MarketStar Blog

The way we sell today is being shaped by the evolving customer journey, technological advancements, and changes in customer behavior. Additionally, sales processes differ from one business to another, and so do the terminology and data management practices associated with them. At MarketStar, we fully comprehend these dynamics and possess the adaptability to align with and enhance our clients' processes through our proven and reliable practices. We bring our expertise to every task, seamlessly integrating our teams into our clients' organizations. However, occasionally we encounter minor inaccuracies that, despite their size, can significantly impact our efforts.

Key Takeaways

Research has proved that influence is the foundation of selling. It is what inspires others to take an idea seriously and act on it. Information alone will rarely persuade someone to act. (If it could, then salespeople would be unnecessary.) Rather, what moves people is how that information is presented and who presents it to them. As neuroscientist Gregory Berns explains, “A person can have the greatest idea in the world—completely different and novel—but if that person can’t convince enough other people, it doesn’t matter.” Source: Hoffeld, David. The Science of Selling (pp. 4-5). Penguin Publishing Group. 

Growth mindset is the belief that intelligence can be developed. It is contrasted with a fixed mindset: the belief that intelligence is a fixed trait set in stone at birth. A fixed or growth mindset may shape adaptive behaviors, acceptance of virtual selling tools, confidence recovery following failures, as well as the effectiveness of product marketing campaigns. People with a fixed mindset are more likely to seek products and brands in line with their goals to burnish their self-image and demonstrate their positive qualities, while people with a growth mindset seek products that help them pursue their goals to improve and learn new things. (Dweck, 2018) 

Key Points

• Inefficient Ecommerce operations can lead to higher costs, reduced profitability, and increased competition from more efficient rivals. 

• Advancements in Ecommerce technology, such as AI and machine learning, are enabling businesses to provide more personalized customer experiences and drive sales.

• MarketStar’s customized Ecommerce solutions enable businesses to scale their operations without compromising customer experience.

Introduction

With increasing numbers of consumers turning to online shopping post-pandemic, digital shopping has experienced a paradigm shift. Forbes reports that an estimated 24% of retail purchases will occur online by 2026.

However, most SMBs find it difficult to deal with continuous fluctuations in consumer behavior, technological transformations and the economy.

As companies expand their online presence, they often lack the resources or expertise to manage all aspects of Ecommerce. This is where outsourcing comes in, providing businesses with the flexibility and support they need to succeed in Ecommerce.

This article focuses on the benefits of Ecommerce outsourcing and how businesses can focus on their core competencies while benefiting from the expertise and experience of a dedicated Ecommerce partner through outsourcing.

The Benefits of Ecommerce Outsourcing

Ecommerce is well-suited for outsourcing due to the ease of remote collaboration and communication and the extensive use of cloud-based systems by Ecommerce enterprises. Here are a few reasons businesses choose outsourcing to optimize their operations and boost productivity. 

Leverage Expertise to Minimize Expenses

Outsourcing Ecommerce operations can help businesses reduce costs associated with staffing, infrastructure, technology, and other overhead expenses. By outsourcing, businesses can benefit from the economies of scale of a specialised service provider, who can leverage their expertise and resources to offer cost-effective solutions. 

The business messaging application Slack outsourced their product design team to successfully launch their application from the beta version, thus slashing costs and garnering more investors.

Scaling Business Operations

When a business outsources its Ecommerce operations, it can leverage the expertise and resources of a third-party provider to quickly and easily expand its capacity to handle more orders, customers, and sales. This can include everything from order processing and fulfilment to customer service and technical support. The outbreak of the pandemic saw a boom in Ecommerce operations, and numerous SMBs scaled their operations quickly.

As of 2022, 17% of outsourced enterprises believe that organizations choose outsourcing part of their operations for scaling. By setting up manufacturing and assembly units in the US and Southeast Asia, Apple has managed to outsource their supply chain and concentrate on product design and scaling. By treating outsourcing as a mutually beneficial relationship, Apple meets its rising consumer demand, thereby easing its production costs.

Focus On Core Competencies

One of the most significant benefits of Ecommerce outsourcing is the ability to free up valuable resources and personnel to focus on what they do best. By outsourcing non-core tasks such as order processing, inventory management, and customer service outsourcing, businesses can reduce their operational workload, allowing them to concentrate on their core competencies, such as product development, marketing, and sales.

By outsourcing AdWords support and development of Project Ara to tech service providers worldwide, Google could concentrate on its core operations.

Improve Customer Experience

Poor customer experience has forced 89% of consumers to discontinue relations with an Ecommerce business. Providing a seamless and exceptional customer experience is paramount in today’s highly competitive Ecommerce landscape. However, managing all aspects of the customer journey, from website design to order fulfilment and customer service, can take time and effort for businesses. This is where Ecommerce outsourcing can play a critical role in improving the customer experience. By outsourcing certain Ecommerce functions to a specialized third-party vendor, businesses can tap into the expertise and resources of the vendor to enhance the customer experience. 

For instance, outsourcing customer service to a vendor with experienced and knowledgeable agents can provide customers with a responsive and helpful support team. This can lead to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth recommendations. Similarly, outsourcing website design and development to a vendor focusing on user experience (UX) can result in a more intuitive and user-friendly website, increasing customer engagement and conversion rates. 

How MarketStar Can Help

MarketStar is a leading provider of Ecommerce outsourcing services, specializing in partnering with Ecommerce establishments to optimize their operations and deliver outstanding customer service. With extensive experience working with clients across multiple industries, MarketStar understands the unique challenges that businesses face in the competitive Ecommerce landscape and come up with tailored solutions for effective results. 

MarketStar prioritizes efficiency and effectiveness in all aspects of their operations. 

`MarketStar’s multichannel strategy ensures that their clients’ customers can reach them through their preferred channels, while MarketStar’s multilingual customer support teams are available around the clock to provide assistance in multiple languages and time zones. MarketStar’s seasonal staffing model allows for optimal scalability without incurring additional expenses. 

MarketStar’s research reveals that Ecommerce platforms suffer from issues such as

• Dealing with customer expectations especially during peak seasons.

• Dealing with customers from different time zones and geographic locations. 

• Balancing cost-effectiveness and operational efficiency.

Choosing the Right Ecommerce Outsourcing Partner 

When it comes to Ecommerce outsourcing, choosing the right partner is essential for businesses looking to streamline their operations and improve their bottom line. However, selecting the right Ecommerce outsourcing partner can be a daunting task, with many factors to consider. Here are some key points to note while choosing the right partner to outsource essential operations: 

Expertise and Experience 

When choosing an Ecommerce outsourcing partner, look for a company with a proven track record of success. This means finding a vendor with years of experience in the industry and a portfolio of clients that are like your business. The vendor should have deep expertise in your Ecommerce needs, such as website design, development, order fulfilment, and customer service. A partner with expertise in your industry will also bring valuable insights and best practices that can help you optimize your Ecommerce operations. 

Scalability and Flexibility

Your Ecommerce needs will evolve as your business grows, and you will require more support from your outsourcing partner. Therefore, choosing a vendor that can scale its services to meet your changing needs is essential. The vendor should also be flexible enough to adapt to your business needs and should be able to customize its services to meet your unique requirements. This will ensure that your outsourcing partner can grow with your business and meet your long-term goals. 

Data Security

Data security is a crucial factor to consider when choosing an Ecommerce outsourcing partner. The vendor you choose should have strict data security protocols in place to protect your sensitive information and that of your customers. The vendor should comply with all data protection laws and regulations and have certifications which ensure the safe handling of payment card data. Look for a vendor that can provide you with transparency and visibility into its security measures and certifications. 

Cost-Effectiveness

Outsourcing should provide cost savings for your business. However, it is essential to consider the overall value that the outsourcing partner can provide. The vendor should offer transparent pricing and no hidden costs, with a clear understanding of the services and resources included in the pricing. Compare pricing and services from multiple vendors to ensure you get the best deal. Remember that the cheapest option may not always be the best, and a partner offering high-quality services may be more cost-effective in the long run.

Communication and Collaboration

Clear communication and collaboration are essential for a successful outsourcing partnership. The vendor should have a responsive and transparent communication strategy and should be available to assist you with any questions or concerns. Look for a partner that offers a dedicated point of contact or project manager to ensure clear and effective communication. Additionally, the vendor should be collaborative, working closely with your business to ensure that your outsourcing strategy aligns with your overall goals and objectives. 

Technological Advancements

An ideal outsourced partner offers access to technological advancements as part of their Ecommerce outsourcing services, allowing businesses to leverage the latest tools and technologies for improved efficiency and customer experience. When choosing an outsourcing partner, businesses should consider their expertise in Ecommerce technology, ability to innovate, and willingness to stay up-to-date with emerging trends and technologies. 

Customer Service

Finally, choose a partner that values customer service. The vendor should have a dedicated support team to assist with any issues or concerns. Look for a partner that offers 24/7 support, ensuring you can always reach out for help when needed. The vendor should also proactively identify and address issues, ensuring that your Ecommerce operations run smoothly. Consider reading customer reviews or testimonials to gauge the vendor’s level of customer service. 

Conclusion

According to a survey conducted among executives, 96% acknowledged outsourcing providers as the primary source for developing data and analytics capabilities. 

MarketStar, a leading provider of Ecommerce outsourcing services, offers a unique value proposition that can help businesses thrive in the Ecommerce space. Achieving a 95% average customer satisfaction rate (CSAT%), MarketStar’s team of Ecommerce experts can assist businesses with everything from website development to digital marketing, content creation, and data analysis. 

MarketStar’s unique value proposition can help companies thrive in the highly competitive Ecommerce landscape. By partnering with MarketStar, businesses can access specialized expertise, customized solutions, and the latest Ecommerce technologies to achieve their goals and drive revenue growth. 

Key Takeaways

• Businesses can promote advertising through numerous online channels like social media ads, video streaming ads, and in-game ads.

• Omnichannel advertising identifies programmatic advertising as the preferred solution for online ad markets.

• Personalization is more important than ever in digital advertising, as businesses look to provide tailored experiences that resonate with their customers and drive conversions.

Introduction

‘It’s important to remember that your competitor is only one mouse click away.’

In today’s digital age, it’s imperative for small and medium-sized businesses to keep up with the latest advertising and digital marketing trends to remain competitive. With the COVID-19 pandemic prompting a significant shift towards digitalization, the advertising landscape has undergone a transformation, and adapting to these changes has become more important than ever.

The digital advertising industry is continually evolving and developing new AdTech trends, enabling businesses to innovate and reshape their revenue strategies. Staying up to date with these trends in digital advertising and adopting them in marketing campaigns can be a game-changer for businesses, leading to increased visibility and higher conversion rates.

This blog will provide the latest insights and updates about digital advertising trends in 2023.

Introduction of Adtech into Small Businesses

The colossal rise of social media has enabled AdTech and MarTech technologies to target prospects with minute brand interactions. Over 8000 marketing and digital advertising tools that can leverage technology for the planning and execution of marketing campaigns have thus emerged.

Data further strengthens the ability of SMBs to target their advertising to specific demographics, interests, and locations.

The following section highlights some key benefits of paid advertising for SMBs.

• Targeting your customers precisely: The most crucial challenge an SMB faces is gaining online exposure and inaccurate targeting of customers, especially in industries where enterprise-level players reign supreme.
  
  SMBs should focus their marketing and advertising plans on niche customers through AdTech. With AdTech, SMBs can cut through oversaturated markets and reach their ideal customers with precision and impact. This explains why 93% of SMBs invest in digital advertising strategies that can increase their expenditure in 2023.

• Optimal resource allocation: How can SMBs target customers using audience insights from AdTech resources on a budget? With the advanced targeting capabilities of digital advertising, SMBs can apply an organized approach to attract new customers.
  
  Instead, they can precisely manage their ad inventory and budget, enabling even modest advertising budgets to have a significant impact. Moreover, cross-channel marketing can be leveraged to retarget potential customers through direct mail or drive responses. 

• Ensuring organizational level efficacy: Adtech tools provide a wealth of data and metrics that advertisers can use to quickly analyze and optimize their ad content, placement, and inventory, resulting in maximum effectiveness with faster results.
  
  Forbes reports that sharing-worthy content can enable businesses to target specific segments, especially with the changing landscape of audience attitudes. AdTech tools can give valuable insights into customer behaviors, including site-wide navigation statistics and session duration. This helps customize or personalize campaigns best suited to your purpose without wasting resources. 

Digital Advertising Trends 2023

Trend 1: Omnichannel SMB Advertising

The omnichannel approach to digital advertising for businesses involves the usage of several channels like social media advertising, email marketing, search engine marketing, display advertising, print ads, and direct mail campaigns simultaneously. 

While implementing these strategies, however, businesses must focus on consistency and marketing intent. Data and analytics can help track the performance of these campaigns for increased brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Let us look at the various wings of omnichannel advertising in brief.

• Display ads: Display ads date back to the initial days of the internet and appear as static or moving texts or images with links to various products. Depending on the goal of a particular advertising campaign, these ads are often designed to educate, entertain or engage customers through an interactive interface.

• Social media ads: Local ad purchase statistics reveal that 22% of businesses plan to increase their expenditure on social media ads in 2022-23. This suggests that marketing and advertising on social media have gathered tremendous pace and are about to cross the $300 billion mark by 2024. Social media ads can be curated easily by understanding the target audience and the rate of expected impressions or engagement and periodically optimizing ad performance.

• Video streaming ads: The gradual decline of linear TV advertising and the boom in video streaming services proves the tremendous potential of video streaming ads in generating revenue. With video streaming over YouTube and OTT platforms, the demand for video ads has seen an unprecedented rise in attracting audiences and converting them into customers. Statistics reveal that 64% of the Indian audience of video streaming channels respond to streaming ads, and 33% of them make a purchase.

• Audio streaming ads: Audio streaming ads have also increased, with brands like Spotify and YouTube Music joining the race. Audio streaming ads are also ideal for younger consumers, as audio streaming services attract a younger population. Podcast ads are highly effective, with 54% of podcast listeners considering a brand after hearing an ad.

• Native ads: For an even more organic and contextual feel of approaching customers through advertising, businesses often turn to native ads. Native advertising refers to advertising content that mimics the form and function of the site or app on which it is placed. While only 55% trust social media ads, experts reveal that 68% of consumers trust native ads.

• Phy-digital advertising: Out-of-home advertising, like billboards, public transportation, etc., has also experienced a digital shift, with many businesses presenting a phy-digital experience by introducing digital elements in offline advertising modes

Trend 2: Short Video Advertising Reign Supreme

The video format is evolving rapidly due to the popularity of mobile devices and content platforms like TikTok. The short-video content format has facilitated micro-ads, with over 50% of adults closing a video after just 20 seconds. Advertisers face the challenge of creating impactful and relevant content that engages the customer quickly.

Researchers also claim that consumers watch video ads without sound, especially on FB or Instagram. In 2022, online videos garnered more than 100 minutes each day per person on average in watch durations. With an approximate 41% rise in video usage from 2016-22, it would only benefit the SMB sector in 2023 to adopt video marketing.

Short-form videos are efficient digital advertising tools that promote higher engagement and help create a niche customer base. Short video ads can present SMBs with immense opportunities as they are cost-effective, engaging, and can be easily shared on various social media platforms.

Short video ads can target specific audiences, making them an effective tool for reaching and engaging with target customers. Micro-ad platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram use animation and graphical outlook to create an everlasting impact. Creative tools and substantial audio libraries make advertising competitive, especially for small businesses.

Trend 3: Unleashing the Power of In-game Advertising

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, online gaming has transformed into a family activity, with 74% of parents playing with their children weekly. 63% of parents believe that educational games are effective learning instruments—additionally, 77% play games online or with others for social interaction.

Market forecast experts claim that the in-game advertising market is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.25% from 2023 to 27. This accelerating growth momentum throws light on the customer adoption rate and determines the sensitivity of price changes.

Through digitally distributed downloadable in-game content, Activision Blizzard Media generated more than $7.53 billion in revenue (2022). In-game advertisers can generate revenue from microtransactions, banner ads, interstitial ads, rewarded ads, in-game ad placements and licensing royalties.

A remarkable rise in gamers implies a growing popularity of in-game advertising. The US, China and Japan are the most significant consumer countries for in-game advertising.

Trend 4: How Programmatic Advertising Helps Navigate the Fragmented Digital Ad Market

Programmatic advertising streamlines the buying and selling of digital ad space. It uses algorithms to make real-time decisions on which ads to buy and how much to pay based on user data. In addition to saving time and cost for advertisers and publishers, programmatic ads fortify the ad inventory across multiple publishers, which can be accessed based on the specific audience niche.

According to IAB research, programmatic advertising has seen a 39% annual growth in revenues. The digital music and podcast service Spotify allows businesses to share their message with programmatic advertising through engaging video and audio formats. Such advertisements can reach millions of subscribers through their enhanced audience-targeting capabilities.

Programmatic advertising can produce opportunities like cross-device campaign strategies and a large-scale audience reach. Experts believe that SMBs can expand their brand awareness among customers at a cheaper rate than display ads.

Trend 5: Beyond the Typical Walls of Google and Social Media Advertising

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) typically advertise on Google and Facebook due to their access to valuable user data for targeted advertising. Facebook’s 2.7 billion monthly active users allow for granular targeting based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and life events.

Google’s focus on search enables ads to reach users with high purchase intent. Both companies also offer user-friendly interfaces, accessible analytics, and budget-friendly campaigns for SMB advertisers.

However, digital advertising trends in the current realm call for a unified outreach strategy because paying attention to each one costs money and time. Developing a comprehensive customer profile is challenging due to varying metrics and analytics across different platforms. Advertisers also rely on these platforms’ policies and algorithms, prioritizing platform growth over individual advertiser success.

What is to be done, then?

Self-service technology is reducing processing needs for publishers and streamlining ad buying for advertisers. This benefits SMBs as smaller deals can be profitable at a scale for publishers.

Liaising with publishers and networks is multiplying ad inventory and reach, making direct programmatic advertising with these publishers more lucrative for SMBs, despite not having the reach of Google and Meta.

Google, YouTube and Meta are common platforms for purchasing programmatic advertising space.

AdTech Stack in 2023

Digital advertising thrives on automation of several processes and leveraging appropriate tools. Digital ads in modern times should cater to both mobile and desktop users with the former reporting a 55.8% CAGR against 6.1% for the latter.

Some common tools and techniques in the AdTech umbrella include:

• Social media ad automation tools: Automation tools to manage social media ad campaigns are more efficient than manual management on different platforms. It allows advertisers to measure multiple metrics, gain insights into campaign performance, and optimize campaigns using AI and machine learning.

• Paid search automation tools: Using automation tools for pay-per-click or paid search campaigns can significantly simplify and enhance the process. Rather than manually managing and evaluating campaigns, which can be time-consuming and monotonous, these tools enable advertisers to optimize their bidding activity, analyze data from multiple sources, test and refine ad content, and focus on strategic decision-making. By providing actionable insights into both advertisers’ and competitors’ traffic, automation tools can help to optimize campaign strategies and maximize results.

• Creative management platforms: Digital advertising for businesses requires creative modifications to ad content especially for omnichannel and personalized advertising. Creative management platforms can automate the creation and management of ad content, enabling advertisers to make innumerable changes to creatives and optimize content in real-time using algorithmic inputs.

• Demand-side platforms (DSPs): DSPs allow advertisers to purchase impressions and submit ad prototypes while setting targeting factors, such as demographics, behavior, location, or context.

• Supply-side platforms (SSPs): With SSPs, publishers sell ad inventory to advertisers via different ad exchanges, maximizing the publishers’ ad revenue. They connect publishers’ ad inventory to multiple ad exchanges and DSPs.

• Ad exchanges/private marketplaces: Ad exchanges are interfaces that connect advertisers’ and publishers’ tools, facilitating the ad buying process. Major tech firms provide public ad exchanges, and providers also allow companies to create private exchanges.

• Data management platforms: Digital advertisers increasingly search for platforms to collect, store, manage, and analyze data to create comprehensive user profiles for targeted advertising. With data management platforms, the effectiveness of digital campaigns is greatly simplified thanks to reliance on the quality of data used for manual or automated decision-making. Choosing the right data management platform is essential for identifying and targeting customers.

• Targeting tools: Advertisers often need to segment their audience based on demographic, contextual, and geographical factors. Specific targeting tools solve their purpose with ease.

• Brand safety solutions: Brand safety tools allow advertisers to display ads only on suitable websites that align with the brand’s messaging context.

• Analytics and reporting tools: Sophisticated analytics and reporting are crucial components of AdTech as advertisers need raw data and clear insights into how their target audiences interact with their advertising to ensure its effectiveness and secure sufficient ROI.

Choosing Outsourced AdTech Partners over Hybrid Models

Small businesses often prefer to outsource their advertising processes to partner organizations instead of running an in-house team.

Three primary reasons why small businesses choose outsourcing these services instead of following a hybrid model are as follows:

• Slash costs: SMBs prefer an outsourced advertising platform to reduce their expenditure on hiring, training and managing their in-house teams. Since outsourced services seldom compromise on quality, businesses prefer to retain the resources reserved for hiring and training full-time employees.

• Leveraging technical expertise: Tech experts believe the AdTech industry is experiencing a steady growth momentum, especially after 2020. The inception of data-driven technologies like machine learning, customer data handling, standardization of metrics etc., have disrupted expectations, with the US AdTech market reaching an estimated $225 billion by 2024.

• Ease of scaling: The freedom to choose your scale of operations becomes easier with outsourcing AdTech services. While businesses may need more AdTech support during peak seasons, they can reduce their expenditure on outsourced services in lean seasons.

Bottom Line

The ever-evolving digital advertising landscape poses innumerable challenges for new and existing SMBs alike. From social media advertising to programmatic advertising, the opportunities for SMBs to reach their target audiences have never been more numerous.

Adtech offers a data-driven approach to SMB advertising, ensuring that brand messaging reaches the right audience. While AdTech technologies can automate this process, their adoption may require a steep learning curve. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with limited resources and budgets can turn to AdTech partners for focused expertise and experience, significantly contributing to advertising success.

Key Takeaways

• Leveraging the latest sales tools can help streamline your sales processes, enhance customer relationships, and propel revenue growth to new heights.

• According to LinkedIn’s State of Sales Report 2022, an impressive 40% of sales professionals have closed deals worth over $500,000 without meeting the buyer in person.

• A robust CRM tool fosters stronger customer connections and propels your sales efforts towards success.

• Lead management tools enhance business lead generation and conversion efforts by centralizing lead storage and streamlining lead management processes through automation.

Are you looking to increase your sales and close more deals in 2023? Investing in the right sales tools can make all the difference in improving your sales cycle and achieving your goals.

With the right tools, your sales team can streamline their efforts and focus on what matters most – selling. From lead generation to CRM, every aspect of your sales strategy can be optimized with the right technology.

In this fast-paced world of business, having the right sales tools can make all the difference. Whether you are a small start-up or a large corporation, having access to the latest technology can help you streamline your sales processes, improve your customer relationships, and ultimately drive revenue growth.

Choosing the right tools for your business can seem like a daunting task. But fear not! In this blog, we will explore the key factors to consider when selecting sales tools and provide you with an overview of the top sales tools your business needs in 2023.

Why do we need Sales Tools?

To succeed in sales, you need the right tools at your disposal. Sales tools allow you to find and track prospective customers, connect with them, and close more deals.

A wide variety of sales tools are available on the market, and the best tool for you will depend on your specific needs. However, some of the most popular and essential sales tools include customer relationship management (CRM) software, sales intelligence software, lead generation software, and proposal software.

The right sales tools help streamline the sales process, providing salespeople with the necessary insights and information to target the right customers at the right time. This allows them to focus on building relationships and adding value rather than getting bogged down with administrative tasks.

Access to the latest and greatest sales tools is essential for sales professionals in a rapidly evolving business landscape. Failure to keep up with the latest trends and technologies can result in lost customers and top sales talent.

Elevate your Sales Game with These Must-Have Sales Tools

Discover the numerous options for sales tools to boost your success at every stage of the sales process! From must-have Customer Relationship Management software to powerful Sales Analytics tools, this list of sales tools is sure to take your game to the next level.

1. Analytics and Reporting

 Say goodbye to manual data collection and hello to automated insights. Analytics and reporting tools collect, analyze, and present sales data in a clear and concise format, like a report or dashboard. With the plethora of features these tools offer, you’ll be able to make informed decisions and take your sales to the next level. Some common features include:

• Sales performance tracking: Allows sales teams to see how well they are performing against their targets and identify areas for improvement.

• Data visualization: Helps sales teams to see the trends and patterns in their data and gain insights into their sales performance.

• Custom reporting: Enables sales teams to create customized reports to meet their specific needs and see the data that is most important to them.

• Dashboards: Provide a visual representation of sales performance, with key metrics and KPIs displayed in real time.

• Data export and integration: Allows sales teams to export and integrate their data with other tools and systems, such as CRM or accounting software.

Top Tools

Tableau is a powerful data visualization and business intelligence software used to analyze and present data in a meaningful way. It enables users to connect to various data sources, create interactive dashboards, and publish reports in minutes. Tableau’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface and interactive features make it easy for users to explore and analyze data, uncover trends, and gain insights.

Tableau also provides robust collaboration and data-sharing features, allowing teams to share insights and work together to find solutions. It is widely used across various industries, from finance and retail to healthcare and technology, and is known for its versatility and ability to handle large amounts of data.

2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a powerful software application that revolutionizes how businesses manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer journey. With a CRM tool, sales teams can store, manage, and analyze customer data, including interactions, transactions, and behaviors. It helps you deepen customer relationships and drive sales success. Some of the key functions of a CRM tool include the following:

• Contact Management: Allows sales teams to store and manage customer information, such as names, contact information, and communication history.

• Lead and Opportunity Management: Helps sales teams track and manage their interactions with potential customers, from lead generation to closing deals.

• Sales Pipeline Management: Enables sales teams to see the status of their deals and the progress of their sales pipeline and make data-driven decisions about which deals to prioritize.

• Marketing Automation: Helps sales teams automate repetitive marketing tasks, such as email marketing, lead nurturing, and lead scoring, to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

• Customer Service and Support: Enables businesses to manage and resolve customer support issues and track customer satisfaction.

Top Tools

• Salesforce – Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform that offers a wide range of sales and customer management tools, including contact management, lead and opportunity management, reporting and analytics, and marketing automation. 

• HubSpot CRM – HubSpot CRM is a free, cloud-based CRM platform that offers a range of sales and customer management tools, including contact management, lead and opportunity management, and reporting and analytics. 

• Pipedrive – Pipedriveis a sales CRM platform that focuses on helping sales teams manage their pipeline and close more deals, with features such as lead and opportunity management, pipeline management, and reporting and analytics. 

• Zoho CRM – Zoho CRM is a cloud-based CRM platform that offers a range of sales and customer management tools, including contact management, lead and opportunity management, reporting and analytics, and marketing automation. 

3. Lead Handling

Lead handling tools help businesses improve their lead generation and conversion rates by providing a centralized location to store and manage leads and automating many of the manual tasks involved in lead management. They also help sales teams focus their efforts on the most promising leads by providing insights into lead behavior and engagement and automating lead nurturing and scoring. Some of the key functions of lead-handling tools include:

• Lead Capture and Management: Allows businesses to capture leads from various sources, such as web forms, landing pages, and events, and store them in a centralized database.

• Lead Prioritization: Helps sales teams prioritize their leads based on factors such as lead score, demographic information, and buying behavior, so they can focus their efforts on the most promising leads. 

• Lead Nurturing: Automates the process of nurturing leads by sending targeted emails and other communications, based on the lead’s behavior and engagement with your business.

• Lead Scoring: Assigns a score to each lead based on their behavior and engagement with your business, to help sales teams prioritize their efforts and focus on the most promising leads.

• Lead Conversion: Helps sales teams track and manage the process of converting leads into customers, by tracking their progress through the sales pipeline and providing insights into which leads are most likely to convert.

Top Tools

The best tool for your business will depend on your specific needs and requirements. When choosing a lead handling tool, consider factors such as the size of your sales team, the complexity of your lead generation and conversion processes, and the level of customization and integration you need.

Here are some of the top lead handling tools:

• HubSpot – HubSpot provides a comprehensive solution for lead management that helps businesses streamline their sales processes. With HubSpot, businesses can increase conversions by capturing, organizing, nurturing, scoring, qualifying, routing, and converting leads.

• Marketo – Marketo provides advanced lead nurturing capabilities, allowing businesses to automate email and SMS communications to educate and engage leads over time.  Marketo also offers integrated sales tools, including email tracking and meeting scheduling, to help businesses close more deals and increase conversions.

• Pardot – Pardot is a SaaS marketing automation platform provided by Salesforce, designed explicitly for B2B sales and marketing organizations. It offers a range of tools, including email automation, targeted email campaigns, and lead management. The platform provides the ability to create email drip campaigns, lead nurturing and scoring, campaign segmentation, and more.

• LeadSquared – LeadSquared is a cutting-edge SaaS platform that offers comprehensive sales, marketing, and onboarding automation solutions. LeadSquared offers integrations with popular CRM platforms, such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics, to provide a seamless and streamlined sales experience.

• ActiveCampaign – ActiveCampaign offers a comprehensive cloud-based marketing and sales automation platform that integrates email marketing, lead scoring, web analytics, a robust CRM system, and a live chat messaging platform called Conversations.

Conclusion

Choosing the right sales tools for your business in 2023 is an important decision that can significantly impact your sales performance. With the wide variety of sales tools available, it is important to consider your specific business needs and goals and choose tools that support your sales process and align with your overall sales strategy.

Whether you need lead handling tools to manage your leads, analytics and reporting tools to measure your sales performance, or customer relationship management tools to build stronger relationships with your customers, there is a sales tool that is right for you. By taking the time to research and choose the right sales tools for your business, you can increase your sales efficiency, improve your sales performance, and achieve your business goals in 2023 and beyond.

Key Takeaways

• According to a CNBC survey, top CFOs predict that a recession will hit in the first half of 2023.

• Several effective and creative strategies can boost revenue and improve financial decision-making during a recession.

• Maintaining open lines of communication with all your stakeholders, including employees, vendors, and customers, is crucial for managing your business during economic uncertainty.

• You can make your business even smarter by replacing people-driven processes with technology, which frees your employees to do higher-order thinking.

As we face an increasingly uncertain future, businesses must learn to build resilience in their operations to weather any potential economic storms.

This means preparing for the worst while remaining optimistic and agile enough to take advantage of any opportunities that may come up.

In these challenging times, businesses must think long-term and build resilience against future economic downturns.

As we’re all aware, economies are cyclical – what goes up must come down. And while we can’t predict the future, we can prepare for it.

So, how can B2B marketers build resilience during an economic downturn? This blog post will explore key strategies to help your business weather the storm and be better prepared to overcome any financial challenges that come your way.

Planning for an Economic Downturn

It’s no secret that the world economy is heading toward a downturn.

And while it’s impossible to predict precisely how long it will last or how deep it will go, it’s important to be prepared for a worst-case scenario.

If you’re a business owner, now is the time to take a hard look at your operations and ensure you’re as lean and efficient as possible. This means cutting unnecessary costs, streamlining, and tightening your processes.

It’s also important to have a good handle on your cash flow. Make sure you have a solid line of credit in place in case you need it and consider stockpiling some cash reserves to tide you over in case of a prolonged downturn.

3 Cash Flow Management Tips During a Recession

One of the most important things you can do during a recession is to manage your cash flow carefully.

This means knowing how much money is coming in and going out and adjusting your spending as needed. Cash flow management is about managing your business finances responsibly so there’s enough cash to grow.

It can be a tricky balancing act, but it’s essential to keeping your business afloat during tough times.

Here are a few tips for managing cash flow during economic uncertainty.

1. Cash Flow Forecast

A cash flow forecast is a key tool for business owners to use to manage their finances during a recession.

By forecasting your cash flow, you can make informed decisions about allocating your resources and ensure that your business has the funds it needs to weather the economic downturn.

There are a few things to keep in mind when creating a cash flow forecast during a recession:

• Be conservative in your estimates. It’s better to overestimate your expenses and income and have too much cash than to be caught short.

• Remember to include one-time expenses in your forecast, like layoffs or downsizing.

• Revise your forecast regularly as the recession progresses and your business’s needs change.

With a cash flow forecast, you can manage your finances during a recession and help keep your business afloat.

2. Manage Your Accounts Receivables

During an economic downturn, businesses can face increased pressure to manage their accounts receivable.

This is because when customers have less money, they are more likely to delay payments or default on their debts. As a result, businesses must be proactive in managing their accounts receivable during a recession.

There are a few steps businesses can take to manage their accounts receivable during a recession.

• First, they can offer discounts on early payments. This will incentivize customers to pay their invoices sooner.

• Second, businesses can extend payment terms to give customers more time to pay their debts.

• Third, businesses can provide financing options which will allow customers to pay their debts over time rather than all at once.

3. Improve Communication

When a recession hits, it’s more important than ever to focus on strong communication between teams, stakeholders, and partners.

This is because, during a recession, there is typically a decrease in business activity and an increase in uncertainty. To weather the storm, it’s important to keep everyone on the same page and working towards the same goal.

Here are a few tips on how to improve communication during a recession:

• Be clear and concise in your communication

• Make sure everyone is on the same page

• Hold regular meetings and check-ins

• Be responsive to questions and concerns

• Keep an open mind and listen to others

4 Effective Tips to Grow Your Business in a Downturn

The economic landscape may be uncertain during a recession, but your business can still grow. Recessions present a unique opportunity for B2B businesses to expand their customer base and market share.

Here are a few tips on how to grow your B2B business during a recession:

1. Focus On Your Existing Customers

Your existing customers are your best source of revenue during a recession. Make sure you stay in touch with them and meet their needs. Retaining existing customers will help you grow your business and build customer loyalty during a downturn.

2. Look for New Markets

Keep your growth potential open by not just focusing on your existing markets. Look for new markets that your competition may be underserving. They can offer you an opportunity to expand.

3. Invest in Marketing

A recession is a perfect time to invest in marketing. Deploy marketing campaigns to reach new customers, increase your sales, and grow your brand.

4. Be Efficient

During a recession, you must be extra careful and efficient with your spending. Marketing budgets are often one of the first areas to be cut, but this can be a mistake.

Maintaining Employee Morale is also Important

It can be hard to keep your employees motivated when the economy takes a downturn.

To maintain morale during a recession, keeping employees engaged in their work and focused on the company’s goals is important.

There are a few keyways to do this:

• Communication is key. Make sure employees are aware of the company’s financial situation and what measures are being taken to weather the storm.

• Keep employees engaged in their work. This may mean offering more training and development opportunities or giving employees more responsibility.

• Focus on the company’s goals. During a recession, it’s easy to get sidetracked. Keep employees focused on the company’s mission and what needs to be done to achieve it.

Recession-Proof Your Business

Fortune predicts that the dot-com crash is on the cards again, and all signs indicate an economic recession. Businesses need to be resilient during a downturn. To do this, they need to understand their strategies and planning clearly.

While a recession can be difficult for businesses, there are ways to weather the storm and come out stronger on the other side.

B2B companies can create a recession-resilient business by diversifying their customer base, improving their products and services, cutting costs, sales outsourcing, focusing on customer retention, and investing in technology.

Key Takeaways:

We’ve often heard the term outsourced sales floating around in multiple meetings within various verticals of all industries but seldom given any thought to what it is and what it can help us achieve.

Key Takeaways

• AdTech allows advertisers to plan, manage, and optimize their campaigns strategically. 

• AdTech includes various tools like DSPs, SSPs, ATD, ad servers, and ad networks to help advertisers serve relevant ads to relevant audiences.

• AdTech streamlines and enhances digital advertising efforts, and the technology is only growing more sophisticated.

• AdTech enables businesses to reach audiences quickly, increase measurability, and run effective ad campaigns.

The AdTech market is full of opportunities for generating leads.

But with so many options and so much noise in the market, it can be challenging to know where to start. This guide will help you find the best leads for your business by considering your specific needs and budget.

When it comes to finding leads, AdTech can be a great option. Using data and technology, you can identify potential customers and target them with personalized messages.

In this guide, we’ll cover the following: 

• What is AdTech?

• The AdTech ecosystem

• Benefits of AdTech 

• Implementing AdTech into your lead generation strategy

• Get started with AdTech

By the end of this guide, you’ll know everything you need to get started with AdTech and find better leads.

What is AdTech?

Advertising Technology, a.k.a. AdTech, refers to the software and tools used to buy, sell, and deliver digital advertising. AdTech includes everything from ad servers and networks to demand-side and data management platforms.

AdTech is rapidly evolving and has revolutionized the advertising industry. It has made it easier to buy and sell ads and track and measure advertising campaigns’ performance.  

AdTech has also made it possible to target ads to specific audiences and deliver them in real-time.

If you’re involved in digital advertising, you need to understand AdTech – it is the backbone of advertising.

AdTech is an exciting and dynamic industry, wherein new AdTech companies are constantly emerging every day, and existing companies are continually innovating and improving their products.

The AdTech Ecosystem

 The AdTech ecosystem is an ever-changing landscape. 

With so many players and technologies, it can take time to keep up with the latest trends. However, understanding the AdTech ecosystem is essential for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the curve in digital advertising.

Here are some major players and the technologies used to power the AdTech ecosystem. 

• Ad Server: An ad server is a program that stores and serves website advertisements.

  Advertising networks use ad servers to track statistics, deliver ads, and act as a middleman between advertisers and website publishers. Ad servers can serve websites, emails, and mobile devices.

• Ad Exchange: Ad exchange is a marketplace where advertisers can buy and sell advertising space.

  Ad exchanges are used to buy and sell ads on websites, apps, and other platforms. They usually work on real-time bidding (RTB), meaning you can bid on ad space in real time. This allows you to target specific audiences, create personalized customer experiences, and optimize your campaigns for maximum impact.

• Agency Trading Desk (ATD): ATDs allow you to trade digital advertising space in real-time.  ATDs use programmatic technology to automate the ad-buying process, making it more efficient and effective.
  
  Using an ATD includes improved campaign performance, transparency, and control. They also provide you with access to valuable data and insights that can be used to inform future campaigns.

• Demand Side Platforms (DSP): DSPs are used by ad agencies and marketers to purchase ad space on digital platforms, including websites, apps, and social media platforms.
  
  DSPs allow advertisers to bid on ad space in real time, which gives them a significant advantage over traditional ad-buying methods. With DSPs, advertisers can adjust their bids according to market changes, allowing them to get the best ROI.

• Supply Side Platforms (SSP): An SSP is a type of software that helps websites and other digital publishers improve the efficiency of their ad operations. By automating many of the manual tasks associated with ad management, SSP can help publishers increase their revenues and improve the overall quality of their ad Inventory.

• Data Management Platform (DMP): A DMP is a software platform that helps organizations collect, process, and manage data.
  
  DMPs can track customer behavior, understand customer journeys, measure campaign performance, and more. They are an essential tool for any business that wants to make data-driven decisions.

The 3 Important Benefits of AdTech

AdTech can be used in a variety of ways to benefit your business.

It helps you to reach a wider audience, target your ads more effectively, track the results of your ad campaigns, and optimize them for better results. 

AdTech can also help you save money on your advertising budget, as you can more accurately target your ads to those most likely interested in your product or service.

Overall, AdTech can be a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes. If you are thinking of using AdTech to boost your business, consider the benefits carefully and speak to an expert to ensure that you use it in the most effective way possible.

There are many benefits to using AdTech; some of the most notable ones include:

• Targeted Advertising: AdTech can help businesses reach a larger audience with their ads by targeting specific demographics, interests, and even locations. The ad placement can have perfect timing and context, helping marketers save time and resources. 

• Better Performance Tracking: You need the correct information to make informed decisions about campaigns. AdTech helps report and analyze data like impressions, conversions, click-through rates, and more in real time. This information can then be used to improve future ad campaigns.

• Increased ROI: An ad campaign that isn’t monitored may cut into your campaign’s returns – using advertising technology can help automate this process. You can leverage AdTech to improve your bids, eliminate time-consuming work, increase the return on investment (ROI), and generate more revenue.

Implementing AdTech into Your Lead Generation Strategy

AdTech is a powerful tool for boosting your lead-generation efforts. It enables your business to target potential customers with ads relevant to their interests.

By harnessing the power of data and technology, you can create targeted ads that reach the right people at the right time.

AdTech enables you to understand your target audience better, what they’re interested in, and when they’re most likely to convert. By using this information, you can create ads that are more likely to reach leads who are ready to buy.

By targeting ads to specific groups of people, you can increase the chances that your potential customers will click on them and convert them into leads.

AdTech can be a great way to boost your business, but it’s important to use it wisely. When using AdTech to generate leads, there are a few things to remember:

• Make sure your ads are targeted to the right audience. 

• Provide a clear and easy “call to action” for potential customers to get in touch with you. 

• Follow up with leads promptly to convert them into customers.

Get Started with AdTech

This article covered what AdTech is and the essentials of AdTech.

There are a few basics that you should know before getting started with AdTech. Our experts can help you learn them, from choosing the right platform to understanding the jargon like ad buying, ad targeting, ad fraud, and more. 

Get in touch with us today to make the most of your ad spend, and you’ll be on your way to generating more leads and closing more sales.

Key Takeaways:

• To gain loyal and long-term customers, you need to design a journey map that provides a superb experience

• Providing an incredible journey can turn someone who was casually browsing your website into an advocate who offers valuable referrals

• Journey mapping via pipeline management enables your customers to experience what it’s like to interact with your company

• Pipeline velocity refers to the speed with which leads move through the sales pipeline

Knowing what’s on your customer’s mind can be tricky and challenging. When you think you’ve accounted for their needs, their requirements change, and new buying trends emerge.

Ever wondered why a customer spends hours on your website researching your product/service to close the tab? Why does it take so many steps to get from point A to point B when it should ideally take just one?

Well, the problem could be in your customer journey mapping – you probably don’t have a clear understanding of your prospect’s journey to purchasing your product/service.

What is Prospect Journey Mapping?

Customer journey mapping or prospect journey mapping is a visual representation of how potential customers perceive your brand and how they interact with your product/service. It helps them gain insight into the challenges they’re facing.

The journey mapping aims to understand the needs and resolve pain points at all touchpoints (an instance where your prospect can form an opinion of your company) across the customer lifecycle.

How Prospect Journey Mapping Helps Drive Pipeline Velocity?

Prospect journey mapping enables you to get in your customers’ shoes and experience what it feels like to engage with your brand.

It helps you understand the good and the bad your brand offers, while the insights you gain help personalize the customer experience.

Before we explore the benefits of customer journey mapping and how it helps drive pipeline velocity, let’s find out what pipeline velocity is. 

What is Pipeline Velocity?

Pipeline velocity is the speed at which qualified leads move through a sales pipeline and eventually become customers.

The Benefits:

• Journey mapping helps you understand the role of different touchpoints and see how all customer interactions influence each other.

• By mapping out the prospect journey, you can understand what is interesting to your customers about your brand and what is turning them away. 

• It helps identify roadblocks to reduce customer pain points and improve user experience.

• Mapping out the customer’s journey helps you understand the channels they visit and what they’re trying to do at each touchpoint.

• Journey mapping helps you improve your customer retention rate. According to American Express, 33% of customers switch brands after just one poor experience.

Components in a Prospect Journey Map

A prospect journey map compiles your customer’s experience with your brand and combines the information into a map.

By understanding this relationship between your customers and your brand, you can build your touchpoints for the most effective journey mapping process.

The Purchase Process: This element defines the path/stages you intend for your customers to take to reach a specific goal. Using this path, you can start listing your stages in the right order.

Customer Actions: This component details what your potential customers do at each stage of the purchase process and explores the different ways they might reach their goals.

Adding Emotions: Your customers are looking for solutions to solve a problem. Adding a range of emotions to the journey map can help improve their opinion about your brand and turn them into brand advocates.

Pain Points: Adding pain points to the journey map helps identify the exact stage where your customers are facing issues and work out solutions.

How to Create a Prospect Journey Map

Before you start creating the journey map, you need to ask a few questions yourself – Why are you creating a map in the first place? What experience will it offer? Who is it about?

Based on these questions, you may want to create a buyer persona.

The next step is to interview prospects for direct feedback. A few good questions are:

• How did you hear about us?

• What attracted you to our website?

• On a scale of 1 to 5, how easy was it for you to navigate our website?

Based on the feedback and research, find out where your customers can interact with you on your website; list all the touchpoints your prospects are and should be using.

Determine all the elements your journey map needs to include and identify your resources and the ones you need.

Once you have designed your map, take the customer journey yourself first – this ensures that you are providing a valuable experience.

Finally, you can make the appropriate changes to your map to achieve goals.

5 Best Practices for Customer Journey Mapping

• Set a clear goal for the journey map to improve the customer buying experience.

• Turn customer pain points into business terms that your customer success team can understand and act upon.

• Create customer journey maps for different buyer personas based on demographics and psychographic.

• Update the journey map every time your product/service offers changes. Even a small tweak, like removing an additional field in the form, can significantly impact your customer journey.

• Make the prospect journey map accessible to cross-functional teams, as they are not effective in a silo.

Delight your Customers at Every Stage

Building an effective prospect journey map can help your brand create strong relationships with them. Once you understand their experience with your business, you can provide great delight at every stage of their journey.

Whether you’re optimizing your existing customer journey or exploring a new business opportunity to serve their unrecognized needs, start mapping the future of customer success in your business with the help of experts.

Bonus Takeaway:

Mapping customer journeys can be difficult for the marketing team, especially if they don’t know how and where to start.

So, here’s a handy worksheet designed to help savvy marketers chart their customers’ buying journeys to enhance their overall buying experience.

Print it out, pin it on your desk, and share it with other departments to ensure that everyone is consistently working towards attaining your customer experience vision.

Key Takeaways

• Brands must implement a seamless buying experience to make their customers come back, even during an economic crisis

• Repeat purchases are the ideal way to keep your business healthy and running during an economic downturn 

• Customers who are happy with your product/services tend to refer their friends to your brand

• Retaining your existing customers will help you grow your business amidst the challenges other companies are experiencing

Economic downturns or recessions can significantly impact customer behavior and your organization's approach to retaining customers.

As a CS leader, you must keep your team productive, motivated, and efficient during challenging economic times to retain your customers.

Customer success has never been more vital than it is right now, but instead of concentrating on KPIs and analytics, it’s crucial to pay attention to the customer.

By focusing on customer outcomes, an organization's current goal should be to make their customers’ lives easier while they use the product or service. Hopefully, the customer will benefit from this and continue doing business with you through challenging times.

This article will discuss why customer retention should become your number one focus and how to retain customers in an economic downturn.

The 5 Effective Strategies for Fostering a Loyal Customer Base

Even when things are going well with the global economy, retaining customers is difficult and building a loyal customer base is an ongoing effort. Making client retention marketing a priority requires hard work, even in the best times. 

However, when a recession occurs, things become even more difficult. 

People make fewer purchases, spend less, and forget some of their preferred brands to conserve money. You might think, “How can I hope to retain my customers in the current climate?” 

Fortunately, many strategies are still available to help create a solid consumer base, even during a downturn. A few of them are presented below. 

1. Put Customer Experience First

According to PWC, only 49% of consumers believe that businesses offer good customer service options, while 73% think customer service experience pre-purchase is a crucial determinant of their purchase decision. 

This indicates that you can quickly establish a loyal customer base if you can set yourself apart from your rivals in terms of customer service. 

Providing a positive and personalized customer experience, especially during a recession, is everything when it comes to running a successful business. 

You must ensure that you provide quality products and services, deliver them on time, and respond quickly to customer inquiries and complaints. By doing so, you will be able to keep your customers happy and coming back for more.  

To ensure that you are providing the best possible customer experience, it is essential to strive for improvement constantly. This means continually evaluating your procedures and removing inefficiencies where necessary. And removing inefficiencies that are affecting the CSAT score, NPS, or LTV.  

It is also important to listen to your customers and consider their feedback. By doing all of this, you can be sure that you are providing the best possible customer experience and running a successful business.

2. Be Flexible 

Be flexible with your customers.  

If they can’t pay their bill on time, offer them a payment plan. If they’re unhappy with a purchase, offer them a refund or exchange. 

Being flexible with your customers shows that you’re willing to work with them to ensure they’re satisfied. This can help build long-term loyalty, and trust and boost sales from existing customers. 

Customers feel appreciated when companies are ready to look out for them in times of need. Offer discounts and incentives when possible. When people spend less money on goods and services, they start looking for ways to save money elsewhere. 

Offering discounts or incentives may result in increased sales at times when your company cannot afford to lose money from sales volume alone. 

3. Have a Community-Oriented Perspective

During times of global disruption, people seek a community to belong to and connect with.  

Start developing meaningful connections with your existing customers to strengthen the relationship. Once you build a customer community, it will continue working for your business, even when you are not trying hard.  

Building trusting relationships with your customers will cost you nothing, and the payoff is immeasurable. Make direct contact with your clients and express gratitude, making them feel they are being seen and heard.   

Creating a community around your company, however, can be tricky.  

You can use community-building platforms and social media to build the community and offer loyalty programs or referral discounts to grow your business. 

4. Be Compassionate

In the same way that individuals seek out the community during a turbulent time, they also seek a little compassion and recognition. This can be accomplished through personalization – personalizing your approach for each customer can make them feel valued. 

When done well, personalized customer service may increase retention, foster customer loyalty and trust, reduce churn rates, and support the maintenance of a solid client base. 

According to HubSpot, personalized CTAs outperform non-personalized CTAs by more than 200%, and most customers are more likely to continue with a business that provides a personalized experience. 

Valuing your clients is a successful business strategy, especially when they are concerned about their expenses. You do not want your customers to stop doing business with you because they feel you don’t care about them. 

5. Add Value to Your Product/Service

The easiest way to retain customers is by bringing value to your customers. Be proactive with the value propositions the business has to offer. 

You can add value to your business with a single offer, but adding value as part of a series is much more effective. Here are some examples: 

1) Add a bonus product or service at the same price point and let customers know about it. This can be a free report, video or guide, or even an additional product at the same price.

It helps create loyalty by giving customers something extra for free, showing that you’re willing to go above and beyond for them. 

2) Improve customer service by walking them through processes that may not have been explained well before (or at all!) so that people know what’s expected of them when using your product or service.  

This can be done in person or via email – just ensure that customers know what’s happening behind the scenes! 

3) You should also improve the quality and performance of your products/services to help retain loyal customers who may not expect much from you but appreciate quality when delivered consistently. 

To Summarize

Driving customer loyalty in a challenging economic climate is key to increasing your business growth, and convenience is the key to gaining trust and loyalty from your customers in these times.

The above-mentioned strategies can help you achieve what you want and unlock huge benefits during a recession.

Outsourcing certain functions, such as sales pipeline management or customer support, can also help your organization take better care of your customers and become a boon for cost-conscious companies.

Using outsourcing as an intelligent business strategy can improve retention and position the organization to meet the challenges imposed by a recession favorably.