Omni-channel Social CRM for a Unified Customer Experience!
We live by the Mantra- Good Business is about great customer service. The impact of customer service should never be undervalued, especially when research backs the fact that 94% customers prefer buying again from the same company if they enjoy low-effort service experiences!
When it comes to enabling great customer service, social media has completely revolutionized the way customers interact with brands. Its convenience of eliciting one-to-one responses makes it one of the most preferred channels for resolving issues.
Customers today have unlimited choices, when it comes to interacting with brands of their preference.
Decoding Omni-channel CRM
Ideally, you should be where your customers are; but what if your customers are everywhere? *Today non-Voice interactions constitute >35% of the overall interactions. At this rate the digital interactions would overtake Voice based interactions in less than 2 years.
It becomes important to coalesce the information-rich online world with the brick-and-mortar world. This multi-channel approach helps to combine a strategy that enables brands to defend, differentiate and disrupt!
With omni-channel customer relationship management, you could achieve a holistic view of every customer relationship. With a unified marketing platform, businesses are strengthened more to deliver actionable data to marketers, which helps them furthermore.
Marriage of Social with Omni-channel CRM: What will it yield?
With innumerable modern options available today, creating a social customer service channel for empowering employees to assist customers is a prerequisite! Businesses such as Starbucks, REI, Moosejaw and Cabelas have apparently tasted the sweet fruits of success through the vivid omni-channel social CRM.
Retail giant Walmart was also never too far behind, and had invested not just in its brick-and-mortar presence, but also kept up with the 10% annual growth rate of US online shopping.
While some brands have taken their business online few brands have launched exclusive online product sets and also brands for the online consumers only. We see brands adopting different strategies to marry the Omni Channel customer engagement with their product and service portfolios.
De-Mystifying Omni-channel Social CRM
Recent research reveals that 64% customers expect real-time assistance, regardless of the customer service channel they use. Presence on practically every channel is possible only with the help of omni-channel social CRM!
Before we get to the opportunities associated with omni-channel CRM, let’s also get acquainted with the challenges. Businesses have lesser clarity about implementation strategies and have no clear goals. Conway’s law suggests that “Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce systems which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations”.
Hence absence of Omni Channel strategy in a way suggests fragmented organizational structure, systems and processes within an organization. This just results in no promising results as the strategies go wayward.
Here’s a brief lowdown to help you sail through the turbulent storms accompanying this massive revolution, without losing the focus:
- Customer Centricity with Intuitive CRM: The undeniable truth is that Customer is the King, and it is much more important to understand your customers from every angle. Today brands that understand their customers more are the ones that remain ahead of the curve. Don’t want to fall behind competition? If yes, prioritize on collecting the right data across the in-store, digital and social space!
- Align Business Goals with Technology: It is always preferred to begin your omni-channel strategies by prioritizing business objectives, rather than running after technology. The right coalesce of technology and digital strategy could deliver powerful results. Make sure your digital strategies are completely focused on your customer preferences. You could involve analytics technology as well to get a finger-on-the-pulse of your customers.
- Profitable Personalization: Personalization is a magic tool that endears a brand to its customers magically. Email marketing is hence, a sure-fire way to ensure best results for businesses. Perhaps this is why 60.7% businesses intend to increase their email marketing budget!
It makes much more sense to retain existing customers, rather than spending 6-7 times more to attract new customers. Today’s changing era calls for delighting customers and providing them with compelling experiences they’d never forget!
You could let omni-channel social CRM be your reliable anchor through these turbulent storms. Partnering with the right digital transformation partner, such as Conneqt Business Solutions, could help breathe life into your ambitious dreams.
Do you face challenges with omni-channel CRM? Share them with us, through your comments. Let’s simplify your challenges and script success!