How to implement an effective CRM strategy? Our advice + examples

Have you implemented a CRM strategy in your company? Or are you thinking about it and looking for tips and methods to make it happen without a hitch? Then you've come to the right place.

Implementing a CRM project in your company is no trivial matter. Not only does it make it easier for your sales force to boost your sales, it also accelerates the development of customer satisfaction and helps you establish a healthy, lasting relationship between your customers and your company.

Did you know that acquiring new customers costs a company five to ten times more than retaining existing ones? That's why it's imperative to implement a precise CRM strategy that coincides with your company's overall strategy.

See all software Customer Engagement

What is a CRM strategy?

CRM strategy: definition

CRM strategy lies at the crossroads between a company's sales and marketing concerns. It involves defining processes so that the actions of all departments (sales, marketing, support, etc.) converge towards a single goal, at the heart of the company's concerns: the customer journey.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is based on :

• active listening, to precisely define your customers' needs, deal with their objections and know how to respond to them, provide them with a tailor-made offer and a pleasant customer experience that will help build loyalty,
• but also on a multi-channel approach to reach customers through different means (emailing, website, social networks, telephone, etc.).

💡 CRM also refers to the software that helps manage customer relations.

CRM software: an integral part of your CRM strategy

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is the best tool for building effective customer relationships. It enables you to understand a customer's entire relationship with your company at a glance, from a single interface where all customer data is centralized.

It concentrates all your company's business processes in a single software application. It then becomes a collaborative workspace where each team defends the same customer relations policy.

It contributes to the company's overall development, through :

• customer acquisition,
• customer loyalty,
• more precise definition of the sales offer,
• collaboration between different departments (sales, marketing, support, logistics, etc.),
• increasing sales, etc.

Put your CRM and customer relationship management at the service of your corporate strategy.

3 examples of successful CRM strategies

Example 1: Sephora's CRM strategy

Sephora has activated various levers to build its CRM strategy around its community:

• community spaces where customers can exchange opinions and advice on hygiene, beauty and make-up,
• an attractive loyalty program,
• the possibility for in-store advisors to use customers' loyalty accounts to find out about their preferences and offer them the best possible service.

👍 Why is this a good CRM strategy?

• ✅ to create excitement and commitment around the brand,
• ✅ in-depth knowledge of customers to better satisfy them,
• ✅ a loyalty program that encourages purchases.

Example 2: Airbnb's CRM strategy

Airbnb has perfectly succeeded in building a 100% automated customer journey, where customer service only intervenes when a lodger or user encounters a problem. Here's what's automated:

• the sending of emails of accommodations similar to the search performed, which can also be recommended by retargeting,
• notifications sent throughout the process (booking confirmation, reminder a few days before the start of the stay, activities to do in the area, etc.),
• a program that rewards referrals with discounts.

👍 Why is this a good CRM strategy?

• ✅ customer support benefits from more time to devote to those who need it,
• ✅ the referral program helps grow the community,
• ✅ inbound marketing actions bring the user back to the site to convert into a buyer.

Example 3: Leroy Merlin's CRM strategy

Leroy Merlin has relied on content creation to bring added value to its audience. It offers:

• DIY and decorating tutorials with products available in store, to show them in action,
• community spaces for exchanging tips and advice between DIY enthusiasts,
• a loyalty program to reward loyal customers.

👍 Why is this a good CRM strategy?

• ✅ Watching videos enables personalized offers to be made later,
• ✅ the content offered is high quality and a guarantee of trust for prospects and customers,
• ✅ a loyalty program that encourages purchases.

How do you set up a CRM strategy?

1. Define a global corporate vision

This first step is crucial to the success of your CRM strategy. Before diving in, you need to lay the foundations, and that starts with a thorough understanding of your company's environment:

• What are its strengths and weaknesses?
• What are the market opportunities and threats?
• Who are your prospects? Who is your ideal customer or marketing persona? Etc.

Then you can calmly define the direction you want your company to take, and how you want to delight your customers, and offer them the best possible experience!

To help you do this, you can draw up a set of specifications.

2. Set clear, shared objectives

Now that you've set the course, it's time to set the objectives you want to achieve:

• determine a marketing plan and actions to achieve them,
• check that the CRM strategy is working,
• motivate everyone to achieve them,
• control ROI.

We advise you to define SMART objectives, i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-defined.

💡 In addition, they need to be shared and agreed by all stakeholders in the CRM strategy, to ensure that all efforts will be made in the right direction and in the right way, and maximize the chances of achieving them.

3. Review or determine processes and methods

It's crucial to review your company's internal processes to gear them towards customer satisfaction. This may involve setting up a 360° customer file, or personalizing customer communication to better understand each customer's preferences and support them at every stage of the sale:

• pre-sales: needs analysis, information gathering, prospect research,
• sales process: automation of tasks (making contact, follow-up, drawing up sales proposals, etc.),
• customer relationship management: a personalized relationship with each customer to offer a customized and satisfying customer experience, with the aim of meeting their needs and building loyalty,
• after-sales service (SAV): online assistance and support help to resolve customers' problems more quickly to, once again, provide them with a quality and comprehensive service, and build loyalty.

💡 What software can help you?

• The all-in-one, ultra-ergonomic monday.com CRM management solution, guarantees complete, personalized support for all your sales cycles (from prospecting to negotiation to after-sales service). Improve the productivity of your teams with real-time monitoring and reporting, so you can make more relevant decisions at every stage of your purchasing process!
  
  
• Webmecanik Pipeline software has all the features you need to structure your CRM processes: sales pipeline management, customer data centralization, dashboards, opportunity detection... But above all, it's 100% free, intuitive and easy to configure.
  
  
• Sales Cloud CRM, published by Salesforce, streamlines all your sales and customer relations processes. Thanks to this software, you get a 360° view of your contact interactions and business opportunities, and you can better project yourself into the future with sales forecasts. It's the perfect tool for boosting productivity and achieving your sales targets!

4. Adopt a multi-channel approach

The growing number of new sales and communication channels has changed the customer experience. Companies are facing more competition, making it harder to retain customers. More options, more offers, easier to change... Customers are more volatile than ever before.

A multi-channel strategy enables you to multiply the points of contact with prospects and customers, via :

• emailing,
• postal mail
• website,
• mobile, which is playing an increasingly important role in customers' purchasing practices, notably with SMS marketing,
• social networks, etc.

Emailing remains the channel most used by companies: 91% of advertisers use it almost systematically, whether it's a promotional or informative email, or a newsletter. (Source: comarketing-news)

A study published in 2017 lists the channels most used by companies in 2016: emailing tops the list, followed by the point-of-sale network and the website.

5. Exploit your database

Customer data is becoming both the wealth and the priority of companies, as its analysis enables personalized campaigns to be run, in terms of messages as well as the offer or customer journey, to target and reach customers ever more. Take care to comply with the RGPD.

This is where a marketing automation tool comes into its own. Mapp Cloud's all-in-one marketing automation solution collects, analyzes and leverages your customer data from different channels, to define customer insights and enrich your marketing campaigns (email, web, SMS, mobile push, social).

Using predictive intelligence, you can anticipate target behavior, segment your audiences, script the customer journey and, ultimately, support your CRM strategy and create cross-channel customer engagement.

Mobile has become a prerequisite for a successful omnichannel strategy. Its integration with other channels is no longer an option for companies today.

6. Equip yourself with a CRM

We've already looked at a few examples, but if you want to stand out from the crowd, there's nothing like CRM software. It's an infallible tool for capturing more customers thanks to the multiplication of online contact points, and, above all, for building and retaining their loyalty.

• The French software Webmecanik Pipeline has all the functions you need to structure your CRM processes: sales pipeline management, centralized customer data, dashboards, opportunity detection... But above all, it's 100% free, intuitive and easy to configure.

• A CRM solution such as Simple CRM enables you to stick to your strategy and drive your business forward. The collaborative aspect of this tool helps federate all your teams to move from digital marketing to marketing for digital customers. All efforts are focused on the customer to establish a global strategy that combines the "physical" and the digital.

Want more choice? Discover more CRM software

What results can you expect from an effective CRM strategy?

The successful implementation of a CRM strategy makes it possible to :

• gather a maximum amount of information on contacts,
• qualify prospects,
• segment prospects,
• focus on the hottest prospects in the conversion tunnel,
• increase your sales,
• analyze customer expectations in greater detail,
• formalize your business strategy,
• define the customer journey and lifecycle,
• improve your brand image, etc.

Is a CRM strategy different for B2C and B2B?

Selling to private and business customers is different. Here are the differences between the two approaches to customer relationship management.

• The size of the customer database: the main difference between B2C and B2B concerns the customer file. B2C companies need to manage many more prospects and customers, and therefore require a high-capacity CRM tool.

• Purchase volume and value: a B2C customer tends to buy a product more often and in greater volume. In B2B, on the other hand, purchases are generally one-offs, but with a higher value (one-off purchase or via subscription). This means maintaining a strong relationship over the long term.

• Personalized customer relations: in B2B, messages are much more personalized. In most cases, the relationship is one-to-one. In B2C, e-mails are generally sent en masse, with minimal personalization (registration, purchase, birthday, etc.) and automation.

• The length of sales cycles: in B2B, the steps involved in converting a prospect are longer than in B2C. Initial contact, price negotiations, proposals, demonstrations... The process can take months. In B2C, everything can be done automatically and in just a few minutes.

How to adapt your CRM strategy for inbound vs. outbound?

There are two possible approaches to implementing your CRM strategy: inbound marketing or outbound marketing. Here's how to do both.

Inbound CRM strategy

The first step is to segment your leads. In other words, analyze the behavior of your target audience and how they interact with your content. Gather as much information as possible to segment your users and create suitable contact points (ebook downloads, webinar participation, etc.).

Create automatic, personalized workflows that resonate with your audience using a lead nurturing strategy. In this way, you can intelligently steer prospects towards your products, with (almost) total autonomy.

Finally, adapt your strategy by analyzing the most relevant metrics and KPIs (conversion rate, number of leads, etc.).

Outbound CRM strategy

First, create a list of targeted prospects. Many CRM tools enable you to search for qualified prospects. With access to social network or platform databases, you can select the most relevant leads. You can also make use of contact lists captured via your inbound strategy, if you have one in place.

To maximize your conversion rate, personalize your messages. The goal? To be as relevant as possible to each prospect and answer all their objections. Keep a record of each interaction to optimize your future messages.

Next, optimize your outbound techniques by analyzing specific metrics. These include: response rate, as in inbound, but also other specific metrics such as cost per acquisition.

See all software Customer Engagement

Tailor your strategy

CRM is an invaluable tool for sales and marketing staff alike. It's the key to successful customer relations, and to building customer loyalty.

However, this is only possible if a CRM strategy has been defined upstream, so that all efforts converge towards a common goal: customer satisfaction. The CRM strategy also helps to structure your internal processes and get your teams to work together to drive forward your overall corporate strategy.

In order to get as close as possible to your needs, why not consider an audit of your existing processes and strategy before developing your customized CRM strategy? That way, you'll be ready for a successful CRM integration.