More and more people are embracing the phenomenon of increased connectivity through smart gadgets and wireless technology. Appliances are coming out with sensors that detect change and adapt their functions accordingly. It is only fair to say that the next era in technology will be that of Internet-of-Things (IOT). IOT is the phenomenon of gadgets embedded with sensors which are constantly connected to a network or “things connected to the internet”. This trend is rapidly catching on and adapting to it is the way forward.
What IOT means for CRM systems is a constant stream of data from the customers into their databases. This is good news as CRM thrives on information about the customers. The more information you have about the habits of your customers, the better you can plan your campaigns and interaction.
What are the top 5 reasons why CRM and the Internet-of-Things will influence customer engagement?
- Make self-service better
- Change prices as with demand
- A higher degree of personalization
- Mould your marketing
- Improve customer retention
- Internet-of-Things as the future of CRM
1. Make Self-service better
The current system of self service is too cumbersome for most of the customers. They prefer talking to a real person than pressing buttons and waiting for the options to be read out. The implementation of phone trees might save a company some precious resources, but it makes a bad customer experience.
You can detect a possible malfunction in your products with data collected from devices connected to the internet before the customer notices it and tailor the self-service experience to cater to the customer’s immediate problem. No more getting stuck in the maze of phone-trees means far better experience with self-service portals.
2. Change prices as with demand
Having the information about the demands in different markets makes it easier to change the pricing of your products and get the most out of sales. This is transformed totally with real-time data stream from various outlets about changes in demand. You can change the pricing almost immediately with the rise and fall in demand to get an edge over your competitors. This works exceptionally well with price conscious customers.
For example, when the footfall in a particular outlet is high, you can lower the prices to increase sales. Or when a particular product is selling fast, you can increase the prices to take advantage of that. On the spot discounts will compel a customer to rethink their shopping priorities and can result in them buying more from your store than they originally intended.
3. A higher degree of personalization
CRMs work better with more information. When you have a very deep insight into customer behavior, you can tailor the interaction with customers according to what they like best. Understanding customer behavior also helps you design highly targeted campaigns that will lead to more ROI. IOT gives you almost real-time access to customer’s data that can be used to run quick-campaigns to influence their decisions.
For customer service, you have much more data about the customer and may already know what the problem is through the data stream from your products. This helps you understand the customer better and solve their problems quickly.
4. Mould your marketing
IOT helps you get the information you need to understand which type of customer base is more likely to buy your products and hence is more valuable to your company. Then you focus on your marketing efforts towards this type of customers, focusing less on those who give you little to no business. So IOT improves the efficiency of your marketing department and lets you get the most out of it by getting the message to the most receptive of the customer bases.
5. Improve customer retention
Connected devices can help you track which customers have reduced their visits to your stores; which is a very important data stream in terms of customer retention. This data can help you recognize the customers losing interest and then you can give them incentives like special offers and discounts to keep them coming to your stores.
6. Internet-of-Things as the future of CRM
IOT is undoubtedly the future of data acquisition systems and CRM is a field which heavily relies on this technology. With rise in the use of intelligent devices, the data stream from customers is bound to rise too. The intelligent thing to do for any company engaged in CRM is to use this changing trend to their advantage. IOT is not a speculation of things to happen; it is something that is already happening. There are more and more devices on the market that come with Internet connectivity. These are constant sources of information. It will be a wise decision for any company to incorporate this rising trend into their CRM systems and reap the benefits of it early on.
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