Glossary

Customer relationship management (CRM)

customer experience

Understanding the relationship between your customers and your business is an important step in making sure your CRM strategies are working for your business and your customers are as satisfied as possible. 

What Is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? 

Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, involves using technology to track and optimize nearly every aspect of your business's relationship with members of your target audience. By using this type of software to manage a wide range of types of interactions with your current and potential customers, your business can identify specific ways to improve how your brand interacts with them. 

Customer Relationship Management FAQs

Here are some of the most important things to know about how understanding and improving your Customer Relationship Management can benefit your business!

Why Is Customer Relationship Management Important? 

How your team interacts with your customers plays an important role in determining how successful your marketing efforts are and what your customers think about your business, and being intentional about keeping track of as many of these details as possible can help you determine how well you are meeting your customers' expectations and what aspects of communication they would most like to see improvement in. 

What Is the Ultimate Aim of Customer Relationship Management? 

Customer Relationship Management aims to help your business improve its relationships with your customers by tracking and analyzing various metrics that help you better understand how well your brand is reaching your customers. 

What Is a CRM Software Program? 

CRM software programs streamline your options for keeping track of and assessing data about your business's relationship with your customers. While some businesses find success using spreadsheets or other basic options, choosing an innovative software program that was designed specifically for managing your relationship with your customers can provide deeper insights and lead to stronger results. 

What Are the Three Phases of Customer Relationship Management? 

Customer relationship management covers every aspect of finding potential customers, encouraging them to make a purchase from your business, and using your growing relationship with them to select the right customers to share new ideas with. 

1. Customer Acquisition

Before you can hone your relationships with your customers, you need to find them and convince them to take a chance on your business. The customer acquisition phase involves building brand awareness and working toward your initial conversions. 

2. Customer Retention

After your customers have made their first purchases from your business, you will want to do everything possible to make sure they are satisfied with their experience and keep them coming back. The customer retention phase involves analyzing your early interactions with each customer to determine what went well and what to consider improving to increase the likelihood that that customer will be satisfied enough with their relationship with your brand to return. 

3. Customer Extension 

Once you have built a solid relationship with specific customers, they may be your best options for pioneering new and innovative products or services. Customers that have been loyal to your brand for an exceptionally long time and have a high level of confidence in it are likely to be the most interested in being among the first to try your new ideas when you are considering next steps to take to grow your business. 

What Is B2B Customer Relationship Management? 

B2B Customer Relationship Management includes the specific tools and strategies your business can use to optimize your CRM. Your business will likely rely on one or more other businesses to find and retain access to these programs, which means prioritizing maintaining strong relationships with any other businesses you partner with is another important part of customer journey management

What Is the Difference Between Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Customer Experience Management (CEM)? 

Customer Relationship Management primarily focuses on how your business interacts with your customers from your business's point of view, while Customer Experience Management focuses on what your customers think about those interactions from their point of view. These concepts work together to provide a more complete picture of what the relationship between your customers and your business looks like and what it means. 

Contact us today to learn more about the importance of having a strong Customer Relationship Management strategy!