“We have always worked like this”, this is a phrase that we hear a lot. Thorugh history this is indeed a vary common behaviour. Starting for instance from the first half of XX century, Charles Franklin Kettering, engineer, inventor and vice president of General Motors, claimed that “the world hates change yet it is the only thing that has brought progress”.
Kettering, also believed that people are absolutely open to new thins as long as they are totally identical to the old ones.
Every person that ever worked in the technology field feels directly touched by those words because, “we have always done things this way” is a very common phrase. Marco Montemagno defines this phenomenon “technopanic”: the fear of moving away from what a person knows to embrace the unknown and the innovations.
Even when we talk about customers databases, we face similar positions.
After all, now a day everything can be done with an Excel sheet, right? It is easy to use, its basic features are well known to a large part of people, all the information are available in a single file and, most of all, it has zero additional costs. However, Excel has some limitations and is often dubbed the “worst CRM in the world”: truth to be told it has been designed to be a spreadsheet and not a customer database.
Sure, data can always be interconnected with formulas and pivot tables but for instance is impossible to keep track of all the interactions with the different final customers, not to mention the limited and time spending reporting activities and the almost non-existent automation features.
What is a customer database?
Building a customer database allows companies to leave behind Excel sheets and paper documents and to store in one safe place all da information regarding customers and potential ones. It is a list of interactive and smart contacts that saves all the information regarding prospects, leads and customers like for instance emails, addresses, the history of purchases or interaction and so on.
A profiled database allows the creation of targeted list of contacts in order to design focused and successful campaigns reducing the time spent by the marketing or the sales area.
Why do I need a profiled customer database?
Having a profiled customer database allows the business adopting this approach to have a complete view of the customers, encouraging acquisition, loyalty and the development of the organization itself. Company strategies and sales decision will not be taken blindly but following data, information and verified trends. Moreover, all the upselling activities will be managed in an effective and targeted way. You will also be able to track all the interaction between company and customer to schedule effective follow-ups in the future.
Finally yet importantly, a profiled database helps you nurturing those leads or prospects that are not yet ready to make a purchase, automating a range of activities that will help to bring them back to your website or store.
A database also offers the opportunity to build a relationship with existing customers by informing them regularly of your new products, services and on the promotions, you are making. Creating a one-to-one communication with each of your customers by designing targeted and customized contents makes them feel unique and of great value for your business.
Build and manage a profiled cusomers and leads databaes with vtenext
Using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software like vtenext gives you the possibility to easily collect, historicize and manage the data of customers and potential in a safe database, especially if you choose a Cloud CRM solution.
The collected and uploaded information can come from different channels:
- webforms: the contact modules, directly generated by the CRM, can be embedded in blog articles, website pages, landing pages and so on. Once the lead will fill in the form it will be automatically profiled in the CRM with the chosen fields and the source
- email converter: by setting up this feature on any mail will allow the system to automatically transform into tickets the body of the email. If the sender data do not match some existing ones a new lead will be created.
- create and link feature from a personal email: in just a click you will be able to transform a sender into a lead or a contact
- lists or spreadsheets: import massively your contact or leads (csv format)
- integration of the main solutions used in your company: ERPs, email and so on, thanks to vtenext add on and plug ins
Start building your profiled database of customers and leads: try vtenext for free