By: Hibbah Butt, CMMP— Contributing Author
Marketing in the 21st century is more advanced than it has ever been. Companies understand the significance of customer satisfaction versus simply selling their products for profit. In other words, marketing has evolved from companies solely wanting to sell their products to becoming more focused on the value of the consumer. Customer Relationship Management plays a major role in this area.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM), as defined by salesforce.com, is a technology for managing all your company’s relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers (“What is CRM? A Definition by Salesforce”). With CRM marketing, companies are able to manage their relationships with their customers and find patterns to help them market their products individually. The purpose of CRM is to incorporate business strategy, operations, and information technology into a system that successfully increases retention and loyalty in customers.
Customer Experience Management (CEM) is an extension of CRM, and focuses on the satisfaction of the individual consumer. Companies that implement CEM are focused on providing a quality experience to individuals who consume their products. These organizations value the opinions of their consumers and strive to leave a positive impact on individuals. This system places an emphasis on a good experience versus the value of a product or service. The idea behind this is that a poor customer experience does not create long-lasting relationships with customers whereas a good experience encourages loyalty. Furthermore, the idea of CEM prevents the company from earning bad profits. Bad profits are essentially profits earned from customers who feel misled, mistreated, ignored or coerced. They often arise from companies who value saving money over delivering a quality experience. The issue with bad profits is that they are short-lived and do not contribute to the success of the business in the long-run.
Why should you implement CRM?
The implementation of CRM is beneficial for a number of reasons. Firstly, it helps increase efficiency when interacting with customers. The greater the amount of information collected, the more likely the success of the company. Gathering relevant information on individuals who consume your products or services allows the business to operate smoothly in all aspects. Specifically speaking, CRM is revolutionary for marketing as it goes beyond traditional methods to cater to people based on specific wants and needs. Finally, in a world where the customer is a top priority, it is essential to adapt the same way of thinking in order to successfully compete in the marketplace.