CRM solutions will improve their approach to creating a seamless, cohesive customer experience across multiple screens and devices. We have noticed an increase in the use of chat within our customer base and expect that to transition to multimedia, with voice, text, and video integrations. This includes better implementations of voice and chat-driven interactions on the go.
As more and more CRM users are trending toward using portable and mobile devices and technology enabling voice inputs for such devices, we will see leaner applications and integrations making the cut in the coming year. We should see natural language processing technologies make their way into CRMs as a precursor to adding functionalities like updating records, recording minutes of meetings, and other voice-based interactions that could revolutionize the way the user interacts with CRM technology. Mobility will thus be a major driver for CRM developers in 2018.
In essence, 2018 will be transformational for the CRM space both in terms of technology as well as usage. Forward-looking CRM companies will need to take a hard look at what they want to implement in the coming year and beyond.
6. Enhanced Mobility
Creating virtual communities to engage customers in a more meaningful way will be the new trend for social media marketing. Leveraging the shared efforts as well as making life easier for the rest of marketing, these communities and social as a whole will take greater shape as an element within CRM.
Social CRM will not only help businesses interact more closely with their customers, but it will also go a long way toward providing hitherto ignored insights into customer behavior and buying patterns. These insights will in turn add to the lead nurturing capabilities in a big way. The transition to social CRM is imminent.
5. From CRM to Social CRM
4. Self-Service via CRM
One particular channel that will be witnessing deeper integration with CRM in 2018 is self-service.
More than half of consumers are likely to abandon an online purchase if they can’t get answers to their questions quickly, according to Forrester research. The Service Desk Institute has found that more than 80 percent of IT departments are using self-service as a way to meet this need.
The link between self-service and CRM is a natural one, since CRM automation—including chatbots—can both customize self-service interactions and provide a customer care feedback loop that marketing and sales also can tap into as needed. CRM makers have taken notice, and customer service integration, and self-service in particular, is on the rise.
INSIGHTS & PERSPECTIVES
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