Use your CRM to build customer loyalty

Building customer loyalty 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. Furthermore, 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. You can find out more about CRM tips and best practice here.

See all software Customer relationship management

Create a unique and dynamic customer database

The basis of a successful experience for both you and your customers is to create a single database containing all the information about your customers: contact details, extended individual data (job, social profile, population, etc.), target market, purchase history, events tracked, etc. This data enables you to get to know your customers so that you can take appropriate 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 synchronise your CRM with your invoicing, sales management and accounting software. This will enable 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 to centralise your information without any extra work. CRMs such as Microsoft Dynamics also allow you to collect public information about your customers and competitors.
• Customise 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 personalised way in an emailing, for example

Creating personalised fields in a CRM is a compulsory step

Set up marketing automation actions

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

• Newsletter: the newsletter is a basic e-marketing tool. It's easy to set up 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 or even your best customers, reinforcing their feeling 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 catalogue management to emailing functions, is a great way of getting the job done. 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 B2B, whereas it is commonly used in B2C. Solutions such as Spread (CRM extended to Webmarketing) allow you to easily set up operations that are interconnected with social networks.

Generally speaking, the aim of your web marketing operations should be to renew your customers' interest with new services and products. This means innovating your content and varying your formats. These operations must be planned over 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 automation thanks to crm in video

Personalise the customer experience

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

• Telephone calls: synchronise your contacts between your telephone and your CRM or opt for a CRM that manages the identification of incoming and outgoing calls: this functionality directly displays the customer's profile when they call.
• Emailing: start your messages by naming your recipients. This means that your contacts must be correctly filled in. Loyalty offers and programmes should 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 personalised offers.
• Transactional emails: you can also personalise 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 personalised 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 about you. Your loyal customers will become references and good recommendations 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 be seen as a serious company.
• Understanding the customer context: the event tracking function allows you to take into account the entire history of exchanges between your company and your customer. This enables you to have productive and relevant discussions with your customer.
• Efficient customer support: many CRMs include a customer support module. This enables you to eliminate frustration over the use of your product or service and once again project an image of listening. 98% of dissatisfied customers never let you know, they simply leave you.

Zappos (ecommerce) does everything possible to retain its customers

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

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