There are many channels and platforms that customers can connect to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram have been a resounding success even in the private sector in recent years. Social networks have also gained the business world and are not just marketing channels, but are now essential tools for customer relations. A close connection with social networks is an important selection criterion for evaluating a CRM tool, even if your activity is still limited to simple social platforms.

Even though email interactions are starting to lose weight, e-mail remains a widely used means of contact in the corporate sector. They remain much more important than any tweet or post when it comes to the customer relationship. A CRM system must therefore at least allow the integration of emails and customer accounts, and offer the best features to automatically save messages and assign them to customer profiles individually. In addition to emails and social media, some CRM applications can also assign phone calls and chat histories and save them in customers or subscriber’s history or accounts.

Marketing and Lead Functions

Customer relationship management and marketing are closely linked. indeed, a better knowledge of customers greatly increases the success of marketing actions. The same goes for leads (or prospects), i.e. potential customers. However, with a fixed and limited Marketing budget, you dread to see the costs of your campaigns explode. The more clients you have to deal with, the more difficult it will be to adapt marketing actions to targeted groups and clients. That’s why many CRM tools contain features to automate different marketing steps. This can include the automation of the following processes:

• The CRM tool automatically sends you a notification after a period of time to perform a specific marketing action.
• The application provides a prediction of the probability of conversion, that is to say, the fact that a prospect or lead becomes a customer after a certain period of time.
• After a specified period, the program automatically starts an action and sends a customer a voucher or discount coupon to make a future purchase.
• The CRM system automatically integrates external software such as an email marketing program.
• The tool creates detailed analyzes for a general and visual overview of data as well as ROI (return on investment).

A significant advantage is integration by the CRM system of a campaign manager, so you can follow your marketing campaigns right from the start and manage the whole as you go along.

New technologies are accepted by consumers of all ages. It’s a new audience for businesses.

Methodology and advice

“Social CRM is not only about technology, it’s about people, processes, and cultural change needed to support and grow a business.”

The social commitment must concern the company as a whole. Train salespeople for Twitter use without spamming.

Help your customers: The less you control your message, the more collaborative it will be with your customers.