3 ways of how to use CRM in marketing

1. Reach loyal clients

GetResponse data show that over 65% of companies generate stable revenues mostly thanks to loyal customers – in particular in the B2B sector. It is easier to maintain an existing client than acquire a new one.

It’s unfortunate that many companies tend to forget this simple truth and don’t care about consumers. A probable cause is the lack of data analysis or awareness of what the current relationship with the given customer looks like. The information regarding his engagement in the content provided, currently available products or services is scattered.

Collecting such data in a CRM system is very easy, accessible to all persons involved in the process (both marketers and traders), and easy to monitor.

When was the last time a customer used your services? And after what amount of time do your consumers usually return to you? How many products do they use, what do they choose most frequently, and what lifetime value can you expect from them?

Through the analysis of such metrics, you can predict what is worth offering individual consumers before they realize they need it!

A simple example: an advertising agency designs a logo for a customer. It turns out that clients return to this agency a few weeks later, asking for more materials: leaflets, roll-ups, etc. This type of behavior can be predicted (or spotted in the data) and you can prepare a proactive offer for this client.

Proactivity is the key to building loyalty.

2. Individualize contacts and offers

In B2B, business is based on relations. In B2C clients are also paying more and more attention to customization, i.e. adapting the displayed messages or products to their exact needs and preferences.

A clever marketer must therefore tailor the communication to consumer expectations. This is especially important in B2B (again!), because the sales process supported by marketing activities often takes many months.

So if we base our actions, for example, on providing engaging content but do not make sure it appeals to specific people, e.g. from our e-mail database, we risk triggering the recipient’s annoyance and, as a result, losing a sales opportunity.

Sound like a grim scenario? It can be prevented by being prepared and collecting the relevant data.

Thanks to a CRM system and its integration, e.g. with tools for marketing automation, there is nothing to prevent you from, for instance, tracking which articles published in our newsletter or in the social media attracted the attention of which particular person. This way you can make sure that the next batch of communication will be suited to this person’s specific preferences.

Another, even easier solution? Correctly configured fields in the CRM system and manual input of data regarding customer needs.
Example: You sell insurance. During a conversation with a customer you learn that he is going to buy a house soon. You take a note of this piece of news and set a reminder for the right date. When the day arrives, the salesperson will make contact and offer the right product.

Does it sound like it’s a lot of work? No worries – the process can be easily automated. Moreover, the development of artificial intelligence will make this task even easier. Einstein Salesforce will be able to anticipate what should be sent to the potential customer and when.

It is already possible in terms of content, however, the system needs data for analysis. Thanks to the right tags and labels, the system recognizes the user’s preferences. Regardless, providing the right content is not all. The system will also adjust subsequent e-mail marketing sequences or the appearance of landing pages so as to ensure the highest possible conversion.

3. Properly evaluate the campaign’s effectiveness

Every type of marketing activity has its own metrics.

You evaluate social media judging by engagement, number of visits to the website, range or frequency of coming across your communication. In the case of e-mail marketing, the right metrics will be, for example, the percentage of opened messages, the number of times the website was visited, the number of new addresses acquired for the database. Webinar is for example the number of subscribers, the ratio of live viewers to subscribers or conversion to the landing page.

Why provide all these examples? Because they all point to one thing – a vast array of many different indicators that you must observe, but most importantly, you have to juxtapose them with each other. However, at least some of them are incomparable, which causes a problem: how can we measure the effectiveness of actions that cannot be directly compared with each other?

There are two steps to take. First, you need to define your own metrics that will be consistent. For the purpose of the discussion, let’s assume a simple situation, that your metrics will consist merely of filling in the key forms on the website.

You have two options now – typing in the data manually (good luck!) or taking advantage of ready integrated solutions such as those available in Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Pardot. This way the data will be fed directly into the CRM together with the appropriate attribution of the source. You will easily be able to see which marketing activity has brought you the most benefits – whether it was sending newsletters, regular activity in social media or maybe just webinars.

However, before the user finally converts, you need the data that will help you determine the probability of conversion. We know, we’re like a broken record when we say this, but it is worth it – especially in B2B and sales processes spread over many months.

Fortunately, thanks to the tools available in CRM systems – including Salesforce – you can use scoring, i.e. assign points for specific activities to leads and users.

Set specific values for different ways of engaging with your content – watching webinars, downloading PDFs, reading guides. Then use this data in your analysis.

• zero scoring – you have clearly not matched the content to the recipient or you have chosen the wrong target group
• slowly growing scoring – things are moving in the right direction!
• very fast growing scoring – hmm, something is going on, the lead is extremely interested – maybe one of the salespeople should pay closer attention to it?

Put a little bit of work into implementation and such operations will be available to you.

Is it worth putting in this much effort?

We touched on only a few small areas and the possibilities of using CRM in marketing communication and, at a later stage, linking this activity with sales operations. There are, of course, many more opportunities and soon we will present other solutions on our blog!

Is it worth going to such great lengths? If the prospect of increased conversion is not enough for you, listen to your customers. According to Marketo data, 64% of them say that positive consumer experience (e.g. an individualized purchasing process) matters more to them than price.

This means that they are ready to pay more for the quality of service, both online as well as in real life. This trend simply cannot be ignored.