How Marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are Connected

Every business knows that Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Marketing go hand-in-hand. Do all of these businesses know why though? By learning what customers want, the marketing can be more appropriately tailored to suit the target’s needs.

REPEAT CUSTOMERS

50, 30, even 20 years ago, the main goal was to sell a product to a customer, then move on to the next one. Now, companies have realized that repeat business can be as valuable, if not more, than one-time customers. According to About.com: Marketing, “repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.” Colin Shaw, an “Influencer” on LinkedIn, also notes “The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%… It costs 6–7 times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one.” So, while gaining new business is important, it is also EXTREMELY important to keep your existing customers happy too.

CONSUMER’S VOICE

Another factor for companies to consider is not only how much monetary gain they will have from a repeat customer, but also how much of a reach that customer has to others via the Internet. If a customer is pleased with a certain product, they have the outlet to voice their positive opinion online. In the same sense, if a customer is not happy with a company or product, they can post negative comments online. Both reasons show why customer relationship management is important. Laura Lake of About.com also stated “Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers.” Also, maybe it’s not a bad product, but the service itself. Mr. Shaw says “A customer is 4 times more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service-related than price or product-related [and] for every customer complaint there are 26 other unhappy customers who have remained silent.”

ARE YOU LISTENING?

One negative review by a highly trafficked website can undo months of marketing, so it is important for companies to consider this into their marketing plan – by monitoring online activity such as blogs and social media. Another marketing item to consider related to customer relationship management is the opportunity to be connected, which can have valuable information. A customer who would like to receive emails from a company, or a customer who becomes a fan of a company on Facebook, is giving the organization an opportunity to connect with them personally, which can yield great insight into the habits, likes, and dislikes of customers or potential customers. There is also the ability to have a marketing plan that involves customer interaction. A company should strive for a customer that wants to visit their site and engage with them.

In short, marketing and customer relationship management are connected. Customer relationship management gives companies the chance to earn trust, please customers, and gain insight for their marketing plans.

References:

Lake, L. (2018). Customer relationships are key to your marketing strategy. About.com: Marketing. Retrieved from http://marketing.about.com/od/relationshipmarketing/a/crmstrategy.htm

Shaw, C. (2018). 15 statistics that should change the business world, but haven’t. LinkedIn. Retrieved from http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130604134550-284615-15-statistics-that-should-change-the-business-world-but-haven-t

Search Engine Market Share

Most of us know that Google is the leading search engine, but just how far ahead is it compared to the competition? According to Net Marketshare, a website who proudly state they “provide web usage share statistics on real users (not bots),” Google’s market share is 72%:

From September 2017 - August 2018, Google dominated with a 72% market share. Rounding out the top 10 were:

1. Google: 72.03%

2. Baidu (China): 14.11%

3. Bing: 7.76%

4. Yahoo!: 4.27%

5. Yandex (Russia): 0.95%

6. Ask: 0.35%

7. DuckDuckGo: 0.23%

8. Naver (South Korea): 0.11%

9. AOL: 0.05%

10. Dogpile: 0.04%

Why does this matter? You need to know where your customers are and where they are coming from, especially if you are considering running any Google Ads (or even Bing ads!). Want to know more about the importance of search engines and SERPs? Send us a message here.

References:
Search Engine Market Share. (2018). Net Marketshare. Source: https://www.netmarketshare.com/search-engine-market-share.aspx

Some Quick Stats About Mobile and Marketing

Mobile usage continues to grow. If you haven’t made a plan to utilize mobile advertising, it’s way past time. Do you use email marketing? According to Return Path, a company who focuses on email marketing data, mobile accounts for 55% of the open rate, which is up from 29% in 2012.

What about when it comes to search? Google reports that since 2015, more searches take place on mobile over desktops. In the current day and age, mobile searches account for OVER HALF of all searches. Google also reports that 51% of smartphone users have found a new company/product when searching with their mobile device.

What about social media? According to Statista, as of January 2018, over 95% percent of active Facebook user accounts use their smartphone to access the social networking site, compared to only 32% using their desktop.

For all of these reasons, and many, many more, it’s time to make mobile a priority in your business. Do you already have a responsive website? How mobile friendly is your company? If you’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.

References:

Mobile is Now the Preferred Platform for Reading Email with More than Half of All Email Opens. (2017). Return Path. Source: https://returnpath.com/newsroom/mobile-now-preferred-platform-reading-email-half-email-opens/

What We Searched for in 2015, and What That Means for Marketers. (2015). Google. Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/advertising-channels/search/what-we-searched-for-2015/

Being there in micro-moments, especially on mobile. (2015). Google. Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/micro-moments/being-there-micromoments-especially-mobile/

Device usage of Facebook users worldwide as of January 2018. (2018). Statista. Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/377808/distribution-of-facebook-users-by-device/