More businesses are making the decision to implement Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software into their day-to-day business operations. The reason for the growing popularity of these tools is that they play a role in organising and improving interactions between the client and the company.
It integrates data from different sources such as emails, social media, customer support and selling processes to build a profile for each customer. This makes it easier when it comes to decision making and responding to customers with more accurate information.
Moreover, the technological advancements of CRM systems have further fuelled their ability to co-ordinate business activities. It’s no surprise then that companies are choosing to take advantage of the benefits that come with using these integration tools.
Some of the best CRM providers include:
Which Industries Are CRMs Suited To?
Due to their versatile nature, CRM systems can be used to support almost any industry. It can beneficial to any business who values their customer interactions, and want to focus on growing those customer relationships.
It really comes down to how each industry utilises the CRM tool to benefit their own business objectives. For example, CRM is widely used in healthcare to manage patient consultations and follow-ups. In sales, it is used to track the customer buying process from start to finish.
5 CRM Trends We’ve Seen This Year
It’s hard to believe that 2024 is nearing an end, but it has certainly been an exciting year in the CRM space. These systems have had to evolve rapidly to accommodate customer expectations and drive business growth.
Let’s take a look at the top CRM trends that have been popular this year.
Personalisation Is Key
CRM systems have introduced hyper-personalisation to allow companies to send recommendations at the right time, dynamically modify webpages’ contents and advertising messages based on the preferences they have for each customer.
This is commonly seen where retailers may suggest goods to a customer not just based on their order history but also on products viewed and left in the cart by other people with a similar profile.
Small details, such as using a customer’s name in a newsletter, connect the business to the customer and the relationship becomes more personal. This is all achieved through CRM systems which collect the information about customers.
The Use Of Chatbots Or Virtual Assistants
Most of the CRM systems available today use chatbots and voice assistants to help companies interact with their customers in real time. They are usually employed to respond to repetitive questions that could pop up such as tracking the status of an order or how to make payments.
In a case where the chatbot doesn’t have the capability to answer a question, it can transfer the customer to a human for assistance.
By understanding the customers’ questions and providing answers to them quickly, these tools are redefining customer service and overall satisfaction.
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Integrations With Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The integration of AI predictive analytics within CRM systems means that previous data can be studied to be able to forecast future customer behaviours, wants or inclinations.
This keeps businesses ahead of the curve and maintain their competitive advantage as they can meet customer needs as quickly as possible.
Using Multiple Channels For Consistency
Businesses are understanding that customers tend to engage with them in numerous ways, whether it be through social media, websites or in-store. Now, omnichannel capabilities provided by CRM systems are allowing these businesses to consolidate all of this information into one coherent view of a customer.
From this, companies can see exactly where each customer is in their buying process and if they need to jump in to assist to move the process along, they are able to do that.
Automation Enhances Productivity
CRM isn’t only used for organising the contact details of clients. More CRM solutions have incorporated a number of productivity tools as well as plug and play work flow automation systems.
Sales and customer order departments can now perform functions that are often done repetitively such as sending follow-up emails among others or change the status of the sales pipeline.
By CRM automating these routine tasks, it frees up the team to focus on other areas which actually promotes productivity in the long-run as more is being achieved in the same amount of time.
