The power of CRM: the importance of retaining your customers, and how to do it best

Customer experience is the new king, the biggest differentiator for companies, and personalization is probably the most important element of that. Let’s see, why.

Finding new customers, establishing, and maintaining a strong relationship with them is always a challenge for a company. It is commonplace to say, but still true, that attracting a new customer is much more expensive, than retaining a current one. It could cost more than 5 times as much!

If we look at fast growing companies, we can see several key traits in common. According to a 2019 report, one of these traits is, that such companies have a net retention rate of above 100%, and they managed to increase their annual recurring revenue (ARR) from existing customers by 35%.

Another research shows, that a key reason for customer churn is poor customer service, and generic, not personalized, therefore not very relevant offers. Cca. 1/3 of customer churn is the result of lacking personalization.

Customers in all age groups are having higher expectations regarding the level of service they get, but this is especially true for the younger generation, eg. 18-34 years old. 

So, it is clear, that excellent customer relationships are vital for the success of a business. And if we look at all these trends, we can safely say, that customer experience, as a buzzword and key focus area, will not go away for a while.

Customers need to feel that they have a knowledgeable partner, as their service provider, who always cares best for their needs. Such consistent experiences will create loyalty, customer satisfaction, and ultimately that will have a huge influence on company revenues and profits.

What can companies do, in order to make this all happen?

Instead of individual case managements, companies need to focus on entire customer journeys, and instead of being only reactive, they also need to take a proactive approach in customer relations, with the help of artificial intelligence and process orchestration.

Real-time continuous intelligence capabilities are needed not only to solve upcoming customer problems efficiently, but also to provide personalized advice and proactively care for customer needs. Orchestration of intelligent customer processes helps avoid siloed customer experience that is lacking context, while supporting automation provides smooth and fast workflows and quick case resolutions. 

And last, but not least, extensive self-service opportunities and OmniChannel experiences are becoming the new norm for the Connected Customers.

For companies, to keep up with this demand and maintain their competitive edge, they will need to have the right tools to manage the customer journey and build strong relationships.

A comprehensive CRM platform helps to consolidate old, disparate customer service solutions and enable companies to orchestrate consistent, personalized customer service experiences, and that will result in improved customer conversion and retention rates.

Etiya CRM is an AI-driven, end-to-end customer management tool, that allows companies to provide solutions based on predictive and prescriptive analytics, with operations streamlined through automation, while autonomous self-learning will ensure excellent customer experiences.

Etiya CRM serves as a solid base for excellent and long-lasting customer relationships, supporting business growth.