Keeping your existing customer base is essential in creating sustainable business growth, with one of the main objectives of a CRM being customer retention. Microsoft Dynamics supports this goal by encouraging increased growth through reduced attrition, additional revenue from existing customers, and new customer acquisition.
So how does Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM improve customer retention?
1. Enhanced data functionality provides a central view of the customer2. Helps sales teams manage their workload
3. AI technology and proactive monitoring improve renewals and extensions
4. Integrates sales, services and marketing
1. Enhanced data functionality provides a central view of the customer
An effective customer retention system should provide a ‘central view’ of your existing customers, but what does this really mean and how does a CRM provide it?
In simple terms, customer information should be available to all employees in a business with easy access, to help the decision making process. Additionally, having information available in one place will save time and increase productivity across the business, with no need for manual searching across disparate systems.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM creates a central view of your customers through the following capabilities:
Role Based Views
One of the perceived problems with gathering customer information in one system is information overload – too much information can be overwhelming, and not everyone in a business requires complete access. However, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM has the ability to bring together different customer views specific to various roles across the business (sales, services, marketing), allowing for easy analysis and efficiency.
Advanced Integration
Most CRM systems will allow integration of data, however, it is not always practical or possible to move all of the data your business users need into the CRM system.
However, Microsoft Dynamics 365 has a suite of technical capabilities to easily consume and transfer data. These integration features include:
- The ability to present information to users without the need to actually duplicate it into Dynamics 365.
- Embedded data analytics and KPIs from Power BI and other solutions.
- User interface integration so that users can navigate directly to or from customer screens and information in other systems where needed.
Customer Insights
The Customer Insights capability within Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM combines the best of Microsoft technology, including advanced analytics and Artificial Intelligence, to not only provide a holistic view of customer information but also detect patterns and suggest actions or automate workflows to help your team make use of the data. Easy to extend and tailor based on your business and data, Customer Insights provides market leading ‘central view’ capability and much more easily enabling greater CRM customer retention
Additionally, the system is able to identify patterns in customer attrition and launch targeted actions to address these. For example, where you see a loss in customers due to a competitor’s new product or service, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is able to make recommendations on how to deliver campaigns targeted at customer retention.
2. Helps sales teams manage their workload
Often, when salespeople are managing too many accounts or working inefficiently, it directly impacts the quality of care and service their customers receive. While this may seem unavoidable, a CRM system can help sales teams better manage their workload and their time, so that customer experience is never affected.
For the individual salesperson, it is important for the CRM solution to support them in their day to day workload management. Therefore, a CRM system must be easy to use and mobile friendly, with lack of usability one of the major reasons why salespeople don’t use their CRM systems. On top of an effective CRM must be integrated with office tools such as Outlook, as well as social media (LinkedIn, for example) to avoid the need for double entry and dual maintenance of things like calendar appointments.
Additionally, management needs to have full visibility of all sales activity, from account allocation and performance to activity management and visit reporting. Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM acts as a customer retention system by providing managers and directors with additional insight into why customers aren’t being retained through clarity of the sales pipeline. Managers can see where processes have stalled, where salespeople have missed vital information and where customers haven’t received the necessary care. This enables sales leadership to better manage their teams, which ultimately results in greater CRM customer retention and team satisfaction.
To see how Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM can improve overall sales processes in your financial services organisation, check out our free eBook:
3. AI technology and proactive monitoring improve renewals and extensions
If customer retention in your business relates to renewal or extension of products and services, without a fit-for-purpose CRM system, this can become increasingly complex. Manual processes can often lead to missed renewals and opportunities to upsell and cross-sell.
However, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM facilitates successful renewals through AI technology and proactive monitoring. D365 makes recommendations and identifies opportunities where salespeople can cross sell or upsell additional products or services that the customer is more likely to buy.
Using your existing data, Dynamics 365 acts as a customer retention system by monitoring customer behaviour and identifying selling opportunities, so all recommendations relate to ongoing customer needs. When your salespeople are able to sell their customers products or services they actually want, it shows that your business is able to deliver quality customer care. This not only helps customer retention through securing renewed contracts - it makes your product or service more attractive to prospects considering working with you.
4. Integration of sales, services and marketing
The key to successful customer retention is impeccable customer service. However, this is difficult to achieve when your sales, services and marketing teams are misaligned, and communication breakdown leads to dissatisfied customers. One way to avoid this is through a well implemented CRM solution that helps your team work together.
With Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, sales, customer service and marketing become aligned through complete integration. Dynamics 365’s Customer Service module empowers servicing teams with the tools needed to deliver a tailored customer experience, as well as keep your sales team in the loop with complete visibility. This means salespeople can keep track of any customer requests or complaints, and work with the services team to promote customer satisfaction and improve customer retention.
Integrated marketing capabilities allow marketing teams to easily segment and target customers based on a wide range of information available within Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM. Sales and services teams have access to these records, which creates full visibility of the marketing communications that all customers receive. This means that sales and marketing automation can be integrated to support improved customer satisfaction and CRM customer retention. For example, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM will initiate sales follow ups and workflows after marketing messaging, and reduce or tailor further communication based on sales and customer service patterns or issues.
Final thoughts: Why Microsoft Dynamics 365 is an effective customer retention system
In this article, we’ve looked at the impact of CRM on customer retention, with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM such an effective solution thanks to providing a clear, central view of your customers alongside real-time insights for sales teams to help them delight and retain customers. For sales leadership, D365 provides complete visibility allowing easier allocation of workloads, meaning no customer gets forgotten.
With impressive AI capabilities, and the ability to integrate sales, services and marketing, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM can provide your business with the varied tools needed to improve customer retention and enhance business growth.
If you’re struggling to retain customers, then it might be time to look at a new CRM system. Download our free eBook to learn the 7 signs that your CRM is holding you back:
[This blog was updated on the 24th of February 2021]