ExperiMENTAL's host, Sundar, dives deep into the evolving world of
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with Karan, a recognized CRM expert and advisor. The conversation cuts through the noise of surface-level metrics to offer an analytical, witty, and approachable look at how CRM has transformed from Rolodexes and B2B sales tools into a critical, mobile-first function focused on lifecycle marketing and customer engagement in the subscription economy.

They unpack the challenges of outdated definitions, the power of experimentation, and the crucial distinction between user onboarding and activation. Tune in to gain actionable frameworks and experienced insight on how to build a best-in-class CRM team and drive real ROI.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• CRM is customer relationship management as it was coined. What we do more of now is more of lifecycle marketing or customer engagement.

• The expertise of CRM was then a lot more focus on visuals and how can you convince someone to make that one off purchase.

• The teams that have that more awareness of that usually tend to do well, irrespective of which vertical you are in.

• There is this element of knowing what is worth experimenting with is also like a good trait.

• What I see is very few traits right. Like they could experiment with• I have not seen ever a positive ROI and we spent so much time there.

• I think the way products are made right now, onboarding ends when you finish your product, onboarding when you've signed up, when you have given your preferences, onboarding is finished.

• My moment is not my first workout, but it's that time of whatever workouts until I think, okay, this is actually good for me and I can do it in a more realistic manner in my life.

• CRM has evolved very quickly, but then the professionals, the

ecosystem, the infrastructure is sort of just coming up now.

• The connection with the product team is very important, and I see it

evolving more and more with newer clients.

BEST MOMENTS:

00:00:21:09. “Like slowly you had every company trying to contact their users in their contact base, so you get things in your inbox.”

00:01:04:04. “Join me as I talk with industry leaders who have driven growth at companies like Uber, Spotify and Netflix.”

00:02:53:08. “So the first purpose was actually to so salesman to, you know, to remind them when to nudge user, when to call them back and things like that.”

00:04:18:12. “CRM, strictly speaking, is from always a sales perspective.”

00:06:28:27. “Depending on who you are, what type of model you have, subscription, e-commerce, things like that could vary a lot.”

00:08:12:06. “So there is this element of knowing what is worth experimenting with is also like a good trait.”

00:10:08:10. “Fits in really well then with e-commerce, the good thing about CRM is you see a direct ROI.”

00:12:15:02. “And then it's usually like this 30 day series, five touch points.”

00:14:09:28. “I mean I think onboarding is me giving you all the necessary things that you need to use the product.”

00:16:19:18. “I think so, but I do not think they haven't kept up.”

00:18:33:00. “They brought you in as a CRM expertise.”

00:20:39:24. “And chances are that as you lo

🎧 ExperiMENTAL is hosted by Sundar Swaminathan, Head of Data Science at Bounce and former Uber leader. This show is your behind-the-scenes look at how top marketers and data scientists make smarter decisions.

🧠 Expect unfiltered conversations, mental models, and case studies that help you cut waste, build conviction, and grow your B2C business.

📬 Subscribe to the ExperiMENTAL newsletter for deep dives and frameworks: https://experimental.beehiiv.com/
This podcast has been brought to you by APodcastGeek. https://www.apodcastgeek.com