Clientbook Blog
October 5, 2023

Why retailers need a client management app

It's no surprise that people spend ridiculous amounts of time on their phones. Research shows that the average person spends over three hours on their phone each day with one in five smartphone users spending up to four and a half hours glued to their phone screens.

So how is all of that screen time being spent? It turns out that the majority of it is spent on apps (88%) compared to mobile sites or browsers. Experts suggest that this is largely because app users enjoy a better user experience that's tailored for their phone screen, making it easier to read, research, and make purchases compared to a website.

With such a high majority of our population using apps on their mobile devices as the primary productivity tool in their lives, doesn't it make sense that retail businesses should do the same?

Retail technology has grown in popularity the last few years, making it easier than ever for business owners and retail sales reps to track their sales growth via mobile sales apps, initiate mobile payments, and even follow up with customers through text or email marketing.

One of the best apps for retailers to use to optimize their processes is a client management app.

If you're ready to optimize how you and your sales team track your client list, read on to learn how a retail mobile CRM app like Clientbook can be the retail CRM software solution you've been looking for.

What is a retailer app?

A retailer app refers to a mobile application that allows buyers to conduct business with you online through an app rather than a mobile browser or desktop experience.

While retailer apps like this are built for your customers to use, there are also a number of apps made for retail companies to use to help enhance their business processes.

Apps like Shopify, DocuSign, QuickBooks Online, and even Google Drive all help retail stores automate processes so you and your team can operate at the highest level.

Is there an app to keep track of clients?

If you're looking for an app to keep track of your clients, Clientbook is for you. Clientbook is a clienteling software and mobile CRM app that allows you to automate many client management tasks that are usually done manually.

Clientbook has a variety of features to help retailers maintain relationships with their clients, including:

Client Management

  • Individual customer profiles with additional mobile features to filter, sort, and tag clients to group and organize them
  • Trackable purchase history features to see what clients bought and when
  • Client wish lists with photos and links to your clients' favorite products so your team can send customized product recommendations

Messaging

  • Text and email lists to make following up with clients quick and simple; email templates for quick and professional email campaigns

Automation

  • Automated reminders so your sales team never misses a client's birthday, anniversary, or other important dates

Analytics

  • Integrations with a variety of POS systems so you can seamlessly initiate payments through mobile devices

Want to learn more about Clientbook? Schedule a personalized demo to see it in action

Why is a mobile app the best way to keep track of clients?

A retailer app is a great time-saving tool that allows you to manage your client relationships without having your sales reps taking manual notes or going through spreadsheets on a daily basis.

Let's go over a few of the advantages of using a mobile CRM solution for client management over manual clienteling and explore some of the key features of this mobile tool. 

It saves time

When your sales team replaces manual note-taking with virtual clienteling, it saves everyone a lot of time. Rather than shuffling through papers to find the client you're looking for, a client management app allows you to easily search and filter through your clients in seconds.

Easily monitor the sales pipeline, sales activities, sales performance, and sales processes. Motivate your sales managers and sales representatives through the leaderboard feature and see your sales productivity skyrocket. 

Clientbook's client management feature also saves time for your customers. If you are relying on your POS software as the main source of all truth for client information, that means you're having to drag shoppers back to the cash register every time you need to get information. With Clientbook, you can keep your customers happy while also gathering detailed customer insights and using those insights to improve customer service. 

What's more, clienteling apps have a variety of features that are designed to save time, like sales triggers that automatically send messages to your clients when they make a purchase, have a birthday, or have a service date coming up soon. Messaging customers can go a long way when you're consistent and when you're providing a personalized experience.

It connects you with clients when they aren't in your store

Clienteling is all about building and maintaining customer relationships with your loyal customers. What better way to do that then by following up with them in the same way as a friend or family member?

Clienteling app users can easily send a text message to a client when they're not at your physical store to tell them about an upcoming promotion, follow up on a recent purchase, or even ask for a review.

This is especially important for brick-and-mortar retailers who want to encourage clients to come back into their physical store soon. Customer interaction should happen both in and outside of your store, and customer relationship management software makes this simple.

It enhances the customer experience

Using a customer management app makes it easy for your sales representatives to personalize the shopping experience for each client.

With individual customer profiles, your team can store photos, links, and videos on the kinds of products each client likes best, so when they come back into your store you'll know exactly what kinds of things they'd like to see.

Plus, happier customers are likely to tell their friends and family about your retail store, introducing your business to new potential customers.

Client management app vs. manual clienteling

To give you a quick look at how a client management app compares to manual clienteling, this comparison chart highlights the key differences:

Task Manual clienteling Clienteling software
Creating client profiles - Information about each client is kept in various notebooks, spreadsheets, and sticky notes

- Finding the information you need is time consuming and labor intensive
- Information about each client is all housed in one place, streamlining access to customer info

- Finding the information you need is quick and easy with simple search, filtering, and tagging features
Tracking important dates - Dates are manually entered onto a physical calendar or an individual’s digital calendar and may be forgotten by sales representatives - Dates are tracked in a client’s profile and sales associates get scheduled notifications so they never forget a date
Following up with clients - Follow up communications are only sent if and when a sales associate remembers - Follow up communications are sent consistently and at the right time thanks to automated reminders and communication tools
Integrations - None - Integrations are available with a variety of retail point of sale systems and other web platforms

Conclusion

In a world where online shopping and digital experiences are the norm, retail businesses need to embrace technology to meet their clients' expectations, optimize their sales process and other business operations, and ultimately experience major business growth.

By investing in app purchases and retail software solutions like Clientbook, retail stores can easily manage their customer relationships and create a personalized experience that will keep them coming back time and time again.

If you're ready to see what Clientbook can do for your retail store, schedule a personalized demo today.

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