Charles Heunemann takes us through why the emotional component, as well as two other critical CRM needs, are crucial in achieving customer loyalty. Charles is the Managing Director of Natterbox Limited Australia, VP Asia Pacific – a telecommunications company that specialises in delivering an exceptional and personalised customer service for their clients to use.
From first-hand experience with delivering great experiences, he delves into the simple ways businesses can get the emotional bit right, whilst also addressing functionality and accessibility.
At the end of the day a business is only a success if your customers return, so using your CRM data to help achieve this is a no-brainer.
In today’s competitive marketplace, meeting your customers’ needs and building loyalty demands more than simply offering great products and services.
Today’s customers will only be loyal if you provide a great customer experience.A great experience happens when you meet the three basic needs of a customer which are:
- Functional need (Did it meet my goal and solve my problem?)
- Accessible need (Was it easy?)
- Emotional need (How did I feel? Was the experience enjoyable?)
The last need, the emotional component of the experience, determines whether it was ok or exceptional. To create loyal customers, the experience must be enjoyable, so they want to do it again. To know what your customer enjoys you must really know your customer well, not just have their name on a mailing list. This is why every business needs a sophisticated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
How to make the most of your CRM system
A CRM system is a powerful tool – much more than a subscriber mailing list or a way automating customer relations. Your customer data is one of the most important resources your business owns. It’s also often the most under-utilised resource.
CRM data is valuable intelligence about your client and customer’s needs, preferences, purchasing habits or interests. Harnessing this data allows businesses to create a valuable, memorable, personal experience each time customers interact. This provides a real strategic advantage if you know how to harness it well.
Here are three ways to maximise the valuable potential of your CRM.
- Create a more personal, emotional experience
Today’s customers expect the VIP treatment and a personalised customer experience. Customers will unsubscribe or disengage quickly if they have shared information with a business but receive an impersonal, irrelevant experience.
When your customer interacts with your business, a sophisticated CRM system can identify them instantly, like a VIP. This gives you the power to make personal recommendations and anticipate their specific needs.
For example, CountryRoad Group usesits integrated telephony CRM system (provided by Natterbox) to identify their loyalty members for their different brands (Trennery, Witchery, Mimco and Country Road) via their phone number when they dial; this means they can greet the customer by name, and quickly service their requirements drawing on information from the membership record under the corresponding brand that instantly appears on their CRM screen.
It is a simple, yet powerful way to make the customer feel special and valued, creating a memorable service andlong-term loyalty. Personalisation creates the kind of experience that customers will rave about and keep coming back for!
- Build loyalty and targeted marketing strategies
A CRM system allows you to analyse your customer’s journey and see when, how and how often a customer engages with your business. It can also capture valuable feedback about whether they are motivated by seasonal sales periods, offers or other promotions. This can be translated into highly relevant and effective marketing strategies, targeting the individual customer on a deeply personal level.
Your data can be used to decide where to invest to meet your customer’s needs or just ease the customer’s engagement with you. If you can see your customer prefers to interact over the phone, you can ensure their calls are always answered quickly. If they prefer a mobile app, this might be where you focus your investment. Gathering this intelligence means your CRM system must track all contact touchpoints as well as ask questions via feedback surveys.
- Real-time information with dynamic data capture
Your CRM system is the engine driving your business, but only moves you forward when the engine’s running. The customer data must be accessible and dynamic in real-time, available at every touchpoint with the customer, digital and physical and especially on the phone.
If a customer contacts you with a question or problem, they typically expect their next touchpoint to be a seamless experience. Phone communications (Voice channel) require a valuable CRM platform to safely record and access data, enabling businesses to have a 360-degree view of their voice interactions in real-time. Having a chat over the phone enables businesses to build genuine relationships with their customers and provide a human touch that other digital channels can’t achieve as easily.
Our podcast episode with Charles talks further on this topic of customer loyalty, as well as his personal journey of founding Natterbox and growing it to be the international company it now is.
