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What is the difference between CRM and CXM?

22/11/2021

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and often refers to the system an organisation uses to record interactions with customers and analyse data. The purpose of a CRM is to collect data that can be used to better serve customers.

What is a CRM?

CRMs are often viewed as a tool for sales and marketing – you can use the information in the CRM to influence marketing campaigns, improve retention and drive growth.

Everyone in your organisation can see how customers have been communicated with, what they’ve bought, when they last purchased, what they paid, and so on.

Although CRMs are becoming more intuitive, many of them still rely heavily on data being inputted and updated manually.

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What is a CXM? 

CXM or CEM stands for Customer Experience Management. As with a CRM, a CXM system is used to record customer interactions, but a CXM offers a more comprehensive view and allows for a true cross-channel customer experience.

A CXM system enables a real-time flow of data and provides deeper insight into individual customer behaviour. It is designed to work with traditional and digital channels (phone calls, web forms, social media, face-to-face and SMS messages).

A CRM provides data for the business or organisation using it, whereas a CXM is there to support the customer too. They can view their activity, track their case progress, make payments online and so on.

Why is customer experience management important?

For businesses, the benefits of creating a great customer experience are obvious – improved reputation, better retention and increased sales, all leading to greater profits. Businesses must constantly improve customer experience to stay ahead of their competitors, and a CXM can help them do just that.

Public sector organisations may not run as much risk of losing customers to competitors, but they could still see substantial financial benefits with a CXM.

A better customer experience means happier citizens/residents and fewer complaints. Happier customers and fewer complaints mean happier teams. Happier teams mean less stress, absenteeism and attrition.

Plus, investing in a CXM allows you to streamline processes, so you increase capacity without having to grow your team. Customers can self-serve online, making the whole organisation more efficient and cost-effective. An online interaction costs an average of just 8p, whereas face to face interactions cost an average of £29.

Benefits of a CXM for local authorities

 With a CXM, customer interactions no longer need to be siloed by department. Every time a citizen interacts with any aspect of the organisation, the interaction is logged, providing your team with real-time data about every case.

A CXM creates a fully joined-up system between local authorities and housing associations. This reduces duplicate tasks and makes case management far more streamlined, creating a better experience for your employees and for citizens. Citizens can self-serve from any device anywhere, meaning a reduction in call volumes and call times. Whether the citizen calls, emails, texts or interacts online, the data will be recorded and stored safely. If action is required, prompts will be sent to the relevant person.

Data can be extracted and exported automatically and fed into the appropriate databases. You can have complete control over what data is sent to which systems and who has access to data, making it fully GDPR compliant. Data can then be used to understand customer behaviour which enables you to forecast peaks in demand more accurately so you can be proactive in managing them.

It also allows you to understand how a customer interacts with you and get feedback to improve services and enhance customer experience.

Meritec’s solution: CXM 360 

Our CXM 360 has been developed specifically for local government and housing associations, so it addresses the specific needs and challenges of these organisations. As well as offering all the functionality of a traditional CRM, it offers a fully joined up, 360-degree view of your customers, enabling real-time data and a wealth of management information. Plus, it can be seamlessly integrated with your existing systems.

Customers can self-serve 24 hours a day through their preferred channels, and the online portals are completely secure and GDPR compliant. Our CRM 360 has been designed for agility and flexibility, allowing you to scale as your organisation's needs evolve. Built on our low code digital platforms, you can control the content and customise many of the features to suit the way your organisation works both now and in the future. And you only pay for the functionality you need.

If you’d like to discover the benefits of Meritec’s CXM 360, get in touch for a demonstration and see why local authorities across the UK are already working with us.