Offering high-quality products and services is not enough to build a successful business. Following some of the practical and effective ways to manage customer relationships is critical.
CRM is at the heart of every industry today. The CRM market was valued at $58.82 billion in 2022 and will continue to explode in the next few years.
When we talk about ways to manage customer relationships, the approach is no longer one-dimensional. Customers today expect businesses to go the extra mile and display empathy in customer service. You can invest in the good customer service management tools to provide the better customer services. They are looking for an overall superior customer experience.
And if you want to build a strong brand reputation and skyrocket your sales, it’s quintessential to meet the expectations of your customers.
If that’s one of your primary business goals this year, take note of these 6 effective ways to manage customer relationships. Let’s get rolling.
6 Practical Ways to Manage Customer Relationships for Your Business
Effective customer relationship management can deliver multiple benefits for your brand right, from a Customer Education program to help them understand your products to customer retention to improved sales and gathering invaluable customer knowledge.
Lay the right foundation by building your customers’ trust first. Tactics like adding a Google review widget to your website and providing exemplary customer service will build their trust. Then apply these 6 strategies to manage customer relationships well and drive business growth and success.
1. Prioritize customers
At the heart of customer relationship management are your customers and to deliver a top-notch customer experience, develop a customer-centric approach.
In other words, prioritizing customers means aligning the goal of your marketing and sales team with the expectations of your customers.
You can create customized marketing funnels by anticipating customer pain points and needs at every stage. Leverage the best templates provided by ClickFunnels and other sales funnel tool. This Attrock list can help you to choose the right sales funnel tool for your campaign.
Stay focused on your customers even in the after-purchase phase. It’s one of the best ways to manage customer relationships. Besides, it sets the stage for future purchases and also boosts customer loyalty.
2. Have transparent communication
One of the effective ways to manage customer relationships is to maintain transparency in your communication. It’s a must-do if you are serious about building long-term relationships with your customers,
Whether you’re nurturing your leads, bonding with your subscribers, or trying to resolve issues for your customers, clear and timely communication can make a huge difference.
Some of the quick points to note are:
- Be consistent
- Stay positive and humble
- Speak customers’ language
- Use multiple channels like email, personalized recommendations, social media, or personal messaging channels
- Promise only what you can deliver
Make transparent communication a core part of your CRM strategy. When you are truthful and honest in your communication, you will always win loyal customers. B2C CRM software can help you automate many of these tasks, freeing up your time to focus on building relationships with your customers.
So if you haven’t already, work on developing your communication skills. It’s one of the critical customer relationship management skills you need to succeed in business.
For example, Healthcare brands leverage the good HCP engagement software to share their stories related to their services and patient testimonials. Digital HCP engagement strategies help them to communicate about their services and products in more convenient way due to the relevant audience.
3. Provide self-service portals
Did you know that 79% of customers expect brands or organizations to provide self-service support for customers on their websites? And 77% view an organization more positively if it offers client self service portal options.
While a good percentage of customers still want to speak to a customer service rep to gather more information or resolve their issues, customer self-service has emerged as one of the more popular ways to manage customer relationships.
Along with having a FAQ page and educational hub resource page, you can implement a chatbot and create a response tree that provides the most suitable responses to customer queries.
Training videos and learning resources can be used to provide information, guide your visitors, and answer questions without human involvement. Such material can be very effective for content marketing too. By incorporating a user onboarding tool, you can seamlessly integrate training videos and learning resources into your onboarding process, enabling automated delivery of valuable information and enhancing the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts.
This collection of knowledge-based articles by HiverHelp Scout, for example, can be very useful in customer self-service.
4. Boost your first-call resolution rate
When we are discussing ways to manage customer relationships, our focus is on elevating the overall customer experience. And first-call resolution is a critical element in improving CX and AI based Chatbots like Chatsonic can be of great help here.
FCR rate represents the number of calls or queries resolved in the first interaction with the customer. It indicates how efficient your customer service is and how well you understand your customers.
Some of the tips to improve the FCR rate are:
- Anticipate customer needs
- Understand queries clearly
- Offer precise answers
- Provide easy-to-follow instructions
- Answer all the questions
- Train your customer support reps
- Review and update your support channels regularly
The greater the customer satisfaction, the better will be your relationship with your customers.
5. Develop an attitude of appreciation
Our list of practical ways to manage customer relationships is incomplete without this point. Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, you should always appreciate your customers for choosing you over your competitors.
As a gesture of gratitude, you can come up with a variety of reward programs based on the products or services you offer. Consider giving:
- Gift vouchers
- Exclusive discount codes
- Free subscriptions
- Free sample packs
Whether you’re establishing a new ecommerce business or your business has been around for a while, find ways to be creative with your rewards. Remember, your rewards need not be big but they should certainly add value to your customers. Make them feel special and cared for.
6. Measure the effectiveness of your CRM efforts
One of the best ways to manage customer relationships more effectively is to evaluate the quality of your existing relationships. And who better to do that than the customers themselves?
Customer satisfaction survey is a key indicator of the effectiveness of your customer relationship management tactics. You can use polls, Mailchimp surveys, and feedback forms to ask for customers’ opinions about the CX you offer. Use tools to gather customer reviews and comments from different platforms. If you rely on influencer marketing for your business, their feedback too could be beneficial for you.
Analyze the data you collect and base your strategies on the insights gathered. It’s one of the most effective ways to manage customer relationships efficiently.
Get Ready to Better Manage Your Customer Relationships in 2023
Businesses of all sizes need CRM. And by adopting actionable ways to manage customer relationships you can boost your customer lifetime value (CLV).
Here’s a quick recap:
- Prioritize your customers
- Keep communication open
- Have a self-service portal
- Increase your FCR rate
- Appreciate your customers
- Continuously measure customer experience and improve your strategies
Go ahead and incorporate the tactics I have shared in your CRM strategy to enjoy increased customer loyalty and enhanced sales.
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