CRM Talks #6 with Mar Juárez

Mar Juárez, the CRM Manager at IVIRMA, discusses the importance of working with data, the future of CRM with AI, and CRM as a homogenizing force.

Mar Juárez, the CRM Manager at IVIRMA, a Spanish medical institution that specializes in assisted reproduction, is the upcoming guest on CRM Talks.

Prior to her current position, Mar worked in the digital and email marketing teams of major fashion and travel industries in the Netherlands, gaining extensive experience in customer engagement.

During the interview, Mar will discuss topics such as the importance of working with data and the future of CRM with AI, as well as CRM as a homogenizing force.

Could you provide your definition of CRM?

In a more conceptual way, CRM means homogenization.

It means communicating to the customer, or patient in our case, always using the brand’s guidelines and tone of voice, no matter the channel they are being impacted.

In that sense, the CRM department should ensure all messages are aligned and sent at the right moment so that the patient feels they are our most important asset.

Why is it necessary for companies to implement CRM?

Implementing a CRM tool and getting the right team on board is crucial to growing as a company, especially if you want to grow digitally.

Then you just need a good strategy, and, evenly importantly, I would suggest analyzing the data you already have and making sure you design a scalable data model structure.

Easier said than done! I know…

But this channel is totally worth the effort.

Which CRM key metrics do you use?

We pay a lot of attention to the engagement metrics, such as clicks and unsubscribed.

It is also imperative to check the Open Rate, but after the implementation of Mail Privacy Protection, we do not rely that much on this metric, although we see it isn’t impacting as much as we initially thought.

Tracking your deliverability metrics is also as important as the previously mentioned, but since we spent quite some time cleaning our data, we have a healthy deliverability rate.

As you can imagine, at IVI, we do not look at other standard KPIs that are more focused on conversion since we offer a service that is based on a longer-term decision.

Thus, we focus on nurturing our leads and enriching the patient relationship.

What are common mistakes made when working with CRM?

From my point of view, the most common mistakes are related to what I mentioned previously, underestimating the architecture of the data model.

We tend to believe that pulling data from different data sources, merging it, and applying logic behind it to use it to benefit the business needs is a “piece of cake.” That’s at least what we believe when we start with a new CRM tool.

Then, the more we start investigating, the more we realize we need a solid and scalable model. Otherwise, every time a small change is needed, everything can fall down.

You will thank me later for this tip :)

How do you envision the future of CRM?

Nowadays, when you ask about the future, especially when it comes to a digital channel like CRM, it’s definitely linked to AI.

I believe the main ESPs and big CRM tools will integrate AI features to help marketers create automatic workflows just by typing some easy rules or suggesting the most engaging piece of content based on the data collected.

I also believe the impact of CRM strategies will broaden as well by integrating in a more smooth way chat-bot interactions, voice search, user preferences, etc. — everything to make sure the user can get the information they’re looking for in half of the time they do right now.

In the end, even if we like it or not, we are moving towards a world of immediacy, and technologies will push us there.

About IVI:

IVI was founded in 1990 as the first medical institution in Spain fully dedicated to assisted reproduction. Since then, it has helped with the birth of more than 250,000 babies thanks to the application of the latest technologies.

In early 2017, IVI merged with RMANJ, becoming the largest assisted reproduction group in the world. To date, it has around 80 clinics and 7 research centers in 9 countries and is the leading center for reproductive medicine.

Author: Anna Ambrozevich