When it comes to understanding how your customers interact with your brand, the answers can be difficult to find. They have dozens of apps and websites they use for everything from booking a hotel room to keeping tabs on friends. The complexity of so many different points of access, combined with the vast breadth of their experiences, means that understanding how customers use your brand is anything but simple. If you’ve ever wanted to know what makes a customer use your brand more often, look first at your app store.
That’s right: The answer lies in how companies design their mobile apps. If you’re working with a company that has an extensive digital presence (e.g., an awesome website and plenty of social media accounts), then you’re probably wondering what makes those channels so important for interacting with customers in such a way as to drive repeat visits and purchase behavior. Here are some things that will help you understand what we mean when we talk about customer relationship management systems and mobile app marketing strategies in general:
What Is A Customer Relationship Management System?
CRM, or customer relationship management, is all about managing the relationship between your brand and your customers. We’ve already seen how this is essential for driving repeat visits, but it’s also essential for growing the number of active customers as well. The CRM system is responsible for keeping track of customers across various channels, including email, phone calls, and social media posts.
From there, it’s the CRM system’s job to view customer data and take actions based on that data. For example, CRM’s job is to let customer service reps know if a customer has been having trouble with a product and what that customer’s questions and concerns might be. CRM is essential to a brand’s growth because it allows companies to learn more about their customers and take action based on that knowledge. As a result, CRM is often referred to as the “hub” of a brand’s digital strategy.
What Is A Mobile Marketing Strategy?
Mobile app marketing is all about using mobile apps to drive customer engagement with your brand. With mobile marketing strategies, you’ll look to use elements like push notifications, in-app advertisements, and location-based ads to encourage customers to interact with your brand. This will usually include sending push notifications to customers to encourage them to interact with your brand.
The most common example of this is a reminder to download your app, sign up for a newsletter, or reach for a coupon. Another example might be a push notification that reminds customers about a special deal or sale you’re running (to encourage more purchases) or that lets customers know when you’ve just launched a new feature (to encourage more visits).
How Marriott’s App Is A CRM System
Marriott’s mobile app is a CRM system in the sense that it’s an all-in-one digital hub for interacting with customers. Beyond opening the app and logging in with a username and password, Marriott’s app helps customers easily make reservations, pay hotel bills, and track their rewards program points. It also integrates with social media accounts, letting customers easily share information with friends and family.
The app also enables customers to get answers to questions about their stay if they need assistance from hotel staff. CRM is a critical part of every digital strategy because it helps your brand learn more about its customers. With CRM, companies can collect information about what customers are saying about their brand online and use that information to improve customer service levels and drive more revenue.
Understanding The Different Roles of a CRM System
For those of you who are new to the world of mobile app marketing, it’s important to understand the different roles that a CRM system can play in a digital strategy. First, CRM systems are often the hub of a digital campaign.
Beyond just collecting data, it’s the CRM system’s job to view data and take actions based on that data. For example, when a customer receives a push notification on their phone, the system will trigger an account update that informs the customer of the action they took.
Marriott’s Strategy: Combining Both CRM And Marketing Systems
As you can see, one of the key things that makes Marriott’s app so powerful as a CRM system is how it drives both marketing and CRM behaviors. What makes the app so great for marketing is that customers are so eager to use it for everything from booking hotel rooms to redeeming rewards points:
The app’s CRM functionality is also excellent, allowing customers to get answers to questions about their stay or to resolve problems with their stay. This example is perfect for brands that have a large digital presence but don’t necessarily have a huge footprint in the physical world. It’s also a great solution for companies that are experiencing high levels of mobile app abandonment.
Conclusion
When it comes to understanding how your customers interact with your brand, the answers can be difficult to find. They have dozens of apps and websites they use for everything from booking a hotel room to keeping tabs on friends. The complexity of so many different points of access, combined with the vast breadth of their experiences, means that understanding how customers use your brand is anything but simple.
If you’ve ever wanted to know what makes a customer use your brand more often, look first at your app store. That’s right: The answer lies in how companies design their mobile apps. From there, it’s a simple matter of looking at how customers interact with your app to find out what you can do better.
