Use your CRM to build customer loyalty

Retaining a customer costs 5 times less than winning a new one, so why is this growth lever still under-exploited? The answer lies in the fact that few companies have the resources (information systems and software) to implement loyalty-building methods. What's more, less than half of companies (42% according to Econsultancy) are able to measure the value of their customers (CLV for Customer Lifetime Value). These two fundamentals can be complemented by a simple tool: your CRM. Whether you already have one or not, here's what you can quickly put in place with this tool. More CRM tips and best practices can be found here.

See all software Customer relationship management

Create a unique, dynamic customer database

The basis of a successful experience for both you and your customers is to create a unique database containing all the information you need about your customers: contact details, extended individual data (job, social profile, population...), target market, purchase history, event tracking, etc. This data enables you to get to know your customers, so you can take the right action.

• Equip yourself with an open online CRM. SaaS CRMs offer APIs: these are gateways that open up access to data between your CRM and other online software. Use APIs to synchronize your CRM with your invoicing, sales management and accounting software. This enables you, for example, to take account of order history in a marketing operation.
• Upgrade your data. Forget the Excel prospecting file. Data is so alive that it needs to be updated on an almost daily basis. Choose a CRM that updates itself with your contacts, diaries and emails, so you can centralize your information without any extra work. CRMs like Microsoft Dynamics can also collect public information about your customers or competitors.
• Customize CRM fields: adapt your CRM to your company's activity by adding fields that don't exist as standard: customer date of birth, group or population, age, etc. Ask yourself what data you need to address a customer in a relevant and personalized way during an e-mailing, for example

Creating custom fields in a CRM is a mandatory step

Set up marketing automation actions

Your database now allows you to set up automatic marketing actions. Your CRM must have emailing functionalities or be synchronized with an email marketing tool:

• Newsletter: the newsletter is a basic e-marketing tool. It's easy to implement because it requires just 2 simple fundamentals: keeping the same format from one newsletter to the next, and respecting the frequency to which you commit. The benefits are clear: you create a regular presence, a feeling of belonging to the brand, and you stimulate word-of-mouth and sharing on social networks.
• Exclusive offers: communicate exclusive offers to your customers, even your best customers, reinforcing their sense of belonging to a restricted club. This club is often called "Happy Fews" in marketing jargon.
• Cross-selling and up-selling: Multi-level segmentation is essential to avoid making the mistake of offering an irrelevant product. A complete CRM system, from product catalog management to emailing functions, makes it possible to carry out successful operations. For example, you can offer a refresher course to customers who bought a product a year ago. Benefit: you boost your credibility and generate sales quickly.
• Referrals, recommendations, gifts: This is a wild card in BtoB, whereas it's a common practice in BtoC. Solutions such as Spread (CRM extended to Webmarketing) enable you to easily set up operations that are interconnected with social networks.

Generally speaking, your Webmarketing operations should aim to renew your customers' interest with new products and services. This means innovating your content and varying your formats. These operations must be planned throughout the year to generate profitability. It is estimated that keeping a customer can increase profits by 25 to 80% through recurrent purchases.

Discover a concrete example of crm automation in video

Personalize the customer experience

Personalize your communication with your customers to create a feeling of consideration that is essential in your commercial relationship, whatever your channel:

• Telephone calls: synchronize your contacts between your telephone and your CRM, or opt for a crm that manages the identification of incoming and outgoing calls: this feature directly displays the customer's profile when they call.
• Emailing: start your messages by naming your recipients. This implies that your contacts must be correctly filled in. Loyalty offers and programs must highlight a product or service that is relevant to the customer. The new generation of CRM natively integrates algorithms for recommending products by population segment, saving you the trouble of creating personalized offers.
• Transactional e-mails: you can also personalize the notifications sent to your customers when they use your service, for example, as they are subject to a high open rate.

Unbounce pampers its customers with transactional emails

Loyal customers require less marketing investment. That's why you can't go wrong by investing in a highly personalized customer experience. This will have an immediate positive effect.

See all software Customer relationship management

Work on your brand image

Once your customers are satisfied, they will act as true ambassadors for your brand, ignoring even the negative noise that may be made against you. Your loyal customers will become references and referrals for prospective customers.
Your CRM can help you in more ways than one:

• Speed of response : configure your fields so that a technical contact and a sales contact (Account Manager) are identified for each customer. When a request is made, the customer will immediately be directed to the right person, and you'll give off an image of seriousness.
• Understanding the customer context: the event tracking function enables you to take into account the entire history of exchanges between your company and your customer. This enables you to have a productive and relevant exchange with your customer.
• Efficient customer support: many CRMs include a customer support module. This enables you to eliminate frustrations with your product or service, and once again create an image of listening. 98% of dissatisfied customers never let you know, they simply walk away.

Zappos (ecommerce) goes all out to retain customers

An excellent brand image will make you forget any frustrations you may create. So it's important to take care of it in this final stage of customer retention.

Companies like Amazon invest heavily in customer loyalty and customer relations strategy. The brand boasts a 95% customer renewal rate. With Amazon Prime, the retail giant has achieved a stroke of genius by stimulating retention on average baskets twice as high as non-members ($1,200 versus $700 for a non-member). CRM is the cornerstone of this approach, which can be catalyzed with dedicated webmarketing tools.