How CRMs can elevate customer engagement and efficiency

The average customer likely never thinks about the role that data plays in their experience with a brand. But, when they’re having a particularly helpful or frictionless interaction with a brand, that positive encounter is likely driven by millions of data points converging in a solution known as a CRM. 

CRM, or customer relationship management, tools have existed since the 1980s, but they’ve evolved greatly since then. Today’s CRMs are the orchestration hubs of the customer experience where brands can capture data points from across sales, marketing, operations, and service and then use that data to create exceptional customer experiences. Modern CRMs have AI (artificial intelligence) embedded into their workflows, which allows brands to realize even greater levels of personalization and automation than they could just a few years ago. 

CRMs enable personalization and that’s good for engagement

Think about your last really great conversation. How did it make you feel? Understood? Valued? What about your last conversation with a contact center agent or chatbot? It was likely a very different experience. 

Fundamentally, customer engagement is a series of conversations or interactions through both in-person and digital channels like bots, chats, FAQs, social media and more. Every one of those touchpoints is an opportunity to improve or diminish customer engagement. 

If the brand behind an agent, chatbot or other digital channel is using a CRM to its full potential, those interactions can feel more like great personal conversations. The CRM helps the bot or agent know the customer and what matters to them so they can offer relevant answers, express empathy, and create higher customer engagement. 

For example, if a customer is dealing with a defective product, the last thing they want is to receive an email campaign selling them more of the product. They want a replacement, a discount, or new warranty. Because the CRM can connect the data from nearly every point in a customer journey, it can create a holistic customer view that helps power the right message at the right time – no matter what channel the customer is engaging on. 

Advances in CRMs spur customer efficiency

Knowing customers and personalizing experiences to their preferences can also drive efficiency. In the past, a brand might have known that a certain segment of customers likes outdoor activities, so they’d market generically to that segment with all their outdoor offerings. 

Today, with a CRM, brands can know that one segment of customers likes camping, while another likes cross-country skiing. With that knowledge they can tailor more precise marketing and offers that lead to a more efficient sales process. They’re not wasting customers’ time with irrelevant marketing or offers. 

CRMs also spur efficiency within customer service operations. By connecting customer data points, agents and bots can know who a customer is and why they’re reaching out without the need for the customer to re-explain their issue. For example, if a customer first interacts with a chatbot, but ultimately needs to speak to a human representative, often they need to repeat their problem. With a CRM, the information from the original chat can be passed seamlessly to the human representative, along with all other relevant customer information, so that the issue can be resolved more efficiently. 

A CRM is only as good as the data that feeds It 

This article began with the premise that data is what drives exceptional customer experiences. CRMs are powered by data, which means they are only as good as the relevant data they can surface. 

Before a brand can realize value from a CRM, they must have a solid understanding of who their customers are. What products do they have? What does their marketing engagement look like? Brands need to collect relevant customer information to help the CRM create a holistic picture. 

Next, brands need a way to connect that customer knowledge with their CRM. Some marketing, sales, and contact center platforms connect well with different CRMs. Brands may also consider consolidating point solutions by choosing a CRM that already incorporates those functionalities. For example, if a brand has an external marketing platform, they might decide to transition to a marketing platform that's already built into their chosen CRM.

Evaluating a CRM strategy

There’s no doubt that a CRM can be a powerful customer experience differentiator, but before implementing this type of solution, brands should ask themselves four questions:

1. What are the business outcomes you’re trying to achieve?
2. What do your customers need to achieve those outcomes?
3. What do your employees need to facilitate those outcomes?
4. What role does CRM play in that strategy?

The answers to these questions are essential for understanding where a CRM fits within your customer experience strategy.