Not so long ago when eCommerce was just emerging, an online retailer’s biggest priority was to sell products below the cost one would pay in a brick-and-mortar store. Thanks to low overhead, cyber-sellers almost always came out ahead in the arena of pricing. Recently however, Internet merchants are encountering new competitors who are just as lean and mean as they are: other eCommerce businesses. As a result, vicious price wars are becoming the norm. To avoid being at the losing end, you need just one thing, a customer relationship management (CRM) software package like OroCRM.
You may have heard of CRM and dismissed it as just another flashy eCommerce fad. However, a much better way to think of it is as your own personal rolodex—on steroids. That’s because CRM harnesses and makes maximum use of the customer data you collect. As a result, you can accurately identify your target audience and market directly to them, thereby significantly increasing customer satisfaction and edging past your competition. CRM also helps you become more efficient by automating many of the accounting and customer management processes that currently hog so much of your and your staff’s time. Combine that with tools that enable you to produce reports that track customer metrics, sales and marketing, and you will begin to see how CRM can revolutionize your business, boost sales and enable you to attract and keep customers for the long haul.
If you want to leap past all of your competitors, you must be so attuned with each of your customers that you anticipate their needs and customize the products you offer to them. Does this sound like magic or telepathy? Maybe, but it’s not. In reality, a good CRM package can make loyal customers as much of a reality in your company culture as are payrolls and W-2’s. In conjunction with your eCommerce platform, CRM will enable you to collect and integrate large amounts of customer information that will elevate your business to the next level.
CRM might not be warm and fuzzy in itself, but it can certainly help your customers to have very positive reactions toward you and your business. That’s because when people feel like they are important and unique individuals whose business and opinions you value, they will stick around. From your perspective, the longer they stay, the more opportunities you will have to market to them in a customized way and, ultimately, the more products they will buy. Furthermore, a happy customer will often spread the word and channel more potential buyers to your website. Another advantage of customization through CRM is that it minimizes the number of returns and charge backs your business will encounter. When you have a thorough understanding of what a person wants and needs, you are less likely to provide him or her with a solution or product that is destined to fail.
Think of CRM as a business partner who can give you inside track information about your valued customers. With very little effort on your part, you can benefit from a steady stream of data that can enhance your customers’ experience, funnel to them only the information and promotions that are relevant and make shopping on your website positive and productive every time. Once you integrate CRM into your eCommerce platform, you will soon be asking yourself how you and your customers managed for so long without it.