Informed insight: How Simpleview CRM is helping Visit West make the most of its data

Photo credit Gary Newman

Overview

Knowledge is power, but — when it comes to data and information — a little bit of insight goes a very long way.

This is certainly the case for Visit West, the Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) that represents the West of England. As we’ll see, its implementation of the Simpleview CRM has not only helped the LVEP to organise the data it holds but infused it with a sense of meaning and purpose. This, likewise, has brought a sense of efficiency and cohesion to the LVEP’s wider operations, ultimately helping to further its goal of developing the visitor economy in this part of England.

Situation

Seeking a unified approach to data handling

Already a longtime user of the Simpleview DMS and CMS solutions, Visit West — whose operations encompass Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire — implemented the CRM in order to bring a more consistent approach to its handling of data. Dan Mills, head of commercial and industry engagement at Visit West, explains that, prior to the implementation of the CRM, “We were using multiple spreadsheets across the organisation, so there wasn’t any consistency in our approach.”

Because of this, he adds that, “It was hard to extract any sort of meaningful data; I’d say that was one of the key challenges … and it was quite laborious to do simple tasks.” Visit West was also seeking to nurture and grow its relationship with its many members, local businesses who all play a key role in helping to amplify the LVEP’s mission to develop the region’s visitor economy.
 

Solution

Simpleview CRM: Clarity and communication with the click of a button

Visit West ultimately sought to bring a sense of organisation and meaning to its data. Thanks to the power of the CRM, the LVEP is now able to efficiently and effectively tap into the wealth of information it holds. But in addition to this, Dan adds that the CRM is instrumental in offering a comprehensive — yet finely detailed — view of the interactions between Visit West and its wider network of members. Elaborating on this point, Dan goes on to say the CRM’s integration with Outlook is “an absolute game changer,” adding, “If someone asked, ‘Have you spoken with a member recently?’, I’ll just check the CRM and, at a click of a button, email correspondence is pulled through.”

While Dan praises the initial implementation process and the ongoing level of support offered by Simpleview, a Granicus company, it is the CRM’s ability to be customised that is truly remarkable. For Visit West, this inherent flexibility has made it possible for the LVEP to provide its members with a bespoke benefits summary, as the functionality allows Visit West to “record member benefits and their associated metrics and then pull a report that collates all of the activity relating to a specific member,” says Dan.

But what’s more, the in-built agility of the CRM has ensured that the team at Visit West are able to clone this specific piece of functionality and effortlessly apply it from one member to another. As Dan explains, “There's certain benefits which will apply to multiple members, so instead of doing those individually … we can then just clone that one and allocate it to another member.”
 

Results

Smoothing internal operations, providing meaningful insight to members

For the team at Visit West, the implementation of the CRM has resulted in an immediate reduction of the manual effort needed to handle, share, and act on its data. But alongside this, the system’s functionality allows the LVEP to both send and record communications while ensuring that all members of Visit West’s team can have a clear view of any interaction at any given time. “For example, if we’ve had a meeting and there’s actions off the back of that meeting, we can allocate them to different members of the team,” says Dan. This is something that has not only improved internal operations at Visit West, but also — as we’ll see — the LVEP’s external interactions with its members.

For example, the LVEP is now able to record the marketing benefits enjoyed by its members, such as Instagram takeovers and package competitions. Going one step further, the CRM’s bespoke benefits summary functionality allows for effortless insight and reporting into the amount of business generated by these benefits. All of this functionality means that Visit West can easily communicate this unique data on to individual members. “When we have a review meeting with our member, we can go equipped with all that information, which is really handy,” says Dan.

Dan says that this has greatly helped with the organisation’s wider operations, including member retention.

More than this, the CRM also enables the LVEP to register and record the initial source of any new members. This, says Dan, ensures that “we can see which methods of lead generation are most fruitful.”

Additionally, the CRM has also brought a greater sense of efficiency to the LVEP’s external communications with its member network. For example — be it a road closure in Bristol or a funding opportunity for accommodation providers in North Somerset — Dan says the reporting functionality of the CRM ensures that Visit West can easily make contact with the relevant members at just the right time.

Speaking more broadly of the benefits that this system has brought to Visit West, Dan observes that it has saved “a huge amount of time and effort.” But more than that, thanks to the use of the CRM, “The data that we pull out is a lot more meaningful,” a point that only enhances the LVEP’s mission to enrich and develop the visitor economy in this part of England.