If you’re running an e-commerce business without utilizing CRM, then it may be time to consider rethinking your strategy. The days where CRM was simply an optional method of improving customer relationships are long gone; these days, it is advanced and often essential software that has been extensively fine-tuned and tailored to work for online businesses. And in today’s digital world, analytics are everything. So, we’ve put together some of the main ways that CRM can help your e-commerce business get ahead.
1. Understanding Customer Trends:
Of course, you can drive some data surrounding customer trends from your online store or shop in an online marketplace. But, if you’re selling online across a variety of different channels, the problem here is that none of these channels really talk to one another. As a result, you may find yourself resorting to using separate and often costly analytical software or culling information separately and then beginning the tedious task of putting it all together. Instead, when you use a good e-commerce CRM platform, you will be able to plug the software directly into each sales channel that you use, gathering your customer information for analysis immediately and enabling you to monitor trends, buying and return habits and patterns, cost versus profit, conversion tunnel trends, and much more.
2. Gain Deeper Analytics:
Many analytics tools today do little more than give you the barebones facts. For example, if you’re using WooCommerce, you can look back over 90 days or the last year to view sales numbers. But what it doesn’t tell you is exactly who is making those sales, when the customers are buying products, how much the average order value is for each customer, how often returns are made and why, and what’s being said about your company on social media. With the right CRM in place, you can get insight into all this and more.
3. Connect Your Team:
Let’s face it – a business is only ever as good as its core unit, which is you and your team of professionals. But, sometimes, office communication can be painfully non-existent. Services like Slack or Skype can be handy for keeping everybody connected when they’re busy working on tasks, but these do little in terms of connecting with the other software that you use to ensure that the team is connected on the most important issues. On the other hand, a good CRM solution will include team chat with tagging, giving your entire team access to important customer data, analytics, trends and more. They can chat in real-time while reviewing any important data, leading to improved progress, time saved and enhanced productivity.
4. Nurture Leads:
Finally, CRM isn’t just about learning more about the habits and trends of your current customers. The right CRM system allows you to nurture leads and improve sales performance by understanding more about them. Simply knowing when your leads have entered the pool, how much contact you have had with them so far and what further steps you can take is crucial to your success as an online business. What does your e-commerce business need from a CRM system?
