Extending customer loyalty is extremely important in today’s business environment, particularly due to mounting competition and increasing client acquisition costs. Compared to trying to penetrate new markets and find brand new customers, it is much easier to cross-sell, upsell, and retain existing highly satisfied clients. Companies committed to earning and maintaining customer loyalty will definitely experience steady revenue growth, lower cost of sales, and higher profits, no matter what state the economy is in.
As Forrester, a leading market research firm in Cambridge, MA, notes,
“Customer relationships are now the only remaining source of competitive advantage,
which makes earning customer loyalty mission-critical in the age of the customer.”
Implementing a leading-edge CRM system can serve as the foundation of a firm’s transformation to becoming more customer-centric and focusing on customer service quality and loyalty. A highly flexible, intuitive, and scalable CRM system enables firms to better measure customer satisfaction levels and to collect and analyze their needs. Having both good and bad customer feedback stored directly within CRM is an integral part of having customers feel that their product suggestions, complaints, or praise is taken seriously and always valued.
Overall, companies that receive, document, classify, and act on client insights are better positioned to not only enhance service levels but also demonstrate that client feedback is valued and encouraged. For instance, with the help of CRM, companies can identify recurring root causes of customer service inquiries and react more quickly to prevent the situations from occurring again.
Additionally, customer suggestions and likes or dislikes can be referenced to improve products and services and create new innovative, profitable ideas. Likewise, CRM can pinpoint competitors that consistently keep stealing business along with the main reasons the deals are lost. Therefore, sales and marketing departments can more effectively and efficiently adjust to modify their sales pitches and product development accordingly. Furthermore, repeat customer praise can be a HUGE clue for determining how to allocate and target future marketing campaign advertising dollars.
Firms that are committed to capturing client feedback, purchasing preferences, and interaction history directly within the centralized CRM repository are definitely able to forge stronger bonds with customers. Since companies are now more in tune with the needs of their customers, they can deliver more relevant and targeted proposals, particularly to their current most profitable segments and their future most profitable segments.
Over time, customers will begin to see that the more regular communication and frequent offers they receive are useful and meaningful because they are more tailored and personalized to their unique needs. Thus, customers will feel more appreciated, buy more often, and become more loyal.
Moreover, as positive news about the firm spreads, referrals will pick up, and company revenues will further increase. Other advantages of this emerging newfound customer loyalty are that clients will be less sensitive to price increases and they will be more inclined to pay their invoices on time.
To sum up, CRM can serve as a springboard to help you strengthen your existing client relationships. It doesn’t stop there, though! Fostering stronger customer loyalty will ignite your sales figures and allow you to gain significant market share over time…Woo-hoo!!!…The Crowd Goes Wild!!!
Does your organization have an official Customer Loyalty Program in place?
If not, how are you consistently and successfully deepening loyalty with your customers?
Please weigh in and leave a comment below.
