Customer and employee relations: it’s time for companies to “reconnect”.

At the height of the pandemic, the massive digitization of companies allowed them to connect with their customers and teams. Is this strategy showing signs of running out of steam?

JC- With the pandemic, companies that never needed digital technology had to equip themselves with new tools. This process was carried out hastily, often anarchically, and without adequate training or a strategic approach. Today, a growing company has an average of 242 SaaS tools*. The result: disparate systems, deleted data, and teams that continue to operate in silos. Today, many hours are spent reorganizing, synchronizing, and understanding data to the detriment of customer relationships.

Furthermore, marketing and sales communication strategies continue to operate on outdated patterns such as broad email campaigns without personalization that often prove ineffective and saturate communication channels. They describe a “pray and pray” approach, which can be translated as “flood and hope.” Specifically, we populate the contact database with messages about some services or products, hoping that some of them will generate sales.

That’s why we’re witnessing today a rather counterintuitive phenomenon, a triple disconnect: between the systems themselves, between teams (a phenomenon highlighted by remote working), and between companies and their customers. This is one of the key lessons from our global study of over 1,700 decision makers in 2022**.

How does breaking this triple bond prevent growth?

JC- At the organizational level, the disconnection of systems and employees limits interactions and slows down processes, which affects overall performance and creates additional costs. In addition, companies find it increasingly difficult to reach their prospects and build lasting relationships with their customers because they lack a unified view of their journey and their needs. However, it is important to create a connection to attract and retain consumers. In a highly competitive environment where we have to deal with increasingly demanding and fickle customers, the quality of the customer experience is critical.

How does a CRM platform like the one offered by HubSpot enable you to offer more targeted and relevant interactions?

JC- First, a CRM platform connects systems and teams (marketing, sales, customer service) and enables them to communicate with each other. Customer data is centralized and shared with all departments, so they have access to a 360-degree view of their customer base. It’s all about HubSpot’s CRM platform, which enables this triple integration in a single, powerful and easy-to-use platform.

Second, a CRM platform provides the data needed to analyze and understand the customer journey. This allows companies to better control different communication channels, identify topics of interest to their customers or analyze their behavior (download a white paper, request a demo, etc.). Based on this information, they can build targeted communication strategies to send the right message to the right person at the right time.

On the employee side, how is HubSpot combating the sense of isolation that has emerged since the rise of telecommuting and hybrid work?

JC- According to our research**, France is the second worst student in terms of collaboration between teams. For 34.6% of respondents, it has even worsened. The study also shows that 45% of employees see a decrease in the number of colleagues they communicate with. With our ability to support companies in their transformation, evolve with them and develop easy-to-use tools, we encourage teams to adopt new ways of working and new processes that allow them to develop exchanges, no matter where the employee is. does. To ensure an exemplary customer journey, it is important that the employee journey is also exemplary. A CRM with integrated and powerful software tailored to the needs of teams, such as the CRM platform offered by HubSpot, allows you to achieve this double level of excellence.

In 2023, marketing communication strategies can no longer rely on a “spray and pray” approach. »

* Software as a service or software solution hosted in the cloud. Source: Productiv – The State of SaaS Sprawl in 2021

** Connected Customer Lifecycle study (Cint/Lucid for HubSpot) of 1,702 respondents responsible for purchasing and budgeting for CRM tools in the US, UK, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Japan and Singapore (Summer 2022).