Relationship marketing: 3 best practices [2023]

Relationship marketing is important because it is in close contact with customers. By understanding how customers use a brand’s products and services and identifying additional unmet needs, brands can develop new features and offerings to meet those needs and further strengthen the relationship.

What is relationship marketing in digital marketing?

Relationship marketing is opposed to transactional marketing. The former seeks to minimize transaction costs and maximize conversion to purchase. Relationship marketing, on the other hand, aims to build a long-term relationship.

Relationship marketing is a facet of customer relationship management (CRM) that focuses on long-term customer retention and engagement, rather than short-term goals such as customer acquisition and individual sales.

Why Relationship marketing?

Many companies do the same thing. In a world where there are many offers, it is difficult to retain customers. After all, it’s all about customer relationships, which is why an effective marketing department is so important. It’s even better when it works with relationship marketing strategies. The goal is to build a privileged relationship with each of the company’s customers to provide them with a pleasant shopping experience.

In addition, the customer is accompanied throughout the purchase process according to a defined relationship marketing plan. So the company’s actions do not stop at payment. They continue afterward, with first-class customer service, a personalized communication plan, and modern tools. These include social networks, transactional marketing, etc.

3 best practices for your relationship marketing:

Every business is used to doing traditional marketing. Switching to relationship marketing is very simple.

Customers are people first:

Start by thinking of your customers as people, not just consumers. This way you will be able to build a real human relationship with them. It’s no longer just about selling a product or service after a buying journey. It’s about getting to know your customers through their needs and wants, but not only. It’s also about their story and their life, and how they see your business. This is how you can personalize your communication to build a real relationship.

Think of small personal gestures, such as mentioning the first name in messages, an email wishing a happy birthday, etc. All this is achieved gradually through targeted marketing automation scenarios. This will not only attract potential customers and increase the conversion rate, but also improve the customer experience.

Proceed by grouping:

A company’s customer portfolio can be huge. This does not make customer relationship management easy. You can therefore segment your customers according to their particularities, to send them specific messages, depending on where they are in your sales funnel. To do this, you can create segments based on your marketing CRM (customer relationship management) for example.

You then present specific products to them and only to them, rather than to all your customers. This must be exclusive, thanks to the established customer relationship marketing. This will maximize your chances of closing the sale.

A sales funnel corresponding to the path of each customer:

In a sales funnel, there are different stages depending on whether it is a simple prospect, a customer with a one-time purchase, or a regular customer. Use relationship marketing tools such as social networks or websites to keep track of your customers. This way, you can guide them to the next step in their funnel.

Also, offer them exclusive, high-quality, and customized products. You will be able to afford it because the relationship is becoming more and more important in your business. Don’t hesitate to use a relationship marketing CRM system to keep in touch with your customers.

Examples of companies that do relationship marketing:

To have more confidence in this strategy, we draw inspiration from the success of the 5 best companies with relationship marketing objectives. These companies have achieved great results: Coca-Cola, Nike, Facebook, Sephora, Air Canada …