Web3 CRM: Deepening Customer Relationships with On-chain Data

With over 85 million crypto wallets worldwide, blockchain technology offers marketers a unique opportunity to reach a growing and engaged audience.

The key to engaging crypto wallets and their holders as part of your marketing and customer engagement strategy is to use a Web3 CRM. Also referred to as WRM (wallet relationship management), Web3 CRM platforms help marketers leverage on-chain data and smart contracts via no-code dashboards similar to Web2 CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce. With crypto wallets, consumers have an anonymous user ID that lets marketers use a Web3 CRM to build lists of wallet IDs that map to their funnels.

Some of the main ways that marketers are using Web3 CRMs include loyalty and rewards programs, quests, ticketing, token-gated group chats, coupons, flyers, subscriptions, and fan club memberships. For example, Lufthansa, one of Europe's largest airline groups, has launched an NFT loyalty program. To participate in the program, Lufthansa passengers can scan their boarding pass into an app, and then choose NFT postcards for their personal collection. With NFTs, Lufthansa can create gamification experiences and interoperability of rewards points and tokens that are not possible in Web2.

QR code overlays and NFC chips can also help brand marketers gain valuable campaign data and enhance customer experiences. By overlaying QR codes onto digital assets such as flyers and coupons, marketers can easily track the number of views and conversions that their campaigns are generating. With NFC chips, marketers can connect a physical collectible to a digital collectible, which is an authentication of ownership and an access pass to exclusive fan experiences. Adidas, Nike, and many luxury brands have been chipping their luxury goods so their users can also get a digital twin NFT they can bring into the metaverse and unlock VIP and fan-engagement experiences like backstage access or as a ticket to a movie premiere. All of these audience segments and lists of wallet holders are easily managed with the use of a Web3 CRM.

By using AI, big data, and analytics to analyze the wallets, marketers can leverage the vast amount of data stored on-chain and within crypto wallets to identify the most promising segments of the wallet-holding population and engage them with personalized campaigns.  A  Web3 CRM is critical to taking action on wallet behaviors and on-chain insights and developing and measuring marketing strategies that leverage wallet-to-wallet relationships.

Data is a powerful tool. It drives decision-making, strategy formulation, and business interactions with consumers. With Web3 technology, it is now possible to return ownership and control of that data to the consumer.  With increasing privacy concerns, it's crucial that consumers have the right to choose what data they share and with whom. And it’s also critical that brands reward users who make their data available to marketers. 

With a Web3 CRM, brands can give users control of their data. When users are in control and can make money from their data, they're more likely to share genuine and valuable information. This dynamic shift can revolutionize the way marketers approach their audience.

With the release of iOS 14 in September 2021, Apple gave consumers new privacy controls that significantly undermined the power of cookies to help marketers deliver personalized experiences. That was also the month of the all-time high in Facebook’s stock price. The more than 50% drop in Facebook’s (Meta’s) stock price since then is a testament to how the value of the cookie has been destroyed by privacy concerns. Google also plans to phase out its use of third-party cookies in favor of a privacy-first web, which gives marketers new challenges and opportunities to reach their audiences.

As Web2 consumer data continues to deprecate and as cookies are phased out, it is likely that we will see more and more marketers turning to Web3 CRM, NFTs, and crypto wallet technology as a way to connect with their target audience and drive business growth. The wallet will be the new cookie. Smart contracts will replace traditional data brokers. Brands will own more of their first-party data. Consumers will own, control, and monetize their data. The marketing industry will be revolutionized as customers have deeper and more meaningful relationships with the brands they love.