Why is Customer Relationship Management Important In a Market Orientation?

Online retail has made it easier than ever to spend money. However, the competition in today’s retail space is fierce, and businesses must adapt to stay ahead of the pack.

Every business knows just how important customer relationship management (CRM) is – happy clients mean a happy business. Sounds simple, right? Well, as a full-service digital marketing company ourselves, trust us when we say that the rabbit hole of CRM goes much deeper than you might think – especially when it comes to marketing. 

So, why is customer relationship management important in a market orientation?  

CRM plays a vital role in driving value for a business. It helps companies provide a great customer experience, build strong business relationships, and bring more loyal customers on board.  

A good CRM system helps you understand your customers better by collecting data about their preferences, needs, behaviors, and interactions with the company over time. This allows you to develop targeted marketing campaigns relevant to each potential customer. 

So, what is customer relationship management exactly? 

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the process of maximizing the value of a relationship with a customer. It’s an approach that involves managing and analyzing data to help you build, maintain, and leverage profitable relationships with customers over time. 

The 3 major CRM types: Which one is relevant to you?  

The key to understanding the concept of CRM in the context of market orientation is to recognize that there isn’t just one type of approach. There are many different approaches to building an effective CRM. Most of them will fall under one of the three main categories: 

Operational 

Operational CRM, as the name suggests, is all about managing day-to-day customer interactions. It focuses on addressing customer queries and is typically used by companies with a high volume of incoming requests that must be handled quickly and efficiently. CRM software with an operational focus will often include tools for tracking campaigns, cases, and opportunities to help drive revenue growth. 

Analytical 

This approach uses data to make better business decisions 

The goal is to uncover your customers’ behavioral patterns and make actionable business conclusions that will help you engage them effectively in the future. 

Collaborative 

Collaborative CRM is a system that enables an organization to collect, organize, and share customer information across multiple teams and team members. This can be done through a central database or integration with existing systems. Additionally, collaborative CRM helps businesses improve customer service by providing additional data about what their clients are currently responding to. When used as part of an omnichannel strategy, this information gives companies insight into what consumers want, so they can give it to them quickly and efficiently. 

Why does YOUR business need a custom CRM strategy?  

So, what’s all the fuss about? Well, here are several reasons why businesses need a CRM system: 

Identify upselling and cross-selling opportunities 

CRMs are all about tracking your customer’s purchases, and as you can imagine, that data comes in very handy when it comes time to upsell and cross-sell. 

This is especially true if you’re selling products or services with multiple parts—like an insurance policy that includes home and auto coverage or a desktop application development package that provides accounting software and point-of-sale systems (POS). If you know what products your customers already buy from you, it becomes much easier to target them with offers for related items. 

Automate time-consuming manual tasks 

Automation is one of the biggest benefits of having a good CRM strategy. Automating your customer-facing processes will save time and money and improve efficiency and customer service. For example, offer monthly subscriptions for your product or service. A good CRM system will automatically send monthly invoices and remind customers when their next payment is due.  

A good CRM solution can help improve the overall customer experience of your business from start to finish – from account signup through onboarding, as well as ongoing engagement with your company over time.  

Identify and implement sales strategies 

Imagine being able to identify the right customers and make a sale at just the right time, price, product, and place. That’s what a good CRM strategy does. It’s like having a personal sales assistant who knows which customers are ready to buy from you and how much they’re willing to pay! 

A well-designed CRM system will map all your past interactions with clients and prospects and their purchasing behavior so that you know exactly which types of people would be interested in what kinds of offerings from your company. 

Improve and increase customer retention 

Retaining your customers is a key metric for any business. It’s also an area where many companies fail miserably. The reason? Customers don’t feel like they are being taken care of, and that’s where a CRM comes in. By timeously attending to your customers’ needs, you’re giving them a reason to stay. 

Using a CRM solution helps you keep track of key metrics such as customer satisfaction, churn rate, and lifetime value – all important factors when it comes to retaining customers. You can use this information to decide how often you contact your clients and what offers will most likely be successful at keeping them around (and happy).  

Allowing flexibility and scalability 

Because we live in such an ever-changing world, there’s no telling what kinds of changes we might see within the next few years—but one thing is certain: your business needs to keep up with these changes or risk falling behind!  

A CRM system is a great investment for businesses of all sizes because it provides flexibility and scalability. This means it can adapt to meet your company’s needs as it grows.  

Successful CRM Marketing examples 

When it comes to customer service, CRM strategies have become a game-changer for all companies, particularly small businesses – not only in day-to-day customer service but also using it to their advantage when it comes to marketing. Here are some successful CRM marketing examples that we can learn from:
 

AirBNB 

Airbnb has a simple yet strong CRM strategy, which involves automating as much as possible to streamline the sales funnel and ensure that your customers feel like they’re being taken care of. This includes using automated communications like SMSs and emails triggered at various stages leading up to their check-in, for example. This ensures everything goes as smoothly as possible up until they arrive at their destination. 

Another way Airbnb uses automated relationship management is by using predictive analytics software that analyzes customer data from previous interactions with users and leads them through appropriate next steps. As they shop around for listings in different cities or states, there’s no need for additional input from administrators or the sales team working at Airbnb HQ. This is a great example of how companies can benefit from using machine learning development and algorithms! 

Starbucks 

It’s no secret that Starbucks is one of the most successful brands in the world, and a big part of its success can be attributed to its customer relationship management strategy.  

One of Starbucks’ main CRM drivers is their loyalty program called My Starbucks Rewards (MSR), which helps drive customer engagement through incentives such as free rewards for buying drinks or using coupons. MSRs are awarded based on how frequently you visit certain stores or buy certain products through the app. In signing up for the loyalty program, naturally, customers would provide personal information that Starbucks would then use as data points. As customers increasingly use the program, Starbucks can market certain products to each loyalty member based on their personal information and purchase history. 

This approach allows Starbucks to establish strong connections with its audience, which, of course, leads to increased brand loyalty. 

Amazon 

As the world’s most well-known online retailer, Amazon knows how important a good customer experience is for business, but on top of that, they know how important data is and how to use it well. 

Amazon uses the data it collects to improve customer experience, which can lead to better business decisions about what products and services to offer and how to best optimize those offerings for each customer. For example, Amazon can use customer data to determine which ads are most effective at converting visitors into customers or how much each customer spends on average on the site. This also helps Amazon upsell and cross-sell by making additional offers based on what its customers are already purchasing or looking at on the site. 

Custom CRM Marketing Services to Help You Succeed 

While every business is unique, there’s no denying the importance of customer relationship management. With so much competition, you must do everything possible to make your customers happy. CRM systems are a primary tool in this endeavor and choosing a system that best meets your needs is important. If you’re interested in integrating a cost-effective custom CRM solution into your business, feel free to contact us anytime.