The 10 Best CRM Strategy Examples

A CRM strategy centres around how you’ll acquire, sell to, re-engage, and retain your customers. It’s the foundation of your businesses growth and profits, but getting it right can be tricky.

The cost of living has been increasing across the UK since 2021, and because this affects consumers’ spending abilities, businesses are getting hit hard. In fact, over 80% of businesses report that consumers’ buying behaviours have dramatically declined, leaving entrepreneurs and business owners facing dropping revenue and profits.

This is why it’s so important to keep your customers engaged with and loyal to your brand, coming up with ways to sell to them and help them so they will continue doing business with you. Whether you’re launching a new in-store business or hoping to improve customer retention online, strategy is key to your success. CRM (customer relationship management) systems are vital to the functioning of your business and a great CRM strategy just might be the most important thing your business will do this year.

Read our guide on creating a CRM strategy that actually works and use our top 10 CRM strategy examples for UK businesses to help shape your business’ future.

1. Customer interaction and behaviour tracking

The first and foremost tenet of any good CRM strategy? Knowing your customers.

CRM software takes the guesswork out of tracking how prospects and deals find and interact with your business online. It also allows you to store a wide range of data about current clients, as well as those still being courted.

Which ad did Geoff click on? Did Beatrice engage with your email, or leave it unread? Which social media platform is Miriama most likely to find you on?

Once you’ve hooked your customers, CRM software then paves the way for you to get to know them a little better. And we don’t just mean their name, email address, or job title. Nope – we’re talking the date and nature of their last engagement with your brand, their previous orders, and their total spend – essentially, exactly what you need to target them with discounts tailored to their particular purchasing preferences.

This CRM strategy example, pulled straight from HubSpot, illuminates how easy the platform makes it to track your clients.

In addition to Greg’s contact details, you can view how many products he’s bought, how much he’s spent, and when he first made a purchase from your company. You can also email, call, or ‘meet’ him through the CRM’s interface – and any conversations you have with him will be recorded in the activity feed.

Of course, storing data comes with a few ethical issues, and you need to ensure that you’re respecting your customers’ privacy. That’s why CRM software is GDPR-compliant, and set up to only retain the customer data that you’re required (and allowed) to keep.

2. Loyalty and rewards programs

The Tesco Clubcard. Starbucks Rewards. The IKEA Family.

Whether it’s tallying up Avios points or earning ourselves a free coffee, we all love being rewarded for our loyal custom. But is your business taking advantage of this powerful marketing tool? And how do you get started?

CRM software is the easiest, most direct route to fostering customer loyalty. Whether it’s reaching out with a special birthday treat or following up to check on a recent purchase, CRM allows you to personalise and perfect the customer experience.

And, by allowing your customers to accumulate digital currency when they buy, they’ll be more motivated to come back to you – and spend again. After all, why let those points go to waste?

With more than 17 million members, Sephora rewards its customers with tailored offers and discounts on VIP treatments. The Rewards Loyalty program is structured in three ways: Insider (you automatically become an Insider upon enrolment, and will only be upgraded to a higher tier when you achieve the minimum annual purchase); VIB, or Very Important Beauty Insider (you become a registered Beauty Insider member when you spend a minimum of $350 on fulfilled orders in one year; and RougeGift Vouchers (you get upgraded to this top tier when you spend a minimum of $1,000 on fulfilled orders of merchandise in one year. So, the more you spend, the better the rewards – and the greater the exclusivity.

Better still, Sephora further nurtures customer loyalty and engagement through running an online forum. Here, its members can come together to discuss products, and share user-generated recommendations and advice.

3. Tailored, targeted marketing

So, you’re committed to customer interaction and behaviour tracking, with a customer loyalty strategy firmly in place. Now it’s time to get (even more) proactive – to start putting that data into use with marketing campaigns that are hand-crafted to your audience.

Here are four tips to help you build a CRM strategy around more effective marketing:

a) Personalise your emails!

Research suggests that emails with personalised subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened – and it’s not hard to see why. You’re already sending your customer an unsolicited email – the least you can do is address them by name!

Plus, it makes it feel a bit less like bulk marketing (which, of course, it is), while adding a dash of the personal.

b) Segment your customers

Marketing with a ‘one-size fits all’ kind of approach rarely succeeds. Because, naturally, what works for one customer won’t necessarily resonate with another.

That’s why you need to segment your email lists. With the right marketing CRM software, you can sort your audience by demographic, purchase history, and personal preferences. This ensures the right messages always go to the right people, while helping you steer clear of any embarrassing slip-ups.

c) Be specific!

Being specific about what you’re offering is key to good email marketing. It also helps reduce any mental strain on the reader, allowing you to get straight to the point. Take the following CRM strategy example I received during the Covid-19 pandemic:

This discount from ride-sharing app Bolt is an attention-grabber. I knew what the offer was, how many trips I could use it on, and where (and when) I could use it. The stipulations were clear and signposted, and I knew exactly where to go if I got stuck (the app).

d) Make it easy to unsubscribe

This may sound counter-intuitive to what you’re trying to achieve, but it’s hugely important.

Making it easy for your user to unsubscribe – ideally, by including a clearly visible link in the email footer – helps you remain GDPR compliant, while minimising annoyance to the reader. Aside from being the right thing to do, it also helps you inspire trust and confidence in your brand, and avoid being ‘spammy’.

Plus, it has benefits for your CRM database, too – clearing out users that are no longer engaged, and freeing up room for more lucrative prospects.

4. Data cleansing and deduplication

Profits, prestige, power – as your business grows, lots of things will come your way, many of which you’ll enjoy. However, we’re guessing that increased media scrutiny isn’t one of them.

That’s why you’ll want to avoid any high-profile mistakes when communicating with your customers. Attempting to sell a product to a customer you should have known was long-deceased, or addressing marketing emails to a married couple that split long ago? These pitfalls can cost you your reputation – and they’re surprisingly easy to fall into.

Fortunately, these kinds of errors can be avoided with the right CRM software. 

By unifying your data into a single system, you avoid entries being duplicated across disparate systems. Sensitive customer data will be easier to manage, cleanse, and regulate – and you can be confident that you’re always working with the most accurate information.

5. Sharper stakeholder reporting

Stakeholders, shareholders, auditors. The media. If they have anything in common, it’s that they all expect you to be able to deliver an accurate, segmented view of your entire customer base – often at just a moment’s notice.

And, let’s face it – no matter how much of an ‘Excel wizard’ you are, spreadsheets alone aren’t going to cut the mustard here. So what will?

Pulling your range of business and customer data into a single place – and allowing you to manipulate it via a series of online dashboards – analytical CRM software enables a new level of number-crunching. Reports are easy to generate, simple to export, and a breeze to read.

6. Customer relationship identification

When it comes to cultivating good customer relationships, simple management isn’t enough. You’ll need to identify, too.

That is, you’ll need to understand not only your relationships with your customers, but what professional or personal relationships they have with each other, too.

The right CRM software offers a holistic view of your customer database – allowing you to identify where any need-to-know (and potentially profitable) connections occur between your clients.

It also helps to know about personal connections, too. Being aware that a customer has two young children might be important for marketing purposes, for example. But it can also help you avoid major embarrassment – like sending inappropriate sales propositions to your clients’ kids.

7. Customer service team integration

Sure, your sales team can do a lot with sales CRM software. Your marketing department, too. But for everything to perform at its peak, you’ll also need to keep your helpdesk staff in the loop.

Fortunately, that’s easy to do. Your CRM system feeds info about any interactions or successes your sales and marketing teams have had with a client directly to your helpdesk  team. This allows the latter to quickly see what’s gone wrong – and how to fix it.

After all, there’s nothing worse than being stuck on hold – bouncing from one helpdesk  agent to another, and having to explain your issue several times over. It’s bad service, and a common CRM problem. So don’t fall prey to it!

Use a CRM system instead. With everything they need at their disposal via the software’s unified, cloud-based CRM interface, your helpdesk team will be able to handle issues, requests, and complaints with greater ease and professionalism.

8. Value-added content creation

We’ve discussed the benefits of email marketing – that is, reaching out to customers directly to sell to them. But what about people coming the other way? How do you attract, engage, and convert new, inbound customers to your website – and turn them from prospects into clients?

The answer, of course, is content. 

Whether it’s a blog, an innovative social media strategy, or a downloadable ebook or guide, you need to offer your users something they can’t get elsewhere.

Publishing original content in unique formats – videos, infographics, case studies, whitepapers, tutorials – is an excellent route to establishing yourself as an authority in the eyes of your readers. It’s also a great way to offer them some genuinely entertaining, informative content (with a few call-to-actions along the way, of course!).

Here’s where a CRM system comes in. As well as providing a platform for you to create, curate, schedule, and publish original, SEO-optimised content, it integrates with your social media accounts, to simplify community management.

Let’s take this CRM strategy example from Salesforce. You can monitor keyword trends, review past social media post performance, and assess engagement levels – all from within a single interface. The software also integrates with social media monitoring tools– keeping you forever in the loop as to what your customers are saying about your brand and industry.

For more information, explore our Salesforce review.

9. Employee empowerment and autonomy

It’s simple arithmetic. Employees + empowerment = productivity.

There are plenty of ways in which a CRM system can boost employee empowerment. It breaks down data silos, fosters more efficient team collaboration, and adds a layer of transparency to every interaction your sales, marketing, and customer service teams have with clients.

Not only will your staff feel more accountable and independent, they’ll feel more confident – freed up to use the CRM tools and data at their disposal to make better decisions.

All killer CRM strategies place an emphasis on the people behind the business, rather than solely the profit. So should yours.

10. Inspiration from CRM’s big names

Just think – thousands of videos exist online of Apple users ‘unboxing’ their new iPhone or Apple Watch. Elsewhere, Apple’s physical stores are a hub where potential customers can play and explore Apple’s range without the pressure to purchase – a monument to Apple’s playful, immersive approach to CRM strategy.

Head to our Apple CRM case study to learn more.

Next steps

There they are. Ten CRM strategies to revolutionise the way you nurture your customer relationships, applicable at each and every stage of the user journey. Let’s recap:

Of course, you won’t necessarily commit to one of these CRM strategies alone. You can employ them all simultaneously, or choose to focus more of your resources on a smaller subset.

Whichever strategies end up as part of your plans, remember just one thing.

CRM isn’t solely about strategies, or grand visions – it’s about the software you use to execute them. Without a CRM system, the above CRM strategies will be tough to pull off, and add hours onto your already hefty ‘to-do’ list. CRM software is crucial – so let us help you choose the right one.

Simply answer a few questions using our free quote matching tool. It takes just a moment to do, and is designed solely to help us match you with the right CRM suppliers.

Once we’ve done that, we’ll put them in touch with you directly. They’ll then give you a ring to provide quotes tailored to your business, and advice to inform your own CRM strategy. Go knock ‘em dead.