The pandemic changed how things worked around the industries to adapt to the environmental changes as well as customer needs. The transformation from brick and mortar processes and systems to digital technology happened in the blink of an eye!
And those who couldn’t be flexible to the changing needs of the customers were unfortunately shut down or suffered irreparable losses. In this article, we will highlight how the companies switch to different CRM trends in 2021, given the event going around in the world.
CRM trends 2021
Whether you were in the banking sector, energy sector, or were working in an insurance company or grocery store, the majority of the customers started choosing the digital means to interact and perform transactions.
So the size of the business didn’t matter here, as all the businesses, big or small, took on digital means to operate their business and meet the changing needs of their customers. For example, a lot of grocery stores closed their stores and only took online orders and delivered it to their customers.
When things are constantly being handled online, it became important for businesses to have someone answering the queries of their customers. In this article, we will further outline the major CRM trends that helped businesses thrive even in this pandemic.
1. Chatbot
When everything went digital, we could see human frustration of having to deal with automated voices all the time! Personally speaking, let us confide it is very annoying! I mean, have you ever tried calling BoA? You are asked to keep pressing buttons for around 5 minutes till you can speak to a human!
Chatbots, in this case, were innovated by natural languages and other artificial intelligence that was used to cater to the changing consumer needs. The key here is that the more efficient your CRM system is, the better furnished your chatbots are to have human interactions. Because once a customer realizes he is talking to a chatbot, the chances are they are more likely to close the chat window.
So make sure you can humanize your chatbots the best way you can. Take a look at the best CRM software that you can use for your business. The article mentions the best software that you can use based on your needs and your industry. So, for example, you are in the real estate business, you should search for a real estate CRM.
2. Online Orders and Self Service
While we are almost a year and a half into this pandemic, with vaccinations now available as well, we are still seeing that people are still being cautious and using online orders and self-service to get their needs met.
Keeping in mind this shift in customer needs, a lot of businesses have to keep up with their online services. We will give you two examples, one of the grocery stores that are still seeing a rise in online orders and the banking sector for self-services and digital touchpoints.
These trends allow the industry to work for that area of services and generating revenue. After all, it is all about a good ROI. And in a pandemic, this has become a challenge for most industries.
However, if you are smart, you will study the shift in consumer trends and utilize the opportunity as and when they see fit.
3. AI and Automation
Al and automation were both in use before the pandemic hit us but the need for these accelerated afterward. The need for digital interaction raised their demands even more. Are you wondering how AI and automation help with CRM software? Let us answer this question for you: AI and automation improves CRM outcomes.
So today, customers are not just reaching out to the companies for status reports, but they want to know about their new mortgage payments or report some identity fraud which includes details, etc. So when you are dealing with such intense issues, empathy is a much-needed factor in this human interaction.
Al-based CRM models can help guide your sellers and agents with the relevant detail to deal with the customers as efficiently as possible. This technology will also help companies optimize product configurations, campaigns, and pricing.
4. Third-Party Digital Channels
The company’s website is like an online store of the business, but this pandemic has pushed the customer’s engagements towards other digital channels. These digital channels include: social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, etc., voice applications like Clubhouse, speaker, etc., and gaming consoles.
Apple business chat was a third-party digital channel that had sales for around $30,000 in just the first few weeks of the launch.
5. Hyper personalization
Today when your customers message you, they want you to know about their history, preferences, history, context, and intent. The more well-information you sound about your customer, the more they are likely to buy from you. The focus on customers is increasing more and more.
Check this article about the Best User CRM that you can use for your company.
6. Unified CRM
A unified CRM is what the companies are headed for in 2021. What is a unified CRM? It means one software that organizations can use to bring all the data they have on their customer on it.
This is a major turning point where different departments of marketing, sales, HR, and advertising can use one single view of their customers and make decisions and run campaigns, etc.
Conclusion
The pandemic has changed how things operate in the business world; while some trends might go away when the pandemic leaves, however, the trends we mentioned are more likely to stay for good.
The digital transformation has only helped people to do things quickly and efficiently without having to burn their fuels to go to their offices or to go to the grocery stores for weekly shopping. The pandemic help people realized that there are a lot of things that can save them time and make their life easier.