CRM – Customer relationship management

CRM – Customer relationship management

The more high-quality information we have about our customers, the better the products, services and customer experiences we can create. One way of structuring customer data is to use a CRM solution. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management – and it accounts for the majority of revenue within software sales.

A CRM system helps you to put the customer first and, if you use it correctly, you can profit from more efficient customer management and an improved information base, developing new, better and more relevant products, services and customer experiences.

In its simplest form, a CRM system is merely an overview of all a company’s customers and contacts, but a significant development in recent years has created far more scope for use. You can get CRM systems that help with everything from marketing, sales and service to e-commerce and data analysis. Some CRM systems can be used for cross-publication on social media, while others can gather data direct from the website or be integrated with proprietary applications. The complexity and investments needed vary, and it may be the case that your business does not need a wide-ranging solution.

WHAT ARE YOUR NEEDS?

Marketing

Having a CRM system that links to the platforms you use to reach new and existing customers, e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn and Google, provides you with an excellent overview of what it costs to acquire a new lead and/or customer. In addition, a number of CRM systems can help with cross-publication on social media, track users on the website, produce simple landing pages and send out newsletters. One of the advantages of using a CRM system to send out newsletters is that you always have up-to-date customer data and can better segment and monitor customers than with a newsletter tool alone. You can also see who has received which newsletters.

Sales 

For most SMEs a CRM system’s greatest value lies in the structure it brings to your sales process and the overview it provides. Having a complete overview of new leads, who has received quotes, and who requires a follow-up makes the sales process more efficient and ensures that there are no major consequences if someone is off ill, for instance. A lot of CRM systems also have features for submitting quotes and e-signature “outside the box” and in the same system. This makes it easier to hit sales targets, analyse and report.

Service

Having shared inboxes and case management systems built into the CRM system enables you to offer a better and more efficient service. Relevant information about the customer and previous communications are stored on the customer card, meaning it is easy to know what sort of customer you are dealing with, which products/services they have purchased, and whether they have encountered any challenges previously. This also provides scope for more effective upselling for service personnel.

E-commerce

For businesses with e-commerce activities, an online store can be linked directly to the CRM system. This creates great opportunities for measuring profitability on everything from marketing campaigns to different customer groups. Furthermore, it is possible to tailor marketing, through newsletters for example, based on previous purchases. The system can also be useful in helping you to understand user behaviour and purchase patterns.

NB! You do not necessarily have to have a complete CRM system to send newsletters based on previous purchases. Systems such as Mailchimp (which ideally is a system for newsletters and marketing automation) can also do this.

Analysis and reporting

To be able to carry out relevant customer analyses, it is vital to have relevant and associated data. Many people think “the more information, the better”, but actually the more effective tactic is to ensure that your most important data is high-quality data, rather than having a sea of (irrelevant) data. Data collection can be performed in various ways and the data stored in the CRM system or in a separate data warehouse. It is often a good idea to have automated processes and integrations for data collection, which enables you to use dashboards, for instance, or send automatic reports, etc. instead of having to retrieve the data each time you want to perform an analysis.

Integrations

Integrations are important in ensuring that the system is used and that processes are streamlined. Needs vary from business to business, but a classic example is integration involving the finance system and the CRM system. If sales staff use a CRM system, one benefit is often that finance does not have to enter figures in invoices. It is also important to be able to measure ROI for marketing campaigns, and for that you need financial data. Integrations here will save time and perhaps enable invoices to be sent out quicker.

Both the need for integration and what can be integrated varies considerably, depending on the combination of systems that you use. If you need the CRM system to be integrated with another system already in use, it is a good idea to look at what other platforms the CRM system is already integrated with, and what scope for integration (through an API for example) is offered by the CRM system.

NB! There is a big difference between integrations and scope for integration. “No two integrations are ever the same” and costs can quickly mount up when building and maintaining your own integrations.

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF CRM

The most important (and most banal) success factor is that the CRM solution is actually used – and that you have good procedures for storing customer data. Here are our tips for making the process a success:

• Build processes that automatically import data into the CRM system and that enable communication and actions to be performed from the CRM system instead of from private (not shared) e-mail addresses or systems
• Integrate tools with the CRM system to ensure that the data is relevant and up to date. This makes it easier for employees to use the system.
  • e-mail
  • telephone
  • accounting
  • social media
  • website/online store
  • service and support systems
  • newsletters
  • … but take care that it doesn’t become too cumbersome
• Force employees to use the system by building important processes into it
• Base monthly meetings and regular status updates on data, analyses and reports from the CRM system, so that people are encouraged to actively use the system
  • “what gets measured gets done”