You’ve heard the saying “the customer is always right.” While it may sound a bit dated, this old nugget of marketing wisdom is as true today as it was in years past.
The customer is always right, and ensuring they have a good relationship with your company is essential to your growth.
The question, then, is how to improve your ecommerce customer relationship management. Fortunately, there are many tested, tried-and-true tactics you can use in your customer relationship management journey, starting now.
Read on.
5 Tips to Improve Your CRM Strategy
Whether you’re a new company looking to enhance your ecommerce customer relationships or an established brand that wants to reinvent its customer journey, these five tips are just what you need:
1. Focus on the After-Buying Experience
The “after-buying” experience is one of the most essential, and yet the most overlooked aspects of the ecommerce experience. Typically defined as the period after a customer buys something, when they come back to return it to your website, the after-buying period is mostly regarded as an inconvenience but can be a major opportunity for your brand.
If you’re looking for a way to improve your customer journey, focusing on the after-buying experience is one of the most important things you can do. After all, a customer that has decided to return a product is still a customer, and this additional contact is a great opportunity to re-engage them.
Here are a few ways to make the after-buying experience profitable and smooth for you and your customers.
- Make Your Return Policy Bulletproof. While it may seem like your return policy isn’t something that many people pay attention to, the majority of customers read return policies before purchasing from an ecommerce company. With this in mind, create an outstanding return policy that takes their needs into account. Return policies should offer fast, streamlined returns, free return shipping, and as large a return window as possible.
- Resolve Client Issues. Many retailers assume that returns happen because a customer just didn’t like a product, but that’s seldom true. In fact, 65% of customer returns are the merchant’s fault! With this in mind, be sure that you’re being proactive about fixing customer issues in your after-buying process.
- Offer Free Returns. Right now, 49% of online retailers provide free return shipping, and it’s an essential perk for many customers. If you can, make your returns process free. This is an attractive offer for customers and helps make returns more straightforward.
- Offer Digital Returns. Customers want to be able to self-guide their returns via a simple digital platform. Offer this for them for best results.
2. Upgrade Your CRM
CRM stands for “customer relationship management.” If you’re having a tough time building relationships with your customers, you might need to focus on your CRM platform. The CRM market is growing at 27% year-over-year right now and is boasting an adoption rate of about 47%.
Because your CRM is the foundation of everything else you do with your customers, paying additional attention to it is an essential way to improve your tactics.
Wondering if it’s time to upgrade or improve your CRM? Experiencing any of these six things is a good indicator that the answer is yes:
- It’s desktop-based. There’s no reason to install anything on your desktop anymore. With this in mind, opt for a cloud-based CRM that is simple and easy-to-use.
- It’s tough to use. CRMs should be straightforward and easy for both you and your clients. If your CRM involves learning a foreign language or wading through a textbook-sized manual, consider changing it up.
- The support sucks. Lackluster support is reason enough on its own to switch CRMs. Assistance should be easy to access and convenient.
- Poor email connectivity. Email connectivity is essential for a good CRM. If yours doesn’t offer connected and searchable email connectivity, find a new platform NOW.
- Little client collaboration capability. Your clients want access to updates and flexible reports. With that in mind, you need to offer real-time collaboration capabilities that make it easy for clients to contribute updates and activities.
3. Provide Special Offers
People love getting gifts, and providing your customers with offers, coupons, discounts and deals is a great way to keep customers engaged and happy. If you’re new to the world of ecommerce, though, or you haven’t issued these deals that frequently in the past, you might be wondering where and how to start.
As a general rule, you should offer a percentage-based discount, dollar value discount, or gift to customers a few times a year. These perks can help increase average order size, clear out products that aren’t moving, and improve your customer loyalty rates.
4. Invest in Custom Packaging
Consider the following two experiences:
The first experience involves you ordering a product online. A few days later, a brown box shows up on your doorstep. The tape is brown, and the label is typed and generic. “Who is this even from?” you wonder. And then, “Oh, right.”
The second experience goes like this:
You order a product online and a few days later, a distinctly recognizable package winds up on your doorstep. Your heart beats a little faster as you get near. It feels like Christmas has come early. A great example of this is the Glossier packaging, as showcased below.
5. Reach Out After the Sale
Following up with customers after a sale can go a long way toward boosting your revenue and helping you find new customers. It’s also an essential way to grow your bottom line, as existing customers are 25% less expensive to make sales to than new customers.
With this in mind, build a simple follow-up strategy into your marketing plan. Things like simple thank-you notes, check-ins, referral requests and discounts are a great way to re-engage customers and keep them coming back for more.
Better Relationships Start Here
Improving your ecommerce customer relationship management process is an essential way to grow your business and produce the results you want. Luckily, following these five tips is a great way to get started. Don’t forget that improving your customer relationships is about much more than just money – it’s also a vital tactic for any company that wants to brand itself as caring, engaged, and respectable in its industry.
When taken together, these things provide the solid foundation you need for long-term success and recognition. For more insight, take a look at this infographic we’ve compiled that gives you the scoop on the most current 2018 CRM statistics.
