The democratization of big data means today’s marketers are more equipped with a wealth of information about their customers’ preferences, history and buying habits.
It also means they’re more likely to leverage customer relationship management (CRM) tools to gain a competitive edge. Thanks to the internet of things and personalization technology, capturing customer data with minimal interaction is easier than ever. The information that’s needed to monitor and utilize CRM data to improve CX and enhance brand-customer relationship is out there.
According to Econsultancy, 94% of companies see personalization as the driving force for business success. But even if they’re aware of the benefits of personalization in CRM, 72% of these companies say they don’t understand how to carry out CRM personalization.
The most common barriers to building a personalization strategy include:
- lack of technology
- inability to translate data into action
So how can companies unlock the business value of customer data and use it to personalize their brand’s message? Below we’ve compiled a list of the top 4 strategies to use for CRM personalization.
1. Monitor and Analyze
Targeting the right consumer base and communicating the right information to them starts with segmentation.
Detailed demographics and consumer behavior analysis, such as clickstreams on the web, product usage, support tickets and calls to call centers, provide companies with important insight into the consumer journey and their consumers’ future needs. Being able to connect with your consumers on a personal level can be tricky when there’s a screen involved.
Tip: Learn who your customers are first. It’s all about studying your customer base – their behavior, needs and concerns.
Monitoring who did what, when and where allows you to analyze your audience in detail. Mapping out who your customers are according to age, gender, usage trends, survey results and more is key for defining your customer base.
This segmentation process is a crucial first step to communicating with your customers on a more personal level and is a precursor for how to personalize CRM data.
2. Segment and Profile
Equipped with this analysis, you can create a few customer profiles to guide you on the best way to approach each one.
Take Gen Z, for example. This ultra-connected generation deserves their nickname as Digital Natives. Growing up in a world crowded with digital spam and hard-wired for time, they crave authenticity and expect quick, relevant and personal responses.
Tip: Get to know your customers’ unique needs.
Understanding your customers’ pain points and preferences will affect how you position your messages and campaigns as well as your overarching customer experience strategy.
3. Implement CRM Personalization
There’s no time like the present for 1:1 interactions. So what makes your customers tick and what makes them click?
- 42% of CTAs that are targeted to a specific user convert better than generic ones.
- 74% of online consumers get frustrated when they receive offers, ads, or promotions that have nothing to do with their interests.
Tip: Personalize your communications.
With advanced analytics, you can identify your customers’ digital steps. Knowing where they are and what they’re doing on the web is a CRM personalization data goldmine. The insights you get allow you to serve each individual according to their profile, style, preferences and needs. With this, you can match your offerings, promotions, images and even the best time to communicate with each individual customer.
Note that we’re talking about true personalization here, not just segmentation, as you can see in the video above.
4. Add Video Personalization
The power of video is no secret. Cisco predicts it will account for 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022. We already know it’s an immersive medium, able to emotionally connect customers to brands and causes.
People process images as quickly as 13 milliseconds, much faster than text, and video is the next step up. Research shows that video helps people remember information longer, share it more and can even increase conversions for relevant products and services.
With video, you have a storytelling tool at your fingertips, and with Personalized Video, you can make the story about your customers.
That’s what BBVA did with their innovative Future Self campaign shown above. They sent a Personalized Video to pension holders from the future — at least, how their future might look if they contribute appropriately to their pension now.
The result? An increase in contributions as pension holders understood the need and felt the compelling, emotional appeal. Satisfying both logical and emotional arguments for your customers is an essential component of the decision-making process, or as we like to call it, the secret psychology of sales.
Tip: Try personalizing videos with the data you have available.
You don’t need to use 10+ data points to make a Personalized video effective. Start with the data you have. Even the first name and pivoting the message slightly — say for new customers versus long-time fans — helps to take advantage of the power of first-party data for CRM personalization.
Consider Dale Carnegie’s famous phrase:
“A person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
Now apply it to video.
When you present a customer with a video that’s personalized, they hear their first name, see relevant imagery and data points, and receive content that matters to them. A genuine connection is made.
Personalized Video is the next best thing to replicating face-to-face interactions. It makes you feel like there’s someone else in the room, sitting next to you and explaining the details of the program you signed up for or offering you a special deal.
CTA aside, providing customers with individualized content tailored to their needs and preferences promotes brand affinity. By showing your customers you understand them on a personal level, they know you care about them. This becomes the foundation for long-term customer loyalty.
Using Your CRM for Personalization
Any implementation of a CRM personalization strategy often means an upfront investment of time and resources to ensure success. But in the long run, such a strategy has a proven track record of driving down marketing costs, increasing customer engagement and enhancing customer loyalty.
Remember that you can start with the data you have and use personalization throughout the customer journey — from acquisition to onboarding to upselling and retention. In fact, you can do it yourself with our fully open Next Generation Video Platform.
Want to see how Idomoo’s platform connects with CRMs to help you put that data to work? Reach out to request a demo. We’d love to give you some pointers for powerful CRM personalization and much more.
