Overview
CRM stands for ‘customer relationship management’, and is a database of all the contact you have with your customers. GDPR has created a much stricter environment for the collection and use of customer data. For many, this means the way they used to store data (spreadsheets, notebooks, post-it notes…) is no longer allowed.
A CRM system allows you to bring all your customer data together to get the elusive ‘single customer view’ (aka omnichannel) and remain compliant with data protection legislation. To find out more about this way of working, check out this profile on Starbucks as a successful omnichannel hospitality operator. Used well, a CRM system will enable you to market to your existing customers more effectively, by understanding them better and tailoring your campaigns to their preferences.
CRM systems can deliver powerful insight about your customers, and may even disprove some long-held beliefs about who your customers are and what they want. To get the best value from the investment in CRM, you should be prepared to make fundamental changes to your product, promotion and operating model as a result of having the data.
Critical functions
CRM systems will typically allow you to:
capture and store customer data like names, contact details, birthdays, allergens, marketing preferences and so on
track visits, transactions and spend, and potentially other contacts like phone calls and emails
analyse, profile and report on your typical customers, and segment them into different groups with different characteristics
The applications of CRM systems will vary depending on the type of venue and style of service, but could include the following:
In a restaurant, knowing that a customer is visiting for a big event, like a birthday or anniversary, and sending a special dessert or cake
In grab-and-go settings, spontaneously rewarding frequent / high spend customers with upgrades or freebies
Sending and evaluating targeted communications like texts, email, push notifications etc
Seating regular customers at their favourite table
Promoting allergy-friendly or preference-based new products (e.g. ‘try our new gluten-free / veggie / vegan product’) to customers with that requirement
Important integrations
CRM systems are only as powerful as the data they can capture, so you'll want to integrate with the other services in your marketing toolkit, like your website, loyalty scheme, social media and email service provider. The trade-off with many popular tech products and platforms is that they keep the data, so you might have a hard time getting two systems to talk to each other. Your ability to manage this trade-off will depend on your size, budget and technical capabilities, but make sure you're clear on your requirements before you sign.
Many third-party services, particularly loyalty schemes and email service providers, will offer some form of in-built CRM. This may be enough for your business, in which case, it might offer great value. Keep in mind that, as your business grows, you may want to bring more of this data in-house, particularly if you’d like to have a single customer view. When the time comes, you may find you need to replace other services so they fit with your chosen CRM system.
Users
For CRM to be effective, everyone in your business who might interact with a customer needs access. This means they all need training, and they all need to understand the benefits and importance. In the hospitality setting, this is no mean feat, so consider this a potentially complex and resource-intensive project to deliver. This really depends on the level to which you intend to use it; it might be something that is only used in a head office setting, in which case it may be simpler to deploy.
Your marketing team, and/or external agency, will need access to your CRM system to be able to understand your customers, report on them to the business, and deliver appropriate marketing campaigns.
Your customer may also be a user of the CRM system if you give them the ability to self-serve, e.g. by updating their account details with you online. Such capabilities need to work seamlessly and reflect positively on your brand, and are probably more relevant to businesses at the retail end of the hospitality spectrum.
