Most people associate customer relationship management (CRM) with tools, but it really counts as any action (passive or direct) that affects your relationship with your target audience.
Experts at essay writing service IvoryResearch have prepared a couple of tricks to harness your customer relationships and boost profits.
1. Track to convert
Using analytics, you are able to track how your target audience interacts with your brand. For example, analytics will show you their customer journey; how they move through your website, where they go and what they do before they convert (i.e. take a desired action). Using this information, you can run A/B tests to improve your conversion rate.
CRM Tip: Besides CRM analytics for tracking, you can also invite online visitors to sign up for free accounts to track their interests.
2. Track to follow-up
Using CRM analytics, you may be able to figure out why people left your website (i.e., exit intent) or abandoned their cart at checkout. Using cookies, you may be able to rekindle their interest, especially if you have automated marketing campaigns in the works.
For instance, if your website places a tracking cookie on a visitors computer upon signing up for a newsletter, using web analytics, the cookie enables you to track visitors’ behavior while knowing their email addresses. If a visitor abandons their shopping cart, you can send them a triggered email.
This Shopping Cart Recovery case study, by Marketing Sherpa, provides an inside and detailed look at the process.
CRM Tip: Entice online visitors to sign up for a newsletter or free account, and when necessary follow-up with automated systems when they don’t convert. If you can identify the area of your website that loses the most people, you can overhaul and redesign the user experience to boost conversions and overall brand experience.
3. Convert and follow-up
Selling to customers just once is a silly thing to do. Ideally, you want to create a customer for life. When people convert, it is a good idea to follow-up to keep them as warm leads for the future.
CRM Tip: Up-sell up when possible and offer after-sale incentives. Ask people to sign up for your newsletter as part of the conversion process, and make sure it doesn’t come from your website domain directly in case they block it.
4. Save money with automation
Marketing automation can be useful if you are running a website. In a nutshell, it is the software platforms and technologies designed for marketers to effectively market on multiple online channels and automate repetitive tasks.
Simple, but effective automation includes triggered emails such as a ‘Thank you!’ email after a purchase, a ‘Come back soon’ email after cart abandonment and a ‘We will answer you shortly,’ email after people submit questions online.
A simple automated message is an effective part of email workflow automation and will keep your target audience as warm leads whilst also saving your staff some time and effort. For instance, “Recipients anticipate transactional/thank-you emails because they help them complete an action. It’s the main reason why recipients open and click on them,” according to Hubspot.
“And as a marketer, you can easily take advantage of this dynamic by including highly customized calls-to-action in your thank-you emails to leverage the fact that the lead is fresh and already actively engaged with your brand.”
5. Form the right assumptions
Using analytics and online questionnaires or quizzes, you may be able to form assumptions that will further improve a customer’s user experience (UX). For example, if you offer a short form survey and the right incentive, you can capture information that will help you craft the right messages and offers.
6. Conduct small tests
The Internet is a great platform to run small marketing tests without a significant drain on time or resources, especially with regards to affiliate advertising. However, if you are willing to put more time into planning, you can save time and effort with implementation.
For example, you can ask customers via your forum, blog comment section, email or an online quiz what they think about an upcoming offer or idea. You could also offer a discount code. This gives you useful information and can boost sales as people redeem their discount.
The best way to save money is to save time. A few minor adjustments to CRM activities (such as automated emails) can improve costs associated with current marketing tasks and boost sales. Your business will become more profitable as you drive efficiency and increase your team’s productivity; and CRM is one area where this is a no-brainer.
This article has been edited and condensed.
Joan Gilbert is an adventurous person. When she was in college and studying journalism she launched a project essay writing service, IvoryResearch, that later became a business. Connect with @ivoryresearch on Twitter.
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