As a business owner, one of your most important priorities is your customers. No matter how much marketing you’re doing for your business, or how many new customers come through your door, customer retention is critical for sustained growth. 

CRM marketing is all about creating and nourishing connections with customers through thoughtful automation. 

In this guide, we’ll break down what CRM marketing is, and the top CRM marketing automations that every small business should have in order to grow their business and retain their valuable customers. 

What is CRM software?

CRM (customer relationship management) software stores important information about both your existing clients and new leads. It tracks customer actions, allows you to take notes on clients and stores important client data in a centralized system. 

Keeping customer data in one central system can help you better manage leads and contacts, provide better customer support and uncover customer insights to help you run more effective marketing campaigns 

What is marketing automation? 

Marketing automation comes in many forms, but in this guide, we’ll touch on marketing automation through email and text messages. Automated emails and texts help streamline communication between your business and your customers, remove tedious tasks from your workflow and save your business valuable time. Instead of manually emailing every new lead that comes in, or texting every client to remind them of their appointment, marketing automation does the heavy lifting for you. 

CRM software and marketing automation work together to keep your business organized, build customer relationships and run more effectively. 

Here are three marketing automations every small business needs. 

Welcome emails

When someone signs up for your email list or becomes a customer for the first time, make sure to send them a welcome email that contains information about what emails they’ll be receiving in the future. This confirms that they’ve successfully opted into communications from your business.  

Appointment confirmation and reminders

If your business is appointment-based, appointment confirmation and reminders are a must. Not only are they beneficial for your busy clients, but they can help reduce no-shows and cancelations that can hurt your bottom line.

Birthday emails

One of the simplest ways to stay connected with your valuable customers is birthday emails and texts. A simple birthday message with a special birthday discount or promotion shows that you care, and can encourage repeat customers.

Review requests

Positive reviews are the lifeblood of a small business. Not only do they help influence your local ranking on Google, but they provide important social proof that people look to when making purchasing decisions. 

Using CRM marketing automation, you can send follow-up emails and text messages to your customers to remind them to leave an online review for your business. 

Newsletters

Monthly or quarterly newsletters are a great way to keep your customers up to date on new happenings at your business. Plus, a regular newsletter from you in their inbox will keep your business top of mind. 

In these newsletters, you can include any new blogs your business has posted, any media mentions you’ve received, company updates like new team members, menu items, services or products, upcoming promotions and future events. 

About Marketing 360®

Marketing 360’s integrated CRM lets you control your customer data and use it to make automated marketing to send the right campaign to the right contact at the right time. Learn more about our plans and pricing today.