The role of IoT in managing customer relationships

Customer relationships are slowly turning to be the most effective instrument in increasing your revenues. Reports suggest that acquiring new customers is approximately five times more expensive than retaining the existing ones. The best part of the story is that with the proliferation of IoT devices, it will become convenient to monitor the customer’s changing needs and deliver what they require. 

This article sheds light on how IoT devices will revolutionize the field of customer relationships.

1. IoT devices will significantly increase the self-service experience.

Multinational companies have such a massive customer base that it becomes challenging to serve all of them at once. So they make significant investments in developing self-service tools that customers can use to help themselves. But unfortunately, many of the self-service tools are slow to operate and don’t provide an intuitive user experience.

IoT devices will provide a new definition to self-service as companies will collect critical data and act upon it instantly. For example, a customer bought a microwave oven from your store eight months ago, and it’s under the warranty period. Due to over usage, one of the capacitors is beginning to wear and tear. The sensors installed within the microwave will send an alert to the master server located in the headquarters. Thus, the company can become aware of the problem even before the customer and provide the necessary help.

Through IoT devices, companies can locate the problems instantly and create appropriate troubleshooting algorithms. They can share it with the customer over the phone or email and allow them to rectify the situation on their own.

Also Read: AI and IoT set to take over the Customer Satisfaction Game

2. IoT devices will allow companies to become price-sensitive.

Every company wants to maximize profits and cut expenses. Earlier, it was virtually impossible to gauge the changing market trends and customer behavior correctly. But with IoT devices, collecting business-critical data has become child’s play.

Today, mobile phones and other electronic devices are connected with sensors that keep on collecting data 24/7 and provide a 360-degree perspective. When you gain a thorough knowledge of what your customers need, want, and aspire for, it becomes easy to decide the pricing policy.

Let’s consider the following example. You run a retail outlet in a posh location. The data collected from IoT devices suggest that the footfall in your store increases rapidly during festivals. You can use this data to decrease the price of some of your products to increase sales. You can also use the data to identify products that sell fast and raise their prices to maximize your revenue. Companies are also using IoT data to devise effective discount strategies to increase their clientele.

3. IoT devices provides a high degree of personalization.

Today, it all depends on how you are interacting with your customers. Do you understand what they need? Are you aware of their aspirations? Are you conscious of the current market trends? In the cut-throat competitive world we live in, companies need to form a personalized relationship with their customers, and IoT devices play a significant role. They provide moment-to-moment information on what customers are doing, searching, talking, and commenting. When you have a broad perspective of your clientele, you can develop effective marketing campaigns and address their problems instantly. You can also figure out if the customers are losing interest in your offerings by monitoring their recent purchases and buying patterns. 

Also Read: Teaming up ERP with IoT & Big Data for Actionable Intelligence

Conclusion

There can’t be anything better than drawing real-time information about the market and your customers. It enables you to provide a top-notch customer experience, helps you formulate price-sensitive policies, and provide a personalized experience to each of your clients. There is a healthy relationship between business-critical data and ROI. Both are directly proportional to each other. So if you are looking to build robust and long-lasting customer relationships, you will have to increase the role of IoT technology while creating blueprints and creating future strategies.  

At Sage Software Solutions (P) Ltd., we are home to world-class ERP software and CRM software that will solidify your business tech support fundamentals and enable you to build a customer-centric organization. To know more about it, SMS SAGE to 56767. You can also write to us at sales@sagesoftware.co.in

Disclaimer: All the information, views, and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and their respective web sources and in no way reflect the principles, views, or objectives of Sage Software Solutions (P) Ltd.