Case CRM 2021:

Mid-term:
Topic for Case study:
1/ CRM application in one industry: Hotel, Airlines, Retail , Bank, Sport
brands…
Suggested following topic in Books and Case study:
Core topic covers:
 How CRM Can Help Your Small Business?
 CRM can help you retain your customer data: relationship
between Database and Relationship marketing - CRM
 CRM can help you get to know your customers well: Customer
profiling, Customer insights,
 CRM can help you gain more leads and customers
 CRM can help you plan your marketing campaigns
 CRM can boost sales
 CRM can save a lot of time and money

Mid-term writing:
Group develop and analyze the Loyalty program: 15-20 pages
1/ Analyze the loyalty program in one industry of your choice:
Answer the following question for your guidelines:
What are the key objectives of Loyalty program?
Loyalty program design characteristics:
Do companies profit by introducing LP?
Key issues and challenges
 Reading for CRM understanding:
Read 1:

How To Market In The Twenty-First

Century
Kurt Cagle Contributor
COGNITIVE WORLDContributor Group
AI & Big Data
Futurist, Technologist, Information Architect, Blogger

Marketing in the 21st century means selling long tails to mermaids.(Photo by Cris
Faga/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES

Marketing has always fascinated me. My first full-time job, many years ago, was working for an
advertising agency as a computer graphic artist, and it gave me an understanding of the process
of promoting and selling from very small (a car dealership) to very large (a chain of some of the
largest malls in the US at the time).

Over the years I revisit the field, because marketing is constantly evolving in response to the
business environment. Today marketing and advertising are vastly different than they were three
decades ago, though certain things continue to hold:
Seek the Long Tail
This has always been true, but today it is critical. What the Internet has done is to make it
possible to target a niche audience in ways that were impossible back in the day. It has also
fractured the marketing space into literally millions of micro-markets, each of which conceivably
may have just a handful of people in the world.

However, that handful is very likely to pay a premium to have their wants satisfied. One of my
favorite case studies of this is in the marketing of mermaid tails of all things. Back in the mid-
1990s, a young man named Eric Ducharme had worked for a bit with the Weeki Wachee Springs
mermaid show, and wondered if there might in fact be a market for more realistic tails.

Eric Ducharme, the Mertailor

ERIC DUCHARME

Prior to then, most such tails (for movies or commercials) were made custom from rubber or
polyurethane, could cost upwards of $10,000, and, because they were exposed to the pressures
and chemical effects of salt water, usually didn't last long. Eric, billing himself as The Mertailor,
began producing tails using newer materials at a lower price-point, and began marketing in part
by word of mouth and in part by reaching out to the Internet.

What he discovered is that there was actually a huge pent up demand among young women (and
not a few young men) for something that would let them live the fantasy of being a mermaid. He
experimented with different materials, and also began offering lower-end fabric tails at prices
that were considerably more affordable, and used the networking power of Facebook, Twitter,
and later Instagram to let his customers (many of them quite famous) sell his tails for him,
making him a quiet millionaire in the process.
I've always found this particular case study because it is, in many ways, emblematic of 21st
century marketing. The market was too diverse and too non-obvious to have succeeded in the
previous century. While the company's reputation spread by word of mouth, that word of mouth
was amplified a million-fold with social media in a way that most businesses only are just
beginning to explore. It is the perfect manifestation of Long Tail marketing.

The Long Tail was a concept that first gained traction in the early 2000s, an awareness of the fact
that monolithic markets were fracturing. In the fifteen years since, that has become far more true.
Gone are the monolithic certainties of huge, mostly captive markets. Instead, traditional retail is
in its death throes because markets are complex, interwoven, and constantly changing.

To say that this has been a challenge from the marketing perspective is an understatement - the
Long Tail has all but buried the conventional wisdom about how marketing worked. However,
stories like Eric's also have proven to a be a boon, because it forced the development of new
tools to target and more effectively aggregate different segments of this tail, providing very
specific markets of highly motivated customers rather than large, expensive and indifferent
markets of apathetic ones. This has meant that we are now seeing the emergence of a new
understanding about what marketing actually means.

Social media guru Geoff Hughes, actually summed it up pretty nicely:

"First, spend the time to figure out the niche that you are going to focus on becoming an expert
in.

"Second, make sure your content is educating and entertaining because no one goes on to social
media platforms looking to buy anything, they are going onto those platforms looking to be
entertained or educated.

"Third, stop looking for instant gratification and realize that you need to create a trust with your
potential audience, and that doesn’t happen instantaneously. To build trust, you must supply
them with a lot of valuable content that entertains and educates them. Once you build a
relationship with them, when you do offer them something, they are ready to buy with
confidence."
Authenticity is hard to define, but ultimately means that you believe in what you are are doing,
and that what you are doing is right for the rest of the world.
GETTY

Be Authentic
Millennials and GenZers are the most media aware generations ever. The website TV Tropes is a
Millennial invention and a bible for anyone under the age of 39. The site has deconstructed much
of popular culture into extensively hyperlinked tropes, and through that and similar lenses most
younger people have become very cynical about being manipulated by the media. They can
smell inauthenticity.

Too much marketing in the past was about creating illusions. The illusion: driving along coastal
highways, not another car in sight, the vehicle gleaming and spotless, its passengers wealthy,
beautiful people, while eagles and deer looked on in approval. The reality: car payments, rush-
hour traffic, regular trips to the dealer because the gleaming vehicle lost its shine a decade ago
but the job just doesn't cover getting a second loan so you're stuck trying to nurse it along for just
one more year, beautiful people nowhere in sight. Marketing sold the illusion of prosperity, but
the glamour has faded.

What this means in practice is that marketing has to not only talk the talk but walk the walk.
Does your product or service actually do what you're claiming? Does it meet a real need, or is it
simply a dangling shiny? Note that if your audience needs dangling shinies then for that audience
you are authentic, but the days of manufactured need are fading.

Again authenticity is key here.

"You need to be clear on the outcome you’re looking for. There’s a Wild West of automation
available––in fact, social platforms are constantly fighting the surge of these growth tools, in a
world where efficiency, connectivity and attention are most important. Test everything. But,
remain human. Inauthentic peer-to-peer digital interactions will be the ultimate brand & trust
killer in 2019. Heart always wins."

Nick Cavuoto, Creator of Smart Marketing Mastery.

Trust word as symbol in chrome chain

GETTY

Be Honest
Advertising is an attention tax. After a while, people unconsciously screen out advertising - they
simply no longer see it. The more annoying it is (the higher that tax), the more likely they are to
build negative associations about it. This is one of those areas where artificial intelligence is so
powerful ... and somewhat scary. It is now possible to target an ad to a person based on their
activities within the last minutes, hours and days.

It is worrisome from the standpoint that the information needed to make this magic happen also
means that those who provide the search also have a disturbingly realistic and comprehensive
understanding of what makes you tick, and the potential this has for such information to be used
in nefarious ways. However, it does mean that any advertising is increasingly finding its mark,
and more going from a useless distraction to a (somewhat) useful one.

In general, marketing should do more than tout the advantages of your product. You, as the
marketer, are biased. You know it, your customers know it. It's a part of the reason why
independent game play-throughs have become so popular. It is a form of endorsement, of course,
but that endorsement comes with the very real caveat that if your game (or product) sucks, those
same people will not be shy about letting you (and your customers) know. Ironically, being
willing to let your perfect product get beat up like that is a sign of authenticity.

This also creates something of a conflict of interest for the reviewer, something which I don't
think has completely resolved itself in the broader realm of journalism. Every journalist (and this
includes bloggers, podcasters, vloggers, really, anyone who provides reviews) has to weigh the
value of their independence vs. the value of endorsements. In twentieth century media, that
decision was fairly easy - you endorsed based upon what your editor would allow, because they
paid the bills. A good editor knew when to weigh in and when not to. This maintained something
perhaps best termed journalistic integrity.

Today, most journalists are freelancers. This complicates the relationship that they have with
potential sponsors, because if a freelancer is seen as being too biased, they lose credibility,
especially among the younger generations. The older audiences have a somewhat different issue
having to do with confirmation bias, which overall tends to be stronger as you get older. In either
case, however, the keyword is trustworthiness.

This means, from a marketing standpoint, that it is fine talking to a journalist to get coverage, but
understand that ultimately that coverage comes with the caveats that they have to be seen as
being impartial, or at least to signal to their readers when they have a conflict of interest. It
means you won't necessarily get perfect coverage of your products, but in the end that probably
does you a disservice anyway.
Okay, maybe not that interesting ...
GETTY

Be Interesting
This is easy in principle, difficult to pull off in practice, but almost invariably worth it. This
doesn't mean you have to be funny, though that usually doesn't hurt (but using the same joke or
schtick too long can backfire).

From Curtis Nalley, CEO of Lending America.

"Build a foundation of referrals from every customer you acquire from paid traffic sources. This
increases the customer lifetime value, and allows you to offset increasing media costs. Your
product or service should deliver a great experience to the client. Focus on helping the end user
and delivering so much value that you will at a minimum, retain your client base. Use that base
to build a larger audience and network."

Being interesting shows you've done your homework about knowing your audience. Part of that
is moving beyond what is euphemistically called market research, big data sentiment analysis
and deep data science. I write extensively about the latter two, and while the technology is cool,
the danger that it presents is that such analysis invariably distances the marketer from his or her
audience at a personal level.

If you develop software solutions, your audience doesn't want to know how it's better than other
products in your niche. They want to know if you can solve their specific problems. They want
some surety that you can deliver what you promise through testimonials and recommendations
from others in their space. They want to know how responsible you are as a corporate citizen.

Too many companies, especially in the IT and AI spaces, believe marketing involves setting up a
website with a picture of the leadership, swirly glowing graphics against electric blue
backgrounds and the buzzwords du jour plastered everywhere (a few years ago it was Big Data,
then Data Science, now it's Artificial Intelligence, no doubt heading towards Cognitive
Computing by 2020).

Yet, from a marketing standpoint, these actually provide surprisingly little bang for the buck.
True engagement in general means interacting with your customers through social media
channels, and even there, staying one step ahead of the platforms themselves. It also means that
you often have to think larger scale media production, from vlogs to professional quality video
content. This is becoming increasingly the norm as all of the social media channels prioritize full
feature media distribution:

Paul Xavier, founder of Next Level Creators, lays this out in very stark terms:

"The toughest marketing challenge we are facing today is making time to consistently create
video content for all of our organic & paid advertising commercial campaigns.
"On average it takes us a total of 4 full days for the production process alone to create a
campaign that covers Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Google Search / Display, LinkedIn & T.V.
as we only create multi-use video content.

"[Our] primary focus is systemizing & creating efficiencies in our production process from
market research, scriptwriting, production, campaign setup & launch so that it takes the least
amount of time possible while producing more profitable campaigns. We've cut our entire
content creation process timeline in half from 8 days to 4 over the past year while seeing an
improvement in the profitability of the video campaigns we are producing but it is still the #1
challenge we face as 4 days is a large amount of time."

In general, being interesting means that you are no longer going for first impressions. The
relationships between the marketer and their audience becomes longer term, far more a
conversation than a simple interaction, and that ultimately translates into a commitment to be
human with your customers.

From Ken "Spanky" Moskowitz, CEO of Ad Zombies:

"Stop trying to sell your product or service on the first date. Develop a voice that engages them
with your brand, entertains perspective clients, educates them on how your product or service
makes life better. Develop a rapport with every touchpoint you make, this ensures your brand
becomes a household name like BandAid, Kleenex, or PreparationH, yeah, I went there. When
was the last time you saw a PrepH commercial or Ad? Forever ago, right? Yet, if you had
hemorrhoids, the one product you would know to buy is that one."
Understanding (and making more effective use of) the relationships that connect people, places,
organizations, things and events together will be critical in the 21st century. This is a big part of
what AI will help do.
GETTY

Be Smart
Marketing in the 21st Century involves using data effectively. One of the biggest seachanges
that's taking place today is the shift away from ad word oriented marketing and towards
resource-based, or semantic, marketing.

Imagine, for a moment, that for every product and service out there, you were able to embed
some kind of unique key or token that not only identified that product, but also made it possible
to get up to date information about that product in real-time. Imagine every video or podcast or
image out there could be traced with such tokens, could be monitored to see who you're audience
is and ultimately how to reach out to them. Imagine this information driving everything from
looking to a job or a car or a house to driving media campaigns, creating alerts when conditions
arise that are relevant to the sale of your company's products or services, with little to no
intervention on the part of developers or data analysts.

This is where marketing is going. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which has been the
driving force for marketing in the last few decades, is giving way to a deeper web of
inteconnectivity where the role of marketing is to ensure that the products or services that
someone needs are available to them right at the time they need it. Such solutions create clouds
of metadata around people, products, organizations and events that can, with the proper lenses,
create frictionless markets that drive down customer acquisition costs and increase customer
retention.

Such semantic technologies, in conjunction with machine learning for categorization and pattern
recognition, can also help to determine when marketing is ineffective or even counterproductive,
because they are not just using keyword matching but are actually identifying conceptual
relationships that make it possible to determine the gist of your customers' words and actions,
and consequently be able to better respond with content that better matches their needs.
Technology will transform marketing, but technology without creativity and putting human
values on that marketing will destroy it. That is the role that marketing professionals will play
in the next century.
GETTY

Summary
At the same time, this technology also means that marketing itself will need to strike a balance.
As the lag time between promotion and response diminishes, effective marketing means
providing value, not just an annoyance tax, to your customers within a diminishing window of
time. It means that your channels are not just your own Twitter or Facebook feeds but the
growing array of long-tail journalists, thought leaders, mavens and gurus, who are attempting to
get their own voices heard.

It's a hard time to be a marketer today. It is an exhilarating time to be a marketer today, and the
ride is likely to just get wilder over time.

How to Manage Customer

Relationships with CRM
Daniel HopperApril 14, 2021
TwitterFacebookLinkedInFlipboard0
It‘s cheaper to retain customers than it is to attract new ones. It pays to look after them.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a tool to help us track our interactions with customers to understand
their needs better?

And manage ongoing relationships with our customers as well as customer leads.

It is cheaper to retain customers than it is to attract and convert new ones.

Meaning we’re more profitable!

This blog explores Customer Relationship Management — explaining how it works and its
benefits of using CRM.
What is Customer Relationship Management?
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a strategic business approach to managing
interactions with existing and potential customers.

Grounded in the foundations of relationship marketing, CRM is often used to describe

technology-based systems that manage customer information and solutions.

“Relationship marketing theory provides the foundations of CRM, which is “the process of acquiring,
retaining, and partnering with selective customers to create superior value for the company and the
customer.” (Parvatiyar & Sheth, 2001)
The focus is on customer retention through streamlined processes and staying connected to
customers to improve the relationship. Firms manage and analyse their interactions with their
past, current and potential customers.

Firms can use numerous customer communication channels to compile data, including a
company’s website, telephone, email, live chat, and social media.

The ultimate goal of CRM is to increase sales.

A Brief History of CRM

Customer relationship management dates to the 1970s. Initially, businesses used surveys to
evaluate customer satisfaction. As computer technology developed, companies used spreadsheets
to categorise and analyse data and create lists of customers, which became the basis for database
marketing.

In the 90s, CRM evolved as more large tech companies such as Oracle got involved and created
customer software solutions, including sales force automation and customer service.

With the advances in the internet, the early 2000s saw CRM migrate into cloud technology,
meaning users could access it online from any computer.

Being online also removes the burden of installing and updating software, keeping IT costs lower
and being extremely flexible for businesses to upgrade as they grow.
Industry-specific software or full-customised CRM was also replacing standardised CRM
options to meet businesses’ needs further. Industry data suggest Worldwide spending on CRM
will exceed USD 110 Billion by 2027.

“Uncertain markets and dwindling brand loyalty are critical factors which are leading service-based
firms to adopt CRM as a business strategy.” (Dewnarain, Ramkissoon, & Mavondo, 2019)

The Benefits of CRM

A customer-centric marketing strategy allows firms to create and maintain relationships with
their target market. CRM is a vehicle for this.

With rising customer acquisition costs and increasingly price-sensitive customers (They do not
like to pay more), creating long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships is key to increased
customer retention.

The better we are at providing solutions to customers, the higher chance they will remain
loyal, increasing their lifetime value to a firm.

CRM is a comprehensive approach to providing customer solutions.

Information kept and organised about leads and customers, as well as every interaction that takes
place. If customers regularly interact with multiple people on your team, it allows everyone in a
firm to keep track of conversations.

“Organisations today must focus on delivering the highest value to customers through better
communication, faster delivery, and personalized products and services.” (Chen & Popovich, 2003)
Some of the direct benefits to businesses of using a CRM are:

 Increased ability to target profitable customers.

 Enhanced salesforce effectiveness and efficiency.

 The marketing and sales teams function together more cohesively.

  We have improved customer service effectiveness and efficiency.

 Products/services customised to individual customer needs and preferences.

 Communication channels integrated into a single platform.

 Increased responsiveness to changing customer needs.

 Improved data to more precisely segment customers based on their characteristics/needs.

 Individualised marketing based on customer behaviours.

 Increased opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell customers.

 It’s a key component of a sales funnel.

The Functions of CRM

The underlying function of CRM is to build customer relationships and to manage these as they
mature through distinct stages. Firms keep a database of customer information to understand
better those customers and better meet their needs.

The firm helps them analyse their customer data to identify sales opportunities and manage
customised marketing campaigns from a central location.

Integration

For large organisations, one of the most significant benefits of CRM is that everybody has access
to the data, making it easier to collaborate across teams and the entire customer lifecycle.

Sales, marketing, and customer support become integrated and automated.

Every detail about individual customers is kept, such as who they are and how their interaction
with the firm.

Knowing these details helps everyone do their job better as it provides context about customer’s
needs and situation, so one staff member can pick up the conversation where the last one left off.

Firms can manage inquiries across channels without losing track of conversations.
“To some, it meant direct mail, a loyalty card scheme, or a database, whereas others envisioned it as
a help desk or a call centre.
Some said that it was about populating a data warehouse or undertaking data mining; others
considered CRM an e-commerce solution, such as the use of a personalization engine on the
Internet.” (Payne & Frow, 2005)

Marketing

CRM allows for marketing automation to make it more effective and efficient.

Firms can set up repetitive marketing tasks such as social media posts or email marketing to be
sent to groups of customers at various times, with different messages, based on customer
segments’ individual needs and behaviours.

Marketing aims to put the right message in front of the right people at the right time. CRM
systems also monitor how customers preferred communication method.
Daily emails? Weekly emails? Monthly phone calls?

Sales

Automation of the salesforce is another crucial function of CRM. Wherever a customer is in the
sales cycle (buyer decision process), firms customise their communication for their situation
(assuming we know enough about them).

CRM tracks a customer’s history with the company to know as much about them and tailor their
communication.

It is critical to categorise recent sales leads accurately, as special sales promotions with different
offers can be targeted at diverse groups of customers to fit their needs best.

Firms can focus and prioritise the right leads that are likely to be the best opportunities to close
profitable deals. Firms do not want to waste time and resources on prospects who will never
become profitable customers or clients.

Sales reps can work more efficiently, and sales forecasting becomes more accurate.

Customer Support

Another benefit of CRM is that customers are served better on a day-to-day process.

Direct customer service technologies mean that support becomes more personalised and
automated, and customers supported through multiple channels.

CRM keeps a record of every customer interaction, the extra insight into customers helping
business be more constructive with improving their customer service experience and providing
better solutions.

Data Analysis

Another valuable function of CRM is the ability to analyse customer data collected through
multiple digital sources.

Data mining helps businesses to learn more about their target customers.
We can find out where our sales come from, what characteristics our customers have, the best
way to communicate with them, and how to best cater to their needs.

Through analysing our data, we can find patterns in consumer behaviour that informs our
decision-making. Identify any potential issues, as well as what is going well.

Analytics provides all sorts of customer information, such as their past sales and how they
reacted to previous marketing efforts. If we find out that certain customer groups are not
purchasing, we can change our offer.

It can be a trial and error process better to understand their buying behaviour and spending habits
over time.

Final Words
In summary, a value proposition is the summary statement of why a customer would choose a
company’s product or service. It frames how they uniquely provide value to customers.

This article has discussed the importance of creating a value proposition and the steps a business
can take to create its own and differentiate itself from competitors

How CRM Analytics Work

Max Freedman
Business News Daily Contributing Writer

Nov 16, 2020

CRM analytics give your business insights into your customer service and sales
operations. Use this data to make better decisions and maximize customer lifetime value.

 CRM analytics gives you insights about your customers and how well your sales and customer
service teams are reaching them.
 CRM analytics helps you monitor your customer service efforts, validate your customer data,
analyze your customers’ habits and generate better leads.
 You can divide the most important CRM analytics into three larger classes of key data.
 This article is for business owners and marketers looking to understand CRM analytics, what
they track and why they should be tracked.

Even if you believe you’ve come up with the best product or service in the world, you’ll need to
find people who agree enough to buy what you sell. With customer relationship
management (CRM) analytics, you can figure out who’s buying, who might buy soon and how
you can retain your customers. Below, learn more about CRM analytics and why and how your
company should collect them.

What are CRM analytics?

CRM analytics are data that demonstrate your company’s sales and customer service
performance. CRM analytics also presents customer data that you can use to inform smarter
business decisions. Typically, you’ll use CRM software to obtain CRM analytics and automate
all your data collection and report generation.

Key takeaway: CRM analytics provide insights into your customers and the performance of
your sales and customer service teams.

Benefits of CRM analysis

The primary benefit of CRM analysis is that you can use it to inform your sales, customer service
and marketing processes. You can use your CRM analytics to improve your methods via:

 Customer service evaluations. CRM analytics fill you in on your customer service team’s
performance. If you see figures that your team could improve, implement practices that push
your team toward these goals.

 Accurate customer data. Whether you’re using your customer data for demographic
marketing or email marketing, you need to know whether you’re reaching the right person. CRM
analysis ensures you’re doing just that.

 Thorough customer analytics. How much does your customer usually spend per quarter with
you? Are they buying the same products time and time again, or does it vary? With CRM
analytics, you’ll get firm answers to these questions, and you can use what you learn to refine
 your marketing strategies.

 Efficient lead generation. Your CRM analysis can tell you which of your marketing efforts most
strongly correlate to purchases. If you see one approach correlating strongly to purchases but
have only targeted a sliver of your customers with that approach, try that method more – your
sales might increase.

Key takeaway: CRM analysis is beneficial for evaluating customer service, confirming
customer data, analyzing customer behavior and generating leads more efficiently.

What types of CRM analytics should you track?

CRM software platforms offer a wide breadth of measurable analytics. The below metrics are the
most important.

Pre-sale CRM analytics

Much of your relationship with your customer is built before their purchase. After all, how often
does a customer make a purchase without learning about the product (and sometimes your brand
as a whole) first? That’s why the below pre-sale CRM analytics are important to track:

 New leads. Your sales team likely spends lots of time calling potential new customers or, if
applicable, sending proposals. You should track these activities to see how well they convert to
sales.

 Prospects. Even before your sales team identifies leads, they identify prospects. Chances are
they call and email these prospects often as well. Track these activities to determine what is and
isn’t working.

 Personal interactions. It’s one thing to make a call or send an email. It’s another to actually
reach someone. Track data about how many calls or emails actually lead to conversations, how
often these interactions happen and (for phone calls) how long they last. If these conversations
lead to immediate customer action, track that as well.

 Website engagement. Some CRM programs include tools for identifying people who visit your
company website, sign up for your newsletter or engage with you on social media. With this
information in hand, you obtain a whole new batch of potential leads to target. After you first
reach out, you can begin developing a customer relationship and gathering customer data.

 Additional engagement. Free samples and product demos can be great for obtaining first-time
customers. So too is inviting potential new customers to online or in-person events. You should
 track how often these approaches convert to sales – doing so can inform future decisions. You
may also want to track this metric per sales rep to determine what underperforming reps could
learn from higher-performing ones to improve.

Post-sale CRM analytics

Once a lead becomes a customer, you can’t guarantee that they’ll stay that way. That’s why
gathering post-sale CRM analytics matters too. The most important post-sale metrics include:

 Problem tracking. Record the problems that your customers raise with your products and fix
recurring ones to achieve maximum customer satisfaction. The fewer active issues a customer
has with your products, the more likely they are to keep buying from you.

 Additional purchases. If you push one product with a lead, they might buy other products too.
In this case, you can use the information you obtain about your customer’s other purchases to
determine which products you’ll market to them in the future.

 Purchasing patterns. If your customer buys your products or services on a subscription basis,
look for consistency or variance in their orders to infer how likely you are to retain them as a
customer. If you sense that this customer might stop purchasing from your company, try to
retain them by offering discounts, promotions or other customer loyalty benefits.

 Segmentation. After a sale, you can analyze just one customer or you can extrapolate your
activity to all your customers. Use post-sales data across many customers to divide your
customers into those most – and least – likely to keep purchasing your product or, better yet,
buy additional products.

 Spending. No two customers spend in exactly the same way. A customer on a monthly
subscription plan worth $10 per month might not impact your revenue as strongly as a customer
who makes an annual $1,500 purchase. Determine each customer’s impact on your revenue to
decide how much resources to allocate to each relationship.

 General project management. When one sale is over, another can begin. Use your CRM’s
project management capabilities to identify key activities such as successful sales so that you
can target your current customers for future purchases, whether of the same product or
another one.

CRM analytics reporting

Alongside your CRM analytics tracking, you should run several reports that compile your
analytics into actionable insights. These reports include:
  Profitability. Turn your spending analytics into reports that show you which customers make the
biggest impact on your revenue and remain the most loyal.

 Sales forecasting. Now that you’re tracking your customers’ purchase activities, you might be
able to predict how many sales you’ll make in future months. For budgeting purposes, this
revenue knowledge can be paramount.

 Sales conversion. How many of those pre-sales leads and prospects actually bought your
products? Find out with sales conversion reports and refocus your sales efforts based on what
your reports tell you.

 Sales cycle. Most sales aren’t made overnight. Use sales cycle reports to learn how long your
team needs to make sales. Once you know how long the process takes, you can structure your
sales and marketing activities accordingly, but keep in mind that your sales timeline may
fluctuate by customer, time of year and other factors.

 Sales pipeline. Speaking of sales cycle reports, the very similar sales pipeline class of reports can
tell you exactly where along the sales funnel your leads are currently located. With this
information, you’ll know who needs what kind of push to go from a lead to a customer.

 Goals. It’s not a complete sales or marketing plan without goals. If you set up your CRM
software to compare your progress to your goals, you can identify gaps and redesign your
campaigns to address these discrepancies.

Key takeaway: You should track several types of pre-sale, post-sale and reporting-based
CRM analytics.

How to track CRM analytics

The many moving parts of CRM are virtually impossible to track without software. That’s why
there are plenty of CRM software platforms available for all kinds of businesses. In addition to
CRM analytics, you should look for CRM software platforms with workflow automation,
extensive third-party integrations and other features mentioned in the Business News Daily list
of features to look for in a CRM solution.

We also name some of our best picks in our guide to choosing CRM software and our reviews of
the best CRM software of 2020. You might encounter a lot of terms that are new to you even
after reading this article’s explanations of CRM analytics – when that happens, consult our CRM
software glossary to make sense of it all. With these resources, you should be well on your way
to easy CRM analytics collection and a stronger, more fruitful sales and marketing approach.
Key takeaway: You should use CRM software platforms to track CRM analytics, and as
you choose the right program for your company, you should look for the factors common
among trustworthy options

Customer-Focused
Companies are 60% More
Profitable. How Do Your
Strategies Line Up?
Larisa BedgoodFebruary 4, 2021
TwitterFacebookLinkedInFlipboard0

Consumers today are choosing businesses who take the time to know them and who care about
their needs. A customer-first strategy is centered around customers and providing a suite of
services, products and experiences that surprise and delight, foster loyalty, and boost lifetime
value. Research by Deloitte and Touche found that customer-centric companies were 60% more
profitable compared to companies that were not focused on the customer. However, while brands
recognize the importance of putting customers first, many brands are challenged to do so.

So what is holding brands back?

First, brands must understand their customer base. Not in just a broad sense but down to the
individual customer journey. There is where it gets daunting for many marketers. With so much
data being produced at such a rapid pace and across multiple channels, collecting and integrating
this data to make sense requires the right technology, data insights and analytical processes
operating in connected concert.
Know Your Customers
You can’t be a customer-centric business without knowing your customers. In today’s age, this
means adopting a data-driven mindset to capture customer information at every touchpoint.
Customers are producing mounds of information – marketers just need to know where to look
and how to collect it.

Marketers can use a range of data including first party data such as contact data, demographics,
customer service, digital marketing interactions, customer satisfaction, social media interactions
and transactions. This can also be supplemented with third party assets such as lifestyle,
behavioral information, life event data and purchase intent.

In research by Brandwatch, respondents were asked what was getting in the way of getting to
know their customer better, and what tools they thought would be most important for generating
these insights.

According to the research, more than 50% cited a lack of access to the right data as a challenge
and over a third of respondents stated that there was a lack of understanding on helpful research
in this area.
To better understand and develop consumer insights, brands stated that social, search, and survey
analysis tools were important.

Data-Driven Marketing
Understanding your customers requires a data-driven mindset.

A study by Forbes showed that 64% of executives “strongly agree” that data-driven marketing
provides a competitive edge in deciding on how to compete with other companies in the same
field.

According to Media Math, 53% of digital marketers said “a demand to deliver more relevant
communications/be more ‘customer-centric’” is one of the top driving factors for companies who
are investing in data-driven marketing.

eMarketer reports that 90.7% of US advertisers and marketers segment data to better target and
engage with their customers. In fact, over half said that they were more advanced in that area
than even five years ago. eMarketer also reports that 92.3% of organizations maintain databases
to host information on customers or prospects, at least to some extent.

Data-driven marketing tops the lists of priorities for 55% of marketers today. This is according to
research by eConsultancy. According to survey respondents, 42% also stated improving
customer intelligence for a holistic customer view and integration of marketing tools for greater
efficiencies as important areas of focus for this year.

Brands must be diligent and put practices in place to collect data from each customer touchpoint
across channels. When this data is integrated and enhanced with third-party data sets, brands can
generate deep insights into who their customers are and what actions their customers plan to take
next.
Implement a Customer Data Platform
Many marketers have adopted a customer data platform (CDP) to quickly integrate multiple data
sources. Through a range of system connectors, many CDPs continuously collect data from
around the marketing ecosystem and consolidate it into a 360 single customer view by merging
identities from multiple devices into one and deduping customer records.

In a survey by The Relevancy Group, the most popular data type that marketers are integrating
into their CDP is their CRM data. This is true for both B2C and B2B marketers. Other types of
data includes customer profiles and demographics, customer online spending, customer service
and support, and website behavior.
Deploy Personalized Experiences Across
Channels
Omnichannel marketing enables a customer-first approach. By adopting an omnichannel
mindset, marketers are able to align with consumers as they move from channel to channel.

One of the most crucial elements of an omnichannel strategy is integrated technology and data.
In research by Econsultancy, “92% of survey respondents agreed with this statement, again
proving that knowledge is not the problem. Rather, it is the execution, with just 37% of
advertisers agreeing that their marketing and advertising systems are highly integrated.”

Similar results were found in a study by Evergage. Only 3% of US companies said they had true
omnichannel personalization. Additionally, respondents stated:

 9% – Have most channels connected

 14% – Have about half of our channels connected

 53% – Have a few channels connected

 21% – Don’t have any channels connected

When channels are connected and data is integrated to know customers across these channels,
customer-first strategies can pay off big. First, consumers expect personalized communications
and interactions with brands. According to research by The Harris Poll, 63% of consumers in
North America and the UK agreed that they expect personalization from brands and retailers.
Additionally, 43% of respondents said that brands made them feel like an individual when they
were reaching the same customer across all touchpoints.

Many consumers (73%) feel that brands struggle to deliver personalized experiences. Some of
the biggest areas of frustration included receiving an offer for something they already bought
(37%) and not being recognized as an existing customer (33%). However, only 37% of
consumers surveyed said that they would stop doing business with a brand for these reasons.
Foster a Customer-Centric Culture Across the
Organization
Building a successful customer-first strategy is in many ways dependent on the company as a
whole. Many departments interact with customers and there must be a shared mindset of
focusing on customer experiences. When the entire team is on board, processes can be put in
place to integrate systems, collaborate on messaging, and ultimately breaking down silos to focus
on the customer

Day 3: Strategic CRM

Business digital transformation for SMEs

– How to succeed in the market
15 February 202117 February 2021 BUSINESS Business Matters
Business digital transformation is on the rise. As it is a high road to automate
workflows, engage the audience, and boost staff productivity, we’re seeing quick
growth of enterprise apps, connected devices, RPA, big data, etc.
Analysts at Forrester say the most prosperous organizations are employing tech-driven innovation
(TDI) to succeed in the market. Weaving cutting-edge technologies into your processes, you will
resolve industrial challenges and increase revenue.
In this post for SMEs, you will learn how to develop a digital transformation strategy. You will
also receive a checklist for a successful digital transformation. Let’s start our journey.

What is the business digital transformation?

Business digital transformation is the use of advanced digital technologies to address the company’s
problems, for instance, relieve employees from doing repetitive tasks or migrate from paper-based
workflows to electronic document management.
With innovative software solutions, you move away from offline or manual to digital processes rather
than support traditional methods. In most cases, this transformation means fundamental changes in
how an organization operates and delivers value to customers.
“In the current competitive business world, digital transformation is the topmost strategic priority for
every organization. Nevertheless, the concept is confusing and intricate. Digital transformation
involves managing the existing business and building for the future at the same time, something like
changing the engine of the plane while in flight.” —Ashutosh Bisht, senior research manager for
IDC’s Customer Insights & Analysis Group.

Why do you need business digital transformation?

There are many advantages of digital transformation for SMEs. You will be able to achieve
tremendous results such as:

 automate working processes, from sales and marketing to inventory management

 remove human errors
 reduce costs: operating, labor, infrastructure maintenance costs, etc.
 raise staff productivity
 centralize and automate document management
 increase the overall efficiency
 and a lot more — everything depends on your business-specific needs.

Examples of problems you can solve through business digital transformation

Explore what challenges you can solve with a successful digital transformation strategy.

1. Analyzing large amounts of data

Problem
Your company works with large volumes of data but your employees have to manually collect and
process it, including data extraction from online channels, feedback forms, polls, surveys, etc. This
consumes a lot of time while accuracy suffers.
How can I solve it?
You can build a web analytics system that will help you gather data from various sources. Big data
solutions, for example, can automatically capture and process raw unstructured data, transforming it
into valuable information.
Note
Software systems can analyze large amounts of data 25 times faster in comparison with the human
brain (“The evolution of process automation” report by IBM Institute).

2. Boost sales and increase revenue

Problem
The sales conversion rate in your company has been decreasing lately. You see that employees are
well-trained, work hard but recent sales and marketing reports make you sad. How can you improve
this situation?
How can I address it?
There can be multiple ways to boost sales, actually. Have a look at a few examples:

 Make an e-commerce website or/and launch an online delivery service — The COVID-
19 outbreak forced retailers to move physical stores to the internet. If you don’t have a
modern site, consider this option. You will reach a larger audience and engage customers.
Also, provide users with the ability to order goods via a mobile app.
Learn how to build an e-commerce website and how much it costs.

 Develop a CRM software system — Using a CRM, you will be able to automate sales and
marketing processes. Here you can track leads, manage tasks, segment the audience, and
much more.

Find out more about resolving business-specific needs with CRM systems.

 Create a customer loyalty application — Another great way is to build a mobile application
with various perks. Customers will be automatically notified about the best offers, shares,
discounts. Analyzing shopping behavior, you will send personalized messages to delight
users and increase the conversion rate.

Note
With CRM software solutions, companies can boost sales by 29%, improve productivity by 34%, and
increase the accuracy of sales forecasting by 42% (Salesforce).

3. Automate manual, rule-based, and repetitive tasks

Problem
The high number of manual, data-intense, and rule-based activities in a certain department
negatively affects staff productivity. Your employees have to fill out numerous spreadsheets every
week, each time opening a document (e.g., an invoice) and enter data in rows, save it, open
another, and repeat this cycle again and again.
Then, they verify everything is correct. As a consequence, a specialist spends a few working days
(16-24 hours) on a monthly basis. It would be wonderful to automate all such tasks.
How can I resolve it?
RPA software allows easily automating a wide range of tasks, for instance, data entry, search,
vetting, price comparison, calculations. RPA bots automatically perform them based on instructions.
With his technology, you will streamline workflows, relieve the time of employees for more creative
revenue-focused activities, and reduce costs. Either you can do data entry outsourced to reputed
companies to reduce the data entry task.
Note
The Deloitte Global RPA Survey found robotic process automation (RPA) software enables
businesses to raise productivity (86%) and reduce costs (59%).
A $20 million investment in adopting RPA software can lead to a $100 million increase in revenue
(Deloitte). This means that using RPA technology, you can expect result improvement by 5 times.
Have a business challenge and want to address it? Request a consultation from a trusted IT service
vendor, it is for free!

Practical examples of business digital transformation

You’ve seen amazing results that you can achieve with digital business transformation. But how
does it look in practice? Learn how different companies took advantage of innovative software
solutions.
1. Automating investment management and boosting staff productivity
The Vanguard Group, the world’s leading provider of investment management services,
developed predictive analytics software—Personal Advisor Services (PAS)—to automate investment
portfolio management with specific algorithms.
One of the primary goals was to use technology to interact with 20 million clients across its
businesses. Pairing “roboadvisors” with humans, the organization was able to help people with
tailored investment plans and recommendations.
This predictive analytics tool runs 10,000 simulations in less than a second, forecasts future returns
and possible results for different periods. In a web portal, roboadvisors prepare individual financial
plans. Customers monitor asset performance and progress toward their objectives while employees
review portfolios to ensure they align with those objectives.
“We were able to bring down the methodology for managing large portfolios and create fully
automated investment advice.” —John Marcante, CIO at Vanguard.
2. Improving customer service
KLM, a Dutch airline company, aimed to simplify communications between customers and agents
without compromising privacy. The organization was looking for the best way to improve client
service and boost user engagement.
By incorporating a chatbot, KLM managed to accomplish these goals. Customer interactions were
increased by 40%. As a result, KLM’s Messenger services received the highest Net Promoter Score
(NPS), compared to other social channels.
Note
Employing chatbots, organizations can save $23 billion from their annual wages, according to BI
Intelligence.
3. Lead generation and payment tracking
A Belarusian leading programming school wanted to digitize manual and human-based operations
associated with payment control, lead and student tracking. Document maintenance in Google
spreadsheets was inconvenient and sometimes consumed a lot of time.
To resolve these challenges, the company turned to Arateg. We built a CRM software system that
allowed the organization to boost sales by 60% and increase ROMI (Return On Marketing
Investment) by 3 times. Thanks to analytics, sales managers were able to monitor various indicators
such as LTV, CAP, ROI, etc.
Learn how our team developed a full-featured CRM system, including the creation of a microservices
architecture and progressive web app (PWA).

Why do you need to transform your business NOW?

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted almost all industries and continues having it
now. Production downtime, business closures, decreased sales, and performance slowdown are
typical problems SMEs are facing. An economic recession widens the gap between successful and
loss-making companies.
Those players that have well-established automated processes, well-trained staff, and quality
service manage to outrun competitors and win the game.
Top 4 predictions for the worldwide digital transformation by IDC FutureScape:

 By 2023, 50% of companies will lose market share to those competitors that invested in
market-driven operations and digital transformation initiatives.
 In 2021, new FoW (future of work) practices will increase the effectiveness of the digital
workforce by 35%. This will allow businesses to significantly improve productivity and
accelerate innovation.
 By 2024, leaders in 50% of G2000 companies will create “future-of-culture” traits, including
empathy, innovation, customer- and data-centric approaches to become market leaders.
 Encouraged by a growing number of cyber threats and increased need for new functionality,
65% of businesses will aggressively modernize their legacy systems, investing in new
technologies through 2023.

“Digital transformation marks a radical rethinking of how an organization uses technology, people
and processes to fundamentally change business performance,” —says George Westerman, MIT
principal research scientist and author of “Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business
Transformation”.

A checklist for a digital transformation strategy for SMEs

Here is an ultimate checklist for a successful digital transformation. See what you miss:

 migrate from on-premises systems to hybrid clouds

 use cloud computing for remote access and reduced infrastructure costs
 integrate a CRM system to enhance customer loyalty, automate sales and marketing
processes
 develop an online delivery service to add value to your customers
 employ innovative software solutions to process large amounts of data
 replace humans with robots or RPA programs where it is possible
 add an e-commerce website to your physical store or move to it completely
 use digital solutions to improve customer experience, for instance, chatbots
 migrate from paper-based workflows to electronic document management
 integrate an asset management system to monitor and manage the company’s resources
 migrate from legacy systems to advanced technologies
 manage tasks and projects in software systems
 hold virtual consultations and meeting instead of physical visits to save time and raise
productivity
 automate and increase interactions with customers via push notifications and chatbots
 move away from paper-based reporting to a web system with digital signatures, pre-built
templates, upload/download functionality, and role-based access control

Important rules you should remember:

 people are the key resource in any organization

 speed to market is essential
 flexibility is critical to quickly adapt to the new market conditions
Customer Research:
Overlooked & Underutilized
Ways to Understand
Customers
Jeannie WaltersJanuary 28, 2021
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What Does Customer Research Mean to You?

When you hear the term customer research, what comes to mind?

Most organizations have a Voice of the Customer (or VoC) program; maybe that’s the first thing
you think of. Voice of the Customer programs help organizations keep a finger on the pulse
of how they’re meeting customer needs, with VoC data revealing how customers feel about the
brand, their experience, and specific interactions and touchpoints at scale.

Maybe you think of market research, which can tell you about who your prospects and
customers are, and the basics of what they care about within your industry or market.

Or how about behavioral analytics, which helps us understand what customers do and how
they behave on our digital platforms and other channels?

But those are all types of customer research. What is customer research, really?

Here’s my definition: No matter the type, customer research is an ongoing pursuit to

understand our customers better that drives us to bigger, more comprehensive, and more
complex research strategies.

And while it certainly encompasses the common methods mentioned above, customer research
comes in many other forms than these.
No matter who you are, your customers have more to share. And some of the simplest and most
effective methods are right in front of us.

A word of warning: These are not all the most scientific or scalable options. But they still bring
the customer’s perspective closer to the brand.

Not all of these may be a fit for you or your organization. But if you feel disconnected or just too
far away from customers, even with all that data and research, try a few of these ideas to
reconnect with the individuals behind those numbers.

Talk to A Customer
This isn’t about talking to ALL customers. This is about listening to one customer at a time.

One of our most popular resources is our 21-Day Customer Experience Challenge, with 21 days
worth of simple, actionable missions, guidance and inspiration. One day’s challenge is to call a
customer.

That’s it. Simple, right?

There are so many ways to reach out to customers and just ask them, “How are we doing? What
can we do to make it better?” It’s hard to know who customers are if we never actually talk
to them!

Do make sure you have their permission to contact them first before reaching out… but as long
as you do, give one or more of these variations a try:

Call one customer on the phone.

If you’re an executive who’s a few layers away from the actual customer experience, this one’s
especially for you.

 Start by referring to Net Promoter Scores or other metrics to select customers you know have
opinions to share.
  Call a promoter one week and a detractor the next, and listen for ways the promoters and
detractors describe their journey differently.

 Keep a log to identify themes. Document what you hear but mostly just keep a very open mind
and heart.

Get to know this customer and what motivates them. Then get to know the next one.

After one or three or ten calls, you’ll start seeing customers as real people. You’ll think of Sally
or José when planning your next product.

Email certain customers with a specific set of open-ended

questions.
This is a great exercise for contact center leaders, serving as a way to get feedback from a
random sample of customers who contacted them for support.

The key is to make sure the questions are specific enough that they give you focused
information, but open-ended enough that your customer has the agency to speak freely.

Let’s look at three examples. Which one gets it right?

 Example 1: “For which of these five reasons did you contact us?”

 Example 2: “How was your experience?”

 Example 3: “Tell us about why you contacted us.”

Example 1, while specific to one moment (the customer’s decision to contact you), it isn’t really
open-ended.

Example 2, while open-ended, isn’t specific enough that you can extract any meaningful trends
from the feedback.

Example 3 is in the Goldilocks zone — just right. This is still focused on the decision to
contact you, but puts no constraints on their answer. It’s more personal and meaningful.
Asking customers to tell you things in their words is very meaningful to the customer and
can uncover things you hadn’t considered. Asking specific questions allows you to identify
similar themes or obstacles that aren’t necessarily showing up in the reporting.

Together, they offer a powerful opportunity to learn.

Reach out proactively and personally after a certain amount of

time post-sale or using the product.
Your data can guide you here, too. Reach out to customers via text (again — make sure you have
permission in advance!) and ask how they are using the app they installed.

Don’t do this in a way that can be confused for automated messaging. Use names and real
language.

B2B organizations can do this by reaching out to end-user teams for their products. Checking in
like this gives customers a chance to share feedback as well as provide a moment of engagement
otherwise overlooked.

Of course, not all customer research requires a conversation. Sometimes it’s enough to…

Observe and Listen

The key to observing is to stay humble. Employees may make mistakes, processes will fail,
and products won’t work as planned.

That’s ok. Observation isn’t about micromanagement or penalizing employees when things don’t
go as expected. It’s about identifying opportunities to improve for the future.

Try these observation methods to humbly learn a thing or two:

Observe customers where and how they use your product or

service.
Software and technology companies often refer to this as the “follow me home”
method. Companies send representatives to literally sit with customers where they are and
observe how they use their product in their real environments, with real-world limitations.

 Are customers using your product or service the way that you intended them to?

 Are customers getting confused or hung up at any point?

 Is your product or service delivering the way you expected it to?

I once spent two days camped out in a bank lobby to just watch how customers interacted with
tellers and the environment.

It was fascinating. More than that, it ultimately led to meaningful change.

These types of “sit and watch” techniques are super helpful to uncover unsaid challenges
and opportunities.

Listen in on contact center calls.

Contact center agents have a hard job: They’re usually juggling several different programs and
asked to categorize all the inquiries. That’s all very important, but when we ask our contact
center agents to quickly categorize things, some of the nuance can get lost.

To get a more detailed picture of both specific statements and overall themes, sometimes it helps
to just listen to a call. Listening can happen live or in a pre-recorded setting, but the key is to
listen for what’s not reported.

Listening in can help you identify those bigger, more nebulous challenges in the customer’s
experience to start exploring.

Pay attention to customer communities and user forums.

Customers will ask peers for direction here and explain specific challenges. They will ask for
help in finding workarounds and alternative solutions.
All of those requests are signals to you where customers are required to put in too much
effort!

They’re also a great place to look for those super users. These customers can become
advocates and share feedback in meaningful ways… but they have to be asked.

And don’t forget social media! Now that many organizations have a social media marketing
team or a social media support team, it’s easy to forget about the customers who are
interacting there.

Customers have a lot to say on social media, so check in often and see how they’re engaging, not
just with your brand but in general.

 Go beyond just searching for mentions or tracking sentiment with software (though that helps!)
and really explore what customers are discussing.

 What’s drawing a lot of attention?

 What are the requests made that aren’t getting a lot of attention but could lead to issues later?

A great way to use social media is to seek out the personas you use internally “in the wild.” Find
real people who resemble your persona and see what groups they join, what questions they
have, and what connections they make.

Customers are at the Heart of All Customer Data

It’s wonderful to be able to gauge how customers feel and behave at scale to move programs
forward. It can be addicting to follow ratings like NPS go up and down. All of that is
important to creating great customer experiences.

But customers are people, nuanced and imperfect, just like all of us. It never hurts to slow
down just a bit and listen to that one person in that one moment. That’s what leads to
connecting with customers in the very best ways
6 Steps to a Successful CRM
Implementation

Jordan Beier
Business News Daily Staff
Dec 31, 2020

Learn how to implement CRM software with these six steps to have a successful launch
for both your team and your customers.

 The improved features of CRM software have increased both its complexity and necessity.
 Nearly half of CRM implementation campaigns suffer from improper preparation and misaligned
objectives among internal stakeholders.
 A properly conceived CRM implementation strategy covers the breakdown of its goals, research,
strategy, development and future.
 This article is for small business owners who want to make sure they are taking the right steps
when implementing a new CRM system.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software has evolved from a tool that helped sales
teams store customer data into a multifaceted hub that drives the technology suite of an entire
business. It can add tremendous value to your company, but how well you integrate it with your
preexisting processes will dictate its effectiveness. The best implementation practices include
focusing on your established goals, employing a dedicated team to lead the implementation, and
offering training opportunities that help employees understand how to use the software when it
launches.

How to implement a CRM system

A CRM platform is an overarching system overhaul, and the scale and detail of its
implementation must match its intended reach. These six key concepts clarify the required
investment and strategies businesses can follow for a successful CRM implementation process.

1. Set realistic, actionable goals.

You should have a clear and simple vision for your CRM directly related to your most essential
business functions. List your macro targets, write down your overall vision for the CRM's
impact, and pinpoint which CRM features and tools provided will help you achieve them.
A common mistake in seeking out these systems is viewing the platforms as accessories –
extensions, rather than integrations. CRM systems do add new processes and functionality, but
those are perks, not goals. They may even distract from the primary mission. Ask yourself
several guiding questions when considering whether CRM software is appropriate for your
company: Will the new system match the way you do business? Are you trying to streamline a
process, or change it altogether?

"Put the process into the technology," Barton Goldenberg, president of ISM and author of CRM
in Real Time: Empowering Customer Relationships, told Business News Daily. "The software is
nothing more than a … tool that writes the story."

His golden rule? "Process first, people second, technology third."

2. Do your research to find the right CRM solution.

As the fastest-growing business software, CRM offers an immense field of options. Your
specific mission statement is the most helpful constraint, but cutting down the top three CRMs to
your final choice is far more difficult than narrowing down an oversized list. There is no single
right or wrong answer – this isn't a math test – but some answers are still more correct than
others.

The most important factors in your decision could include pricing, the relevancy of the CRM's
tools to your process, ease of use and available integrations. Keep the initial implementation
simple while maintaining awareness of what future upgrades could entail. A basic but successful
launch is more beneficial in both the short and long term than an overly ambitious
implementation that expands past your scope.

Editor's note: Looking for CRM software? For help finding the right solution for your
business, fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you with free
information.

3. Select a CRM team, with department champions.

Once you have selected the CRM platform that most closely aligns with your company vision,
you can mobilize the creation unit. This requires a specialized team to complete daily tasks and
steer progress. The team should include these members:

 Project manager (leader)

 Systems developer (installation)
 Data analyst (data migration)
 QA engineer (testing)
 Champions (representatives)
Depending on the scale of your business and CRM implementation, you may need more than one
person filling each role.

Alex Haimann, partner and head of business development at Less Annoying CRM, recommends
a team of champions to vouch for the product and act as intermediaries between upper
management and its daily users.

"At least some representation on that small, exploratory team should be an end-of-the-line
salesperson," he said.

Your champions are well-regarded leaders of each team that will primarily use the CRM.
Haimann considers them one of your best assets in promoting adoption of the CRM among your
full staff, some of whom may be reluctant to alter their daily habits and processes.

"It needs to be communicated that the CRM is a tool that will help all levels within the
organization," Haimann said.

4. Forecast the costs and benefits.

Work with your various teams to forecast the specific effects this CRM will have on your
business during the implementation process, the initial six months after launch as your team
acclimates, and the following 12 months once the CRM is a fixed part of their daily use.

Some of the most useful reports are cost-benefit analyses and implementation timelines. Be
mindful that production may dip during various stages of the rollout. Resources will be focused
on installation while employees learn new practices, and general expenses can increase
depending on the training and consulting services you select.

These concrete numbers will provide you more exact expectations to help you modify your
actionable goals and achieve buy-in from your executive team. Metrics that demonstrate how
much you expect to improve customer retention and conversion rates will convince even the
most skeptical. But don't dismiss their feedback – they may catch a hidden detail, and that
reluctance could carry over to the other staff when inevitable pain points arise during the
learning process.

5. Migrate and integrate data.

Cleaning your data and migrating it into the new CRM platform will be the longest element of
the implementation. Even an ideal data set of your customers, finances, and messaging services
that contains entirely correct and current information requires several weeks to transfer. Missing
or incorrect data needs to be acquired and fixed, or it will reduce the effectiveness of your CRM.

Goldenberg says to first decide which data is necessary to migrate for you to minimize the costs
and time of working with irrelevant information. He has found that too much data, especially at
launch, becomes a burden on its users.
6. Train the team and test the system.

Once the CRM platform is operational, trust your champions to spearhead training initiatives
with their general staff. By this point, the champions should be familiar with the system, its
benefits, and how to use the tools.

Most CRM offerings include training and consulting programs to enable businesses to get the
most out of their platforms. During this testing phase, assign your IT team to perform quality
assurance tests. Some bugs are inevitable, but you don't want the opening launch to be marred by
many urgent IT fixes while the system is live.

Key takeaway: Follow this six-step plan focused on realistic goals and actionable data to
successfully launch your CRM software with full buy-in from your team.

Importance of CRM implementation

A new CRM system will overhaul many established processes for your team, so your plan must
naturally integrate this new system with your current workflow to prepare employees for its
launch. A proper implementation process minimizes the time needed for employees to become
comfortable with its tools and also mitigates risk.

An unprepared team will be less productive as they juggle learning the system with completing
their daily tasks. Compounding mistakes while employees use the software, such as losing data
or miscommunicating with their team, could harm your revenue and customer relations.

The more segments of your business the CRM touches, the more extensive an implementation
strategy you require. Nearly half of CRM implementations fail to meet expectations, and
installing a CRM system without a detailed strategy can lead to confusion, corrupted data,
unhappy staff, and crippled productivity as employees work backward to understand an
unfamiliar system.

Key takeaway: Your team may use the CRM system incorrectly without the necessary
training and resource investment to learn its features and practices, which limits the value
of the entire purchase, if not outright damaging your bottom line.

How long does CRM implementation take?

The timeline for the implementation of a new CRM system depends on the size of the business
and its various departments. However, most small businesses can expect implementation to last
one to three months. Other key variables include which CRM solution you choose, whether you
hire outside assistance in data migration and system testing, any training or consulting programs
the CRM provider offers, and the quality and quantity of data you currently possess.
Resist the temptation to attempt the different tasks concurrently. CRM can bring sweeping
changes to even the most basic processes of your business, and missing any steps could sabotage
the entire process. Map out exactly when and how the steps and training should occur to hit the
ground running at launch – after what will likely be a period of slower productivity as resources
are spread.

Key takeaway: CRM implementation usually takes between one and three months.
Complete each step individually, without rushing any aspects.

Common CRM implementation mistakes to avoid

Doing too much too soon

Overcomplication can alter the focus of a CRM so that it solves the wrong issue. Haimann
suggests a narrow scope. "Put serious emphasis on your top three or top five significant
priorities."

Don't attempt to achieve the primary goal of every department or user. There will always be
opportunities to upgrade your system in the future if you start the right way. Changing course is
much harder after losing time, resources, and potentially your team's trust after a difficult launch.

Losing team support

Although you see the bigger picture, you are probably less involved in the system's day-to-day
use than your team is. Listen to feedback and appreciate it. Empathize with employees reluctant
to change practices they may have used for years.

Goldenberg emphasizes a "3X factor" to show daily users the effectiveness of a CRM. Whenever
a user inputs a piece of data, "that user must get three valuable pieces of information back to be
motivated to use the system." A user who consistently sees the advantages of using the software
will recognize its usefulness.

Forgetting the purpose of a CRM

A CRM platform is a tool to help your team solve problems; it can't solve the problems itself.
Remember that the purpose of a CRM is to empower the team, not for the team to empower the
software. Adherence to that golden rule will keep your decisions throughout the process focused
on the proper objectives. [Check out our recommendations for the best CRM systems for
small businesses.]

Key takeaway: Avoid common mistakes such as overcomplicating a launch process and
forgetting that the goal of CRM is to function as a solution for the team, not for the team to
power the CRM
 CRM and Business
Intelligence: A Strategic
Approach Using
Analytics
2021-02-11

 Top mobile app development

 Quy Technology

 CRM development

Guest Post By

Colleen JansenBusiness Software Blog2021-02-11

Good customer service and customer satisfaction is the

backbone of any successful business. If an organization

monitors and measure customer service factors and

customer satisfaction rate, it is easier to make the right

decisions.
Some of the factors that affect customer satisfaction are delays in delivery, late response time,

the nature of complaints, and many more. To improve customer relationships, an organization

must understand its customer's behavior for different market segments, client profiles, products,

and services.

According to Super Office, a Customer Relationship Software (CRM) is the biggest software

market globally, and it is expected to reach more than $80 billion in revenue by 2025. In Europe,

only 34% of businesses use mobile CRM, Super Office reported.

As per the reports stated by Kenneth Research, North America is the leading region in the global

embedded Business Intelligence (BI) software market due to the rising implementation and

demand for BI analytics tools among the big organization.

CRM and BI help businesses by informing about customer relationships using comprehensive

data. Here are some steps to ensuring a smart integration of your BI and CRM platforms and how

to capitalize on the deep data synergy this combination produces for your business.

How You Can Integrate CRM and BI To Maximize

Growth?
1. Understand CRM Tools
2. Understand Your Customers
3. Plan Accurately
4. Choose the Right BI Tool
5. Make Some Difficult Choices
6. Become Data Scientists
7. Streamline Customer Targeting
8. Be Smart

Understand CRM Tools

As a business owner, you can't use a BI tool to get customer data if you don't have an accurate

picture of your strategies and how you can work on the customer support representative side.

You should ask yourself - are your employees using the right CRM tools? Do higher value

customers get a distinct experience? Is your customer support team adequately staffed? Knowing

the answers to these questions will give you a better understanding of the customer experience

before layering BI on top.

Understand Your Customers

BI tools work best when you have a deep understanding of your customers. Nowadays, the

Millennial generation offers businesses a wealth of personal information, much of it publicly on

social media platforms.

Most business owners in the USA, Europe, and the UK use Social CRM Strategy to find out

what they know and what they don't know about their customer base.

Plan Accurately
Before you jump into a BI solution, you need to plan how it fits in all your company's

infrastructure and services. Anna Convery, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice

President of Strategy for Desktop Automation at OpenSpan said, "having the right data is

important but knowing how your organization intends to use this data to enhance the customer

experience is critical."

Choose the Right BI Tool

When choosing the right BI tool for your business, make sure it integrates with your existing

CRM software through a front-facing integration or an application programming interface (API).

Make Some Difficult Choices

When your BI tool starts processing live CRM data about how your business works and interacts

with customers, it will be time to make some difficult choices. A BI tool identifies every

customer interaction's strengths and weaknesses and graphically displays both in a chart or

report.

It can be reallocating resources, reorganizing workflows, or completely overhauling a process or

customer interaction procedure.

Become Data Scientists

With every customer interaction and business transaction now notified by Big Data and

understood through your BI tool, it's time to try and test. You need to try minor or significant

alterations to your customer engagements and track the results on customer satisfaction,

productivity, profits, and other viable metrics.

The same idea fits when pushing out a new product or service: assess its progress and

profitability with BI data at each stage.

Streamline Customer Targeting

Using BI tool and CRM software together will offer a much richer profile of every customer –

from what platforms they are engaged within combination with your product to whether they

prefer online or in-store interactions. These customer insights you must use to reorganize and

segment your customer base.

The more well-defined categories and sections you draw, the more effectively its marketing and

sales staff can craft an effective strategy to convert, maintain, and monetize customer

relationships.

Be Smart
Giving your employees access to BI analytics encourages more personal transactions. Real-time

BI data can be attached to signals to enhance CRM response time.

Suppose a business has planned out its CRM/BI integration and gone about the transition with a

clear plan in mind. In that case, the overall customer experience results and, ultimately, on an

enterprise's bottom line can be dramatic and long-lasting.

Final Words

Understanding customers' behavior is an ongoing process for businesses as it helps to work on

the areas that need improvements. However, many organizations find it difficult to leverage the

benefits of data due to information gathering at disparate locations.

This is where a mix of CRM and BI can bring extraordinary results.

Quytech is a leading Custom CRM development services provider that works closely with its

clientele to render CRM and BI solutions. Connect with us to make more intelligent decisions

that will propel your organizational growth

What Are CRM Models?

Max Freedman
Business News Daily Contributing Writer
Apr 21, 2021

CRM models can help you better understand how your

company reaches, converts and retains customers.
 A CRM model dictates how your company acquires and retains customers.
 The most popular CRM models tell your team how to learn about customers, group them,
contact them and tweak your approach.
 CRM software enables easier CRM model adherence while bolstering your company's practices
around customer data, relationships and sales.
 This article is for business owners interested in incorporating CRM models into their sales,
marketing and customer service work.

To manage the many challenges that come with sales work, companies of all stripes have
increasingly adopted customer relationship management (CRM) software, often with great
results. One report found that 65% of companies with mobile CRM are meeting their sales
quotas, and this success may be partially due to these companies using a CRM model alongside
their software. Below, learn how CRM models and software make sales work more
approachable.

What is a CRM model?

A CRM model is a workflow that guides all of your team's interactions with leads, prospects and
customers. It provides a loose framework that your company can follow to acquire and retain
customers. It is not the same thing as CRM software – rather, CRM software enables you to
move efficiently through your CRM model while coordinating with your team.

Did you know? CRM software is not necessary to run a CRM model. However,
CRM software can substantially improve your ability to execute your chosen CRM
model.

Most popular CRM models

The below CRM models are the most widely used across all industries.

IDIC

The IDIC CRM model is the brainchild of the Peppers & Rogers Group, which introduced the
model in 2004. Each of its letters represents a step in the process:

 Identify. In the IDIC model, you'll start by identifying your leads and customers. More
importantly, you'll enrich your leads and customers. In doing so, you'll learn about their pain
points and other distinguishing factors. Both these qualities allow you to develop better
personal relationships with your customers and segment them into groups.

 Differentiate. Once you've segmented your customers, you should differentiate them based on
how much value you expect them to bring to your business. Don't just look at immediate value –
consider long-term value too. After you differentiate your customers, you'll better understand
how much time and money you should put toward each one.

 Interact. The first two steps in the IDIC model exist to set you up for actual interaction with
prospects and customers, giving you a meaningful picture of the customer's wants and needs so
that you can send them personalized content and communications. This shows your prospect or
customer that you understand their needs, making them more likely to purchase from you.

 Customize. Although the previous step involves tailored communications and content, it should
only be the start of modifying your approach to fit your customer's needs. The final step of IDIC
is to customize your approach based on what you've learned about your customer. That means
tweaking your offerings or deals to best meet the customer's needs or budget.
Payne and Frow's Five Forces

Ph.D.s Adrian Payne and Pennie Frow introduced their Five Forces CRM model to focus on not
just processes but elements too. These are the five processes:

1. Strategy development. In the Payne and Frow model, strategy development comprises your
business and customer strategies. Your business strategy includes your unique vision for your
company and what distinguishes it in its industry and market. Your customer strategy involves
creating ideal buyer personas and otherwise identifying the qualities that might make a
customer choose you.

2. Value creation. In this step, you'll determine the value you bring to your customers and vice
versa. For example, maybe your events company has access to one-of-a-kind spaces that
consumers just can't get elsewhere – that's the value your customers receive. The value you
receive is customers who remain loyal to you, since nobody else offers spaces like yours.

3. Multichannel integration. After developing your strategy and creating your value, you should
inform your whole team of everything you've established. That means not just your sales team
but marketing, customer service and all the subdepartments within each.

4. Performance assessment. Once your multichannel approach has been put to work, you should
reassess your strategy. If your customers are happy and your team is meeting its key
performance indicators (KPIs), then you should be all set. If not, revise your strategies and
values based on input from your team and customers.

5. Information management. This step comprises your front-office and back-office applications, IT
framework, and all your other CRM analysis tools. You'll add information to these platforms as
you move through the model, which will inform your future movements through the model. For
example, if a customer says on a tech support call that they are considering upgrading their
subscription package, the support agent could enter that information into the CRM, signaling
sales and marketing teams to try upselling that customer.

These are the four elements of the Payne and Frow process:

 CRM readiness. You should prepare to implement CRM software before implementing the Five
Forces CRM model.
 CRM change management. You should have protocols in place for modifying your CRM
workflows, CRM dashboard and other software components before starting with this model.
 CRM project management. You should know how projects administered in your CRM will be
managed from start to finish.
 Employee management. You should have a firm sense of which employees are responsible for
which tasks along your sales pipeline. You should also know which sales reps are assigned to
which prospects or customers.

QCI
The Quality Competitive Index (QCI) CRM model focuses more on managing customers than
improving relationships with them. It has eight components:

1. Analysis and planning. Fill in any data and behavioral gaps that your prospect presents, then
figure out what value your company brings to the customer.
2. Proposition. Use your customer's needs to determine how you'll serve them, then propose this
approach to the customer.
3. Information and technology. Look at your technology to determine how it's adding customer
information to your CRM and analyzing this data. Use what you learn to conduct reviews and
update or modify your technology as needed.
4. People and organization. Designate certain employees as responsible for managing customer
feedback, such as service inquiries and online reviews.
5. Process management. Ensure that your sales and customer service teams are consistently
supporting customers. Identify shortcomings and figure out how to resolve them.
6. Customer management activity. This element has three elements of its own
– acquisition (obtaining and learning about new customers), penetration (collecting information
about customers and helping them feel connected to your business and its goals),
and retention (keeping customers engaged with your business, which might include winning
back dissatisfied customers).
7. Effect measurement. Analyze your teams' performance to see how their work corresponds to
sales. Get granular by looking at each sales and customer service rep's work as well.
8. Customer experience. Conduct the same process as in the previous step, but for customer
satisfaction instead of sales volume.

CRM value chain

Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter introduced the CRM value chain model to
help companies identify and develop unique solutions for customers. Through this CRM model,
you'll determine which activities bring you the most value and refine your processes to best assist
your customers.

The CRM value chain model has two stages. The primary stage has five parts:

1. Customer portfolio analysis. Determine which customers bring your company the most value.
Then, figure out how to divide your resources among your customers based on this value.
2. Customer intimacy. Interact with your customers and obtain new data from each interaction.
Adjust your offerings for the customer according to what you learn.
3. Network development. This step is unique among CRM models in that it looks beyond your
company and customers to third parties such as suppliers, investors and partners. Your goal is to
use the data from your customer intimacy step to advise these third parties on how they can
operate to optimize the customer experience.
4. Value proposition development. Use the preceding three steps to develop a unique value for
your customer. Focus on individualized service and minimizing costs so you can charge your
customers less (or retain more earnings).
5. Relationship management. Take a step back and look at the previous steps of your process.
Determine spots where you can improve or make changes, then implement them. This way, you
can perform better overall in customer retention, acquisition and development.
The second stage is about making sure your company has the following:

 Leadership and culture. Without someone directing your operations and setting company
standards, your CRM model will be harder to execute.
 Procurement processes. You should have a solid workflow in place for moving customers from
highly interested prospects to actual customers.
 HR management processes. You should recruit an HR team (or hire a third-party HR provider) to
resolve internal issues as you go about the CRM value chain model.
 IT management processes. Since CRM is quite data-intensive, proper IT management is
necessary for successful CRM.
 Organization design. You need to clearly designate who is responsible for what and who reports
to whom.

Key takeaway: The four most popular CRM models generally advise learning about
your customers, grouping them, contacting them, and then using what you learn to
rebuild and revise your sales processes.

How a CRM tool can help your business

To execute any of these CRM models properly, you'll need CRM software that centralizes your
customer data and coordinates all your teams' efforts. You'll also want your CRM to enrich
customer data and update in real time. It should facilitate all sales, marketing and customer
service tasks. In short, a CRM tracks your customer data and interactions so that you don't miss
out on meaningful leads and prospects.

If you're interested in learning more about how CRM software can help your business and which
brands might suit your needs, visit our CRM software reviews page. There, we've named what
we think are the best easy-to-use, low-cost, and free CRMs as well as the best ones for small and
growing businesses. Once you have the right tool for your company, implementing a powerful
CRM model and making more sales should be much easier

CRM: Why Does A Company Need It?

April 26, 2021 / By ACE Microtechnology / CRM Software Selection Tips
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) refers to all those strategies and tactics used
by businesses to attract and retain customers. CRM software is responsible for
managing the relationships between an organization and its customers, both existing
and potential. It does this by centralizing all business data for the management's
convenience, developing new techniques to increase sales, and prioritizing customer
satisfaction and welfare above all else.

Two Types of CRM Systems

Before implementing a CRM system in your business, you need to familiarize yourself with
the two types of software that you can use, along with their benefits and drawbacks.

On-Premise CRM

In an on-premises CRM system, there is no involvement of a third party in the workings of a

business. Once a license has been purchased and the software installed, the company
completes continued maintenance and updates. The company can retain complete
ownership and control over its data. While this may take an additional toll on the company's
IT resources, it is suitable for those organizations where data security is of great importance.

Cloud-Based CRM
Cloud-based CRM is where all company data is stored on a server provided by a vendor
who takes full responsibility for managing the system's operation, security, and updates.
Also, employees can access data with a reliable internet connection.

Importance Of CRM

Now that we've covered the basics of CRM let's dive right into what makes this
management software an essential tool for your business.

For starters, CRM helps in streamlining the entire process of interacting with your current
and future clients. It stores vital information, such as scheduled appointments,
communication points, and customer profiles, and helps create sales quotes and business
proposals. This leads to efficiency in the sales and marketing department of your business.

Furthermore, you'll observe a significant improvement in your company's customer service

skills once you implement a CRM system. With only a few clicks, you can explore any
customer profile and gain access to exclusive information, including their personal
preferences, history of purchases and communication, and much more.

CRM is also exceedingly beneficial for the employees of your business. As all the data will be
centralized, different departments will easily access vital information to help them in their
operations. Moreover, the management team will also make effective and informed
decisions to help your corporation efficiently achieve its goals.

Choosing the Right CRM Software

There is a constant debate in the corporate world regarding which CRM software you
should use in your business. There are numerous important factors to keep in mind while
choosing which software you want to invest in.

First, you'll need to look out for the features in various CRM software that are tailored to the
requirements of your organization. Aside from the generalities in each CRM package, there
are different specific functions in some that might be better suited to your business's needs.
As these kinds of software tend to be more expensive, you need to set a realistic budget
beforehand.

You'll also need to choose between the two types of CRM systems we previously discussed:
on-premise and cloud computing. There are several advantages and downsides to both
types which may affect your final decision. If you're interested in the features of both these
systems, you can also deploy a combination of the two. Finally, make sure that the vendor
you acquire your CRM software has a good reputation in the industry.

Best CRM Software for Your Business

With all that being said, what exactly is the best CRM software for your business? One that is
highly recommended by industry professionals and is widely used in the corporate world
is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement. This software is best known for its
advanced features, which give users an in-depth view of customer relationships and
business performance. Here are some of the reasons why you'd want to choose this product
over its competitors:

Integration with Other Microsoft Programs

A vital feature exclusive to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement is its ability to
merge with other Microsoft tools to provide users with optimal functionality. By integrating
with Microsoft Outlook, this software allows you to conveniently carry out your sales or
customer service activities directly from the Outlook application.

Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement also works with Office 365, allowing the use of your
data within Word and Excel, and view your Office, SharePoint, and OneNote documents
alongside the relevant customer data in Dynamics. You can even utilize LinkedIn efficiently
with this software as it allows you to observe and save the LinkedIn profiles of your
customers. It can also generate new prospective client profiles for you based on your search
history.

Displays A Live Sales Dashboard

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement also exhibits a live sales dashboard that
includes revenue and sales charts, graphs, important statistics, and key performance
indicators. With all this information, your sales team can stay up-to-date regarding their
progress and can, consequently, make data-driven decisions that can help them in
establishing a vast, loyal customer base.

Analyze Your Competitors

Great businesses focus not only on their development but also on their competitors'
progress and activities. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement produces detailed
profiles for your competitors, including their strengths and weaknesses and any sales
opportunities you might be competing with - your business can develop a comprehensive
strategy to stay ahead of the competition.

Closing Thoughts

To sum it all up, CRM plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining long-term
relationships with an organization's customers. If you're looking to drive up the sales for
your products, introducing CRM software into your business is going to be a worthwhile
investment. Contact our team at ACE Microtechnology to see a live demo and discuss
how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement can help your business

11 Benefits of CRM Systems

Kiely Kuligowski
Staff Writer
Business News Daily Staff
Jan 15, 2021

CRM software can provide a wealth of benefits for your small business, from customer
retention to increased productivity.

 CRM software is used to gather customer interactions in one central place to improve customer
experience and satisfaction.
 CRM is one of the world's fastest-growing industries, expected to grow at a rate of 14% between
2021 and 2027.
 The benefits of CRM include better customer retention, increased sales and detailed analytics.
 This article is for small business owners and marketers who want to learn about the benefits
of CRM software for small businesses.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software has become a near-vital tool for businesses
of all sizes. CRM software can provide several benefits to any business, from organizing contacts
to automating key tasks. It can also be a centralized, organized hub that enables consistent
communication both with customers and within the organization. This is especially important as
more organizations shift to remote work.

The CRM software market is currently one of the fastest-growing industries, projected to grow at
a rate of 14.27% from 2020 to 2027, driven by consumer demand for better customer service,
automated engagement and more nuanced customer experiences.

Editor's note: Looking for the right CRM software for your business? Fill out the below
questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

What is CRM software?

CRM stands for "customer relationship management," a type of software that helps businesses
manage, track and organize their relationships with customers. A CRM can help you store
customer data such as user behavior, how long a customer has been with your business, purchase
records, and notes on sales interactions, which you can use to optimize your sales and marketing
processes and improve customer service across your organization.

"CRM … is a group of tools, technology and techniques used to help sales and marketing
professionals understand their customers better," said Bryan Philips, head of marketing at In
Motion Marketing.

CRM software works by tracking the behavior and actions of your current or potential customers
through your business's website, social media, or email marketing campaigns and then guides the
customer through the sales or buying funnel by sending a triggered email or alerting a sales
representative of the customer's interest.

Key takeaway: CRM software is used to store, manage and organize data on your business's
relationships with customers.

11 ways CRM can benefit your business

A CRM solution can be used in various ways and provide numerous benefits to your business.
Here are 11 key benefits a CRM could provide.

1. Better customer service

Modern CRM software has many functions, but the software was created to improve business-
customer relationships, and that's still its main benefit. A CRM manages all of your contacts and
gathers important customer information – like demographics, purchase records and previous
messages across all channels – and makes it easily accessible to anyone in your company who
needs it. This ensures that your employees have all they need to know about the customer at their
fingertips and can provide a better customer experience, which tends to boost customer
satisfaction.

2. Increased sales
A CRM tool can help you streamline your sales process, build a sales pipeline, automate key
tasks and analyze all of your sales data in one centralized place, potentially increasing sales and
productivity. A CRM helps you establish a step-by-step sales process that your employees can
rely on every time and that you can easily tweak as issues arise.

3. Improved customer retention

Once you've procured and converted leads, it's vital that you put in the work to retain them as
customers and promote customer loyalty. High customer turnover can have many negative
effects for your business, like diminished revenue or disrupted cash flow, so use your CRM and
the information it provides about your customers to encourage repeat business. The CRM will
provide sentiment analysis, automated ticketing, customer support automation and user behavior
tracking to help you determine problems and quickly address them with your customers.

4. Detailed analytics

It's one thing to have plenty of data about your customers, but you need to know what it means
and how to use it. CRM software typically has built-in analytic capabilities to contextualize data,
breaking it down into actionable items and easily understood metrics. Metrics such as click-
through rates, bounce rates, and demographic information allow you to judge the success of a
marketing campaign and optimize accordingly.

5. Higher productivity and efficiency

CRM software uses marketing automation technology, which expedites menial tasks like drip
campaigns and frees up your employees' time to focus on work only humans can handle, like
creating content. It can also ensure that no tasks slip through the cracks (e.g., all important emails
are always sent to the right people). Additionally, a CRM can show you a dashboard of how your
business processes are working and where your workflows could improve. [Read related
article: How Workplace Automation Software Can Help Your Business]

6. Centralized database of information

Another thing CRM software does best is providing a centralized database with all information
on your customers, making it easily accessible to anyone in your company who needs it. This
makes it easy for a sales representative to see what products a certain customer is interested in,
for example. If the customer has previously interacted with the company, the CRM will include
records of that interaction, which can inform future marketing efforts and sales pitches. This
saves your employees the time of digging through old files and records, and it makes for a better
and more productive experience for the customer.

7. Managed communications with prospective leads

Lead nurturing can be an arduous and complicated process, with many steps and opportunities to
communicate. A CRM automatically manages the process, sending your employees alerts when
they should reach out to the prospect and tracking every interaction, from emails to phone calls.
"One great advantage of [CRM] is that you can see your customer's journey holistically," said
Michael Miller, CEO of VPN Online. "With every phase in the design and every email you sent
out reviewed, you can quickly figure out the next move to make. It's like seeing it from the top
view, and you can easily create a decision on what to do next."

8. Improved customer segmentation

A list of hundreds of contacts can be unwieldy and overwhelming. For example, how do you
know which customers want to see your email about your new in-store product? A CRM will
automatically segment your contact lists based on your criteria, making it easy to find the ones
you want to contact at any given time. You can sort contacts by location, gender, age, buyer
stage and more.

"Automation actually allows the marketer to have a more meaningful understanding of the
customer and have more valuable interaction when they do interact because of it," Philips said.
"The important part to understand about automation is that we don't want to write a general email
to our customers. Instead, we want to send emails reflecting customers' preferences, interests and
values by segmenting them into groups using the data gleaned within the CRM." [Read related
article: Why Demographics Are Important in Marketing]

9. Automated sales reports

Your team can easily collect and organize data about prospective and current customers using the
CRM software's dashboard and reporting features, which allow employees to automate and
manage their pipelines and processes. The CRM can also help your team members evaluate their
performance, track their quotas and goals, and check their progress on each of their projects at a
glance.

10. More accurate sales forecasting

With any business operation, you need to be able to review your past performance and
strategically plan for the future. Using the automated sales reports in CRM software, you can
identify key trends and get an idea of what to expect from your future sales cycle performance,
while adjusting your goals and metrics to suit those projections. [Read related article: 7 Ways
to Improve Your Sales]

11. Streamlined internal communications

Aside from facilitating communication between your business and your customers, a CRM can
make it easier for your employees to communicate with each other. A CRM makes it easy to see
how other employees are speaking with a potential customer, which helps your team maintain a
unified brand voice. It also allows team members to send each other notes or alerts, tag each
other on projects, and send messages and emails, all within one system. [Read related
article: How Poor Communication Hampers Team Performance]
Key takeaway: The benefits of CRM include increased sales, detailed analytics, automated
sales reports and better customer retention.

What companies can benefit from CRM?

Because CRM software provides such a breadth of benefits, many types of businesses and teams
can benefit from it.

"Not all customers are created equal, so the value of a CRM is that it helps you keep the right
customers and deploy your precious marketing dollars towards the customers that will return the
highest value over their customer lifetime," said Mike Catania, CEO and co-founder of Locaris.
"It is challenging for small businesses to identify and acquire customers, so bucketing them into
optimal and suboptimal segments through CRM is inordinately valuable."

Businesses of all sizes, from solo freelancers to enterprise-level corporations, can use CRM
technology effectively. After all, the key functions of a CRM are organization, centralized task
management, marketing automation, and communication, which are important to every
business's success.

Of course, some businesses stand to gain more from the use of a CRM than others:

Businesses with a dedicated sales team

If you have a sales team, a CRM is vital to help you manage your contacts and your customer
relations. A CRM can even help you improve and grow your sales processes by using customer
information, showing you key trends and areas where you can improve your strategies, and
automating menial tasks for your sales representatives.

Businesses with a marketing team

CRM and marketing go hand in hand. CRM data can help your marketing team identify, capture,
nurture and convert leads; track customer-salesperson interactions; monitor drip campaigns
within the sales cycle, and more. All of this can create a smoother and more consistent customer
experience.

Businesses seeking to increase efficiency

Because CRMs automate processes like contact organization and communication, the software
can significantly speed up everyday processes and tasks for your entire team. A CRM can also
reduce errors and ensure that all communications go out to the right people at the right
time. [Ready to look for a CRM? Check out our guide to the best CRM software of 2021.]

Key takeaway: While all businesses stand to benefit from the use of a CRM, businesses that
have sales or marketing teams or want to increase their efficiency should especially
consider using one
 CRM Trends 2021: How the Pandemic
Altered Customer Behavior Forever
Customers flocked to digital channels and faced life-changing events in
2020. Here's how enterprise companies are changing their CRM practices
for a new normal.

In 2020 organizations faced an unexpected and profound change in customer

behavior. More customers than ever were choosing to interact digitally with their
banks, their grocery stores, their insurance companies, their doctors, and many
other industries. To meet the higher consumer demand for digital interactions,
businesses big and small leaned on technology.

Chatbots, enabled by natural language processing and other artificial intelligence

technologies, are one of the major use cases for how industry used technology
to respond to the change in customer behavior driven by the COVID-19
pandemic. But there are a number of other ways businesses are pivoting to
anticipate changes in customer behavior.

Image: Worawut - stock.adobe.com

Now that we are a year down this new path, there's no turning back.
"Realize we are in a new world order," Forrester VP and principal analyst Kate
Leggett told InformationWeek. "Customer behavior has fundamentally changed."

How has customer behavior changed, and how will it impact the enterprise in the
months and years to come? Leggett recently spoke with InformationWeek about
these changes, how enterprises rose to the challenge in 2020, and what
organizations will be doing to get ready for a new era of customer interaction and
customer service. She has also identified five CRM (customer relationship
management) trends that will shape customer relationships and engagement in
2021.

The impact of the pandemic and stay-at-home orders affected just about every
industry. For instance, banking customers gravitated to self-service and digital
touchpoints. That created a new bottleneck for those areas of service.

Kate Leggett

"As customers shifted to digital channels, the volume of interaction in online

channels increased," Leggett said. "Using AI was critical to being able to do this
without increasing employee headcount."

Organizations already had projects like customer service automation, chatbots,

and other AI on their roadmaps. The pandemic accelerated them.
Leggett's report for Forrester about CRM trends in 2021 identifies one of these
trends as the following: AI and automation will improve CRM outcomes. It's not
just with chatbots. When it comes to live customer service calls, agents are
dealing with more intense issues such as setting up a new mortgage payment
schedule for a newly unemployed customer so that customer doesn't lose their
home. These kinds of customer service conversations require empathy. AI-fueled
CRM can guide sellers and agents through the right actions and insights, in these
cases, according to Forrester. What's more, it can be leveraged to optimize
campaigns, product configurations, and pricing.

Although many organizations may face cost-cutting pressures in 2021, firms will
continue to invest in AI to automate tasks and augment CRM users, according to
Forrester. RPA and bots that have clear ROI will get priority.

Another CRM trend for 2021 is that customer engagement will move to the edge
from company websites to third-party digital channels like social media, voice
apps, and gaming consoles, according to Forrester. For instance, David's Bridal
launched a channel with Apple Business Chat which saw $30,000 in sales in the
first few weeks of launch.

Hyperpersonalization is another big trend in CRM for 2021. Customers now

expect engagement that is based on their history, preferences, context, and
intent. This will only improve this year as companies build out enhanced
customer profiles and use them for more unique customer engagement,
Forrester predicts.

A unified CRM system is another trend that will start to appear in 2021 as
organizations begin to bring together all the different silos of the customer
journey into one system. That means providing users with a single view of the
customer that incorporates all interactions from sales to marketing to commerce
to customer support.

Finally, Forrester says that in 2021, as customer renewals and expansions gain
even more importance in the wake of economic uncertainty, companies will put
more focus on the customer. For instance, Forrester predicts the rise of chief
customer officers who will be responsible for post-purchase activities, particularly
at B2B companies. Forrester also predicts that new CRM licensing models will
focus on software consumption.

None of these new initiatives from enterprise companies are actually new.
"As the pandemic progressed, we shifted to a new normal," Leggett said.
"Companies started to invest in standing up more comprehensive solutions that
were broader and more effective. We say the pandemic didn't start any new
initiatives. But 10 years of development got pushed into 2 months.

How CRM Can Help Your

Small Business in 2021?
Gaurav Tiwari February 16, 2021 Updated: February 16, 2021

If you own a business, online or offline, you cannot simply ignore your
customers. That is the reason why you can’t ignore CRM as well. Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) is no longer the luxury of medium and
large enterprises. If you own a small business, CRM can help you grow at a
faster pace. In this article I will walk you through about how CRM can
help your small business in 2021?
No matter what your company size is, you will always have some clients and
some customers. Using CRM tools, especially customer database and
management apps like Zendesk, Zoho, Salesforce etc., you can track your
customers, their purchases and their connection with your company.

Table of Content

 How CRM Can Help Your Small Business?

 CRM can help you retain your customer data
 CRM can help you get to know your customers well
 CRM can help you gain more leads and customers
 CRM can help you plan your marketing campaigns
 CRM can boost sales
 CRM can save a lot of time and money
How CRM Can Help Your Small
Business?
If your business is well planned and is customer centric, CRM apps can
effectively boost your customer retention. My company (Gatilab) works with
several small businesses and we have been suggesting them to use CRM
apps for a decade now. We have seen a continuous improvement in their
profit margins, customer retention and sales.
Let’s see how CRM can help your small business and what exactly you need
to do to ensure better results:

CRM can help you retain your

customer data
As discussed earlier, CRM can boost your customer retention. But how can it
do so?

Whenever a customer onboards on your websites or makes the first purchase

in your local store -— all you need to do is to add his/her data to your records.
There are several ways to do so and the best is to use a CRM app or
a customer database software.
I still know a few clients, mostly small business owners, who use pen and
paper to do so but I wouldn’t suggest you do that. They spend hours and
hours collecting and maintaining non-essential data. That is a thing of the
past. CRM apps are the future as they provide cloud backups, real-time
collaborations and dozens of marketing tools with effective pricing.

This way you can know your customers well, keep records as old as your
business and connect with them using digital means, like WhatsApp and
SMS.

CRM can help you get to know your

customers well
Data is a priceless resource. CRM apps can help small businesses manage
their data well by providing unlimited options to assign to every contact in their
business, not just the customers. Using top CRM apps, you can even
integrate several social networks, email marketing tools etc., to fetch latest
data like their email addresses, photos and phone numbers.
This information is vital to your business’s success and growth as you can
plan marketing campaigns and send those to your customers in easier and
more effective ways.
In 2017, one of my clients had over 1400 regular customers. My team
maintained their CRM and helped them improve their marketing strategies
based on their consumer base. In 2019, the number of their regular customers
increased to 2700 but most importantly we retained over 1280 of their old
customers.

We sent the regular customers exciting offers based on their recent

purchases. In 2017, Facebook wasn’t that effective but we still asked them to
follow our pages, join Facebook groups and whatnot. When the time was
right, we planned marketing strategies and executed those in segmented
campaigns. We gave every customer a star rating to know their allegiance to
our products and a number to give them a monetary value.

This way we were able to do proper customer retention while moving forward
with growth. Everything above was made possible by using the CRM setup
(One CRM App + One Customer Relationship Manager) we had created.

Growing up is important but you should always keep your old prospectus in
check. CRM apps can help you in doing so.

In short, CRM can help you get to know your customers better by:

1. Collecting as much information as possible in an organized way.

2. Connecting their personal information with their purchases.
3. Putting a value to the customers.
CRM can help you gain more leads and
customers
Most CRM tools come with integrated onboarding and lead generation tools.
You can use these tools to create landing pages and generate leads by
running web-campaigns or ads. Since CRM apps integrate with these pages,
you won’t have to worry about going through each entry.
All you need to do in the end is to approach those leads and convert them into
customers. 95% of the brands that I know are using these CRM apps to gain
such leads. There are several guides online to tell you about how you can
generate leads using the CRM apps, like this one.
CRM can help you plan your marketing
campaigns
As discussed, using data from CRM apps you can plan your marketing
campaigns and get the best results. You can approach your regular
customers to gain some more sales or add more customers to your consumer
base.

With sufficient data, you will be able to identify the most profitable customers
and geographical areas where your marketing campaigns are going to get the
highest success rate. This eliminates the need for extra marketing efforts
made in non-converting sections.

CRM can boost sales

Now, as CRM helps you do everything right, it obviously can serve the
ultimate goal of your business: get more customers and thus get more
revenue. With all the marketing done right, you can strategically approach
more customers, improve conversion rates and even increase profitability per
customer.

By tracking your customers’ purchasing habits, you can identify opportunities

to up-sell and cross-sell other products and services. This way you can
maximize the profits.

CRM can save a lot of time and money

CRM apps are cost effective. Some are even free. Plus these are easier to
use. So, using CRM apps, you can save not only money but also time and
human resources. Most of the apps cost less than $20 per month and come
with dedicated support.
Conclusion
In addition to customer data management, CRMs also provide options like
data onboarding, lead generation, customer support, ticketing, invoicing and
online payments. Everything has gone online, and these seven are very
essential for any business’s online or offline growth.

The best CRM apps take full advantage of cutting edge technology and
marketing tactics to ensure the highest quality CRM experience so that you
can grow easily. If you are still not using a CRM tool, whether self-hosted or
subscription-based, it is high time you did. COVID-19 has made such tools
essential for every business, no matter how micro, small, medium or large. If
you are looking for the best CRM apps to choose from, I have this list of
the best CRM apps for small businesses

Reading about the benefits of Loyalty Program: for Mid-

term
Examples:

What Data are Marketers

Using for Loyalty Programs?
Larisa BedgoodJanuary 8, 2020
TwitterFacebookLinkedInFlipboard0

Loyalty programs incentivize your customers to shop at your stores and advocate for your brand.
With so many options available consumers today, more brands are turning to loyalty programs as
a way to keep good customers coming back.
Loyalty Programs Work
According to research compiled by AnnexCloud:

 87% of shoppers reported that they want brands to have loyalty programs

 Over half of the surveyed population reported that, if they like a brand, they will rarely purchase
something different. This includes 55% of older millennials, 53% of younger millennials and
51% of Gen Z said the same thing.

 64 percent of brands reported an increase in loyalty memberships in the past year alone.

 Consumers are retracting loyalty or switching loyalty programs faster than even three years ago,
with 78% of consumers reporting they are retracting loyalty at a faster pace.

 54% of consumers say that they would consider doing more business with a company for loyalty
rewards.

 46% said that they have already increased the amount of business with a company because it
offered loyalty rewards.

The most successful loyalty programs should be driven by data. Your most loyal, high-spending
customers should be treated to highly personalized experiences dependent on data-driven
insights, only available through the massive amounts of data available about consumers today.
So what types of data are marketers using to drive their loyalty program success? In a survey
by Merkle, 62% of marketers say their loyalty programs are fully integrated with their CRM
data. However, there are big gaps in the data being used for overall marketing efforts and the
data being used for loyalty programs. For example, 86% of marketers are using demographics in
their marketing efforts but only 39% are using demographics for their loyalty programs.

The types of data that marketers are using the most for their loyalty programs are customer
account/history (57%), preference data (46%) and email responses (45%).
Marketers are using a wide variety of loyalty tactics. Seventy percent of respondents use points-
based tactics, while 35 percent use surprise-and-delight tactics, which involve unexpectedly
rewarding customers with incentives based on certain behaviors.
However, marketers are not necessarily limiting themselves to just one tactic but are rather
experimenting with using a combination of tactics. The most heavily used combination is points-
based and cash back, used by 12% of survey respondents.

Loyalty Programs Gain New Customer Data

Loyalty programs are also an excellent way to gain new insights into customers – data which can
be fed back into CRM systems for richer insights into customer preferences. Respondents to a
survey by CMO Council and Cheetah Digital reported that loyalty program participants buy
more, buy in greater volume or buy more frequently (43%) than others. Additionally, 34% of
respondents said that participants provide more data and information for marketing to leverage in
campaigns and programs.
An Acquia study revealed that 75 percent of consumers say that they are more likely to be loyal
to a brand when a brand understands them at a personal level. The survey of 5,000 consumers
was not restricted to loyalty program members. This means using every data point available
about consumers to provide highly personalized experiences, and for loyalty members, these
experiences, offers and discounts must be relevant for a customer at the precise moment of
interaction cross the customer journey.

Brands may not be fully delivering however. Research by Bond Brand reported that only 25% of
loyalty program members were satisfied with the level of personalization in their programs.

Unify Data and Deploy Personalized Journeys with a

Customer Data Platform
Knowing your customers at an individualized level means collecting and integrating data about
them to create a single version of the customer truth. However, data is often fragmented across
many systems and marketing platforms, obscuring customer behavior.

Customer data platforms offer a massive opportunity for marketers to implement a system that
collects and integrates numerous data sources with ease and speed. Through a range of system
connectors, CDPs are built to continuously collect data from around your ecosystem and
consolidate it into a 360 single customer view by merging identities from multiple devices into
one, deduping customer records and without the need for significant IT resources. Data,
technology and analytics are seamlessly brought together to create right time marketing insights.
V12’s Customer Data Platform, V12 Velocity, also integrates our third-party data catalog to get
to know your customers and prospects at an even deeper scale.

According to an Accenture Interactive study, loyalty program members generate up to 18 percent

more revenue for retailers than non-members. By incentivizing repeat customers, loyalty
programs also increase retention, reducing acquisition costs. A recent Brand Keys study also
revealed that a loyalty increase of 7 percent can boost lifetime profits per customer up to 85
percent and a loyalty increase of 3 percent can correlate to a 10 percent cost reduction.

By building a strong loyalty program built on data-driven insights and personalized experiences,
brands can ensure they will have loyal customers for life.

The Ultimate Guide to

Boosting CLV With a Loyalty
Program
Tamas OsziMarch 10, 2020
TwitterFacebookLinkedInFlipboard0

Customer lifetime value. CLV. Lifetime customer value. People call this metric by many names,
but they all mean the same thing: the predicted net profit of the entire relationship with a given
customer. Buyers with a high lifetime value are desirable for any business, and understandably
so, as it indicates strong brand love, as well as a long-standing commitment to spending money
in your stores.

This guide is meant to help you better understand how your customer retention strategy
influences CLV, as well as show you a diverse list of loyalty program features that can improve
this metric.
How Can You Calculate Customer Lifetime Value &
Why Does Loyalty Influence It?
Finding the perfect formula for CLV is not as easy as it seems, because it can be calculated in
a multitude of ways. Most concisely, lifetime value is found by multiplying a customer’s
purchase frequency with average basket volume, then dividing it by their retention cost.

So how do loyalty programs factor into all of this? As a study from Motista shows, customers
with an emotional connection to brands have 306% higher lifetime value. This is most likely
due to the fact that a comprehensive rewards program can simultaneously enhance all three
elements of the lifetime value equation.
Customer lifetime value ramps up when buyers reach their second or third purchase, but only a dedicated few are loyal enough to buy
exclusively from you.

Increasing Purchase Frequency

There’s nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a promising customer come into the shop, buy
something, then never come back. Enticing people to stick to your brand and continuously
choose you over the competition is one of the main strengths of a loyalty program. Gifts,
incentives and free services all give customers a reason to keep returning. And unlike a standard
discount, a loyalty reward feels much more personal, yielding an emotional high.

1. Personalization

A surefire way to appeal to your customers’ interests is to show them relevant information. In
this sense, loyalty programs help you collect a wide range of customer data which can be used to
fuel your marketing automation.

By offering a small token of appreciation, customers are more likely to fill out quizzes and
surveys, sharing their product preferences, clothing or shoe size, favorite colors, lifestyle,
spending habits, etc.

Incentivizing customer profiling is a one-time investment, yet you’ll learn valuable information
that can be used to give personalized product recommendations in emails or on site for years to
come.
Antavo’s Gamified Profiling module turns the notion of filling out quizzes into a fun experience. It also works in stores too, thanks to the
innovative Loyalty Experience Kiosk.

2. Point expiration

Adding a ticking clock to the reward system is a well-known method to encourage people to
increase their purchase frequency. Just set an expiration date for each member’s point balance,
and reset the timer if they decide to buy something.

Finding the sweet spot for your expiration window is the key to success. Customers are willing
to make a low-value purchase just to avoid losing their points every now and then, but if they
hear about expiration too often, they’ll lose interest.

If you wish to run point expiration without causing frustration, you need to notify your
loyalty members in time via email, which is a great opportunity to showcase your personalization
capabilities.
Starbucks shares a loophole with its customers to help them avoid point expiration: using the brand’s prepaid card shields them from
losing their Stars. It’s a clever move, which helps to promote the company’s own service.

3. Badges & challenges

Gamifying the loyalty experience is an intuitive way to get customers more invested in your
brand. These are small, but meaningful achievements that reward members for their continuous
engagement.

For instance, after reaching the milestone, like making five purchases in a year, give customers a
unique badge, alongside a handful of points or a small gift, which appears on their membership
page. Challenges work much like badges, but they require the customer to complete a series of
tasks.

The motive behind badges and challenges is to cultivate repeated behavior, which is why it’s
recommended to create multiple levels for each badge or challenge. The level-one badge, for
example, may be granted for making just one purchase. This would instantly give members a
sense of accomplishment. However, to reach the level-two badge, they should make three
purchases.
In addition to increasing purchase frequency, badges and challenges can also be used to drive other important metrics. For instance,
you can encourage members to visit your site several times a week or share product pages on social media.

4. Birthday rewards

Emotional attachment is the bedrock of high customer lifetime value. If you’re looking to
generate true brand love, consider giving customers a reward when they least expect it, such
as special occasions like birthdays or membership anniversaries.

The formula is simple: send a highly personalized email to a customer on their birthday, letting
them know they received a small gift for their big day. This reward can be a points bonus, or a
small gift that will be shipped with their next purchase.

Upon seeing the pleasant surprise, people feel appreciated and are compelled to go to your
website immediately and buy something, just to make good use of the free gift, inspiring a
purchase that would not have been made otherwise.
Sephora really puts on the ritz when it comes to loyalty program birthday emails: the company not only sends members a free gift, but
that gift is always from the customer’s favorite brand.
Increasing Basket Value
Back in the day, traditional point collection schemes were only good for increasing purchase
frequency. People received points for their purchase, which eventually lead to a discount or a
freebie; nothing to be overly excited about. But modern loyalty programs now have exciting
incentives that encourage customers to go out of their way and put as many products into their
basket as they can.

5. Tiers

Customers love tiered programs. They are easy to understand, easier to manage, and the concept
of climbing a ladder to unlock permanent benefits is very exciting for most shoppers.

In order to increase customer lifetime value with tiers, each rank should be associated with
outstanding rewards: something people desire having. Instead of doubling the value of the
discount coupon at the Gold tier, add a new benefit, such as an invitation to brand events, VIP
customer service, or spectacular birthday rewards.

Once your tantalizing goals are set, customers will work hard to reach them as quickly as
possible. This may mean putting more products into their cart, because getting more points with
a single purchase will help them progress faster.

Find out more on how to run a successful loyalty program from this episode of Customer Loyalty
Minutes, starring Zsuzsa Kecsmar, CCO & Co-founder at Antavo, and Jörn Roegler, VP of
Strategy & Insight at Antavo.

6. Rewards with a high perceived value

If there’s something people love more than free shipping, it’s fancy rewards. Deep down in their
hearts, everyone dreams about spending their points on something memorable, like a free
weekend at a wellness spa.

When it comes to loyalty rewards with perceived value, you have two options. One is to offer
luxury benefits that are open to anyone who is willing to pay the price in points (luxury
weekends, first line ticket to a fashion show, gourmet dinners etc). The other is to promote
limited-edition items, or products designed by influencers or celebrities.
Either way, people will need a large quantity of loyalty points to claim such rewards for
themselves. And just like with tiers, the best way to earn points quickly is by increasing
purchase volume.

Luxury fashion brand Saks Fifth Avenue brilliantly combines tiers and experiential rewards: by spending money on the SaksFirst Credit
Card, they unlock better and better gift packages, featuring deluxe cosmetics.

7. VIP Clubs

Also called limited access groups, VIP Clubs are small, thematic communities within your
loyalty program. Just like in a real-life VIP Club, members have to buy their way in by paying
an entry fee with points. In exchange, they’re offered a series of exclusive privileges, such
as early access to up-and-coming products.

Customers will gladly spend a sizable amount of points for entry. And the best thing is,
benefits like early access are purchase-related, indicating that they plan to keep buying from you
in the future.

VIP Clubs allows you to set up an inclusive loyalty program that anyone can join, but at the
same time reserves some of the most desirable benefits for your most dedicated spenders.
Italian-born luxury fashion retailer LuisaViaRoma set up a VIP Club called the Sneakers Club. After the launch, members spent 2
million points in just one month in order to be a part of the club.

8. Offer management

Linked offers are a tried-and-tested marketing method that convinces customers to buy multiple
products. These can be bundled offers, where buying a toothbrush and a toothpaste together is
10% less expensive, or the popular ‘Buy 3 burgers for the price of 2’ deal.

Offer management is the system that helps you organize such promotions, because deals
come in all shapes and sizes. With the right tools and creativity, you can set up offers that apply
exclusively to your latest shop to open, to a certain region, or even to a specific customer
segment.
Antavo’s Prime Steel Winter Product Release is all about the enterprise-grade offer management: why it is important, what offer types
are available, and how to create a synergy.

Reduce the Cost of Customer Retention

Last but not least, loyalty programs boost the efficacy of your customer retention campaigns by
giving you more bang for your buck. This can be done either by running the loyalty program
in a cost-effective manner, avoiding unnecessary discounts, or driving other business
KPIs that affect your bottom line.

9. Partner rewards

Having a loyalty program unlocks countless possibilities to network and branch out to partners
from other industries. In the past, companies banded together to form coalition programs in an
attempt to reach new audiences and new platforms.

Still, your brand can manage on its own with a loyalty program where you offer partner
rewards. This can be a mutually beneficial relationship: these kinds of incentives will cost you
very little, since your company isn’t responsible for manufacturing or distributing them. On the
other hand, your partner receives exposure from your customers.
Women’s fashion retailer JD Williams has a full list of dedicated to showcasing the members-only rewards, some of which come from
partners. This helps the brand engage lifestyle-conscious buyers.

10. Members-only services

Another way to save money with a loyalty program is by making services you’d offer anyway
members-only. For instance, if free shipping is available by default, it makes sense to turn it into
a baseline loyalty program feature.

Putting certain services behind enrollment won’t turn devoted customers away, since anyone
who is interested in such benefits will be willing to take an extra step and register.

And what does this strategy deliver? More information about your customers, such as contact
data, credentials, or anything your personalization strategy requires, as well as plenty of
additional eyes that will want to check out the other benefits your program has to offer.
Don’t want to make services like free shipping permanently available? Follow DSW’s example and add it as a members-only feature
during Christmas to increase enrollment rates for the holiday season.

11. Contests

Organizing a social media contest is a proven tactic to establish brand presence and encourage
the submission of user-generated content. The rules are simple: ask people to enter by submitting
their content to your forums or your social media platform. Then pick a winner either by vote or
a jury.

Contests come in a variety of forms. You can set up a hashtag contest, asking members to post
stories about their experience and tag your brand at the end. Instagram contests work in nearly
the same way, but customers should upload an image of themselves wearing or using the product
they bought from you.

The reason contests help customer lifetime value is because you only need to give one reward,
despite having a large group of participants who all eagerly compete. Plus, competing in a
contest is a thrilling experience for most.
Plus-size womenswear retailer Simply Be asks its loyalty program members to post images wearing their favorite looks. Seeing their
fellow customers enjoy Simply Be’s products feels authentic for buyers, which helps to spread word-of-mouth.

12. Churn prediction

One last way to increase the efficiency of your loyalty program – and directly boost customer
lifetime value – is to prevent buyers from churning. For this, Antavo offers an enterprise-grade
machine learning framework that helps you predict which customers are in risk of leaving in the
next three months.

Once you managed to pinpoint customers who are at the verge of churning, you can create a
special segment and proactively convince this segment to stay by offering higher discounts,
personalized emails, or even special gifts that are unavailable to other members.
Using churn prediction helps you save money in two ways. First of all, you’re only using the
expensive rewards on customers who are churning. Secondly, winning those customers back
increases their CLV.

Antavo’s Loyalty AI framework also includes the Smart Audiences tool. This feature helps you understand correlations between customer
actions and predicted values, giving you valuable insights on those who are most at risk of churning.

Increasing Customer Lifetime Value With a Successful

Loyalty Program
As you can see, customer lifetime value is influenced by a variety of factors. This gives you a
level of freedom, because you can mix-and-match features in your loyalty program and
really serve your business KPIs – as long the program itself is built proficiently. If you’re
ready for the next step, Antavo has a similarly in-depth guide about designing a successful
customer loyalty program guide from top to bottom
How to Foster Customer
Loyalty in a Digital Age
Bryan OsorioJanuary 6, 2021

In the 1990s, businesses built relationships with their clients and customers by meeting them
face-to-face. They even put up huge billboards and hoardings to market their products.

But in this digital era, where customers mostly search for products online, businesses need to
change their strategy as well. Face-to-face interactions rarely happen these days and businesses
market their products by placing ads on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and other online
platforms.

One thing that hasn’t changed until now and probably won’t in the decades to come, is the
constant thrive for accumulating more customers.

Here we will discuss 6 such points that your business or brand can adopt to gain the trust of your
customers and increase your client base online.

Let’s jump in.

1. Use Social Media to Connect with Followers

Nearly every person who has access to the internet is on Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube,
Instagram, or any other social media platform. People are comfortable searching for businesses
on social media.

It helps them not only to find their products but also check reviews of other people about what
they have to say about the product. If they find more negative comments about a particular
product, they can simply switch over to the next one.
According to a study conducted by Deloitte in 2014, 75% of Americans who are shopping online
say that the product information from social media greatly influences their shopping behavior
and helps them decide whether or not to stay with a brand.

If a business does not have any social media page or they are not putting up one, customers
won’t have enough confidence to continue with the brand.

2. Offer Customer Service Online

While customers shop online, they also search for product reviews. But what about those
customers who desperately want to buy a product and they end up with negative reviews?

They contact the customer service agent of the company. Sometimes, customers don’t want to
believe the reviews and they want the agent’s reviews to make an informed decision. This is
where customer service skills matter. Make sure that your agents know your product well so they
can give good explanations to potential customers.

If the customers were provided with poor customer care, they may lose their trust and stop
shopping from the brand altogether. That is why a business should provide great customer
assistance.

3. Use Loyalty Programs

This is one of the most under-utilized techniques when it comes to foster customer loyalty.

Think about this: What would you prefer more, just buying a product or buying a product with
some discount, a coupon, or some reward? You will choose the latter over the former any day.

People tend to do such activities where they can get some benefits from doing their usual tasks.
It’s a psychological aspect of human beings.

There are a lot of ways to provide loyalty programs to online customers. You can do this by
mailing coupons to them, offering loyalty points for taking certain actions, or hitting milestones.
The list goes on.
To make loyalty programs more interesting and gain customer’s trust, make sure that the loyalty
points are easily redeemable. If you don’t let the customers use the earned reward points, they
might leave your brand in frustration, which is not desirable at all.

4. Encourage Customer Reviews and Display Them

Prominently
Customer reviews are important when it comes to shopping online. People go through product
reviews before buying the product – since they want to know the opinion of other people who
used it and can share their experiences.

Based on the user’s opinions and reviews, customers might trust the brand and end up making a
purchase.

Do you know that customers tend to trust the product more if they know the reviewer personally
such as family members or friends?

But how can business owners use this as an advantage? Businesses can use the words of satisfied
customers to ignite trust in the product among new customers.

Encouraging that review culture among users may have an impact on existing users. They will
see that the company not only cares about the product but also gives equal importance to their
opinions. They will feel valuable to the company, hence increasing their trust.

These customers can even turn into brand ambassadors to their family, friends, and other people
they meet on a daily basis.

5. Offer Multiple Payment Options

Imagine a customer wants to buy a product from you. They have added the product, but when
they reach the checkout counter, they can only select a couple of options. What will they do?
They will simply close the site or app and will never shop from them again.
As a business owner, you need to understand that just having one payment gateway is not
enough. Many customers don’t trust online transactions and therefore you will find people who
prefer to use alternative payment methods, even cash.

If you would have given the option of payment after delivery, the customer will then proceed to
place the order.

There are many options by which you can set up payment. Some of the options are debit cards,
credit cards, net banking, UPI, payment wallets, PayPal, pay on delivery, etc. It’s highly
recommended that you provide the customers with all the choices and let them choose what they
are comfortable with.

6. Ease of Access
In today’s world where customers have a handful of choices available on the tap of their finger,
if you don’t provide customers the ease of buying products or reaching out to you, they may
choose your competitor without a second thought.

If you want to retain your existing customers and gain new ones, you need to make sure they
have all they need.

Some of the areas where you can focus on include the following:

 Having a nice and simple marketplace for browsing products and filtering.

 Being able to reach your customer care phone lines whenever they want

 Knowing the status of their order

 Having the portal sync between mobile, tablet, and web

These are just a handful of examples where you can start focusing your efforts. You can also
search for strategies that focus on building and improving customer’s trust.
Summary
Searching for new customers is a crucial task for business growth, but you must not forget that
nurturing your current customers and prospects is just as crucial, since it’s a cost-effective way to
grow sustain your business in the long term. A loyal army of customers can definitely help your
company keep growing

Case:

Kellogg’s Rewards Program

Review: It’s Grrreat!
Tamas OsziJanuary 30, 2021
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Multinational food manufacturer Kellogg’s doesn’t require much of an introduction. We’ve all
probably poured one of their treats into a bowl on a busy morning, or at least seen their highly
recognizable mascot on store shelves. But did you know that the company also runs a loyalty
program called Kellogg’s Family Rewards? We were curious whether this reward system is able
to live up to the cereal giant’s name, so we decided to put the Kellogg’s rewards program under
the looking glass. And the results? Well, you’ll see.

Membership Page
Kellogg’s rewards program follows the principle of “show, don’t tell” on its website. While
many other companies use the home page of their loyalty program to share the general benefits
of the system, Kellogg’s cuts right to the case, showcasing its top products and rewards in a
catalog-style manner.
“Focusing on a gift portfolio instead of membership benefits can only work if you’re running a
purely earn & burn program. In the case of a tiered program, which is more sophisticated where
not all rewards are instantly available, it’s more important to display the tier chart so customers
get a solid understanding of their progression.”

Moreover, visitors don’t need to be logged in to see which rewards, offers and coupons are
currently available. Again, some companies like to hide their trump cards from unregistered
members, but sometimes being upfront about the benefits is more effective when it comes to
encouraging enrollment.
The coupon section in particular is a great way to set customers’ eyes on the prize and convince them to register for the loyalty program.
Enrollment
Kellogg’s deserves another bonus point for a stylish registration page that reinforces the value
propositions of the loyalty program. The company collects the most basic information (including
name, gender, birth date, location), and then requires you to verify your account by entering a
code sent via email.

The overall process is fairly standard and quick, though it could be sped up even more by asking
only for login credentials, then asking customers to complete their full profile later for bonus
points — a system Kellogg’s rewards program already has, just with a few tweaks.
In the welcome email, the company follows up with an incentivized poll, offering 100 points for members willing to answer a question
about why they joined the rewards program. This insight is useful for maintaining interest in the program.
“Looking to boost personalization for your marketing activities? Using gamified profiling within
your loyalty program is the most efficient and cost-effective way to do so!”

If you have an iconic style or mascot, make sure to use it as visual flare as much as you can — just like Kellogg’s did with Tony the
Tiger’s paws — to strengthen brand recognition.

Point Accrual
Since Kellogg’s sells its products through retailers, the most reasonable solution is to reward
customers for uploading their receipts — which the company does. The real challenge, however,
is to make it worthwhile for members to follow through with the upload process. Knowing that
receipt uploads are the core pillar of its loyalty program, Kellogg’s issued three actions:

1. The receipt upload page goes out of its way to explain the different ways to submit a receipt, both
digital and physical. Members can also watch a tutorial to receive 100 points
 2. The first receipt upload yields 100 bonus points, motivating reluctant members to give the system
a try

3. Kellogg’s Family Rewards runs limited-time donation campaigns, where every uploaded receipt
contributes to a good cause, which is powerful encouragement

And to make it easier to earn points, Kellogg’s has partnered up with various retailers to provide
the option to attach retailers’ loyalty cards to Family Rewards accounts. As soon as the loyalty
card is added, customers won’t need to upload their receipts anymore. Instead, points will
automatically be issued every time their card is presented to the cashier.

When explaining the mechanics of your loyalty program’s accrual system, always use images, because they make the process easier to
understand.
Transactional & Non-transactional Activities
As mentioned above, the main way to earn points is to buy a Kellogg’s product and upload the
receipt. The company also runs limited-time campaigns where certain products — new flavors in
particular — are worth double points.

“Dedicating a team to running seasonal and thematic loyalty campaigns not only keeps the
concept fresh for customers but also supports your brand’s marketing activity.”

In terms of non-transactional activities, Kellogg’s loyalty program incentivizes profile

completion, first-time receipt upload, first-time reward redemptions and so on.

Even though earning points for these actions doesn’t require a purchase, don’t think of them as “free points” because they provide
additional value by educating customers or encouraging them to give certain features a try.
Rewards
Kellogg’s rewards program is an earn & burn style program, meaning that the main activity is
collecting points in various ways. These points can then be spent in the rewards catalog in
exchange for a multitude of benefits.

The heart of Kellogg’s Family Rewards program is the exceptionally wide range of rewards they
offer:

 eGift cards for partners such as Nike, Sephora, Barnes & Noble, Xbox

 Restaurant and movie coupons

 Branded merch (backpacks, socks, tumblers, etc.)

 Donations to charities

 Free recipes

 Free digitally downloadable games for children (coloring books, matching tiles, etc/)

 Prize draws

By including its partner network, Kellogg’s is able to deliver a colorful reward catalog. It
features physical and digital rewards, free gifts as well as coupons and gift cards. Thumbs up!
The website features an interactive menu where you can filter the available rewards based on their cost. This is extremely handy if you
have an extensive range of rewards.

Loyalty App
If there’s one area where Kellogg’s Family Rewards is lacking, that’s in mobile support. Without
a dedicated loyalty app, the company is missing out on valuable customer touchpoints.

For starters, uploading receipts would be far easier using a loyalty application, thanks to the
built-in functionalities it could provide. Also, apps are now able to support easy one-tap
enrollment, further streamlining the registration process.

Lastly, a dedicated app can be a great, go-to way to stay in touch with customers. For instance,
using push notifications to inform them about the latest offers, deals and rewards.
Final Judgement
Summarizing the pros and cons of Kellogg’s rewards program, we can say that they are on a
good track. Still, there is an opportunity for them to make the program even more effective

The Profitability of
Customer Loyalty
Daniel HopperJune 12, 2020
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Loyal customers are profitable to a business. We need to look after them.

This week’s blog discusses the topic of customer loyalty, using marketing theory to first define
what loyalty is and how it relates to your relationships with customers.

Marketing strategies businesses can use to enhance the loyalty of their target customer are also
explored.

What is Loyalty?

The mass-marketing approaches of the ’60s and ’70s ignored the role of customer loyalty as an
important parameter of marketing activities. There has long been a shift from this transaction
based-approach into a relationship-based strategy.

The focus changes from acquisition to retention. The new goal is to enhance customer loyalty by
focusing on the lifetime value of existing customers, considered just as important as attracting
new customers.

Loyalty is the maintenance of trust in a person, a party, an institution; which fosters strong
feelings of support or allegiance. An individual has a sense of belonging to a relationship. In
business, this feeling of loyalty a customer feels with a brand or business yields a deeply held
commitment for consistent future consumption. Often, businesses use repetitious purchase
behaviour as an indicator of loyalty. I use the term customer loyalty in this article as opposed to
brand loyalty to emphasise that loyalty is a feature of people, rather than a characteristic of a
brand.

“Customer loyalty is difficult to define. In general, there are three distinctive approaches to measure
loyalty: behavioural measurements; attitudinal measurement; and composite measurements.”
(Nyadzayo & Khajehzadeh, 2016).
Conceptualisations of Customer Loyalty (Uncles, Dowling & Hammond, 2003)
Loyalty pays off
Customer loyalty is profitable. A study found that “when a company retains just 5 percent
more of its customers, profits increase by 25 percent to 125 percent.” (Bowen & Chen,
2001). Loyal customers provide more repeat business and are less likely to shop around, this
higher retention of existing customers reducing marketing costs.

When a brand has generated loyalty from customers, their customer base becomes less sensitive
to the marketing efforts of competitors. It makes sense that business focus their energy into
strengthening relationships with customers, to enhance their loyalty.

The effect of value-adding strategies in a long-term relationship (Ravald & Grönroos,1996)

Relationship marketing
The foundation for a relationship marketing strategy is “a core service around which to build a
customer relationship, customizing the relationship to the individual customer, augmenting
the core service with extra benefits, pricing services to encourage customer loyalty, and
marketing to employees so that they, in turn, will perform well for customers (Berry, 1983).

Relationship marketing is marketing activities that attract, develop, maintain, and enhance
customer satisfaction and fostering customer retention. The focus is the lifetime value of the
customer rather than the value of a single transaction –the underlying assumption being that
establishing and maintaining relationships with customers will foster customer retention.
Businesses use strategies to bond with their customers to enhance their commitment.

As you can see in the model above, trust is a component that comes before loyalty. Trust is one
of the foundations of relationship marketing, and it is a customer’s willingness to rely on a
certain business or brand. This reduces uncertainty and vulnerability, so it gives customers a
good reason to stay in a relationship as they can value relationships that they do not have to
monitor.
Building a relationship is based on the formation of a bond. This bond is the psychological,
emotional, economic, or physical attachment that binds parties together. The strength of this
bond can determine a customers’ commitment and loyalty to a brand.

Some customers will only bond with the company based on price. The first level of relationship
marketing relies primarily on pricing incentives to secure customers’ loyalty where business
bond with customers on the promise to save money. Service providers often reward loyal
customers with special price offers. This advantage is unsustainable, and customer bond based
on price will never foster true loyalty.
Practising higher levels of relationship marketing gives greater potential for sustained
competitive advantage. Level two is a social bond, and level three is a structural bond. Structural
bonds provide solutions to important customer problems, as discussed by Berry (1995): “When
relationship marketers can offer to target customers value-adding benefits that are difficult
or expensive for customers to provide and that are not readily available elsewhere, they
create a strong foundation for maintaining and enhancing relationships.”

Targeting Profitable Customers

Certain customers will be more profitable to a business than others. Some are loyalty-prone if
they receive good service, happy to use one brand or business. Whereas other customers are deal
prone, always on the lookout for alternative and discount offers.

These types of customers are stayers and switches. Stayers have the possibility of lifetime value,
as their motivation is to reduce their available choices and repeatedly use certain suppliers to
simplify the process, and it reduces the perceived risks of consumption. Switchers do not exhibit
loyalty and have a repertoire of brands from which they regularly choose. Having systems to
recognize these characteristics of customers is important to help us target customers who are
more likely to stay.

Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is one of the most important criteria for customer loyalty. When
satisfaction levels are high, the potential for loyalty is high; when satisfaction is low, there is a
very low chance of retaining customers. Satisfaction is a popular measurement that marketers use
to determine how happy customers are with their company’s services and or products.

Businesses can use research such as customer surveys to determine how happy their customers
are and how to improve their experiences. Highly satisfied customers will also be far more likely
to tell friends about your business. There is a correlation between higher satisfaction and positive
word of mouth intent. The same also goes with loyalty — loyal customers are more likely to
spread positive word-of-mouth and recommend your business to others.

Tools to enhance loyalty

The cost of replacing defected customers is significantly higher than the cost of retaining them.
To enhance customer loyalty, there are several tools a business can use. I will discuss four
options: Loyalty programs, benchmarking performance, CRM, and branding.

Loyalty programs
A popular strategy for maintaining customer loyalty is through loyalty programs. For example, a
popular one is the coffee card at your local café, often getting the tenth coffee free. This strategy
only tends to work if the frequency of consumption is high.

Loyalty programs provide financial and relationship rewards to customers, and there are two
aims: · One is to increase sales revenues through increased purchase levels, and/or increasing the
range of products consumed. · The second is a defensive aim, to build a closer bond between the
brand and current customers, to maintain them in the current customer base.
Benchmarking performance
The second strategy to enhance customer loyalty is by benchmarking service quality. Improving
service quality should increase customer loyalty. Relationship marketing and service
improvement go hand in hand. Businesses should do everything they can to keep improving their
customer experience. This service quality adds more value to the core product, which improves
customer satisfaction, strengthening relationship bonds and increasing loyalty.

Benchmarking a level of performance you expect from your staff and/or systems helps ensure to
keep the level of quality high.

Use customer surveys to analyse your services and take the results of your loyal customers. Use
this as internal benchmarks for customers service quality. This means to set a minimum standard
of service quality. Holding your business to a strict standard does not ensure every customer will
return, but there will be an increase in loyalty. Furthermore, often dissatisfaction is because of a
negative customer service experience rather than the product or service itself.

CRM — Customer Relationship Management

Advances in technology over the past thirty years has removed many of the barriers for
businesses to maintain relationships with clients and customers. CRM is the managing of all your
company’s relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers. Email
database management for example enables businesses to regularly be in contact with customers.
Because past experiences impact customer satisfaction, the quality of a CRM can mediate how
customer satisfaction translates into loyalty. When customers perceive a higher quality of CRM,
this strengthens relationships.

“CRM quality comprising of trust and commitment is crucial in building and maintaining long-term
relationships and enhancing customer loyalty.” (Nyadzayo & Khajehzadeh, 2016)
Model of customer loyalty (Nyadzayo & Khajehzadeh, 2016)
Brand image
The fourth way to increase customer loyalty is through investing in your branding, and the image
you portray in the minds of customers. Your brand can be a mediator of the link between
satisfaction and loyalty. The more customers connect with your brand, the more they trust you.
Research has shown (Nyadzayo & Khajehzadeh, 2016) that a stronger brand image can lead to a
higher perceived CRM quality, enhancing loyalty. Just look at Apple around ten years ago!

A strong brand “increases customers’ trust of invisible products, while helping them
to better understand and visualise what they are buying” (Berry, 2000).
That is it for another week and blog — I hope you enjoyed this week’s topic about customer
loyalty and learnt something new that you can implement in your business
Read :

Customer Loyalty in 2021:

Your 10 Most Important
Questions
Sheila PowerFebruary 12, 2021
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Stepping into 2021, we’ve all vowed collectively to make this year better than the last one. But
before we put a lid on the past, I say we use it to better ourselves, and create a bullet-proof plan
for 2021. Actually, our most recent joint webinar with marketing automation provider dotdigital
was centered around devising a new action plan for companies. It was a very interactive event
with plenty of community input. So, based on your inquiries and our most up-to-date insights,
here are 10 questions and answers about the ins and outs of customer loyalty in 2021.

1. How did 2020 impact most businesses?

In 2020, many brands and retailers realized they weren’t as customer-centric as they had thought.
During the lockdown, they had to rethink their database, build new connections, and turn
towards eCommerce.

Also, due to limited resources and manpower, they had to identify their most valuable customers
and try to maintain a relationship with them. 2020 also dissolved marketing strategies and reward
programs that focused on pushing discounts.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, a significant percentage of brands managed to stay afloat. They are now looking into new
solutions, such as pure-play loyalty technologies, to maintain momentum and become market disruptors. (Data based on participants’
answers in the Antavo and dotdigital webinar.)

2. What are the biggest takeaways from 2020?

One thing everyone needed to learn was to be agile. But not just your regular agility, but rather
digital agility: the ability to pivot in the eCommerce space and move in new directions.

Because of that, many companies had to re-learn the business basics to catch up with
competitors. This not only entailed customer relations, but also data collection, segmentation and
personalization. In addition, many brands decided to improve their communications strategy to
connect with customers on an emotional level.

Check out our full webinar recording to learn more about these key topics.
3. How can loyalty programs help you get closer to
customers?
Loyalty is, from a brand perspective, the result of recognizing and understanding a customer.
Loyalty in 2021 is the result of sending the right message (and rewards) to the right customer at
the right time. By extension, a loyalty program is a tool that helps you execute this in the most
efficient way.

For instance, loyalty programs enable you to capture more customer data, which can be used to
improve customer segmentation, offer personalized deals, and fuel your email communication.

Naturally, this is just a small sample of what reward programs are capable of. Next-gen loyalty
programs cover almost every aspect of the customer lifecycle, even those that aren’t strictly tied
to transactions.

The secret of modern loyalty programs lies in recognition, a new stage that extends the customer lifecycle, leading to true brand love and
higher lifetime value.
4. Then why aren’t companies using loyalty programs?
What is stopping them?
The truth is, most companies recognize the power of loyalty programs when it comes to
customer retention (or even acquisition). So it’s not a case of ‘We don’t want one”, but rather
“We’re still looking for ways to do it right”.

This includes the practical limitations of technology, which keeps brands and retailers from
executing their vision. This stems from the fact that loyalty programs require solid integrations
and tech-readiness. Without proper segmentation and CRM capabilities, you won’t be able to
enjoy the full potential of a rewards program..

Also, companies that switched their attention to eCommerce had to close the gap, both
technologically speaking and marketing-wise. A loyalty program is still in the cards for these
companies, but as time passes and they become ready, we will have seen many new innovative
reward programs pop up across the board.
At first glance, the number of companies without a loyalty program is still high. But if you combine those who already have one, and
those who are planning to launch one in the near future, then the two sides are equal. (Data based on participants’ answers in the
Antavo and dotdigital webinar.)

5. Can we be customer-centric without a loyalty

program?
In short: yes, but achieving the same results may cost more, or you might miss out on certain
opportunities. On an added note, you don’t have to think about reward programs as a necessary
cost to keep and engage customers. There are ways to make your system profitable, or at least
derive value from it that far exceeds your initial investment.

As Gavin Laugenie, dotdigital’s Head of Strategy & Insight, put it during the webinar, “loyalty
programs aren’t just marketing functions”. Because reward systems are built around the idea of
keeping customers on board, they require a common understanding across all divisions at the
company.

6. How can retailers show empathy?

In other words, you have your data, but how are you going to use it to resonate with customers?
What really matters here is what you’re putting into your messages. Today’s customer is looking
for a connection, social changes, and brands they can share their values with. Therefore
companies should consider looking at customers as not only buyers, but also as fans of their
brand — and treat them accordingly.

Brands and retailers should show solidarity, demonstrating that they understand what fans are
going through — perhaps sharing customer stories in newsletters. It’s a very personal message.

From a loyalty point of view, you need to be aware of what kind of experiences and rewards
customers want, and not just sell products to them. Reward the return of used products or
specialty packaging, offer experiential rewards, incentivize workouts with badges and
milestones, etc.
Despite suffering as a hospitality brand, Hilton has donated one million hotel rooms to medical professionals on the front line. They also
postponed tier expiration for their loyalty program members, so they don’t punish their most loyal members for the lockdown.
7. What should the key focus be for 2021?
There are three: customers, customers and customers.

In other words, focus on understanding your customers better and pick a reward or service that
each customer segment actually wants. This is the most direct way to their hearts. And not only
will you win their hearts, but also their trust, meaning they’ll be more likely to recommend your
brand to friends and family.

Mountaineering product retailer Bergzeit integrates activity tracker Strava with its loyalty program, rewarding members for reaching
certain milestones. Because their members all share a love for sports, this kind of encouragement aligns the brand with people’s values.

8. As a fashion brand, how can I incentivize customers

to buy clothes while they work at home?
The lockdown hit traveling companies and fashion retailers hard. With most people spending
their days between the four walls, they’re less inclined to spend money on clothes and outdoor
accessories, even though online shopping is widely accessible. The best companies in these
verticals can do is build anticipation and desire.

Keep up the relationship with customers through frequent newsletters. Reminisce about the
‘good old times’ in personalized emails, where you list some items from their purchase history.
Because once the lockdown is lifted, people will rush outdoors and go party like there’s no
tomorrow, but they’ll need the gear and garb to do so. And if you remain close to them, you’ll be
the one they buy from.

The official clothing brand of soccer team Tottenham Hotspur FC reminds its customers in a heartfelt message that the sport will be
back one day, and shares how much their fans mean to them.
9. How is B2B loyalty different?
Remember, just because you’re selling to other businesses, there are still people at the other end
of the table. The only differences are the marketing and sales approaches. For that reason, many
of the previously discussed elements (personalization, showing empathy, aligning with their
value) still apply.

In a B2B loyalty program, your incentives should be benefits that people at another company
want or need: specialized training, free treats from a partner shop, a marketing boost, etc. In fact,
the people handling B2B contracts and relations are just as happy to receive personalized
treatment as anyone else. So keep them happy by offering various perks. This is often easier, as
you probably have more direct contact when doing B2B business.

US-based telecommunication company Telarus has a loyalty program geared towards partner retailers, incentivizing them to
sell Telarus’ service. Rewards include marketing consultancy and sales training, special experiences, or gifts that make their offers even
more attractive.

10. As a retailer, how do you re-engage customers

without discounts?
You need to have a thorough understanding of your customers and their habits. For instance,
don’t use discounts on customers who are loyal without it. For those customers, you should
instead focus on the experience and give them privileged status, for example. For the customer
segments who want discounts, you need to find a way to reduce their dependence on discounts,
and gradually convert them into the first group of loyal customers.

Also, you need to find welcome rewards that aren’t a straight-up discount to avoid spoiling new
members. Offer discounts only for customer groups that are at risk of churning, or for special
occasions, such as surprise birthday rewards.
Most companies understand the balance between acquiring and keeping customers, as they wish to share their focus between the two
areas. (Data based on participants’ answers in the Antavo and dotdigital webinar.)
The Future Is Bright, You Just Have to Believe in it
2021 can be a great year for your organization. All of the hardships you’ve endured will pay off,
you just need to focus on customer happiness. Whether you achieve this through personalization,
rewards, deals, gifts or badges is up to you.

Still researching the loyalty program providers? Here’s a helpful comparison worksheet to make
the process more efficient.

Read :

The Ultimate Loyalty

Rewards Handbook
Timi GaraiOctober 22, 2019
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Coming up with loyalty rewards for your VIP program is such an exciting time in a company’s
life. All the brainstorming, all the crazy ideas! It really makes your team’s creativity flow, don’t
you agree?

Unfortunately, these meetings often end up inconclusive. From my experience, most problems
stem from the lack of knowledge regarding the reward framework. What kind of reward types
are currently out there? What are the best reward system practices in the industry, and what
blunders should you avoid?

Don’t worry. You’re in good hands. This little guide has all the information you need.
What Are Loyalty Rewards and Why Do They Matter?
Before sinking our teeth into the reward types and how they are utilized, let’s inspect their true
nature. So what are loyalty rewards, in the context of customer retention?

The simplest answer is: Rewards are benefits or physical items that are granted, gifted, or
assigned to loyalty members based on their achievements or efforts within the program.

The success of a loyalty program massively depends on the rewards you offer for members.
Moreover, selecting the most fitting incentives for your brand and target audience is just as
crucial as picking the right goals and objectives you would like to achieve with your loyalty
program.

In this article we’ll show you numerous industry examples. Use our reward template as a benchmark for your own reward system.
Loyalty rewards are prime motivating factors to:

 Keep customers invested in the long run

 Prompt actions you want people to perform

Rewards are what motivate customers to change their behavior. This could include more
brand engagement actions or simply using features or services of your business they have never
used before.

Beer Hawk, UK’s largest specialty beer retailer, wanted to encourage customers to return expensive beer kegs. With the help of Antavo,
they built a loyalty program that rewards this kind of behavior.
Reward Types
There are five distinct loyalty reward categories. A healthy loyalty program features a mix of
these, although not every one of them will fit into your strategy.

Financial benefits
Offering a financial benefit means you grant either percentage-based or fixed-amount
discounts. No doubt, you’ve already run into coupons that offer either 5% or $5 off a purchase,
but free shipping also belongs to this category.

The upside of financial benefit is clearly the concept of “free money”. Customers feel they are
receiving real value after each purchase, helping them to save money. This system is also the
quickest and easiest to be set up, as you don’t need to mess with physical rewards.

On the downside, your discount strategy can be easily copied by competitors, and it doesn’t
give a reason for customers to engage with your brand.

Brittish high-end streetwear retailer Represent uses discounts to catch the attention of customers. And to motivate them even
more, reaching higher tiers increases the size of the discount.

Service-related benefits
These kinds of rewards are aimed at making the shopping experience more convenient from a
customer’s perspective. Examples include express shipping, extended return, money-back
guarantee, free alterations, early access, stylist recommendation, gift wrapping, priority
customer support, etc.

Service-related benefits are great for shifting customers’ attention from discounts to the more
convenient shopping experience and for generating positive word-of-mouth.

Unfortunately, this approach works only if you haven’t explored it before the loyalty program.
For instance, let’s say you’ve already offered world-wide shipping and free alterations for
everyone. Withdrawing existing privileges and restricting them to a high loyalty tier would
surely lead to a huge backlash.

Antwerp-based jewelry retailer Diamanti Per Tutti balances service-related benefits really well. It offers worldwide shipping and 30-day
returns to every customer, but the highly popular free delivery is reserved for loyalty members only.

Gifts
When entering a reward program, customers often expect to receive some sort of product or
hand-crafted item. It can come from your own inventory or from a 3rd party. You can grant
gifts during special events, like on the member’s birthday or the enrollment anniversary.

Gifts are the perfect way to express an act of kindness towards your customers and show you
care. Physical rewards work best if members don’t expect them. This way, you can really put a
smile on their face!

Do you have special edition products in your inventory or gifts from 3rd party partners? These
are perfect candidates for your loyalty reward system!

However, if you choose a gift that needs to be manufactured or needs to be bought – be

mindful. Not knowing which kind of loyalty rewards customers would relate to might lead to
throwing money out the window.
Among others, JD Williams grants dedicated customers movie passes so they can enjoy their favorite blockbusters at home – this is a
gesture that members highly appreciate.

Events & Experiences

This category consists of happenings such as party invitations, concert tickets, hotel stays,
free lunches, organized either by you or a partner company. Events & experiences are the
perfect opportunities to build deeper engagement, provide exclusivity, and grant customers
lifetime memories they’ll talk about for years.

Keep in mind though that the more exclusive the reward, the rarer it should be to avoid
damaging the exclusivity feeling of it. Moreover, it requires a lot of effort from you to organize
such events, especially in multiple countries.

Simply Be celebrated the launch of its loyalty program with a huge party, where they invited many influencers and brand ambassadors.
This event contributed a lot to the brand’s positive word-of-mouth.
Custom
This is a tricky one. Basically, ‘custom’ stands for any kind of reward you can’t categorize
anywhere. You can go wild with your imagination here and come up with something unique or
brand-specific that helps your business stand out.

However, a large amount of customer insight, creativity, and resources are needed to realize
something unique.

US-based streetwear retailer Jimmy Jazz runs a raffle on Facebook that is independent of its loyalty program. However, members of the
Fresh Selects program automatically receive additional entries as a ‘custom’ benefit.

Aligning Your Rewards With Your Brand & Audience

Imagine yourself in the shoes of a sportswear brand, whose mission it is to support a healthy
lifestyle and to motivate customers – regardless of their athletic level – during their
journey. Would you offer them coupons to McDonald’s or Burger King? Probably not.
Instead, why not offer them motivational music or podcasts they can listen to while working
out? It could be a members-only feature, with a monthly cap on the number of tracks they can
access. Increasing their tier level would increase this limit, though, which is not only a great
incentive but also fits your image and audience as well.

A simple glance at the NikePlus Membership page is enough to see that it’s all about supporting the sporty lifestyle. This is backed up by
features, such as expert guidance, all-star treatment and fast delivery.

Are My Rewards Enticing Enough to Motivate

Customers?
This question can be tricky. There are various criteria that need to be considered:

 Are the rewards appealing enough? A thematic podcast is always more alluring than a generic
discount.

 Are they attainable enough? Exclusivity is nice and all, but pricing a reward or experience
unrealistically high might disillusion members.

 Is it a recurring opportunity? Limited-time rewards create a sense of FOMO, but to avoid

breaking people’s hearts, bring back fan favorites every now and then.
  Do they provide some form of diversity? If you stick to one type of reward, you are limiting the
pool of customers who would be interested.

 Does it have a ‘mystery factor’? People love secrets and riddles. Sometimes it’s worth it to keep
top-tier rewards a secret to drive excitement and engagement.

Luxury kidswear retailer Shan & Toad offers a little game during the first time members visit the loyalty program. This prize spin is very
enticing and draws in people easily.

How to Stay Profitable With a Customer-friendly

Loyalty Rewards Program?
Of course, loyalty rewards cannot escape the basic logic of all marketing and sales incentives –
they need to generate more return than their cost. So how can you play safely in this case?

1. For Earn & Burn programs: Define the point-price of the reward system in a way that customers
need to complete at least one purchase to earn enough points to claim the lowest level reward.
 2. For Tier-based programs: Tier benefits are usually on-going ones, and it’s really hard to change
later. Consider keeping the most expensive benefits for the most dedicated segments. Also,
don’t introduce all the benefits at the beginning.

3. For Perks Programs: The tricky part here is that all rewards are available unconditionally for
members. So try to keep the rewards as low as possible, run frequent tests and updates among
rewards to find your sweet spot, or attach reward usage to purchases.

4. For Gamified programs: The point of gamification is to build a habit; therefore, set the goals to
be easily achievable. Also, badges are gained on a frequent basis, and the reward value should
reflect this.

5. For Hybrid programs: By including partner rewards (free stays at a hotel, extra meals at a
restaurant, etc.) you can reduce your expenses. Usually, these cost you nothing as they are
brought in through special partnership agreements.

LuisaViaRoma’s Sneaker’s Club is a genius way to engage customers. Prompts members to use their points, and the early access feature
is a cost-effective incentive.

Get Ready To Be Creative

Hopefully, I managed to answer all your questions. From now on, nothing is holding you back
from unleashing your full creative potential. So schedule a brainstorming session with your
team and start planning your own loyalty rewards.
Of course, rewards are just a stepping stone in your customer retention strategy. For more info
about loyalty programs, check out our comprehensive guide about creating a successful program

Analyzing 7 Well-known
Reward Programs: Amazon,
Kellogg’s, Uber and More
Klari NemethJune 7, 2020
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As life has started returning to normal after COVID-19, customers’ demand for businesses to
honor their loyalty is on the rise. However, when planning a rewards program, you might feel
overwhelmed by the myriad strategies and schemes to choose from. If you would like to get a
headstart on the competition, we will show you how seven well-known brands approach loyalty
and the different game mechanics they’ve applied to keep their valuable customers by their side.

1. Amazon Prime – Shipping Convenience

Amazon, the largest e-retailer in the world, launched its subscription-based loyalty
program, Amazon Prime in 2005. Introducing a membership fee might feel counterproductive in
today’s competitive market, but it has allowed Amazon to offer immediate and valuable
privileges that free reward programs could never afford.

From the very first day of their memberships, Amazon grants Prime members unlimited access
to their streaming services and offers exclusive prices and savings. The key benefit of their
program, however, is shipping convenience. Members can enjoy free next-day delivery with 100
million eligible items and no minimum spend threshold. Furthermore more and more products
are being added to the same-day delivery list. In select regions, Amazon indulges members with
a 2-hour grocery delivery from AmazonFresh, which has been free for Prime members since
October 2019.

The more purchases Prime members make, the more value they will get from their subscription in the form of free shipping.

To optimize the investment that the company puts into shipping benefits, Amazon has introduced
the ‘No-rush shipping’ option for members who are willing to wait six business days to get their
orders, instead of the standard two-day shipping that they are eligible for. In exchange, members
earn rewards on future purchases or immediate discounts.
Currently, Amazon offers a $1.5 digital reward for each purchase delivered with No-Rush Shipping.

2. AutoZone Rewards – Easy-to-understand Rules

The American auto parts retailer AutoZone has a transaction-based loyalty scheme that is very
easy to understand. Each eligible purchase of $20 or more in the previous 12 months earns
customers a credit. After members earn 5 credits, AutoZone gives them a $20 reward, which they
are free to use within 90 days.
The simplicity of rules is reflected in the promotion of the program as well. On May 20, 2020, AutoZone offered a $5 bonus reward to
new members.

To engage customers with your loyalty program, it’s really important to keep the rules simple
and clear so members will know what to expect. However, if you plan to introduce limitations,
you should be very cautious and make sure the communication of changes is equally as
digestible. AutoZone, which introduced new expiration rules for their credits and rewards
without notifying customers sufficiently, has incurred costs of $48.9 million for their oversight.

The company is still doing great things with their program, though. As plastic cards are being
crowded out of customer’s wallets, AutoZone’s reward program is now accessible online or in-
app. The downside is, customers need to download it. A more seamless alternative might be
using digital cards made for Mobile Wallets, as they are available on all phone systems from the
get-go.
With the digital membership card in the AutoZone mobile app, customers can earn and use credits in store.

3. Kellogg’s Family Rewards – Engagement Through

Rewards
For FMCG brands that sell their products through retailers, it’s especially important to find ways
to communicate with customers directly. By building a standalone website for its loyalty
program, Kellogg’s is able to engage with Family Rewards members, even outside of the buying
cycle.
Kellogg’s was originally asking customers to enter codes that they could find inside product
packaging, but five years ago it was one of the first companies to implement handier, receipt-
based earning. Members can upload their online or in-store receipts via text message, on
KFR.com, or send them in via email.

Receipt uploads are not only rewarded with points, but members can support a good cause as well. After every Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes
purchase, Kellogg’s donates $1 to DonorsChoose.org through the Mission Tiger initiation.

To make it easier to earn points, Kellogg’s has partnered up with various retailers by providing
an option to attach retailers’ loyalty cards to Family Rewards accounts. As soon as the loyalty
card is added, customers won’t need to upload their receipts anymore. Instead, points will
automatically be issued every time their card is presented to the cashier.

The heart of Kellogg’s Family Rewards program is the exceptionally wide range of rewards they
offer. This includes monthly sweepstakes, donations, free recipes, gift cards, downloadable
coloring pages, books, apparel, and free discount coupons, just to name a “few”’.
The variety of rewards available to redeem guarantees that the program is equally rewarding for every member of the family.

4. The Vitamin Shoppe Healthy Awards –

Supercharging the Loyalty Ladder
Omnichannel nutrition supplement brand, The Vitamin Shoppe, revamped its reward program a
year ago. Healthy Awards is now a hybrid program that mixes the elements of traditional earn-
and-burn loyalty program mechanisms with spend-based tiers and personalized rewards.

The program incentivizes repeat purchases with a complex program logic. While customers can
climb the loyalty ladder by spending more (Silver membership after $200 spent and Gold
membership above $700), points also accumulate faster as customers reach higher tiers.
Bronze level members need to spend $125 to earn a $5 reward, however as a Gold member the same coupon is available after spending
$83.

The Vitamin Shoppe offers educational content and nutritional coaching sessions as free perks
for each of their loyalty members. These rewards help customers to find the Vitamin Shoppe
products that support their personal fitness goals.
Nutritionists prepare customized meal plans for Silver and Gold members after an online coaching session.

Like other brands, The Vitamin Shoppe responded to the COVID-19 crisis by introducing
contact-free pickup and online community events, but the nutrition company didn’t forget about
their loyalty members and well-deserved rewards either. The validity of rewards has been
extended from 60 to 90 days to ensure that everyone can use their coupons in time.

5. Uber Rewards and Uber Pro – Stress-free Rides with

Successful Drivers
Uber is constantly expanding its loyalty programs, Uber Reward and Uber Pro, to new locations,
targeting both potential customers and drivers.
Uber has implemented a point-based tier program for both audiences with tailored incentives and
benefits.

Employing the traditional earn-and-burn strategy, the Uber Rewards program offers customers
$5 in Uber Cash after collecting 500 points for eligible Uber rides and Uber Eats deliveries.
Tiers are determined based on the spending of the last 6 months, even if it’s prior to joining Uber Rewards.

By earning points, members can level up to higher tiers, unlocking benefits that make using Uber
stress-free. Gold members are allowed to rebook their ride without a cancellation fee, Platinum
members get price protection between two of their favorite destinations, while Diamond status
indulges customers with complimentary upgrades and 24/7 support.

To encourage drivers to provide customers with a great riding experience, Uber started beta-
testing Uber Pro two years ago. Drivers can advance to higher statuses not just based on the
number of rides accomplished, but also on the ratings they receive from their customers. In
addition to cashback on gas and 25% off car maintenance, drivers can get access to roadside
assistance, priority support, or even 100% tuition coverage.

Pro tiers are recalculated every three months to keep drivers motivated to provide high quality service.

As an act of goodwill during the coronavirus crisis, Uber added six months of gratis Uber
Rewards status to Gold, Platinum and Diamond members, and also showed their generosity
by transporting healthcare workers for free.
6. The North Face VIPeak – Million Ways to Earn
Outdoor lifestyle company The North Face has built a reward program that uses the power of
financial rewards to motivate customers to make repeat purchases, engage with the brand and
stay in touch at every channel – the behavior that every brand seeks.

Right after joining the program, members are encouraged to make their first purchase and start earning with a 10% off welcome
coupon.

The program divides the year into three, four-month-long Peak Points Windows, in which
customers can earn points in order to get a coupon at the end of each period. For every $1 spent
online or in-store, customers get 10 points, plus there are plenty of soft actions to earn points
with. Referring friends, downloading The North Face app, checking in at stores, completing a
survey, using a reusable bag or participating in a campaign are all ways for members to earn
additional points.
Just like the title of the program, the naming of membership levels – Basecamp, Halfdome and Summit – resonates with the brand
essence and the target audience.

Despite the innovative point earning options, VIPeak unfolds only one way to reward customers:
the discount coupon earned in the previous Peak Points Window. The program terms proclaim
that members might be offered with further opportunities to use their points, however the details
remain unclear.

7. The Home Depot Pro Xtra – Run Your Business with

Ease
To honor their best customers, The Home Depot launched a loyalty program for professional
customers who purchase work equipment and commodities at a high volume. With all the
benefits that it offers, the Pro Xtra program helps professionals increase their profit margins by
saving money, time and effort.

After logging in, customers can access My Pro Xtra Workbench to find and export all historical
purchase data and invoices, so the data can be easily imported in their accounting software. Pros
can issue buyer ID cards with spending limits for their employees ensuring all company expenses
are tracked on the same account, and with the Text2Confirm solution in-store employee purchase
authorization is quick and easy.

Pro Xtra Paint Rewards is a sub-program in which customers are not only rewarded with discount coupons, but they can get free direct-
to-job site paint delivery and a five-year color history by job.

The program helps save money on each project. A volume discount is applied on each purchase
of $1,500 or more, plus there are over 4,000 items available in The Home Depot spread with
bulk pricing.

Conclusion
Now what if we mix the list of companies and the description of their reward programs. Would
you be able to match them up again? I’m sure you would be. We’ve seen loads of companies use
traditional earn-and-burn solutions, adding perks or tiered discounts and introducing point
earning options of all kinds, but what do the above programs have in common? They each reflect
brand essence and reward customers with tailored benefits

The Importance of Customer

Reviews
Nicole KosmayerApril 26, 2021
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Customer reviews are the most powerful tool customers have in their tool-belt before making a
purchase. They are the best opportunity to get a real and authentic opinion from fellow
customers.

Customer reviews have a ton of potential in swaying the opinion of new (and old) customers, and
every single major ecommerce platform features reviews. Small businesses also need to see the
power and importance of reviews to help them build, grow, and manage their customers.

At the end of the day, you cannot avoid the fact that online reviews will either make or break
your business.

Why Customer Reviews Matter

Reviews Establish Trust and Validation

Reviews can help your brand become more trustworthy. Customers generally have no reason to
give a business a good or bad review unless it reflects their experience. So, the more positive
reviews you have the more trustworthy your business will be perceived.

There is however a small margin of error when it comes to reviews. Most shoppers actually
distrust a business if they have a rating below four stars. So it’s important to maintain a highly
positive footprint if you want to drive more sales.

Positive Reviews = Positive Sales… Negatives Do the

Opposite

Positive reviews are demonstrated to drive customers to take action, from browsing your site to
actually making a purchase. One study by BizRate reports that roughly 65% of consumers say
that they look at online reviews either most of the time or even all the time before they decide to
make a purchase.

With all those customers looking at reviews before purchasing, you need to be sure that those
reviews paint a good picture for your business. Once again, if your average review is below that
4-star threshold you can expect to miss out on sales you could have otherwise made with a
higher review score.

Brand Communication and Visibility Increases

Reviews increase your visibility in multiple ways. The more customer reviews your company
receives the more likely it is to come up on Google searches. They are also a way for customers
to engage and converse about your business with other customers. This last point is especially
true if the reviews are living on social media.

It’s also important to remember that if your company is constantly getting reviews it becomes a
consistent stream of new content and helps foster a community. Right now it is especially
important because recent reviews will show customers that you are open and operating safely
under COVID restrictions, which will have a lasting effect on how we work.
How to Leverage Reviews
Invite Your Customers to Review Your Business

Do you know anyone who doesn’t like free stuff or promotions? We can’t say we do. If you have
repeat customers and notice that they have never left a review, invite them with a promotion.
This can be something as simple as an add-on to their purchase or 15% off their next one. You
can always prompt your customers with an SMS marketing text to leave a review as well.

The reason it is so important to target repeat customers is that you can be sure that they already
have a positive opinion of your business. Otherwise they wouldn’t be coming back time and time
again. Getting repeat customers to leave a review will be crucial in getting more customers to
repeat shopping with you.

Respond to Negative Reviews the Right Way

Negative customer reviews don’t always have to have a negative impact on your business. Most
of the time a negative review will be a learning opportunity, and if you respond to it properly you
can improve your business and your customer’s perception of your business.

If you respond kindly, respectfully, and in a timely manner you will see that customers will
respect you for caring about their concerns and even consider giving your business a second
chance.

Highlight Your Positive Reviews

Positive reviews on Google are a good thing because customers can find them if they decide to
go looking for reviews. However, you can turn these into a great thing by taking positive reviews
and highlighting them so customers don’t have to search for them.

Take your best reviews and put them front and centre on your website as testimonials that help
build trust. You should also be taking reviews and posting them on social media where they
build more trust and often create further engagement.
If you have really loyal customers or work with influencers, you can also always get them to
create brand-related content by highlighting positive reviews through their channels.

Feedback is Always Welcome

Don’t think the job is over if you’ve asked for reviews and received it. You actually have to take
the time to read every single one of them and listen closely to your customers’ concerns. Don’t
be defensive, because chances are they are filled with a bunch of perspectives you hadn’t
considered before.

You can take these perspectives and turn them into ideas that will improve your business. This
goes double for negative reviews.

Offline Word of Mouth

These reviews won’t be the most seen but they will definitely be the most trusted. Word of
mouth always has been and always will continue to be the most influential and persuasive form
of marketing. There’s nobody we trust more than our friends and family. So when we hear them
recommend a brand, we’re more than likely to trust them about it. Offline word of mouth is
where reviews turn into referrals.

So remember that reviews are important on many different levels. They increase visibility of
your brand, help people establish trust in your company, and if taken seriously, will also help
you improve the way your business operates