Tool diversification and especially cloud softwares, often implies the dispersion of your datas. You finally have a piece of database in each of your soft and that could quickly become an issue…
An important amount of databases
In fact, you have your first database on your e-shop website that’s saving baskets, orders and your customers.
At the same time, your salesforce team is hardly working on selling your products with your CRM. Thanks to that software (often very expansive) they can record plenty of precious information to enrich the profile of your contacts.
At last, your indispensable marketing & communication team bustles about informing a lead list given by the salesmen via your recurrent newsletter. Moreover, that’s sometimes enriched by your social networks or a location of a database.
The conclusion is simple. Every employee of your company has a piece of data with a different level of qualification and maturity. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to merge them without creating duplicates and losing information, we don’t even think about the question of conflicts – “which database contains the most recent information?”.
However, having a single database is possible
Damn yes! It’s clearly possible and not especially complicated. Your softwares can communicate between them, exchange files and datas in real time when they’re updated and in that way, all your team members could have a fresh, rich and true information.
To do that, it’s important to select softwares and tools that are not self-centered but opened to third platforms (routers, CRM, social networks…). Here, we talk about applications, connexion modules/plugins or about API that will allow you to develop interconnections with those third applications.
More than a simple database – the source of any automatic action
Have a single database is great – even more, that’s awesome. But it’s not a goal itself. That offers you the opportunity of unbelievable automatic marketing and sales actions. Here, we talk about triggers. In that context, a marketing automation software can be terribly efficient…
For instance, once your CRM and e-shop connected, it is possible to setup automatic campaigns and now starts the Eldorado.
- Set automatic follow up to your customers about related/recommended products, inform them about new launch without manual intervention. Ensure to nurture your relation with you clients and prospects the smartest way – they need all the right information at the right time do be the most loyal as possible.
- On each data update (no matter the way, sales, social, e-shop, etc.), everything is synced and (if you set the right campaigns) that will automatically qualify (or disqualify) your leads to a relevant nurturing campaign.
- Keep relevant and long term relationship with your prospects. They are not ready to buy immediately? That’s not an issue! But please, do not ignore them, place them in great nurturing campaigns, adjust your communication with them depending on their activity (did they read your last article, did they abandon a basket, did they come to your last international fair). Keep in mind that survey from Prestashop – 41% of your visitors will buy, but not now – be patient and give them the information they need to make them being one of your customer instead of your competitor’s customer.
In short, the connexion of all your source of information is necessary for you, your marketers and your salesmen. It’s often a critical subject because it involes your IT manager and a piece of security about your data but in any case, it’s something impossible.
It also can be a real goldmine to set up automatic marketing campaigns which will work for you – kinda digital salesman – in the aim of enriching and updating your leads database (they are your tomorrow’s clients!), insuring that your customers are aware of the products you sell that could be relevant for them.
Damn yes, they can buy your products again and again if you do it well.