Did you know that WordPress powers some 64 million websites? That’s nearly 40% of the entire internet! There are many reasons people use WordPress; it’s simple to set up and use, it’s low cost, it’s ideal for eCommerce businesses, and it offers more than 58,000 plugins and over 8,000 themes, meaning you can customize your own website to work just how you want it.
You can see why it’s the overwhelming choice for eCommerce businesses, and with that market being worth $4.9 trillion in 2021, it’s a big pie that everyone wants a slice of. So, how do you decide what plugins or themes to use? With so many on offer, the options may seem a little bewildering, especially if you are taking those first tentative steps into eCommerce.
There are many factors to consider within your eCommerce model. What communication channels will you use? Will you provide free virtual numbers? How wide will your social media presence be? Making the right decisions can have a major impact on the efficiency of your business.
Your first task should be to prioritize what type of tools you are going to need. Those will be tools that not only help your business but that make it easy to onboard and retain customers. Customer service should always be a major focus and one tool that really helps with that is customer relationship management (CRM). What are the main advantages of integrating a WordPress CRM theme into your site? Read on to find out.
What is CRM?
Put simply, a CRM tool is a type of technology that allows you to easily manage all of your customer interactions and record the entire relationship a customer has with your company. It helps you and your customer build a better relationship over time as you can instantly see their previous actions with you, meaning you can offer a better customer experience.
It is just one tool amongst many and also one decision amongst many. For example, you may consider what is partner marketing and how you could adapt it for your business model. Making the right choices are decisions that can have lasting effects on your business.
By having the ability to manage that relationship across the customer lifecycle, you not only improve the customer’s experience, you can also increase staff productivity and boost your profitability. You can extend that relationship management to include any relationship a person has with your organization, including suppliers, colleagues, and any user of your services.
If you have chosen to use WordPress for your eCommerce business, then a WordPress CRM theme is an essential add-on. WordPress offers so much choice when it comes to plugins and themes, so you could be forgiven for initial confusion when it comes to deciding what to add to your site. However, CRM should be a priority for a number of reasons.
6 Advantages of Integrating a WordPress CRM Theme
Depending on the nature of your business and the model you are using, there may be different priorities when it comes to utilizing a CRM system. However, there are several common advantages that nearly every business will want to see in a good CRM tool.
- Customer management
This is perhaps the most important advantage organizations look for. After all, it’s called customer relationship management for a reason! Good customer management means you can not only handle your customers efficiently but also consistently throughout their lifecycle with your business.
A CRM should log all activity a customer has with you, from any purchases to customer service queries. This means that your agents can deal with any query quickly as they can see previous calls made but it also allows you to market to customers better by constructing a psychographic profile that focuses on factors such as tastes and purchasing patterns. There should also be a high degree of automation so that your system reminds agents to make follow-up calls or similar.
- Data analytics
All businesses today are driven by data, ideally, data that informs and enables positive decisions and changes. That can include all your key metrics and KPIs and be able to record and then analyze that data is of paramount importance. A good WordPress CRM theme allows you to access the data you have inputted over different periods, such as sales figures over a month.
Analyzing your recorded data lets you identify patterns in customer behavior as well as other trends such as seasonal sales fluctuations. It also lets you monitor campaigns and strategies so you can see what has worked and what hasn’t. Of course, that data is no use to you unless you can extract them in an organized way, with easy-to-read reports that can be exported and shared with relevant stakeholders.
- Manage your business
A WordPress CRM theme does far more than allow efficient management of customer relationships. It also allows you to manage relationships with suppliers or major clients as well as management of internal relationships with employees and fellow team members. Those internal relationships can allow you to improve collaborative practices and streamline workflows.
As with managing customer relationships, the ability to manage your other business relationships from one point can lead to increased profitability and productivity, two things every organization wants to achieve. With automation added to the mix, you will never miss following up on potential leads or keeping track of important dates ever again.
- Social media
Any eCommerce business seeking to extend reach and brand awareness will have a social media presence. A WordPress CRM theme not only helps you manage your own social media presence by monitoring likes and comments, it can also monitor the activity of your clients and followers, meaning your staff can look to convert that activity into sales.
For example, you make a social media post about a new product. That post attracts both comments and likes. Your CRM can track that activity so your sales team can follow up and hopefully produce sales. The other side of the coin is that your CRM can also monitor negative comments and/or dissatisfaction so that customer service agents can follow that activity up and seek to rectify any issues.
- Remote access
The modern marketplace is not only increasingly digital, it is increasingly remote and mobile. You may have sales staff who are on the road a lot or you may have some team members who are working remotely. In both cases, you need to be sure that your WordPress CRM theme lets people input (or access) data no matter where they are and no matter what time of day it is.
You could have an agent at a trade fair, for example, so it is more efficient if they can input data on new leads directly into your CRM rather than waiting until they are back in the office. Portability and mobility mean that any staff can access the data they need to close sales or pursue leads or add data that will help with future deals.
- Integrations
The modern business may rely on multiple tools and apps to operate efficiently. However, that efficiency may be reduced if staff is constantly having to switch between those apps. That means you need your WordPress CRM theme to have the ability to integrate with your most important tools to increase efficiency. This will, of course, depend on the tools you prioritize such as your business instant messaging software.
For example, one of your sales agents is visiting a regular customer who wants to place a large order for a specific product. If your CRM is integrated with your inventory management software, the agent can check on current stock, order extra if needed, and even advise the client on the delivery date. That ability both keeps your customer happy and makes your sales process easier.
The takeaway
Any eCommerce business wants to see increases in their key KPIs and metrics, their productivity, and, of course, their bottom line via increased sales and conversions. One of the foundations of building a good business, and achieving all the targets mentioned, is to provide the very best customer service as well as a great customer experience every time.
A WordPress CRM theme can help you establish that foundation and allow you to build relationships with everyone who matters to your business, including customers, suppliers, and your employees. Those relationships do not just provide good experiences for all concerned, they help, via your CRM tool, to provide crucial information and data.
That information and data can then be analyzed and used to adjust tactics, to make informed business decisions, and identify any flaws in your business model, from sales funnels to marketing. It can be used to streamline workflows and processes, thus increasing further the positive customer experiences and journeys.
You could almost describe CRM as facilitating a cyclical process where the information and data you harvest can be used and fed into the start of the customer cycle, thus improving the cycle for both new customers and retaining customers. Just as you may have a test plan for new software development, so CRM can act in testing strategies.
If you are using WordPress for your eCommerce business, or are considering using WordPress, then a WordPress CRM theme is a must.
