How Strategic CRM Apps Will Drive Customer Engagement

Strategic CRM apps will boost customer engagement with predictive and adaptive analytics that provide insights to address changing needs.

Marketing and sales tools are giving businesses unprecedented power to stay connected to their customers today. But they also need to be smart about how they use that power. Taken too far, businesses give off a “creepy” factor that can backfire. With technologies such as predictive analytics and event-triggered actions, marketers will be able to engage with customers with just the right tone, context and cadence without crossing the line.

While many CRM players tout their advanced analytics, these capabilities are often nothing more than glorified reports. Analytics will move beyond basic visualization in 2016 by automating the process of turning insights into specific actions. Front-line service reps will no longer have to wade through charts and graphs to figure out what to do next to make the sale; the next best action will be served up to them on a platter specific to each customer or prospect.

The in-store experience in 2016 will get a facelift, thanks to enhanced assisted channels that digitize how shoppers buy in-store. This will go beyond self-service kiosks by leveraging engagement channels such as video chat, co-browsing and contact centers to change the way store associates assist their customers. This new blend of digital and human assistance will combine to change the way consumers interact with brands in their stores.

New-economy companies, such as Uber and AirBnB, are famously leasing their most important assets. Now consumers are following suit. For example, instead of buying their smartphones, consumers are leaning toward leasing them from their mobile provider. However, as the rise of the leasing consumer gains steam, this puts new pressure on businesses. In the “leasing economy,” there is a constant stream of moments where the customer holds the threat of walking away at any time. This new behavior pattern forces customer service professionals to continually prove themselves to keep customers happier over a longer period in order to maintain revenue streams. Business will need to adapt to this trend and rethink the role customer service plays.

Many businesses are documenting their customers’ journeys to better understand their experiences. But often, this ends up being nothing more than a documentation exercise using fancy graphical tools. In 2016, businesses will be able not only to model their customer journeys but also engage with that model to gain better insights into where customers’ pain points are. Using advanced analytics, companies can automatically understand these issues and have suggestions presented to them on how to fix them. This will turn the customer’s journey from a static document into an active tool that can help them run and manage their business.

Managing the customer experience is no longer the domain of one person or even one department. The lines are blurring as sales, marketing and customer service all play a vital role in cultivating customer relationships. Moreover, new skills are required from specialized disciplines to meet rising customer expectations—from user experience (UX) experts, data scientists, IT architects, customer journey experts and more. As more businesses try to differentiate themselves by improving the customer experience, we will see new roles added to the CRM team—led by the chief marketing officer or chief customer officer—to help them gain a competitive advantage.

Time is of the essence, particularly when it comes to customers. However, many companies aren’t designed to value a customer’s time. This is true of any company that still puts a customer on hold for an extended period of time when they could be doing something more productive to recapture the customer’s loyalty. Every moment of engagement must convey some sense of value to the customer. This year, we will see companies find new ways to ensure customers are continually made to feel their time spent with them is a continuous positive experience.

Customers are constantly on the move, and businesses need to be able to move with them—whether they are in-store, on their mobile devices or back on their desktops. Thanks to services like digital TV, consumers are now trained to expect that they can stop a shopping activity and start it again at the same point they left off on any channel. This makes it critical for businesses to preserve customer context on any channel and know customer context at all times.