SEO, the unsung hero of CRM
Over the past three years, Flourish has promised that Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a lot more than just email, SMS, DM and the like. And we’ll tell you why.
CRM is a discipline, and that means it should be channel agnostic – focused more on the customer journey and less on the communication channels themselves. For us, this means optimising, elevating and transforming consumer experiences. And once we’ve achieved that, we believe it’s time to move on to the next touchpoint.
The effects of coronavirus
It’s clear that COVID-19 has changed the way we interact with the world, but it’s also changed the way we consume:
- In the UK, 44% of consumers are more mindful of how they spend their money
- 18% admit to investing more time in researching brands and products before buying1
- There’s been a 9% decrease in mobile phone usage for shopping (despite an overall screen-time increase due to mobile gaming and video calls)2
Combine these three figures and it’s clear you have fewer chances to convince the consumer that you are the right choice – not your competitor.
Read more about how you can adapt your marketing strategies.
Extend your CRM’s reach
The traditional CRM channels (i.e. email) play a vital role in maintaining interest and relevance for its consumers. But it’s not always possible to trigger outbound comms at the exact moment a consumer enters the purchase cycle. To combat this issue, we suggest a proactive approach to coordinating your CRM with other digital channels. In particular those able to identify and capture consumers at the start of their purchase journey. This will enable you to extend your CRM’s reach to inbound channels – and that’s where the magic happens.
Get your SEO aligned
In the same way we’ve seen CRM welcome website into the family, it’s important to maintain synergy between outbound comms and destinations. Getting your SEO aligned with your CRM approach should be top of your list. Additionally, messaging should remain consistent across all touch points, especially initial ones. This helps build trust and decreases the opportunity for competitors to sneak in at the top of the first page.
SEO is not an isolated channel
It is not an extension. It is, increasingly so, another channel under the gravitational pull of CRM. Like all aspects of CRM, its performance is intrinsically linked to the utilisation of consumer data and behaviours – ready to serve the needs of a given audience at any specific time.
Through a mix of traditional CRM, SEO, media, and website analytics tools, we are able to better understand motivators, interests, intent and journeys across the board. This, in turn, will influence propositions, content strategy, and targeting, ultimately maximising your business’s relevance.
When you map this against current CRM and SEO activity, it also identifies the gaps and opportunities that need to be plugged to minimise funnel drop-out and ensure consistency across outbound and inbound channels. Put simply, if something is delivering results in CRM, it’s likely to increase relevance and engagement in SEO, and vice versa.
Driving cross-channel performance
Our aim at Flourish is to support our clients in delivering channel agnostic strategies and campaigns, which satisfy consumer and business needs. Whilst executional remits may be set, our focus is on driving cross-channel performance and monitoring how all elements of the journey are able to support each other.
Want a free initial CRM-SEO audit?
Naturally, improvement in one area leads to a focus on the next. For us to optimise and enhance these opportunities, as well as support our clients’ endeavour to take on a more structured CRM approach to SEO, we’re offering a free initial CRM-SEO audit. This it to help businesses better understand how to coordinate the retention and acquisition elements of their strategies, through greater cohesion. Just like we did for the likes of Samsung, West Ham and Glossybox.
Want to know how we can help create the framework to integrate your SEO and CRM approaches? Get in touch with Steve, the man with all the insight, today: [email protected]
1 McKinsey & Company COVID-19 Consumer Pulse surveys, conducted globally between June 15 and June 21, 2020
2 Kantar OS Data for Q1 2020