The history of CRM: why Klaviyo built the first CRM for B2C
The concept of customer relationship management has been around since the earliest days of commerce.
Shopkeepers remembered the favourite bread of their regulars and set some aside. Salespeople kept handwritten notes about each person’s preferences, creating more meaningful connections. Later, early digital customer relationship management systems (CRMs) transformed the way businesses interacted with their customers.
These digital CRMs were originally built for B2B companies, offering features like lead pipelines and account management. But that left B2C businesses struggling to use tools that were essentially designed for a different world.
There have been material changes in how businesses sell to consumers, and that requires a change in how CRMs work.
“During the history of customer relationship management, there have been material changes in how businesses sell to consumers, and that requires a change in how CRMs work,” says Jake Cohen, vice president at Klaviyo.
That disconnect wasn’t just inconvenient for B2C businesses—it was costing them in terms of customer trust and revenue.
That is, until Klaviyo transformed how B2C brands manage customer relationships by launching the first CRM built specifically for B2C brands.