By 2020, some predictions claim, the most important factor for standing out from the competition will not be your high quality product. It won't be advertising budget. It won't be low prices.
The key factor: customer experience.
What does that mean? According to Customer Experience Futurist Blake Morgan, it means that your customer's perception of your brand IS the reality of your brand. If they feel you offer everything they need, then you ARE the best company.
Daniel Newman provides even more support in his article on Forbes.com — Want Better Customer Experience? Combine CRM and Customer Feedback:
- 86% of buyers value a high-quality experience
- Finding new clients costs 6 times more than retaining current clients
So how do you get to the point of pleasing and retaining these customers? The short answer is customer feedback. Establish a company culture where listening to your clients happens continuously. Then get the information your staff gather to the people who need it.
For this aspect of the solution, your CRM system is the go-to resource. It's already designed to store and distribute and act on customer interactions. The bulk of Newman's article focuses on reasons why you should maximize use of your CRM in order to improve customer experience.
First, he touches on how data organization is a core feature of CRM tools. Each client record is an ideal gathering point for the insight that client shares with you. And additions to each growing relationship record can be routed to the right group in your organization. Whether it's a support issue, a comment on recent marketing efforts, or input about your website, the information can be directed to the people who can respond best.
Next, Newman discusses the trends and patterns that will help you make strategic choices for your business. It's hard for regular folks to process the amounts of data that will highlight these openings. But with some computer assistance, your staff can recognize where customers are leaning into your brand and where they're tilted away from you. Numbers are the easiest to crunch of course, but the spoken and written feedback can be just as important for a more clear understanding of why your customers are doing what they're doing.
Finally, the article concludes with a warning to not underestimate any client feedback. This goes back to the customer-centered culture you need to establish. Part of this mindset needs to be that even if the person who receives the feedback doesn't see the value, they still record it in the CRM system. Going farther, even if no one sees the value right now, the feedback might be useful to identify new projects or initiatives. In essence, clients who will tell you what they think are an invested think-tank for your company's long-term growth.
Whether you have an expensive CRM package, a home-grown solution, or if you're considering the best routes to upgrade your CRM tech, there's always a way to capture customer feedback. Taking advantage of that knowledge will help you improve customer experience and rise above your competition.
aACE 5 takes customer feedback seriously. Not only was our product developed based on this kind of user input, but it also features robust functionality for recording customer interactions — from anywhere in the system. Likewise, emails and attachments can be automatically linked to the relevant records. Your sales team can access these materials, as well as the goal setting, schedule planning, and quote preparation tools. All the facets of your complex relationships can be tracked in the aACE 5 CRM module. Learn more today.
"aACE Software helped us visualize our information in a way that we did not have available to us with our prior ERP/CRM system." ~ Daniel Peleg, Exec. VP of Operations and Business Development, Consumers' Choice Awards
