Relationship strategy: a winning bet for the company and the customer
Relationship strategy... the new paradigm for effectively addressing your offer to your prospects and customers?
Today, customer relationship management and user-centric marketing strategies are more relevant than ever. The digital transformation has profoundly changed the balance of power. Consumers are becoming increasingly autonomous in their search for the product or service that meets their needs.
In this context, offering a quality product at the right price is no longer enough. You need to go further! That's where relationship strategy comes in.
What exactly is it? What are the advantages and challenges associated with this new way of thinking about sales and marketing? And above all, what best practices should you apply and what tools should you deploy to achieve your sales targets?
Definition of relationship strategy
What is a relationship strategy?
Relationship strategy, closely linked to relationship marketing, is defined as a customer-focused approach. The aim? To support them throughout their purchasing journey by targeting and personalising their actions as much as possible.
This new way of selling has emerged with the economic changes inherent in the digitalisation of society. Thanks to the development of the web, Internet users :
- access an incredible amount of information in just a few clicks, compare opinions and prices, etc. ;
- express themselves more about the brands and products they consume.
This means building and maintaining a special , personalised relationship with customers... the opposite of the old transactional marketing and mass communication.
What are the benefits for the company?
Stand out from the competition
A relationship strategy is first and foremost about setting yourself apart from the competition through a memorable customer experience and brand image. Markets are increasingly saturated, and in some sectors there is a real price war.... in this context, enriching the relationship established with consumers helps to anchor your brand in their minds.
Long-term customer relationships
Unlike transactional marketing, which is more short-termist, the relationship strategy helps to build a lasting relationship. What are the benefits for the company?
- Profitability: retaining a customer costs five times less than acquiring a new one. What's more, customer retention leads to more repeat purchases.
- Brand awareness: a loyal customer is a satisfied customer, and therefore a potential ambassador for your brand, willing to promote you to their network.
Increasing sales
Ultimately, the main benefit of a relationship strategy lies in increasing your sales. We have already mentioned the good ROI associated with retaining new customers.
What's more, targeted actions via appropriate communication channels are less expensive than mass advertising campaigns... and often yield better returns!
The challenges of relationship strategy
Gaining the trust of your prospects...
A relationship marketing strategy focuses not just on the customer, but also on the prospect. That's why it aims first and foremost to establish a link with your contacts before sending them a sales proposal. If they know you, trust you and share your values... then they'll be more inclined to buy.
... and take care of customer relations...
To establish a good relationship with your customers, you need to get to know them, get to know them and understand their needs. In short, they need to feel unique in your eyes and benefit from exclusive experiences.
... to build long-term loyalty
Developing a special relationship between you and your prospects and customers is ultimately one of the keys to building loyalty, and therefore to the success of your relationship strategy. This must be done :
- through all the interactions and contact points that link them to your brand,
- and in a perfectly structured way,
Which relationship marketing method should you use? Focus on 6 best practices
1. Adopt a lead nurturing strategy
Since relationship marketing also means focusing on your prospects, consider lead nurturing.
Once a visitor has made contact with you (via a Facebook ad, for example), you need to "nurture" them with targeted content (white paper, newsletter, webinar, etc.) based on their position in the buying journey. In this way, you match their progress by sending them communication tailored to their degree of maturity in relation to their purchasing decision.
💡 Lead scoring is a good way of gauging a prospect 's interest in your brand and qualifying them in order to determine what actions to deploy towards them.
2. Optimise your database
Getting to know your prospects and customers is essential if you are to send them the right message at the right time. That's why you need to enrich and optimise your database:
- 💡 Collect as much information as possible. A newsletter subscription, a contact form, a white paper to download... are all opportunities to obtain valuable information about your prospects and customers, their profile, their needs, etc.
- 💡 S egment your database. You can do this segmentation in different ways:
- on socio-demographic criteria: for example, one part of your offering may be aimed primarily at a young population, while another is more geared towards seniors.
- Customer typologies: depending on their background and aspirations, some customers will be more interested in a particular segment of your catalogue (organic products, for example).
- RFM segmentation, for recency, frequency and value of purchases.
Once you have established these groups, you can target your actions as precisely as possible.
3. Work on your communication
When you get down to the nitty-gritty of the operational side of things, apply your customer knowledge to send messages that will hit the bull's eye. You're talking to people, not numbers in a database!
A few tips:
- Emphasise the quality of your content.
- Provide information tailored to your contact's situation in their customer journey. If a prospect is not sufficiently mature in their purchasing decision, "educate" them further before sending more transactional messages.
- Convey memorable emotions. Why, for example, not play the humour card if your market and your targets allow it?
- Stay human and don't talk like a robot. In other words, add soul to your content by positioning yourself as a person and not as a company.
- Personalise your messages. Why not address the customer by their first name, for example?
4. Take care with every interaction between your brand and the customer
A relationship strategy doesn't stop at marketing campaigns. Every customer must feel that they are at the heart of your priorities, at every interaction with your company (after-sales service, point of sale, etc.).
In short, all your brand representatives need to be aligned with the same objective of customer satisfaction. Because a single bad experience can compromise your relationship with a consumer, and therefore their decision to buy or buy again.
5. Measure your successes and failures
Use KPIs to assess what's working and what's not in your relationship strategy. This will give you the best possible understanding of the behaviour of your customers or potential customers to ensure your chances of success, as well as the best ROI.
💡 There are many possible KPIs. The churn rate, for example, which measures the loss of customers or subscribers, is a good indicator of customer satisfaction.
6. Maintain the relationship
Customer care and customer loyalty are an integral part of a relationship strategy. So don't stop after the first purchase. Remain attentive :
- by rewarding your customers ;
- thanking them for a new purchase, for example;
- by offering them exclusive offers;
- sending them relevant information about your brand based on their profile and expectations, etc.
Relationship strategy: an example of a winning strategy
The Veepee website, formerly known as Ventes-Privées, has put its faith in its customer relations strategy. In fact, it has been voted "best customer service of the year" for the last eight years.
The key to this? Ensuring that the virtual world is not a barrier to close contact. While a large number of advisers have been recruited, the brand has above all succeeded in humanising its communications thanks to its muse Cécile de Rostand, a virtual character created to become the preferred contact for customers. Emails, official communications, exchanges on social networks, etc. are all set up in her name.
The tools of relationship marketing
To apply the good practices mentioned above, you need to use specific tools, most of which are available in SaaS mode.
CRM tools
From pre-sales through to customer loyalty, CRM software makes it possible to track customer progress through all the stages of their lifecycle, while placing customer relations at the heart of the strategy.
In particular, this tool makes it possible to personalise communication with each contact by gathering information about them (contact details, preferences, history, etc.). CRM therefore helps to improve customer knowledge, so that we can adopt a specific commercial relationship with them with the aim of building loyalty.
Marketing automation software
Marketing automation software is used to automate your marketing operations as far as possible. Each time a customer initiates an action (a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, etc.), an appropriate personalised message (emailing, SMS, etc.) is sent according to pre-defined scenarios.
Article translated from French