CEM or CRM, What Would You Choose?

In the recent past, companies had it easy when attracting prospective customers. Customers did not have any tools at their disposal to compare competitive pricing and performance, and usually made decisions solely based on the initial sales pitch made by the seller. However, with recent technological advancements, the type of information that is available to a potential client, sellers have no hope that poor customer experience in the past will remain under wraps.

Today’s prospective clients have the opportunity to compare multiple vendors by their product quality as well as their ability to handle customer problems and offer positive consumer experience. This is the reason why enhancing customer experience has now become one of the most critical aspects of running a company.

There are numerous software solutions available in the market for predicting and understanding customer behavior, however, majority of them fall under either customer relationship management (CRM) or customer experience management (CEM).

Both the software are intertwined in terms of their purpose and functionality, there are some distinct features that need to be considered to make the most out of them.

CRM helps in finding trends in the consumer behavior data so that you can extract insights to find out new sales opportunities and enhance overall productivity.

CEM has almost similar functionalities but with a key difference. CEM focuses mainly on analyzing the interactions each customer has with the organization. It also helps you understand the complete experience from their point of view.

With the help from real-time information from company websites, social media, and support calls, organizations can now integrate the information with CRM and form a complete picture of each customer experience. This in turn permits creation of an all-round environment to offer the best possible services to customers, throughout their journey.

CRM software offers several benefits that aid in improving relationships from the company side, while the CEM software helps you monitor and understand the customer experience side, offering valuable insights on how to enhance it furthers.

Both software solutions can be used to improve and optimize customer relationships, but each software works from the either side of the spectrum.

There are no indications that either CEM or CRM software will become obsolete in the near future. Both serve an important function and perform best when used together with a view to extract meaningful and actionable insights into all possible areas of the customer experience.