Should you dedicate your time and budget to attracting new customers, or should you focus on keeping the ones you’ve got? According to Invesp, a consulting company specializing in conversion rate optimization, retaining customers is not only more cost effective; it’s also a revenue generator. Of course, acquiring new customers is critical, too, but focusing on customer loyalty can help improve the customer experience, increase customer satisfaction, and, ultimately, grow your bottom line.
How? Happy customers will spread the word about your products or services. They will recommend your company to friends and colleagues and will likely do more business with you. Unhappy customers, however, will not keep silent. They will tell others about their poor experience with your company, which will hinder your efforts to acquire new clients. Dependable, high-quality customer service is crucial for offering a better customer experience and increasing customer satisfaction—which builds customer loyalty. Finding and applying the right CRM software will help you accomplish these goals.
Increasing Loyalty and Profitability with Right CRM System
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a powerful customer service tool for businesses of all sizes, in any industry. It increases customer service quality by managing leads, contacts, opportunities, customer accounts, and customer cases. And, as mentioned above, high-quality customer service builds customer loyalty, and customer loyalty increases profitability.
For example, an Invesp infographic shows that:
- It costs 5x as much to attract a new customer than to retain an existing one.
- The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60–70%.
- Loyal customers are 50% more likely to try new products, and they spend 30% more than new customers.
Investing in the right CRM software can help you harness the possibilities your existing customer base offers.
CRM software stores and presents customer information in an organized, consolidated system—freeing companies to do away with ineffective paper-based solutions and to stop storing customer information in jumbled, cumbersome email systems. Quotes, invoices, and support cases are easily accessible in one location, instantly providing relevant, updated data. Being able to automatically track customers’ interactions with the company—from first contact, sales, and fulfillment to after-sales service support—allows for quick and accurate responses to customer requests and concerns. This readily accessible data streamlines the customer service process, meaning that your customer service team does not have to start from scratch with every phone call or chat, and customers don’t have to repeat themselves each time they speak to a representative. No one is placed at an information deficit; no one has to dig for data and answers; and this increases both employee and customer satisfaction.
CRM software also helps businesses prioritize customer requests. If you receive ten requests per day, and if you respond in a first-in-first-out pattern, you may inadvertently sideline a time-sensitive concern. For example, if your credit card were stolen, you would want the credit card company and bank to prioritize your issue above someone who is just asking how to earn points for purchases.
Often, customer service methods are reactionary—addressing issues only after they have happened. This is a dissatisfying and frustrating process for customers, who may feel that you have not taken their needs seriously, and for customer service representatives, whose duties shift from assistance to damage control. However, investing in CRM software is a strategic move through which businesses can proactively address customer needs and concerns before they become issues. Customer loyalty increases when people feel that a company cares, and proactive CRM is an important way to show thoughtful attentiveness.
Is your business handling customer needs correctly? You’ll be able to answer that question, and many more, because CRM software tracks customer service metrics and data, such as customer satisfaction and service levels. It also gives you the opportunity to customize those metrics for your business needs, according to what customers are reporting. This provides powerful data you can use to enhance your product or service and create a customer roadmap to excellence.
For the Best CRM Software, Turn to Acumatica
To build relationships with happy, loyal customers (who will draw new happy, loyal customers to your business), it’s time to find the right CRM software. Acumatica’s Customer Management Suite should be part of your ERP research and ERP evaluation.
Unlike our competitors, Acumatica’s CRM system was built as an integrated solution within our cloud ERP software. As Stacy Guccione, Sr. Product Manager at Acumatica, explained in 3 Reasons to Integrate Your CRM and ERP, “One of the unique things about the Acumatica CRM solution is it is fully embedded as part of the entire Acumatica ERP. You don’t have disconnected information in two separate places. And it gives you the ability to have a complete view of all of your customers’ information within a single database in a single user interface. It means that everybody has access to the same information, whether that’s somebody in marketing, sales, customer support, or finance.”
Ready to learn more about Acumatica’s cloud ERP solution and Acumatica CRM software? Contact our team today. Your current and prospective customers will thank you.