With These 11 Tips, You Can Improve Your Customer Relationship!
In this article, you will learn what good Customer Relationship Management means for companies and how you can increase the satisfaction of your customers.
- An investment in customer relationships is an investment in the future
- People today expect a good customer experience – they just call it something else
- Here are now 11 tips on how you can improve your customer relationships
- Conclusion
- The right tools that you can use for your customer relationships
We will survive - why satisfied customers are the key to business success. And how you can increase the satisfaction of your customers.
Who doesn't know it, the most used phrase in marketing: "For us, the customers are at the center". There's hardly any company that doesn't use this phrase somewhere in their brand values, strategy papers or service initiatives. Unfortunately, often without actually implementing this attitude into action.
Companies would do well to align themselves with the needs of their customers. Because satisfied customers simply decide on the success or failure of a company.
An investment in customer relationships is an investment in the future
Who values customer satisfaction? Apparently, many companies do not. Because those who have ever listened to a conversation between two salespersons, spent forever in hotline waiting loops, compared phone tariffs, or simply looked for a phone number on a company's website, may sometimes feel like a nuisance in the sales process.
The importance of customer satisfaction and its direct link to business success is underestimated.
Existing customers buy more often. And more. No big surprise and proven by studies. It is more likely that existing customers will buy a product again than that new customers will be won.Adobe already found in 2012that it takes five to seven first-time buyers to reach the value of a regular customer.
Still, many companies currently focus on acquiring new customers. This is particularly necessary for products with a low probability of repurchase and promises, of course, growth in the customer base – at least in the short term. This reads well in corporate reports and quarterly releases.
However, this strategy is not economical, sustainable, or future-proof.
Because: customers feel unappreciated and leave. This creates the pressure to constantly invest more in the acquisition of new customers and to keep the departing customers with high financial effort. A procedure that has led to sometimes ruinous conditions, especially in industries with term contracts. Who doesn't fondly remember the magazine industry and their friend referral offers...
Doesn't it make sense to establish sustainable customer relationships early on?
People today expect a good customer experience – they just call it something else
Recent developments have fundamentally changed people's attitudes towards brands and businesses and have driven a transformation that has been recognizable for a long time.
The way people shop changed with the Corona pandemic. In particular, consumers' tie to physical retail offers has dramatically diminished. No wonder – all the way up to the most basic daily needs had to suddenly be ordered online.
At the same time, brands have become more important. In a time of many disagreements, it's about trust. Trust in reliability, quality, and also positive societal impact. Particularly interesting in this context: nowadays, people trust brands/companies more than politics or non-profit organizations. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer 50 % indicate they would trust brands to do the right thing. Only 47 % or 41 % attribute this to public institutions or NGOs.
In summary: People are ready to show trust towards brands and companies. And in return, they reward the companies with loyalty and willingness to leave their money with these businesses.
Sounds good, doesn't it? So it's high time that brands and companies return the love of people.
Here are now 11 tips on how you can improve your customer relationships
1. Define goals
Relationship Goals is the keyword. And the tip is just as short: Consider who you want to build a relationship with and what it should bring to your business.
Easy to say – incredibly complex in practice. Perhaps a reason why many companies do not act accordingly and end up wondering why they do not know what their CRM brings them.
2. Change perspective and think as a person
What? We've always been doing that! The customer is at the center of us...
But in all seriousness: try it! And look at the things that you develop for your brand, as someone who has no idea of the company and wants to buy your products or make contact with you. You will very quickly see where it gets stuck.
And if you're having a tough time with that, then get outside opinions. There are now so many opportunities – from rapid user tests to mystery shopping – which are inexpensive and at the same time incredibly insightful. The easiest: ask your customers.
And keep in mind: for most customers, the experience with a brand is just as important as its products.
Salesforce, State of the Connected Customer, 2022
3. Stop talking about CRM as a channel
The same applies to the synonymous use of email or CRM as software. Customer Relationship Management describes first and foremost a strategic content task for a company. All product development, sales and communication activities are oriented towards the customers. And yes: for this, strategies, concepts, content, software and IT infrastructure are needed. But also in this order.
A company that has perfected this customer orientation, at least in product development, is Apple. The product design usually follows to ensure a simple user experience – and not to follow the enthusiasm of the developers. But German companies also distinguish themselves for their high customer orientation.
TUI Cruises, with its Mein Schiff, not only wrote at the heart of the brand that it is built around "me and my wishes". This guiding principle is also lived. In the form of a personalization strategy that unites product, communication and service in content and systems.
Seamless Customer Experience TUI Cruises
4. CRM is also not a project
Customer Relationship Management is a long-term task for the entire company. It's not about setting up a shiny marketing automation platform and then assuming everything will run by itself afterwards.
Anyone who seriously wants to implement CRM must be aware that this is associated with financial investments that are distributed over many different activities. From system architecture, communication strategy, building and expanding 1st party data to (new) job profiles. The good thing is: the investments will pay off. The challenge: the return on investment does not occur within a few months.
5. Get the right people – and give them decision-making competence
In marketing and marketing communication, there are various disciplines. And rightly so. The development of a CRM strategy and the implementation of this strategy requires experts who are able to bring together various departments – from communication to customer service to IT – to moderate the cooperation and above all to make decisions in the interest of the customers and thus ultimately also of the company. The hope that a project group without the leadership of a CRM expert is able to introduce CRM in a company proves all too often to be a fallacy in practice. And usually ends in the loudest department with its inner view prevailing.
6. Don't just collect data, work with them
Customer relationships can only be shaped if companies understand their customers. This means they have to work with data. Again, this doesn't work without a plan. The starting point is a data strategy that paints a picture of which data are collected at which contact points and how they should be used. It is important to establish the right mix of own and third-party data. Due to various privacy developments, it is explicitly highlighted here: 1st party data – i.e. the development of an own database – is essential for the future for both prospects and customers.
Netflix with its individualized content offers is a commonly used example here. If you want to know how the fashion retailer About You in Germany deals with data-driven customer experience, I recommend the OMR Podcast “Think with Tarek” with Henrike Böckmann and Tarek Müller. They give a deep insight into how customer and communication data come together in a dedicated business intelligence unit.
But you don't always need sophisticated data models. Many tools can help improve the customer experience – with plug-and-play solutions like, for example, the Salesforce Marketing Cloud's Sendtime Optimization. Thanks to this AI module, customers receive email communication at the best time for them. This can be a first step towards data-driven communication.
7. Be simple
Offer your customers simple products that everyone understands quickly. And don't distinguish between analogue and digital worlds. Honestly, no one outside of product management understands the difference between branch credit and online credit. People just want to take out a loan with you.
So give them the opportunity and get them to their (and ultimately your) goal quickly. The basis for this is a targeted customer journey management, where each touchpoint has a clear role and is suited to it.
Interesting in this context is the Indonesian bank Jago. It is a purely digital bank that is part of a network of partners. It's not about simple cross-selling. It's about building a service and product offering around people.
Bank Jago
8. Be approachable
People who seek contact with you usually do so for a good reason. They want to buy something and can't find their way around online or they have a problem. You should make the way to you as easy as possible for these people – and don't hide the mail contacts and telephone numbers in the back corner of the website. Because: people who had a good service experience talk about it and thus work as multipliers for you. People who have had bad experiences also talk about it. And unfortunately, they do this more often and also like to do so in social media and on review sites. Yes, good customer service costs money. But you will see – it's worth it. And you can thus save budget in the areas of digital reputation management and churn prevention.
The DIY store OBI sets standards in this area. For several years now, the heyOBI app has become the linchpin of the customer relationship. The special feature: it offers much more than just simple shopping offers and discount coupons. heyOBI has everything a customer's heart desires. Particularly noteworthy is certainly the advice via the app. It allows people to get expert advice from anywhere. With the OBI employees who know best about a subject. No matter what market they work in. So according to OBI Germany CEO Dr. Sebastian Gundel the heyOBI app is now used by 4 million customers and generates an average of 50 interactions per customer per year.
Hey OBI App
9. Focus your activities
Take a close look at what brings your customers and you forward. And bundle your forces to progress exactly these projects, offers and services.
Example Email Marketing: No one needs a poorly made newsletter, for which no one in the company has time, let alone content. And it is only sent because the customers have given a double opt-in. It can be perfectly adequate to accompany the lead process and the new customer phase (onboarding) with small, service-oriented email sequences. People appreciate high-quality and good customer service. They talk about it – and everyone is happy.
10. XaaS – think everything as a service
The digital infrastructure of the future must constantly evolve and easily adapt to new circumstances. Gone are the days of static and monolithic architecture.
Although this is still a historically conditioned reality in many companies. But only the most adaptable in their industry will win the evolution – NOW is therefore the right time to break up monolithic structures.
11. What applies to B2C also applies to B2B
All of the above points can also be transferred to companies that only serve business customers. Why? Because the commonly disseminated story "in B2B, other rules apply" is fundamentally wrong. It has always been like this – because when we go to the office in the morning, we are still the same people that we are also in our spare time. With the same attitudes, behavior and communication patterns. Only we have submitted to the fact that things run differently in B2B context, including ordering goods by fax. But this is changing now. More than half of B2B buyers (59 %) are between 26 and 40 years old. And these people expect that purchases in the B2B context correspond to the shopping experience in the private environment. Easy, fast, digital.
Conclusion
CRM is much more than just the buzzword it unfortunately still too often finds use in the world's business strategies. Building and maintaining customer relationships is a complex task of great economic importance.
If you want to do serious Customer Relationship Management, orient your business towards your customers. This is not a project, but a long-term strategy that brings changes for all corporate areas.
CRM changes the system landscape in IT, makes the service accessible across various channels, aligns communication with its content towards the customers and also affects the development and sale of products.
Only with a holistic approach can the idea of data-driven marketing be realized and a seamless customer experience be ensured.
To succeed, CRM should be in the hands of experts who are capable of connecting the various specialist departments.
Do you want more? Our guest author Meik Vogler also acts as an expert voice in our CRM software guide. Download now: CRM Software Guide
The right tools that you can use for your customer relationships
On OMR Reviews you can inform yourself about a range of CRM tools that can support you in promoting and maintaining your customer relationships. Based on the verified customer reviews, the following tools are particularly popular in our community:
CentralStationCRM
Salesforce Sales Cloud
Hubspot Sales Hub
Pipedrive
TecArt CRM
Zoho CRM
SuperOffice
Meik Vogler ist Geschäftsführer von Yours Truly, einer der führenden Digitalagenturen in Deutschland. Die Agentur ist Teil der FFW Gruppe mit über 800 Mitarbeiter*innen an 21 Standorten in 11 Ländern. Yours Truly arbeitet für Unternehmen wie ERGO, TUI Cruises, Chupa Chups und Tchibo. Seit über 20 Jahren berät Meik Vogler Unternehmen dabei, die digitalen Chancen für die eigene Marke zu nutzen. Vor seinem Einstieg bei Yours Truly arbeitete er u. a. für Ogilvy, die Serviceplan Gruppe und Jung von Matt. Meik Vogler ist KI-Enthusiast und Ambassador des Artificial-Intelligence-Center Hamburg (ARIC) e. V.
