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CRM Strategy for eCommerce

Get the most from your eCommerce CRM


What is a CRM strategy for eCommerce?

Your eCommerce firm is making sales…great. It’s time for a CRM that will allow you to operate your business efficiently and continue to grow. It’s vital for eCommerce businesses to track margins rigorously and ensure that profits don’t erode with changes in supply chains, logistics, human resources, raw materials and more. 

Whether your business is DTC or B2B, you’ll want to add new clients/customers and grow your operation. With your CRM in place, it’s time to create a strategy to get the most out of your CRM investment. 

How does a CRM strategy for eCommerce help your business?

With a CRM strategy in place, you’ll be able to define business objectives and determine target audiences. You’ll select communication channels, set up KPIs (key performance indicators), and be able to continuously monitor your progress. An additional area of focus can be mapping customer journeys via CRM touchpoints and then evaluating those journeys to seek ways to improve them. Finding even a few small ways to improve your journeys can have a big impact on your closed-won percentages and, therefore, hit directly on the bottom line. 

CRM strategy for eCommerce firms

E-commerce CRM strategy has become an essential part of doing business online. Many of the most successful e-commerce businesses go to great lengths to maintain strong relationships with their customers both during and after the sales process — that’s where a comprehensive e-commerce CRM strategy comes into play.

There are many different CRM model examples. Some CRM models focus on segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP), while others emphasize communication channels and interaction points. Regardless of which model a business chooses, adopting a customer-centric perspective that prioritizes customer needs is crucial. Let’s explore each of these.

Segmentation – Segmentation is the process of dividing a broader market into distinct groups or segments based on certain characteristics or criteria. Segmentation aims to identify and understand different customer needs, preferences, and behaviors within the market, allowing businesses to tailor their marketing strategies more effectively. The segmentation process typically involves analyzing various factors such as demographics, psychographics, behavior, geography, or other relevant criteria to create homogeneous groups of consumers. Once these segments are identified, businesses can develop targeted marketing strategies that resonate with each segment’s specific characteristics and needs. Using segmentation in your CRM strategy allows you to tailor your messages to smaller groups and highly focus on their interests. 

Targeting – Targeting refers to selecting a specific segment or market segments as the focus of a company’s marketing efforts. Once a market has been segmented (divided into distinct groups based on certain criteria), targeting involves choosing one or more of these segments as the primary audience for a product or service. The aim of targeting is to direct marketing resources and efforts more efficiently toward the identified segment(s), maximizing the impact of marketing campaigns. By tailoring products, messages, and promotional activities to the characteristics and preferences of the selected target market, companies can increase the likelihood of capturing the attention and interest of potential customers. Using segmentation in your CRM strategy allows you to use your CRM data to determine which groups are the most profitable and then double down your efforts on that targeted group.

Positioning – Positioning refers to the way a brand or product is perceived by consumers in relation to competing brands or products in the marketplace. It involves creating a distinctive image and identity for a product in the target audience’s minds. The goal of positioning is to establish a unique and favorable place for a product or brand in the minds of consumers, making it stand out from competitors. As part of your CRM strategy, you can position your business based on the data and inputs you get from prospects and customers. 

Communication Channels – Communication channels are the various avenues or platforms through which a company or organization communicates its messages to the target audience. These channels play a crucial role in delivering information about products, services, and brands to potential customers. The choice of communication channels depends on the target audience, the nature of the message, and the overall marketing strategy. Here are some common communication channels in marketing: public relations, digital marketing (e.g., social media, email, and content), personal selling, sales promotions, direct marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, in-store promotions, and community engagement (both virtual and in-person.) Your CRM strategy can track which channel(s) your best leads are coming from, allowing you to invest more in those more efficient channels and improve your profit margin.

Interaction Points – Interaction points refer to the various touch points or moments of engagement between a brand or company and its customers or potential customers. These interaction points are crucial because they represent opportunities for the brand to connect with its audience, deliver messages, and create positive experiences. Understanding and managing these touchpoints is essential for building and maintaining strong customer relationships. Here are some common interaction points in marketing: website, social media, customer service, emails, in-store engagement, mobile apps, ads, events/experiences, online reviews/ratings, point-of-sale displays, and community engagement (live or virtual).

An excellent example of an e-commerce CRM strategy at work with CRM software for eCommerce would be an e-commerce company that uses client purchase history data to identify trends in consumer behavior. When combined with demographic details, this information could help the retailer effectively segment customers and develop targeted marketing strategies for each group. Another example would be to leverage predictive algorithms to design personalized shopping experiences

Insightly CRM for eCommerce businesses

You are well-positioned in the market, and your eCommerce firm is on a path of growth. You can use the above guidelines to help you develop a CRM strategy that will help you achieve your goals, whether that be business growth, client expansion, additional business lines, or the like. Insightly is a modern, affordable CRM that eCommerce firms teams love. It’s easy to customize to your eCommerce CRM strategy and integrate your CRM with the rest of your tech stack. Try a personalized demo today. Not ready to talk to a human? No worries! Watch a demo on demand, or just jump right in with a free trial.