Choosing the Right Features in a CRM System
Customer relations management (CRM) is a vital field for not just retailers but businesses of all sorts. CRM systems are designed to streamline the entire process of customer relations, making it easier to ensure the satisfaction of current customers and turn new ones into loyal brand enthusiasts. Choosing the right CRM system can be challenging, though, not just because they all have different features but also because businesses all have different needs. Read on to find out about the basics of how to choose the right features in a CRM system.
Understanding Features
For those who have never been in a position to evaluate business software, in general, or CRM systems, in particular, it’s worth starting the search with a broad overview of what’s available before digging into details. Find a consultant that makes it easy to compare CRM systems online. It’s the best way to figure out which available software solutions are worth investigating further.
Types of CRM Systems
All CRM systems help businesses manage, track, and interact with customers and share the goal of increasing both conversion rates and customer lifetime value. There are, however, three distinct types of CRM systems operating within that framework that can be lumped together based on the features that they share. They are:
Collaborative CRM Systems
Also called strategic CRM systems, collaborative CRM software centralizes customer data and shares it with marketing, sales, and service teams. Collaborative CRM systems offer visibility into all aspects of customer relations, but they focus on interaction and channel management. Each department can access data stored within the system to find out about customers’ preferred channels for interacting before contacting them.
Operational CRM Systems
Operational CRM systems focus on automating repetitive clerical tasks in sales, marketing, and customer service. These tasks can involve identifying leads, tracking customer interactions, and forecasting sales. Because they don’t have to focus as much on managing the basics, the company’s representatives can spend more time cultivating positive relationships with customers.
Analytical CRM Systems
Analytical CRM systems focus on aggregating and analyzing customer data drawn from many sources to uncover patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed. When businesses can understand patterns and trends, they’re in a better position to capitalize on them with improved marketing and enhanced customer service. Analytical CRM systems are also helpful for things like sales forecasting, pipeline analysis, and budgeting.
Choosing Which Feature Sets to Prioritize
Just understanding what features a specific CRM software solution focuses on won’t get businesses to the finish line when it comes to choosing the right system. That requires deciding which of the feature sets described above to prioritize. Here are some general rules that can help:
- Consider a collaborative CRM system when most customer interactions occur online and consumer-facing departments are distributed across multiple locations.
Investigate operational CRM systems for linear sales processes.
Think about purchasing an analytical CRM system for understanding trends at account-based sales organizations.
Issues such as budget and the scale of the organization may also need to be addressed. Analytical CRM systems are more expensive, so they’re best suited for large organizations that aggregate a lot of data and can afford to invest in gaining a better understanding of customer trends.
The Importance of Finding the Right Vendor
Choosing a CRM solution isn’t just about evaluating features. The choice of vendor is just as important. Think about a CRM software vendor as a partner that could either help or hinder the business as it scales up and choose one that’s committed to doing the former.
