Ever since its inception in the 1980s, Customer Relationship Management or CRM has been evolving.
The early form of CRM involved analyzing customer database to identify customers who were likely to respond to a marketing campaign. Modern CRM software goes beyond database management to include features that deliver rich customer experiences.
Keeping up with the emerging CRM software trends will help your business stay ahead and outperform other organizations.
Here are the top CRM trends businesses must look out for in 2022:
The growth in CRM adoption is driven by the increasing emphasis on delivering differentiated customer experience. A Salesforce survey shows that 80 percent of respondents believe rich customer experience is as crucial as the quality of their service or products.
On the other hand, a 2020 Walker study has found that customer experience is set to overtake product and price as the key differentiator. In the new decade, meeting the rising and complex customer expectations will involve moving from “customer focused” to being “customer committed.”
Over the next three years, customer experience will continue to be one of the top-five priorities for 65 percent of C-suite executives.
Virtual and augmented reality are increasingly being used in experiential marketing. According to DMA, 40 percent of consumers in the UK have used VR and AR to view or test a product before buying.
AR and VR technology will help businesses add a new dimension to customer interactions and deliver the next level of customer experiences. Services, products, and experiences can come to life to augment the customer journey.
Advanced CRM platforms will implement these technologies in the coming years to deliver superior customer engagement.
IDC’s research had predicted that AI backed CRM would result in a $1.1 trillion increase in business revenues globally by 2021. AI is already in use today across various areas across diverse industries.
Advanced CRM software tools such as Sugar Sell are already integrated with AI to deliver rich insights into customer journey, preferences and attitudes. AI-powered interest/sentiment analysis and predictive lead scoring help personalize interactions and optimize lead conversions.
Given its capabilities to automate tedious manual tasks, businesses are seeking AI-powered CRM software that enhances operational efficiency and offers real-time actionable data.
Gartner predicted that data and analytics along with artificial intelligence will be the vital technologies in 2021 to prepare, predict and respond to global challenges. Another key trend that the coming decade will witness, according to Gartner, is augmented data management that combines AI and machine learning techniques to improve operations. With big data and analytics driving business efficiencies, CRM software will use AI, data sets and machine learning to identify patterns, leads, sentiments and interactions. These tools help businesses understand their customers better than ever before.
By 2025, the number of IoT devices is expected to increase to 64 billion across the world. The corporate world too is expected to increasingly adopt IoT in the coming years.
IoT devices gather and send data on maintenance needs, product issues and usage statistics to the CRM platform. The CRM software can then route the workflow to the right representative to streamline response. The data from IoT devices can be used to improve customer experience, while servicing clients in proactive ways.
Research indicates paperwork, unproductive prospecting and admin tasks are the biggest time and money wasters. CRM is helping businesses automate more of their sales and marketing processes. Many of the leading CRM platforms have invested in automation features. For instance, at the core of Sugar Sell CRM are the automation features.
With automated routing of service calls, email marketing tools, social media tools, and workflows, administration overhead and manual entries of data is eliminated. This creates efficient processes for the marketing, sales, and service teams.
CRM platforms will increasingly adopt a mobile-first strategy with the growing use of mobiles across the world. Mobile CRM access helps boost workforce productivity for sales teams. A Forester’s study shows that mobile CRM helps boost productivity of teams. Another study indicates that 65 percent of sales reps achieved sales quotas by adopting mobile CRM.
Innovative mobile CRM such as Sugar Sell offers mobile CRM capabilities that help sales teams deliver 24/7 support. With real time access to customer data, sales reps are always prepared to service clients quickly and accurately wherever they are.
Mobile CRM solutions offer:
- Intuitive interfaces
- Strong security features
- Easy integration of apps
- Ease of transitioning between offline and online environments
Voice technology is expected to be in the spotlight given that 90 percent of consumers prefer it over typing texts. By 2026, the voice recognition market is slated to grow to USD $ 22.0 billion.
Experts predict that voice recognition technology will be integrated into CRM software in the coming years. As a result, the sales and customer service teams can leverage voice to send auto voicemails, better track conversations, update data, and seamlessly engage with clients.
CRM platform that leverages voice technology in terms of conversational technology applications and voice assistants will promote faster decision-making and deal closures.
Communication technology preference
With consumers preferring self-service in place of human interactions, most decision makers in companies are prioritizing self-service in their customer service strategy.
Customers expect a quick resolution and response to their problems. Self-service is a must-have feature in CRM tools to provide enhanced customer experience.
Cutting-edge CRM tools such as Sugar Sell offer a knowledge base and branded self-service portal that helps customers find answers to their issues and submit troubleshooting tickets. Integrated with comprehensive tutorials, FAQs, step-by-step guides and other support tools, Sugar Sell’s intuitive self-service portal minimizes support costs while increasing customer satisfaction.
