The foundation called CRM
The CRM is arguably the most important software a company can invest in, as it has the greatest impact on customer satisfaction. In this sense, it is a foundational system for a company or enterprise upon which other technological solutions can be built and/or to provide better customer experiences.Having a plethora of tools available is not only confusing, but can also be paralyzing. Some are more important than the others and our aim is to be a guide on how to choose a stack of solutions / systems that can be integrated with a CRM Software to enhance customer engagement and increase sales. The products in this stack are not intended to be definitive or exhaustive in any way; rather, they are intended to be a guide on the various solutions available that have been perfected as systems over the years.
Building upon CRM for Marketing Automation
The right tools can not only help you plan your marketing strategy, but they can also improve the outcomes of your efforts.Using tools can help you plan your marketing strategies more easily, but they can also help you improve the results of your plan. Meanwhile, selecting the incorrect tools would result in a waste of money – and valuable time. Here are five tools integral to build a stack that would aid in delivering maximum results from your marketing efforts.
Segmentation
A good marketing automation tool should have the ability to create static and dynamic lists of leads and customers – called segments.
Customer segmentation is the process of categorizing your customers based on factors such as demographics, user behavior, purchase history, or other relevant characteristics of your business. By dividing customers into segments based on a shared similarity, it’s much easier to cater to their specific interests by creating and deploying new marketing campaigns.
A shot in the dark has now become a well-lit archery range enabling to reach and engage customers with the precision of an expert archer! It helps personalize customer experiences, and thereby satisfaction.Customer segmentation tools collect, analyze, and integrate data to provide a unified picture of your leads and customers, as well as other valuable business insights.
Campaign Management
The development of marketing campaigns can benefit greatly from CRM software.To be effective, marketing must get the appropriate message in front of the right audience at the right moment. To do so, first understand the needs of potential and existing customers and then create marketing campaigns that address those needs.CRM software and tools can help marketing teams collect and analyze audience data to build more effective marketing campaigns.
Communication Channels
More the merrier. Having the ability to reach out to customers through various channels helps businesses reach the maximum number of potential customers. Most digital modes of communication can easily be integrated with the CRM / Marketing Automation / Campaign Management Tool.
Phone
By integrating the CRM with the Telephony system, it is possible to record call information and contacts in the CRM for visibility and future use. With caller id and auto-query of the customer record, this capability also facilitates incoming and outgoing calling from within the CRM application.
Live Chats
Chat is ubiquitous and the ability to instantly answer customer queries either by support agents or through chatbots is today a minimum expectation by customers. Various chat solutions provide unique capabilities and can be integrated with the CRM to provide a track record of customer interactions by various agents or bots.
Integrate the CRM application with email marketing software to capture interactions as queries, support, service or opportunities that respective teams can use to attend to the customer. Additionally, templates, sequences, drip campaigns and triggered emails, increase efficiency. Salespeople frequently use email as their primary communication method; using it from within CRM allows them to access current contact and account data without having to export and import contact information.
Social Media
Businesses use social media to inform and generate interest in customers. It is important to capture those who interact and engage with the business on various social media platforms and try to include them for targeting in marketing and sales campaigns. Social media platforms provide apis that can be linked to platforms that provide the data required for running campaigns either natively on the social media, or enable businesses to directly communicate with those customers.
Affiliate
Affiliate management software is used to track and manage affiliate performance. It exists to streamline your life and assist you in calculating the amount of traffic and sales generated by your affiliate partners. The affiliate marketing software you select is determined by your business model, product, and budget. However, there are a few features that all affiliate tracking tools have in common. These include:
- creating unique affiliate tracking codes and links
- monitoring and attributing referral traffic sources
- monitoring affiliate performance in terms of traffic volume, clicks, and conversions
- detection of fraudulent traffic and bots
Loyalty & Rewards
The possibility that a consumer will do business with a company once more is known as customer loyalty. Whenever you purchase a good or service that you enjoy using, you typically return to the company that provided it. Devoted clients not only support a brand but also persuade others to do the same. American businesspeople typically tell 11 other people about good business encounters. This suggests that loyal clients will freely recommend you to other potential customers. A poor-quality product or service rarely leads to a devoted customer base. For devoted clients, that brand must have offered additional advantages. Loyalty programmes are among the most effective methods for fostering customer loyalty. For instance, there is a higher chance that a customer would visit your store again and buy something else.when consumers get something in return for their purchase, such points or coupons for discounts. With the use of a loyalty programme tool, you can reward customers for more than just their loyalty. Most of the time, points are used to mask the true value of the rewards you are giving.
Analytics
To forecast sales and other important indicators and better understand your customers, analytical CRMs are pieces of software that assist you to gather, handle, and analyze your data. The best options provide strong data management, comprehensive analytics, advanced forecasting, and the ability to customize to measure the details that are most important to your business.
Automation in Inbound and Outbound Marketing
Have you ever gotten a phone call from someone attempting to sell you something? You’ve never spoken with this person before, but now they’re on the other end of the phone, trying to persuade you to buy what they’re selling and telling you how much value it will bring to your life.This is an example of outbound marketing.
Outbound marketing entails reaching out to consumers in order to pique their interest in a product, whereas, inbound marketing focuses on creating and distributing content that introduces the brand, then communicates trust and validation and finally incentivises conversion – efficiently.
Adopting and integrating the above stack, can help in both inbound and outbound marketing.
How do these tools help achieve marketing goals
Marketing is how you introduce your brand to potential customers and prospects.As technological advancements become more prevalent advertisers are increasingly relying on tools to streamline their workflows.
The more tools you have in your armory, the bolder the campaign, more granular the delivery, and higher the conversion. Having the right rolls helps you design and deliver marketing strategies.
The eggs in your CRM Basket
Finally, we believe that developing an effective marketing strategy is critical for any business, and it’s something we’re very enthusiastic about assisting our customers with. As businesses expand their technology portfolios, the need for a solid integration strategy becomes increasingly important for companies to maximize their technology investments, achieve efficiencies, and ensure seamless application interaction. Don’t expect your CRM to cater to the whole stack (well and good if they do deliver) but, integrate with leading solutions for each tool and thereby get the best functionality of each in one solution. On the other hand, a CRM that provides the whole stack is usually pricey. However, Apptivo is a unique CRM solution that provides most of the stack at a very affordable subscription.
