Using CRM to Build Your Brand
Brand Management and tracking the customer experience go hand in hand. Whenever a customer is interacting with your product or service, your brand name and image becomes your point of recognition upon which your other benefits depend - differentiation, reliability, the quality of products, customer service and so on are all triggered by brand awareness.
As well as the obvious key factors in establishing a powerful brand: product development, marketing, sales, post-sales support and so on; a CRM solution is a great way of maintaining the impact:
Keeping the Message Consistent
Through carefully managed communications with the customer which follow company guidelines, the brand image is never compromised by conflicting messages being sent out. CRM assists in this by enabling you to use the latest branded email templates for all your correspondence, ensuring your customer-facing voice is consistent.
Living Up To Customer Expectations
Similarly Helpdesk tickets and support issues can be logged and dealt with according to categories and types. The customer knows there is a consistent approach in place and this helps set an accurate expectation of your customer service department.
Managing Accounts on an ongoing basis
Customer accounts can be successfully managed within a CRM solution - non-intrusive communications on the platform and regularity as defined by the customer means you are increasing the likelihood of your marketing messages meeting a positive reception. This is a big step towards building customer loyalty in your product and brand. Loyalty is a huge step towards repeat purchases - the customer knows you and the mechanics of your product and organisation.
Analysing results - both good and bad
The reporting facilities within CRM give you the ability to analyse and track your organisation's activities on many different levels. A couple of examples are producing reports which show who in your customer base is making repeat purchases and with which regularity. You can view your most loyal customers as well as your most profitable. You might want to segment your customer base into different categories, and in your CRM you can then trigger different actions to those different customer groups. Once you have segmented and discovered your brand advocates you have some very rich information which will help you manage your customers efficiently and to a high standard across the board regardless of the point of contact the customer will have in your organisation.
As well as managing your best customers, you can also review and analyse weaker areas - customers you are in danger of losing to a competing brand, prospects that express an interest in your brand but then move away, or repeat problems arising on the helpdesk. Reports showing this data may highlight weak points that need to be addressed in order to make your brand more attractive in those areas you currently have no impact.
These are just some of the many ways you can use a CRM solution to support your internal and customer-facing brand management.
OpenCRM is a UK based provider of fully featured hosted CRM software that is easy to use and intuitive with a familiar interface and powerful features. We also offer a flexible bespoke Consultancy, Training and Support service which can be tailored to suit your needs by our clever team of professionals.
For all matters CRM including links to a demo please visit OpenCRM
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