One of the biggest challenges that e-commerce companies face is building “customer trust.” Physical stores have a significant advantage over e-commerce stores in that customers can establish connections with people in stores. However, accessing after-sales services is much easier for consumers. In contrast to physical stores, in online sales channels, after-sales service processes are often a subject of consumer skepticism.
These doubts about the quality of after-sales service have become a crucial criterion in determining the e-commerce channel where the consumer will make a purchase and in product selection. To address this gap in the e-commerce industry, an innovative solution emerges as the “e-commerce CRM strategy”.
What is CRM Strategy?
“CRM” stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is the process where a company tracks customer data and utilizes it to enhance the overall purchasing experience for customers. CRM strategy refers to the entirety of tactics, methodologies, plans, and ideas that companies use while implementing CRM practices. A CRM strategy takes into account various components and finds the best way to execute them together, ensuring significant value from CRM applications for both the company and its customers.
Many e-commerce businesses prefer to use CRM software to manage their processes. CRM software records, tracks, and analyzes all relevant customer data points related to a customer’s purchasing behavior. CRM software serves as a platform to coordinate, organize, implement, and improve the daily business processes of e-commerce CRM strategies.
In today’s business landscape, businesses without an effective CRM strategy run the risk of missing the goal of delivering superior customer value. So, what do we need to do to create an effective e-commerce CRM strategy? Let’s take a look together.
Set a goal.
First and foremost, your CRM should help your company achieve its goals. Therefore, the first step in implementing a CRM strategy is to identify these objectives. Once you understand what you are trying to accomplish, your next step is to determine how you plan to reach those goals. Break down your goals into smaller, achievable objectives, and then map out how and when you intend to complete these steps. This roadmap should be flexible to allow for revisions along the way.
Prioritize your customers.
Returning customers are often much more valuable and, on average, spend almost twice as much as new customers. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze your customers correctly, segment them appropriately, and be able to reach them through various channels.
Start tracking your customers before the first contact.
A CRM strategy enables businesses to collect data at every stage of the customer journey. This allows you to gain an advantage in understanding what your customers want, how they expect you to fulfill those needs, and what they might likely desire in the future before the initial contact is made.
Sync everything with your CRM.
Many businesses today invest in CRM solutions because modern CRM solutions come equipped with tools to synchronize customer data from different channels. The best CRMs will do this automatically, pulling in customer-related appointments from your calendar, updating cancellations and other changes, and sending reminders when appropriate. Synchronizing everything ensures an effective customer management strategy.
Measure and assess customer satisfaction.
Loyal customers make repeated purchases, engage with you through different channels, and are your most significant advocates. They refer others to your business and provide proactive positive feedback. Many businesses organize comprehensive customer loyalty programs to create loyal customers, which can sometimes be time-consuming and costly endeavors. With a good CRM software, you can set up automations to measure customer satisfaction and determine what you need to do from day one to create loyal customers.
Evaluate and improve.
Congratulations, you have now devised a CRM strategy. However, no matter how detailed your strategy is, you may not always achieve the desired results. Therefore, what you need to do now is periodically review your plan and processes, determine what produces better results for you, and work on continually improving your formulated strategy.
Creating an effective CRM strategy will help you place your customers at the forefront of your business focus. It may require reviewing your time, effort, and processes several times. However, when you have devised the right strategy, you will see that CRM has the potential to perfect your relationships with your customers.
Until the next articles, have a great weekend! 👋
