Digitalising customer relations: the key to boosting your sales

What are the new challenges in customer relations in the digital age?

As physical shops and sales outlets have been forced to suspend their activities for exceptionally long periods, retailers have naturally turned to digital channels to stay in touch with their customers. It is in this unprecedented context that the digitalisation of customer relations has accelerated.

This multi-faceted phenomenon refers both to the dematerialisation of exchanges and points of contact between a company and its targets, and to the transformation of purchasing paths. At the same time, brands are making increasing use of digital tools to better organise the management and monitoring of their customer relationships, and thus improve their customer service practices with a view to building customer loyalty.

As a customer relations professional, whether in sales, marketing or customer support, are you looking to gain a better understanding of the issues involved in the digital transformation of customer relations and customer journeys, and the benefits you stand to gain?

In this article, co-written with Frédéric Canevet, author of the book Le Growth Hacking, discover the keys to understanding the digital customer journey, and some ideas for implementing it in your organisation!

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The challenges of digitalising customer relations

New customer expectations

With the advent of new technologies, buying habits and consumption patterns are changing, as are customers' expectations of brands.

Increasingly connected and well-equipped, customers expect brands to offer them the same seamless service that they enjoy with their everyday digital habits :

• availability
• instantaneous
• interactivity.
  
  

It has become commonplace and even expected to be able to talk to the brand at any time, on any medium, anywhere.

The buying decision process has also been influenced: with easier access to information, digital customerscan find out more, compare offers and study the opinions of other consumers. They become more demanding and more critical before making their choice.

Finally, like the exploding trend on social networks, customers expect to join a community and rally around shared values, supported by the brand.

Towards an omnichannel customer relationship

These new consumer behaviours are having an impact on the customer relationship management practices of brands, which are constantly having to adapt.

Consumers do not hesitate to interact with brands using all the media and channels available to them: email, telephone calls, social networks, chatbots, video, etc.

To satisfy this strong demand for interactivity, a brand must not only increase the number of communication channels to facilitate exchanges, but also allow its customers and prospects to use the channel of their choice and switch from one to another as they wish.

Rather than being multi-channel, customer relations become omni-channel, offering customers the possibility of interacting with the brand throughout their journey, while guaranteeing the same quality of service.

The aim? To deploy strategies to offer a fluid and coherent digital customer experience that maintains continuity and provides personalised support for the customer.

The barriers between the physical and virtual domains are becoming ever thinner, and the customer journey is becoming phygital, with points of contact both online and offline.

Big Data for customer relations 3.0

With a constantly evolving digital ecosystem, the possibilities for businesses are expanding all the time with Big Data: large volumes of data can be collected by cutting-edge technological tools and then exploited as part of the customer relationship.

We're talking here about customer data from all their behaviour and interactions on digital media and channels:

• websites
• mobile applications
• social networks
• chatbots, etc.
  
  

By aggregating and analysing this data, you can identify key trends in your target audience, prospects and customers:

• their profiles
• their engagement with your brand
• their preferences
• consumer habits, etc.
  
  

By using this type of data to create a digital customer relations strategy, brands are better able to offer a tailored service , providing users with what they are looking for.

The most advanced technologies even go so far as to anticipate customer needs, so as to better respond to their future requests. This predictive marketing serves to :

• to meet customers' expectations by doing everything possible to respond to them as soon as they are formulated,
• and to develop products and services that are perfectly suited to their needs, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction.
  
  

Finally, by taking an interest in customer feedback, the data collected contributes to a process of continuous improvement. Whether we're talking about sources of satisfaction or frustrations expressed, every company benefits from relying on reliable, quantified feedback to identify and rectify its shortcomings.

It will then be in a better position to improve its digital marketing strategy and steer it towards a better customer experience, which is also a source of customer loyalty.

A word from the expert

There are several phenomena at play when it comes to changing customer expectations and consumption patterns.

The first is that customers are more demanding and harder on companies and their teams. 22% of 18-24 year olds have already hung up on an agent, and 14% have insulted an agent, compared with 5% for the population as a whole (source).

At the same time, the French are more zappers, as 48% of them have been seduced by a new brand or store that they do not usually frequent. Among 18-24 year-olds, the figure is 55%, and among 25-34 year-olds, 57% . 52% of consumers are attracted to special offers or innovations, for example (source).

Beyond consumer behaviour, tomorrow's world will be resolutely more complex. One example is the impact of ecological and climatic changes. For example, the cost of heating buildings currently accounts for around 25% of utility bills. However, with the end of Russian gas supplies, the price of gas has increased 2 or 3-fold, which means that from now on there will be more heating costs than the rent for the premises themselves. This will put pressure on costs, and therefore on the quality of services and products.

Customer relations managers will face a twofold challenge:

• on the one hand, to improve the customer experience and make customer journeys smoother, and to make the difference at moments of truth with committed employees;
• on the other hand, meeting customer expectations (reachability, omnichannel, SLA, response times, etc.), while controlling internal costs through automation, digital technology and increased customer service productivity... and anticipating technical and human changes (recruitment, etc.).

So we need to juggle customer experience and cost control, which won't be easy!

Frédéric Canevet,

Why digitalise customer relations?

It is becoming essential for brands to transform their customer relationship management digitally, in order to offer a high value-added experience and quality customer service.

Digital tools help to create a fluid customer journey that facilitates the act of buying and offers your customers the best possible experience - simple, personalised and positive. This not only improves your sales, but also activates levers to build an effective loyalty strategy.

As well as providing a satisfying shopping experience, digital allows you to nurture the relationship you can develop with your audience before they buy , in order to :

• make yourself known and attract the attention of prospects through inbound marketing,
• make it easier for them to find information
• forge a bond with your target audience,
• interact directly via the channels of their choice, etc.
  
  

These are all assets in a highly competitive world where the battle for attention is raging, and where the customer's entire experience is at stake. customer experience with the brand can be a decisive differentiator from the competition.

A word from the expert

How can we ensure that customer relations are not "dehumanised " in the age of digitalization?

Customers are not against automation, when it's done well, and when you still offer the possibility of speaking to a person or being contacted by an agent. We certainly need automation (self care, web...), but we still need to keep the "human " channels (telephone, chat...), because some customers and some requests need to speak to a person for reasons of criticality, e-illiteracy, reassurance...

This is what was observed in the " Customer Service of the Year " study, which shows that digital and traditional communication channels combine, but do not replace each other. The telephone may have been declining over the last 10 years, but it remains the number 1 communication channel, with a drop of only 4 points in 10 years.

It is essential to give customers a choice of communication channels, because it is above all the "human " channels (telephone, etc.) that give customers the most confidence. Hence the need to analyse interactions, identifying those :

• those that are pointless and need to be reduced or eliminated ;
• which should be automated, because there is no advantage to human processing;
• which still need to be handled by people, because they need to be listened to and analysed... ;
• which generate added value, which should be developed.

Frédéric Canevet,

Benefits of digitalising customer relations

For the customer

• A multiplicity of communication channels through which they can get in touch with the brand, making them contactable regardless of the medium used,
• effortless access to information at any time, whether it comes from the brand itself (website, social networks, etc.), or from other consumers (opinions, recommendations, etc.) to validate their purchasing decision,
• the fluidity of a coherent and pleasant customer journey , and a high-quality customer experience,
• responsive customer service to answer questions or requests,
• personalised offers to meet their expectations as closely as possible, etc.

For the company

• the automation of low added-value tasks in favour of human processing of more strategic tasks (for example, a chatbot processes simple requests and redirects high added-value requests to advisers),
• Improved customer loyalty thanks to higher quality customer service,
• Improved customer knowledge, thanks to the collection of a variety of data, and in particular the study of customer behaviour, so that we can always offer a better service,
• defining an appropriate marketing strategy, with the possibility of carrying out targeted actions and evaluating their impact,
• developing a positive and attractive brand image ,
• improved sales, thanks to facilitated shopping experiences and the creation of a relationship of trust, customer loyalty and retention prove profitable in the long term.
  
  

💡 But then, should "digitalized" rhyme with "dehumanized"? While interactions between brands and customers are becoming digitised and customer journeys automated, this does not rule out human contact. The emotional, empathetic and close dimension created by a brand also involves direct exchanges with those who represent it.

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How can we successfully digitalise customer relations?

Get all departments working together

A successful digital transformation of customer relations requires major changes within the organisation. The sales, marketing and customer support teams need to be involved in the project and work hand in hand. This makes it possible to combine the strategic visions of the management teams with data from the field.

Communication about the benefits of digitisation is essential, so as to highlight the opportunities it represents for each of the teams involved, and so as not to be perceived as restrictive.

Define an omnichannel customer journey

Take stock of the current customer journey, define clear objectives for improving each stage, and create an action plan: digitising customer journeys must be carried out in project mode if it is to be a success.

The aim of omnichannel is to offer the same quality customer experience, whatever channel is used, while being able to follow the customer across all channels: Deciphering their behaviour to get to know them better and build loyalty, from pre-sales to after-sales.

Using the right digital tools

To achieve this, it is advisable to implement tools to create a "seamless" digital experience, ensuring continuity of information between the different marketing channels used:

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to centralise customer data, so as to gain greater customer knowledge and improve the quality of customer relations,
  
  
• a Customer Data Platform, to obtain a complete and in-depth view of a customer's life cycle and create precise segments for targeted marketing actions,
  
  
• a marketing automation solution to implement automated marketing actions and enrich the customer experience,
  
  
• self-care tools to keep customers informed, answer simple questions about a product and anticipate their needs: chatbot, newsletter, dynamic FAQ, tutorials and resources on the website, etc.
  
  
• opinion management systems to gather customer feedback: satisfaction questionnaires, rating system or NPS score, etc. to improve the purchasing process and eliminate any friction points, etc.

A word from the expert

When it comes to the tools and technologies that seem essential for effective digital customer relations, the first observation is that you should only open channels that you are capable of mastering.

For example, there is no point in opening "hot " channels (i.e. with synchronous interactions with customers such as chat, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.) if you cannot guarantee a good quality of service within the expected waiting times.

Here are a few examples of what customers expect (source: " Customer Service of the Year "):

• telephone: less than 2 minutes acceptable to 59% of customers (50% in 2019) ;
• chat: less than 1 minute acceptable to 54% of customers (66% in 2019);
• social networks: less than 30 minutes acceptable to 46% of customers (62% in 2019);
• callback: less than 15 minutes acceptable to 61% of customers (74% in 2019);
• email: less than 1 day acceptable to 78% of customers (90% in 2019).

So you need to start by responding correctly on existing channels before opening new ones.

On the other hand, AI should be used to automate certain processes and make customer paths smoother. In particular, chatbots and callbots can automatically handle between 5 and 10% of interactions.

However, automation should only be used if the process is already well mastered: if a customer service agent can't easily give an answer to a request, a chatbot or callbot won't be able to do much better!

Finally, you shouldn't use high technology just for the sake of it. Sometimes you have to think "low tech ". For example, sometimes, instead of setting up a callbot, it's simpler to set up a visual IVR that costs 3 to 4 times less for similar performance in certain applications.

Frédéric Canevet,

Using indicators to study the customer journey

To improve your customer journey and fine-tune your digital strategy, use performance indicators or marketing KPIs to help you better understand user behaviour, habits and preferences.

Here are some examples of KPIs to evaluate

• time spent on certain key pages of your website,
• click-through or open rates for your email campaigns,
• usage rates for each of your communication channels,
• the number of visits to your dynamic FAQ,
• the most frequent requests, etc.
  
  

The tools you choose should include features to facilitate this evaluation and produce reports ready for analysis and action.

Your objective? Thanks to the customer knowledge you acquire, you can organise a personalised and efficient customer service throughout the customer journey, and develop a customer-centric strategy so that the customer remains at the heart of your entire approach.