Is a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy necessary for every retail business? The short answer is yes! Let's look at how and why a CRM strategy can help you leverage customer data to build more profitable customer relationships.
A CRM, or customer relationship management system, is a software platform that organizes your business's customers and leads so your sales and customer service teams can track their activities and stay in touch. This is mostly used in a business-to-business (B2B) model.
A retail CRM, in comparison, is intended to support high-frequency, repeat purchasing for brands working in the business-to-consumer (B2C) world. Retail CRM software provides individual customer insights, such as the best time to communicate, ideal channels, and specific offers based on past purchases and predictive analytics. It allows brands to get personal with customers and tailor messaging based on what individual customers like and respond to, ultimately increasing their customer lifetime value.
Customer data is a goldmine, but having a CRM solution isn’t enough—you also have to turn that data into action. A CRM strategy or customer marketing program takes your CRM data and uses it to inform more effective marketing campaigns.
A great case can be made for using a CRM strategy in any customer-facing industry. In particular, retail brands have much to gain from analyzing their CRM data. Understanding customer data can help retailers effectively win new customers and reactivate unengaged ones.
Let’s look at three primary ways a CRM solution can help your retail brand win new customers, reactivate lapsed customers, and build customer loyalty.
Do you know your customers? A CRM strategy can help you answer that question with a resounding “yes!” A great place to start is learning how many customers you have and how many are currently active.
You can also segment your customers into groups based on shared characteristics. Customer segmentation helps you better understand the types of consumers your company appeals to so you can market to them more effectively. For instance, you may find that a large percentage of your customers are young parents. Marketing effectively to this group may look different than marketing to another segment of your customer base, like retirees.
Why do you want to know all that information about your customers in the first place? Getting to know your customers through data helps you gain insights into how they interact with your brand.
This means you can assess your current performance and predict future trends. For example, you may find that your average transaction value is pretty low, signaling that it might be time to concentrate on cross-selling, upselling, and point-of-purchase opportunities to boost transaction values. Or you may find that you can count on certain customers to make a purchase seasonally with a well-timed marketing campaign.
If you ever feel like you’re throwing things at the wall and hoping something sticks with your marketing campaigns, it’s time to start making informed decisions based on real customer data.
In addition to getting the big picture of your customer base, you can also use data to zero in on customer details. Storing and accessing information specific to each of your customers can help you with personalized marketing.
Personalization is becoming essential for modern retail marketers. In a 2022 survey, 62 percent of consumers said a brand would lose their loyalty if they delivered an unpersonalized experience. You can’t afford to not personalize your retail marketing if you want to keep customers coming back for more. Personalize anything from emails and direct mail to promotional offers, product recommendations, and more! It’s all possible when you put your CRM data to work for you.
A retail CRM strategy is a must if you want to understand your customers, make data-driven decisions, and leverage personalization.
The right partner can help you realize the benefits of customer marketing while taking much of the burden off of your team. Baesman helps retail brands collect the right data and use it to create meaningful customer relationships, effective marketing campaigns, and robust loyalty programs. Learn more about our CRM and analytics services and check out our eBook, Customer Analytics 101: How to Derive Data-Backed Insights!