Good CRM Strategy

The 3 mantra’s for any good CRM strategy is - recognition, consistency and rewards.

Recognition - both from the customer side (You recognize the presence of the brand) and the brand side (you recognize the customer presence). Critical because it is fundamental to the relationship you’re building with the customer.

Consistency - in communication, triggers, content and pace. Consider the tone and the layout - the best brands in the world have the same way of communicating with their customer - their emails, branding and social media reflect a similar familiar layout. Familiarity doesn’t mean ‘don’t break the mold’. It means, whatever mold you’ve crafted, stick to it. Additionally, consider the pace of communication - you’re more likely to engage with a brand that sends regular, useful communication than with a brand that sends out sporadic, random irrelevant content.

Rewards - these are strictly not monetary, but have some value/utility associated with it. So instead of providing a discount coupon, you could provide priority service at your store. Or valet parking! Whatever the benefit, the utility from the benefit should outweigh any monetary incentives your competitors can provide. Rewards for the sake of rewards (like a points program that doesn’t really balance the user needs with the incentives they get) will either fail or drive non-profitable behaviors.
Execution matters. CRM is a department that has to have a horizontal impact - otherwise it would be just marketing, but with data!
The horizontal impact is on things like customer journey (offline & online), customer support experience, delivery experience, return experience, etc. It is also the product experience (the thing that you’re selling). The question you should be striving to answer is - “How can you utilize the insights from/channel with the customer to increase your bottom line and your top line?”