployments now provide teams with various tools across multiple departments (sales, marketing, customer services, etc.). The personalization options within a CRM are much more hyper-focused and customizable than ever before.

CRM platforms are also equipped with smart real-time tools that allow companies to have a much more connected and customer-centric approach. With the help of AI, these platforms are empowered to upgrade their interfaces to be user-friendly. An example of this is the multitude of conversational tools such as chatbots and voice assistants! The future holds a multitude of possibilities for conversational tools. AI innovation may make the process of manually typing commands obsolete! AI has already provided CRM users with features like recording meetings, creating complete transcripts, and automatic communication processes, etc.

CRM offerings not only help in sending out automated messages, but these messages can also be further personalized using CRM features. For example, CRM users can use the customer’s first names in the messages being sent out to enhance the personalization factor. Subject lines can also be customized to have more individualistic elements. This would not simply make the customer open the message, and it could leave a lasting impact and consequently help build brand loyalty and recognition.

With an effective CRM platform, users can segment their prospects and send targeted emails to different customers using the information they get from the platform. With the added AI benefits, users can schedule regular messages that will help keep the customers engaged. The same applies to new customers; personalized content helps customers identify with a brand and thus potentially create a long-term relationship.

The 360-Degree View – Experience over Transactions

In layman’s terms, the 360-degree view is the basis of a positive relationship among customers and the organization. The idea behind this approach is to foster relationships with customers based on experience rather than transactions.

This approach focuses on understanding the customer’s needs by collecting data from several touchpoints in the customer’s purchase journey. This is not an easy task and requires pretty much all hands-on deck to acquire data. The data is then analyzed from multiple perspectives such as marketing, sales, etc.

The 360-degree view allows an organization to monitor customer behaviors and every stage of the buying cycle. To do so, organizations need to use CRM platforms as they allow multiple departments to record and share meaningful data about customers aligning all departments. By incorporating this approach via a reliable CRM platform such as Dynamics 365, companies can enjoy numerous benefits that include:

  • Increased brand loyalty due to customer alignment
  • Predictive analysis due to data-driven forecasts
  • Recognizing new trends and user responses
  • Reduction of overall costs and increase in revenue.

Conclusion

Customer Experience is a card, that if played right, can help a business dominate the market and give them a competitive edge. While modern CRM’s such as Dynamics 365 have already incorporated much of the Customer Experience tips and tricks discussed in this article, the future still holds many possibilities for further innovation. CRM platforms provide nearly endless resources that boost their Customer Experience for companies, both big and small.

I hope that you enjoyed reading this blog! If you would like to know more about Positive Customer Experience, leave a comment below!