There was a time when customer relationship management (CRM) was not given much importance due to its lack of involvement in revenue generation and strategizing. However, with the advent of smartphones and social media CRM has gained back considerable importance. With a growing focus on customer behavior, CRM trends are becoming more flexible to accommodate changes in the business to deal with changing customer behavior. This can ensure best practices and continued innovation.

Over the years, the concept of CRM is becoming highly competitive and companies to stay ahead in the competition are continuously striving to improve the CRM strategies and solutions with a mindset to improve customer satisfaction. Although it is not easy to keep up with the speed of evolving innovation yet, industry experts ensure that they keep track of the latest CRM trends to keep pace with the evolution and also gain a competitive edge for achieving success.

Is customer experience that important?

Well, it is. According to secondary research, by 2020, customer experience is predicted to become the top brand differentiator. In fact, this year, a sales force survey was conducted where 84% of respondents agreed that customer experience is important. It also highlighted the fact that 66% of customers are willing to pay more for improved customer experience. There is no denying the fact that acquiring a new customer is always more costly than retaining an existing customer. Hence, the goal should be to enhance customer experience and boost customer loyalty. This is possible due to advanced technology and robust CRM platforms.

Emergence of AI

AI has vast possibilities, especially when applied in CRM as it can create personalized automated assistance. Automation can enhance productivity since it is less time consuming and can ease tedious and repetitive work. This, in turn, helps to understand the customer and create a personalized interaction scope. The natural language processing proves useful in conversational tools that can create impactful customer satisfaction.

CRM empowered with mobility

Mobility is an important aspect of sales activity. A mobile CRM solution can offer strong security features, instinctive interface, compatible apps and ease the transition between online and offline environments.

CRM and social media

Over the years usage of social media has increased to connect with the customers in real-time because it increases lead generation, customer acquisition, and retention. It is through the social channels that companies are becoming aware of the issues causing customer dissatisfaction. This revolutionizes the concept of customer success. According to industry experts, positive social media interactions make consumers 71% more likely to be loyal to one company.

CRM software: simple and user-friendly

The CRM software has evolved from what it was previously. It has become simple and user-friendly so that anyone accessing it can locate the required information easily. Especially with IoT in the picture, it has brought significant improvement in the CRM market. It enhances customer service, system performance, and sales.

Conclusion

Thus, we can conclude that the above are a few critical trends that organizations should focus on by 2020 to gain a cutting edge over competitors and enhance the scope of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

- Kathakali Basu
Content Writer
Infoholic Research