Definition of eCRM, the tool designed to nurture online customer relationships
How do you manage online customer relations? eCRM, or electronic Customer Relationship Management, is a concept that all e-tailers cannot ignore.
Online purchases account for a growing proportion of consumers' total purchases: companies need to pay attention to their website visitors if they want to turn them into customers, and then build their loyalty.
This article takes a look at how eCRM is defined, the benefits and challenges involved, and ends with some eCRM examples. Easily manage your customer relations on the Internet!
What is e-CRM? Marketing definition
If you're familiar with the concept of CRM, you'll know that the term has two meanings:
- firstly, customer relationship management,
- on the other, customer relationship management software, or CRM software.
Online customer relationship management, the essence of eCRM
eCRM is defined as a "sub-category" of customer relationship management: CRM is based on multi-channel marketing, whereas eCRM focuses on all web channels.
Its aim is to create a relationship with a (potential) customer, and to communicate with him or her on the basis of customer data collected via different media.
The democratisation of Internet access has added a new dimension to customer relations, and with it new challenges. eCRM has really taken off since the explosion of the e-commerce sector.
Customer data is an invaluable tool for building customer loyalty and boosting the profitability of your business.
✅ eCRM centralises customer data and provides a history of exchanges between the customer and your site: it's a genuine loyalty-building tool.
The channels used by eCRM to adapt your strategy
- your website, the optimisation of which is crucial if you only have an e-commerce business;
- email marketing, to send targeted campaigns to your prospects and customers by email, and so create or maintain a relationship by email;
- social networks: where you can make online purchases directly via the application, very simply and quickly.
Example 💡 Instagram is emerging as a new customer acquisition channel: one click on a photo and the web user is redirected to the product sheet to proceed with the purchase. - customer support, such as a chatbot or a simple contact form that sends you data to be used ;
- online advertising, etc.
Note: the combination of CRM and social networks has given rise to social CRM.
The benefits of eCRM
Electronic CRM allows you to :
- Develop and maintain new digital channels,
- attract new prospects, i.e. visitors to your site,
- convert these prospects into customers and maximise revenue,
- build customer loyalty and establish a long-term relationship based on trust.
Ultimately, this is the same process as "simple" customer relations, except that in the case of eCRM, everything happens online.
The challenges of online customer relationship management
ECRM and ecommerce
How do you convert visitors to your website into customers?
To do this, you need to personalise the customer experience to compensate for the lack of physical contact you might have with a visitor in a shop, for example.
- Social networks allow you to get closer, even more familiar, with your visitors. It's easier for brands and their followers to talk to each other. Customers also expect fast, personalised responses.
- The study of visitor behaviour improves customer knowledge: you gather data on their buying path, their tastes, the products or services they are looking at, etc. so that you can then personalise their experience.
Every customer finds what they're looking for and what they like more quickly: they stay on your website and choose to make a purchase. If the purchase path on your site is too complex, visitors will go and look for what they want on a competitor's site.
Why worry about marketing for your eCRM?
To put it simply, marketing is the source of customer data, and CRM is the destination. Sales are halfway there, and are responsible for centralising, analysing and exploiting the data in order to convert visitors into customers, who then need to be retained.
You can't envisage an online sales strategy without marketing, and you can't take full advantage of your CRM software without it either. Marketing and CRM are the two ingredients of a successful, long-term customer relationship.
ECRM: examples to compare
- Axonaut combines CRM and ERP: it centralises exchanges with your contacts in a single tool connected to your mailbox and calendar. Compatible with your e-commerce site in just a few clicks.
- monday.com CRM manages all aspects of customer relations, from centralising information and interactions to monitoring marketing campaigns and the sales pipeline, which is automatically fed with new incoming leads.
- noCRM.io, from 1 to 500 employees, offers :
- simple drag-and-dropmanagement of opportunities in your pipeline,
- create new opportunities from a variety of sources in a matter of seconds.
- Salesforce Sales Cloud, the world leader in online CRM, simplifies your marketing automation and campaign management so you can target your prospects more accurately and talk to them sooner.
- Sellsy, a 100% French solution, facilitates data segmentation and lead scoring to make the most of marketing and build customer loyalty.
- Teamleader simplifies customer relations thanks to a complete history of exchanges with each contact, enabling you to establish a close relationship with your customers.
Processing customer data: yes, but not just any old way
Since 25 May 2018, the RGPD has dictated how European companies should collect and process personal data. This is a component you need to take into account in your eCRM strategy,
Our advice: check the compliance of your CRM software! It's an imperative that all companies must comply with, or face heavy penalties.
Article translated from French