Digitizing customer relations: the key to boosting sales

What are the new challenges of customer relations in the digital age?

As physical stores and sales outlets have been forced to suspend their activities for exceptionally long periods, retailers have naturally turned to digital channels to keep in touch with their customers. It was in this unprecedented context that the digitalization of customer relations accelerated.

This multi-faceted phenomenon refers both to the dematerialization of exchanges and points of contact between a company and its targets, and to the transformation of purchasing paths. At the same time, brands are making increasing use of digital tools to better organize the management and monitoring of their customer relationships, and thus improve their customer service practices with a view to building loyalty.

As a customer relations professional, in sales, marketing or customer support, are you looking for a better understanding of the challenges and benefits of digital transformation of customer relations and customer paths?

In this article, co-written with Frédéric Canevet, author of the book Le Growth Hacking, discover the keys to understanding the digital customer journey, and some ideas for implementing it in your organization!

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The challenges of digitalizing customer relations

New customer expectations

With the advent of new technologies, buying habits and consumption patterns are changing, as are customers' expectations of brands.

Increasingly connected and well-equipped, customers expect brands to offer them the same seamless service they enjoy with their everyday digital habits :

• availability,
• immediacy,
• interactivity.
  
  

It has become commonplace and even expected to be able to dialogue with the brand at any time, on any medium, anywhere.

The purchasing decision process is also influenced: with easier access to information, digital customersgather information, compare offers and study the opinions of other consumers. They become more demanding and critical before making their choice.

Finally, like the exploding trend on social networks, customers expect to join a community and rally around shared values, supported by the brand.

Towards an omnichannel customer relationship

These new consumer behaviors have an impact on brands' customer relationship management practices, which must constantly adapt.

Indeed, consumers do not hesitate to interact with brands using all the media and channels available to them: e-mail, telephone calls, social networks, chatbot, video, etc.

To satisfy this strong demand for interactivity, a brand must not only multiply communication channels to facilitate exchanges, but also enable its customers and prospects to use the channel of their choice and switch from one to another at will.

Rather than multi-channel, customer relations become omni-channel, offering customers the possibility of interacting with the brand throughout their journey, while guaranteeing the same quality of service.

The objective? Deploy strategies to deliver a fluid, coherent digital customer experience that maintains continuity and provides personalized support.

The barriers between the physical and virtual realms are becoming increasingly fine-tuned, and the customer journey is becoming phygital, with points of contact both online and offline.

Big Data for customer relations 3.0

With an ever-evolving digital ecosystem, the possibilities for companies are expanding all the time with Big Data: large volumes of data can be collected by cutting-edge technological tools, then exploited within the framework of customer relations.

We're talking here about customer data from all their behaviors and interactions on digital media and channels:

• websites,
• mobile applications,
• social networks,
• chatbot, etc.
  
  

By aggregating and analyzing this data, we can identify key trends in your target audience, prospects and customers:

• their profiles,
• their engagement with your brand,
• their preferences,
• consumption habits, etc.
  
  

By leveraging this type of data to create a digital customer relationship strategy, brands are better able to offer a tailor-made service , providing users with what they're looking for.

The most advanced technologies even go so far as to anticipate customer needs, to better respond to their future requests. This predictive marketing serves to :

• to fulfill customer expectations , by doing everything possible to meet them as soon as they are formulated,
• and to develop products and services that are perfectly adapted to them, thus enhancing customer satisfaction.
  
  

Finally, by taking an interest in customer feedback, the data collected contributes to a logic of continuous improvement. Whether it's a question of sources of satisfaction or expressed frustrations, every company benefits from relying on reliable, quantified feedback to identify and rectify its shortcomings.

It will then be in a better position to improve its digital marketing strategy and steer it towards a better customer experience, which is also a source of customer loyalty.

A word from the expert

There are several phenomena at play when it comes to changing customer expectations and consumption patterns.

The first is that customers are more demanding and harder on companies and their teams. 22% of 18-24 year-olds have already hung up on an agent, and 14% have insulted an agent, compared to 5% for the population as a whole (source).

At the same time, the French are more zappers, as 48% of them have been seduced by a new brand or store they don't usually frequent. Among 18-24 year-olds, the figure is 55%, and among 25-34 year-olds, 57% . 52% of consumers are attracted to special offers or innovations (source).

Beyond consumer behavior, tomorrow's world will be resolutely more complex. One example is the impact of ecological and climatic changes. For example, the cost of heating in buildings currently accounts for around 25% of utility bills. However, with the end of Russian gas supplies, the price of gas has multiplied by 2 or 3, which means that from now on, there will be more heating costs than the rent for the premises themselves. This will put pressure on costs, and therefore on service and product quality.

Customer relations managers will face a double challenge:

• on the one hand, to improve the customer experience and make customer journeys more fluid, and to make the difference at moments of truth with committed employees;
• on the other hand, to meet customer expectations (reachability, omnichannel, SLA, response times, etc.), while controlling internal costs through automation, digitalization and increased customer service productivity... and anticipating technical and human changes (recruitment, etc.).

This means juggling customer experience and cost control, which won't be easy!

Frédéric Canevet,

Why digitalize customer relations?

It's becoming essential for brands to transform their customer relationship management digital, in order to offer a high value-added experience and quality customer service.

Digital tools help to create a seamless customer journey that facilitates the act of purchasing and offers your customers the best possible experience - simple, personalized and positive. This not only improves your sales, but also activates levers to build an effective loyalty strategy.

In addition to providing a satisfying shopping experience, digital allows you to nurture the relationship you can develop with your audience prior to purchase , in order to :

• make yourself known and attract the attention of prospects through inbound marketing,
• facilitate their search for information,
• forge a bond with your target audience,
• interact directly via the channels of their choice, etc.
  
  

These are all assets in a highly competitive world where the battle for attention is raging, and where the customer's entire experience is at stake. customer's brand experience can be a decisive differentiator from the competition.

A word from the expert

How can we avoid "dehumanizing " customer relations in the age of digitalization?

Customers are not against automation, when it's well done, and when you still offer the possibility of speaking to a person or being contacted by an agent. We certainly need automation (self care, web...), but we still need to retain "human " channels (telephone, chat...), because certain customers and certain requests require speaking to a person, for reasons of criticality, illiteracy, reassurance...

This is what we observed in the " Customer Service of the Year" survey , which shows that digital and traditional communication channels are cumulative, but not substitutes. The telephone may have been declining over the past 10 years, but it remains the number 1 communication channel, with a drop of only 4 points in 10 years.

It is essential to give customers a choice of communication channels, because it is above all the "human " channels (telephone, etc.) that give customers the most confidence. Hence the need to analyze interactions, identifying those :

• those that serve no purpose and need to be reduced or eliminated;
• which should be automated, as there is no advantage to human processing;
• which still need to be handled by a human being, as they require listening and analysis... ;
• which generate added value, and should be developed.

Frédéric Canevet,

Benefits of digitalizing customer relations

For the customer

• multiple communication channels for contact with the brand, which can be reached regardless of the medium used,
• effortless access to information at any time, whether from the brand itself (website, social networks, etc.), or from other consumers (reviews, recommendations, etc.) to validate their purchasing decision,
• the fluidity of a coherent, pleasant customer experience,
• responsive customer service to answer questions or requests,
• personalized offers to meet expectations as closely as possible, etc.

For the company

• the automation of low value-added tasks in favor of human processing of more strategic tasks (for example, a chatbot handles simple requests and redirects high value-added requests to advisors),
• improved customer loyalty, thanks to enhanced customer service quality,
• enhanced customer knowledge, thanks to the collection of a variety of data, and in particular the study of customer behavior, to always offer a better service,
• the definition of an appropriate marketing strategy, with the possibility of carrying out targeted actions and evaluating their impact,
• develop a positive , attractive brand image ,
• improved sales, thanks to facilitated purchasing experiences and the creation of a relationship of trust, customer loyalty and retention prove profitable in the long term.
  
  

💡 But then, must "digitalized" rhyme with "dehumanized"? While interactions between brands and customers are becoming digitalized and customer journeys automated, this doesn't rule out human contact. The emotional, empathetic and close dimension created by a brand also involves direct exchanges with those who represent it.

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How can we successfully digitalize customer relations?

Get all departments working together

A successful digital transformation of customer relations requires major changes within the organization. Sales, marketing and customer support teams need to be involved in the project and work hand in hand. This enables the strategic visions of management teams to be combined with data from the field.

Communication on the benefits of this digitalization is essential, so as to highlight the opportunities it represents for each team involved, and not to be perceived as restrictive.

Define an omnichannel customer journey

Take stock of the current customer journey, define clear objectives for improving each stage, and create an action plan: the digitization of customer journeys must be carried out in project mode if it is to meet with the expected success.

The aim of omnichannel is to offer the same quality customer experience, whatever the channel used, while being able to follow the customer across all channels: decipher their behavior to get to know them better and build loyalty, from pre-sales to post-sales.

Use the right digital tools

To achieve this, we recommend the implementation of tools to create a "seamless" digital experience, ensuring continuity of information between the different marketing channels used:

• a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to centralize customer data, in order to gain greater customer knowledge and improve the quality of customer relations,
  
  
• a Customer Data Platform, for a comprehensive, in-depth view of a customer's lifecycle and the creation of precise segments for targeted marketing actions,
  
  
• a marketing automation solution, to implement automated marketing actions and enrich the customer experience,
  
  
• self-care tools to inform customers, respond to simple product issues and anticipate their needs: chatbot, newsletter, dynamic FAQ, tutorials and resources on the website, etc.
  
  
• opinion management systems to gather customer feedback: satisfaction questionnaires, rating systems or NPS scores, etc. to improve the purchasing process and eliminate potential friction points, etc.

A word from the expert

When it comes to the tools and technologies that seem essential for effective digitalization of customer relations, the first observation is that you should only open channels that you are capable of mastering.

For example, there's no point in opening "hot " channels (i.e., with synchronous interactions with customers such as chat, WhatsApp, Facebook...) if you can't ensure good quality of service within the expected waiting times.

Here are a few examples of customer expectations (source: "Élu Service Client de l'Ann&e acute;e"):

• telephone: less than 2 minutes acceptable to 59% of customers (50% in 2019) ;
• chat: less than 1 minute acceptable to 54% of customers (66% in 2019);
• social networks: less than 30 minutes acceptable to 46% of customers (62% in 2019);
• callback: less than 15 minutes acceptable to 61% of customers (74% in 2019);
• email: less than 1 day acceptable to 78% of customers (90% in 2019).

So start by responding correctly on existing channels before opening new ones.

On the other hand, AI should be used to automate certain processes and make customer journeys smoother. In particular, chatbots and callbots can automatically handle between 5 and 10% of interactions.

However, automation should only be used if the process is already well mastered: if a customer service agent can't easily give an answer to a request, a chatbot or callbot won't be able to do much better!

Finally, don't use high-tech for its own sake. Sometimes, you have to think "low tech ". For example, sometimes, instead of setting up a callbot, it's simpler to set up a visual IVR, which costs 3 to 4 times less for similar performance in certain applications.

Frédéric Canevet,

Study the customer journey using indicators

To improve your customer journey and fine-tune your digital strategy, rely on performance indicators or marketing KPIs that will help you better understand user behavior, habits and preferences.

Here are some examples of KPIs to evaluate

• time spent on certain key pages of your website,
• click-through or open rates for your email campaigns,
• usage rates for each communication channel,
• the number of visits to your dynamic FAQ,
• the most frequent requests, etc.
  
  

The tools you choose must include functionalities to facilitate this evaluation and produce reports ready for analysis and action.

Your objective? Thanks to the customer knowledge you acquire, you can organize a personalized and efficient customer service, throughout the entire customer journey, and develop a Customer centric strategy so that the customer remains at the heart of your entire approach.