This time, we bring you a series of three articles where we analyze the key areas and trends of Inbound Marketing. Each article focuses on a different aspect, and although they are all important separately, together they enhance value and results for your business and your customers.

If you are interested in continuing to discover more, Don't miss the second part of this series.

In this first article, we will focus on data. You might be thinking”Data? It's nothing new to me.” And yes, you're right. Most companies have become very good at collecting a large amount of data on the behavior of their users on and off the Internet.

Today and looking to the future, the simple act of collecting data is no longer enough. The key is to use and analyze this data in a strategic way, so that our actions and decisions are based on accurate information.

Next, we offer you three essential tips to truly conquer consumer preference making the most of your data.

Get to know your data better: How a CRM and a CDP boost your marketing strategy

With all the data available, the challenge for many companies is to collect and analyze it to better understand customers, processes and performance. The most successful and innovative companies place customers and their experience at the center of their business, often through a customer relationship management (CRM) system or a customer data platform (CDP).

Un CRM system brings together all customer data in one place, from contact details to website interactions and purchase history. There are many different systems out there, but some of the most popular are Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, and Microsoft Dynamics.

Los CDP boost your marketing actions, since they allow you to collect all customer data and combine it with that from other sources, such as the website, social networks, etc.

The best customer database systems are those that integrate seamlessly with other systems and parts of your business because they bring that information together in one place. Why? Because increases the productivity and efficiency of your employees, which don't have to change from one system to another on a daily basis.

In addition, by consulting the data of your sales, marketing and services departments, you can track the customer's points of contact with your company, from the first meeting to the purchase and post-sales.

Example: equipping your sales department with tools based on data.

Imagine that a sales rep is looking for a contact in the CRM system to talk to him about a possible collaboration. As the following image shows, a properly configured CRM system can provide the sales representative with a large amount of relevant data about the contact: contact information, knowledge of behavior on the website and much more.

Without even talking to the contact, the seller can see that an agreement has previously been reached on the website Umbraco of the contact (see Deals on the right side of the screenshot). The summary of activities shows that the contact has shown interest in marketing automation filling out a form for a guide and signing up for a newsletter.

In this way, the seller can actively use this information in their communication asking about the website project in Umbraco and the contact's thoughts and ideas about marketing automation.

For the contact, this dialogue will be relevant and relevant from the first sentence and will quickly allow the seller to use the data to initiate a constructive dialogue.

Another advantage of using CRM systems is that you perform a monitoring of activities and deadlines. In the above case, the seller can create a new agreement around marketing automation and the system will automatically note the date of the conversation and the follow-up details.

In systems such as HubSpot, this type of data is used for pipeline management, which allows us to report how long each agreement has been in a specific phase and when it moves to a new phase.

This information can be used for several things in the future. For example, the rest of the sales organization can dive deeper into the phases of the sales process where agreements are taking longer and use the data to find a solution.

In other words, data offers new opportunities for optimize sales processes, the management of ongoing opportunities and the way in which sellers communicate with their contacts.

Even the marketing department can review this information and create internal automations for sellers to indicate that a deal has been in that state for X long.

Some CRM systems can also provide information about the length of the sales process in different sectors and whether the company should focus more on some vertical sectors than on others. Smart, right? It saves the sales department from the exhausting work of yesteryear and allows rapidly cultivate new potentials.

The above scenarios are just examples of how you can streamline your data by bringing it together in one place. There are many possibilities, but remember that you should always focus your activities and decisions on the customer.

Teamwork is essential for the success of your strategy

Both current and new prospects expect a good and consistent user experience: Whether it's a Sales, Legal or Finance schedule, the customer sees it as a single organization. User experience is such an important element that the 94% indicate that they would buy from the same company again if their experience were good and simple. Conversely, 81% indicate that they would speak ill of the company to other people if they had a bad experience (Harvard Business Review).

A crucial factor in creating a good customer experience is that all departments in our organization have access to the same information, so that everyone is in the best position to advise and communicate with the customer.

Example: Using data to kill two birds with one stone

If we take the sales organization as an example again: in the dialogue with the contact, there is a little talk of marketing automation, but in the middle of the conversation, the contact asks if they can give an update on the topic of SSL certificate.

A typical answer would be “he's in another department, so unfortunately I don't know”. For the customer, this is a “friction point”: The customer has to take additional actions to get help, which leads to a poorer experience, but it also puts an end to the current conversation around marketing automation.

However, with contact and customer data in a single customer database, the sales representative can quickly recognize that there is a support ticket on the contact (see image above) and let them know that the team is studying the problem.

If more information is needed, the seller can click on the ticket and see if there are any notes or comments that can be given to the customer. The seller has prevented the customer from having to contact the support service later and has demonstrated that the The company's organization is competent and controls its internal processes. That is indeed a good customer experience and a Time savings for both parties.

Systems and data are an important element of knowledge exchange, but for different departments to be on the same page, there is also a need for communication between them.

Customer service or customer orientation

You've probably heard many times about “internal silos”. However, there's a reason why companies have been trying to break down silos between departments, data and people in a myriad of ways for years, because internal silos often create friction and harm the customer experience.

Unfortunately, if you look at the data, interactions and elements are usually not automatically registered in the system unless there is communication and collaboration between departments.

By articulating the experiences of different employees, your organization has a golden opportunity to take customer service to the next level through knowledge exchange and the transformation of internal knowledge into actionable data.

Example: Customer FAQs

Most sales organizations have probably experienced that many of the customers they come into contact with over the course of a week ask the same questions. This knowledge usually resides with every salesperson in the organization and is not collected in a CRM, CDP, or other digital marketing system.

But now, when sellers share this knowledge with the customer support team, they suddenly open up new opportunities to provide customers with answers to their questions. Because if the customers the sales department talks to have those questions, potential customers who visit the website are likely to have the same questions.

By transmitting this information to the customer care team, they can now work on the creating a FAQ section on the website that answers the questions. this relieves pressure on the customer service team and improves the customer experience, since it can find the information it needs on its own, eliminating friction points.

In addition, consider these frequently asked questions on your website the Will position in search engines since they correspond to frequent user searches.

By linking experience, we can create the questions in our CDP system, thus starting to collect data and analyze them to improve marketing actions. For example, we can see how many times the questions have been consulted and if the customer found them useful. Marketing can then use this information to create a downloadable or a blog on popular topics, thus increasing traffic and interactions on the website.

And now what?

Customers have increasingly high expectations of organizations, and we have reached a point where not only the customer service team has the role of create exceptional experiences. Every area of the organization plays a crucial role and must be able to communicate and provide advice to the client.

By collecting data and placing the customer at the center of our operations, we can take advantage of this information to design the best possible experience and optimize our internal processes. Is it a challenge? Without a doubt. For this reason, at Novicell we want to help you implement useful tools for understanding data and planning actions that enhance your digital strategy. Do not hesitate to contact us.