Today Customer Relationship Management (CRM) trends and innovations are an important aspect of the business. As we know, CRM is the key to understanding customer desires, building meaningful relationships and driving business growth.
Quoted from Selecthub, based on a report from Twilio Segment, 86% of customers tend to spend more of their money with companies or organisations that personalise their customer service.
Plus, research from McKinsey found that companies that excel at personalisation generate 40% more revenue than their competitors.
And as technology continues to evolve, so does CRM; innovative trends are reshaping how businesses interact with customers. This innovative trend offers new opportunities to improve customer relationships.
What are the new opportunities on offer? Let’s explore together the latest CRM trends and CRM innovations that will shape the future of CRM.
CRM Trends and Innovations You Should Know
Here are some of the trends and innovations that you should know for improving customer relationships.
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Integration
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a game changer in customer relationship management (CRM). According to a report from the State of Marketing, the number of marketers using AI grew by 190% between 2018 and 2020.
Application of AI in CRM has the potential to change how businesses interact with customers, analyse data and provide personalised experiences. Here’s a closer look at the role of AI in CRM:
- Customer Service and Support: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants revolutionise customer service. These intelligent systems can respond instantly to customer inquiries, handle routine tasks and assist with problem-solving.
- Data Analytics and Insights: AI is critical in analysing large amounts of customer data to gain valuable insights. Predictive Analytics: AI-powered CRM systems can leverage predictive analytics to forecast customer behaviour and outcomes.
- Personalisation and Recommendation Engine: A recommendation engine powered by AI algorithms can analyse customer data, such as purchase history, browsing behaviour and demographics, to provide customised product recommendations.
- Sentiment Analysis and Customer Feedback: Sentiment analysis helps businesses measure customer satisfaction, identify areas of improvement, and quickly address customer issues.
- Lead Generation and Nurturing: By analysing customer data, AI algorithms can identify high-potential prospects and prioritise them for sales teams.
- Fraud Detection and Security: AI algorithms can detect fraudulent activity by analysing patterns and anomalies in customer data.
2. Integration with the Internet of Things (IoT)
Integration with the Internet of Things (IoT) is a significant CRM trend that is revolutionising how businesses interact with customers and collect valuable data.
IoT refers to a network of interconnected devices embedded with sensors, software and connectivity, which enables them to collect and exchange data.
Here’s how integration with IoT is transforming CRM:
- Enhanced Customer Insights: By connecting IoT devices to CRM systems, businesses can collect real-time data about customer behaviour, preferences, and usage patterns.
- Proactive Customer Service: IoT integration enables businesses to address customer concerns and provide timely support proactively.
- Predictive Maintenance: IoT devices can generate data that helps businesses predict and prevent equipment failure or maintenance issues.
- Supply Chain Optimisation: Integrating IoT with CRM systems provides end-to-end visibility into the supply chain.
- Contextual Marketing: By integrating IoT data with CRM systems, businesses can deliver targeted and relevant marketing messages based on customer context.
3. Voice-enabled CRM
Voice-enabled CRM is a new trend that leverages speech recognition and natural language processing technologies.
It allows users to interact with CRM systems through voice commands and conversations. These innovations provide a more intuitive and efficient way to access and manage CRM data.
Here are some of the key aspects of voice-activated CRM:
- Hands-Free Interaction: CRM with voice support eliminates the need for manual data entry or navigation through traditional user interfaces.
- Voice Enabled Search: Voice-activated CRM systems can process natural language queries and retrieve relevant information from the CRM database.
- Voice-Enabled Updates and Data Entry: With voice-enabled CRM, users can update CRM records, create tasks, or log activities using voice commands.
- Smart Voice Assistants: Statista says digital voice assistants will reach 8.4 billion units by 2024, exceeding the world population figure. CRM systems with voice support can integrate with intelligent voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Microsoft Cortana. This integration allows users to interact with CRM data using voice assistant capabilities.
4. Social CRM and Influencer Marketing
Social media plays an important role in CRM, it allows businesses to engage with customers.
Further, social media helps gather feedback and build brand loyalty.
Social CRM integrates social media data with traditional CRM systems. Social CRM integration and influencer marketing can be a powerful combination.
By incorporating influencer collaboration into their social CRM strategy, businesses can leverage influencer reach and influence while maintaining a personalised approach to customer engagement.
5. Mobile CRM and Location Based Services
The mobile CRM app empowers sales and service teams to access customer information on the go, increasing productivity and responsiveness.
Location-based services enable businesses to provide personalised offers and notifications based on a customer’s physical location, driving engagement and sales.
LBS can be integrated with mobile CRM to add value and increase customer engagement. Here’s how businesses can leverage LBS in their mobile CRM strategy:
- Geo-Targeted Marketing Campaigns: By leveraging location data, businesses can deliver targeted marketing or promotional messages to customers based on their physical location.
- Proximity-Based Notifications: LBS can allow businesses to send notifications or alerts to customers when they enter a certain location or proximity to a physical store or event.
- Location-Based Customer Insights: LBS data can provide businesses with valuable insights into customer behaviour and preferences based on location.
6. Blockchain in CRM
Blockchain technology offers secure and transparent transactional records, making it valuable for CRM. This improves customer data management, eliminates the need for transaction intermediaries, and increases trust between businesses and customers.
Here’s how blockchain can affect CRM:
- Enhanced Data Security: Blockchain offers a decentralised and immutable ledger that ensures the security and integrity of customer data.
- Enhanced Data Transparency: Blockchain enables transparent and auditable data transactions.
- Trusted Customer Data: Blockchain technology allows customers to control their data.
- Secure Customer Identity Verification: Blockchain can streamline and secure the customer identity verification process.
- Smart Contracts for Customer Interaction: Blockchain-based smart contracts can automate and enforce agreements between businesses and customers.
Conclusion
These trends and innovations in CRM are shaping the future of customer relationships, enabling businesses to provide personalised experiences, increase customer satisfaction and build long-term loyalty.
By taking advantage of these advances, organisations can gain a competitive advantage in today’s dynamic business landscape.