Proper management of customer data plays a big role in the success of your marketing strategy and to make you reach your business objectives. Getting a marketing CRM software guarantees a well-structured database that will allow your company to make relevant and coherent strategic decisions.
What is a CRM solution?
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a concept that advocates the centralization within a database of all interactions between a company and its customers. The objective of a CRM is to optimize customer relations by offering the most personalized and individualized interactions possible.
Each CRM software offers a multitude of different functionalities. Regardless of the software solution chosen, the CRM process is based on four essential elements that companies must pay attention to generate better customer loyalty.
Communication:
This element concerns the exchanges between the company and its current and potential customers. These exchanges can take the form of emails, SMS, phone calls, calls on Teams, Google Meet, etc. Companies have a variety of communication methods at their disposal and can choose the most appropriate channel for each contact.
Operations:
Key data coming from the marketing and sales teams are collected and then analyzed. This data includes, for example, sales proposals, orders placed, or returns. It is thus possible to have an overview of all important data in contact with the general trends. The operational aspect of a CRM works in synergy with the analytical tools, allowing you to take further initiatives such as proposing a new offer or service.
Capturing new data requires special attention: “The quality and validity of the data is decisive in CRM because the quality of the results can never be higher than the quality of the master data,” says Olga Walter, expert, and lecturer in CRM, e-mail marketing, and e-commerce.
Analytics:
The analytics component of a CRM leverages data from the operational side to generate results. This allows a company to evaluate its customers, identify cross-selling opportunities, segment its audiences, and improve offer management. This aspect of a CRM creates added value for businesses and provides them with useful information to meet the exact needs of their customers.
Collaboration:
A CRM software can improve the collaboration between different internal teams as well as between internal and external parties that are connected to the business, such as customers, partners, or suppliers. In this way, not only can work processes be coordinated efficiently but information can be concentrated in a targeted way to offer added value to customers.
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The different types of CRM tools
CRM software can be classified into three main categories:
1. Licensed business software
This is the classic form of software application. Companies buy the software as an individual license and install it on their computers.
2. Open-source program (free CRM, CRM hosting)
A special feature of open-source software is that it is not owned by a single manufacturer and is usually not sold. It results from the cooperation of many programmers who constantly develop the applications.
3. SaaS offering (software as a service, online CRM)
In many cases, companies do not need to own the software used internally. They can use online programs, which work in principle the same way as the usual cloud storage. The application is made available online as a web application and users access it using an individual user account.
→ CRM Strategy: Why you need it and how to develop it
Why use a CRM solution?
The main reason why companies adopt a CRM is to centralize information. A CRM tool allows for gathering all the information coming from the customers or prospects such as contact details, purchase history, payment method, communication preferences, company news, etc. In addition to this data, the CRM takes into account all the interactions between the customer and the company’s teams. For example, the emails exchanged between the person and the sales team, the calls made, the appointments made, etc.
Thanks to CRM software, all this customer data is centralized in one place, organized, and easily accessible to all the staff to drive the company’s CRM strategy.
The main advantages of a CRM marketing strategy
Thanks to a CRM software, you will find relevant solutions to:
- Organize data associated with contacts: a CRM helps to harmonize and facilitate the sales process by organizing all the information related to the contacts of a company. This helps the sales team to know the date and content of each interaction and to harmonize and streamline the sales process.
- Track sales: By measuring a company’s performance against specific targets and metrics, such as the number of emails sent, calls made, appointments booked, and deals closed, a CRM makes it possible to optimize the sales process.
- Improve after-sales service: a CRM is also useful to take care of the relationship with your customers. It allows teams to easily access the customer’s profile and to have visibility on the history of interactions with the company. The team will then be able to provide a specific response adapted to the person and the context. A CRM allows for improving customer knowledge as well as the customer experience. With an efficient CRM, the exchanges made on different channels (chat, social networks, email, phone, etc.) are all centralized in one place. This simplifies and improves customer relationship management.
- Optimize marketing actions: with a CRM solution, marketing teams have visibility on each step of the conversion funnel and can thus plan and optimize the customer journey at each of these steps. A CRM is a proven way to improve conversion rates.
- Make reliable sales projections: A quality CRM makes forecasting much easier. An accurate, automatically generated sales funnel makes it easy to project and manage sales team transactions.
- Increase sales: A CRM tool helps turn your leads into customers. The CRM brings up all the available data on the prospects so that the sales team can have all the necessary information to close the sale as efficiently as possible. CRM also automates certain tasks so that salespeople can focus more on selling. For example: automating the creation of contact sheets, prioritizing prospects through a lead scoring system, etc.
- Model the sales process: With the data stored in a CRM, you can reliably test new tactics and strategies. It is also possible to identify the most effective approaches, which can be systematized to support the company’s growth.
The new areas of action of a CRM:
Social CRM
This form of CRM takes into account data from social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. thanks to web monitoring. On social networks, a team can search for a company, its brand, or its product in a targeted way and then analyze whether they are mentioned in a complementary or critical way. A social CRM can also be used to encourage users to engage in a targeted way, thus increasing customer loyalty on social networks. Help forums or product development surveys, for example, can contribute to this.
Mobile CRM
The availability of contact data on mobile devices is of great importance, especially for sales representatives on the move or working from home. However, this trend is not limited to enabling mobile access via cloud solutions; it should be as simple and comfortable as possible. Ideally, the corresponding applications are optimized for small keyboards or typing in a small space and highlight the most used features on mobile devices.
xRM
This trend, also known as Third-Party Relationship Management, describes what many CRMs have been doing for some time: taking into account commitments to customers, but also all stakeholders connected with the company. These may be suppliers, partners, investors, press representatives, or influencers. This gives an even more complete picture of all internal and external contacts and communication processes.
→ The best CRM for Marketing Automation
Why is it important to integrate a CRM into your digital strategy?
In digital marketing, a CRM tool is designed to collect customer data from different communication channels (email, phone, social networks, web pages, etc.). With a CRM you can perform the following actions:
Customer segmentation
With good CRM software, you can segment your customers according to their online behavior, their interests, their age, and/or their location. The more information you receive from your customers, the easier it is to segment them and, consequently, the more you can personalize your messages or offers when communicating with them.
Cost reduction
An effective digital marketing campaign must have a high return on investment. With customer relationship management tools, marketing expenses can be reduced by decreasing the workload of employees. For example, a CRM has automated tools to analyze and manage customer data, which avoids the need to hire additional staff. In addition, data analysis can provide sales and growth opportunities, as it will allow you to prioritize certain sales actions over others.
Customer loyalty
When it comes to suppliers and business partners, CRM facilitates the company’s processes by managing requests and offers. Once sales have been concluded, a CRM adapted to your digital marketing strategy offers extensive possibilities, especially for offering after-sales services and efficient customer care. This includes, for example, handling complaints or providing information about the correct use of the company’s products. The goal is to take care of customers, even after a transaction has been completed, to build loyalty and ensure that they will come back and recommend your company.
Increased connectivity
Improved connectivity between businesses and their customers has changed the way they interact, not only for sellers but for users as well. Today, customers feel the need to communicate directly with businesses and can easily do so through live chats or posts on their social networks. This two-way connectivity is essential to fostering loyalty and trust between the customer and the company.
CRM software often has a built-in mailing module, which allows for personalized emails for each customer and more direct contact.
→ Why Should your Business have a CRM System?
The main CRM solutions on the market:
- HubSpot: It quickly and automatically stores all contact information in a centralized, customizable database. It simplifies the management of transactions, appointments, and contracts, and also allows users to easily track performance.
- Salesforce: It is a comprehensive cloud-based customer relationship management solution that allows different teams within a company to have a holistic view of customers. With Salesforce, you can also build mobile applications, import your data from other applications, analyze your performance and customer data, and create collaborative communities.
- SugarCRM: This platform is designed for companies that want to strengthen their marketing, sales, and customer service teams with packages tailored to their needs. It focuses on three main areas: customer relations, marketing campaign management, and sale automation.
- Sendinblue: This CRM allows you to organize all your contacts into personalized lists based, for example, on their interests, their location, or the stage of the marketing funnel they have reached. With this solution, you can also create tasks in your CRM, assign them to different members of your team, and add a deadline to stay on track. You can also automate follow-up emails and contact list management with marketing automation.
With the right CRM strategy, you’ll be able to increase engagement, generate more quality leads and create a long-term conversion rate that will help your business grow and expand. Eminence is here to advise you and put you on the right track. Don’t hesitate to contact us!
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