Choosing CRM for Marketing – An Overview of Popular Features
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Internet provides unparalleled opportunities for the formation of individual interaction between companies and their customers. These opportunities are closely related to current trends that help in forming various business strategies for establishing and maintaining customer interaction.
Nowadays, when customer is treated like a king, all companies focus on attracting and maintaining relationship with new existing customers. But, from the economic point of view, it is more reasonable to maintain present customers than searching for new. In this race, CRM software helps businesses for creating better customer relationships. Here is how:
Before Proceeding To The Features, Let’s Discuss Some Unknown Facts
. The Pareto principle states that about 80% of the company’s revenue is generated from 20% of its customers.
- For the sale of a product, a sales representative on average needs only 2-3 calls to existing customers, compared to a dozen similar to new potential buyers.
- Getting a deal with an existing client is 5-10 times cheaper than making the same deal with a new customer.
- The increase in the share of regular customers by 5% is reflected in the overall increase in sales by more than 25%.
The Features of CRM systems
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To achieve your company’s objectives, the CRM software should have the following features:
Collection of information: The basic task of CRM software is to collect and store customer’s valid information. This involves the client’s personal information regarding age, marital status, annual income, and property, etc. And the information related to business interaction like detailed study for purchase, and mode of payment etc. The information can be entered either by an employee or by the client himself.
Storage and handling. The CRM system allows you to save the received information in accordance with the specified criteria. You can easily use the information when required. Like, you can send birthday, anniversary or any festival wishes with attractive discounts and offers. Moreover, based on the past purchase, you can also use customer’s data for providing them loyalty points.
Submission and export of information. : Providing useful information to the user is the main job of CRM software. You can know the customer’s past purchase history at any moment. Moreover, CRM system inbuilt program settings also provide your customer’s frequency rate at your store and his eligibility for discount rates.
For the adequate implementation of the CRM software, four main tasks are necessary:
Customer identification. In order to increase the value of a client and to achieve a high degree of profitability, company should have an idea about the customer. You must know the client’s past purchase record to create healthy relationships for the future.
Customer differentiation. Each client has its unique importance for the company. He has the right to present its individual requests & requirements to the company. So, your CRM system must deal accordingly.
Customer interaction. The client needs change and from the viewpoint of CRM, the long-term benefit of working with a customer is important. So, the company needs to have a complete picture of customer information, including knowledge about changes in its social status, marital status, etc. The main goal of CRM is to track customer preferences and needs;
Personalization Thisis a process in which each of the customers is assessed as a unique unit and is served according to these past records. Therefore, with CRM software you can adjust the degree of customer involvement to your company.
Components of CRM systems
The table presents the main modules that make up the modern CRM systems, as well as the functions they perform:
Contact Management
Maintaining an extensive record for each contact, creating a separate user profile for each client, maintaining contact history, the presentation of organizational charts, the ability to store customers information in different groups, etc.
Account Management
Maintaining information on counterparties (including customers, partners, agents, competitors), building the history of customer relationships, planned/completed transactions, contracts, financial / accounting data, etc.
Sales management
Keeping information related to the sale – cycles, statistics, reporting, and sales history, etc. A look at sales as a process with its division into stages and steps, allowing for forecasting and effectively managing sales.
Time management
Coordinating the work of all departments in time: a calendar, a list of tasks, as well as interaction with various interfacing modules with fax, email and other means of communication.
Customer service
Interactive customer support (Internet, virtual private networks, etc.), enabling customers to independently obtain the necessary information; optimal planning of work with clients, statistics on requests, generation of reports, taking into account the time costs of specialists, the ability to estimate the cost of service and so on.
Field Force Automation, Telemarketing/ telesales
The possibility of group work with clients separated by regional, industry and other characteristics, a collaboration of geographically distant subdivisions, integration with an order processing center, statistics, recording standard questions and answers, and full use of many other means of communication with clients via email, IP – telephony, etc.
Marketing
Collection and presentation of statistical data, planning, and management of various marketing campaigns, feedback control, and efficiency calculation, modelling, auxiliary (training) material, consumer segmentation, etc.
Lead management
Managing relationships with potential customers: collecting initial information, distributing contacts between salesforce employees, tracking the effectiveness of sources of primary contacts.
PRM
Partner Relationship Management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management, a collection of all necessary reference information (maps, industry information, analytical materials, statistics) for the company’s work, the creation of separate news sections, integration with sources in the Internet, powerful search tools.
e-business
Organization of interaction with customers via the Internet and support of relevant functions: management of the content of the company’s website, teleconference service, chat, the implementation of an online store, B2B trading platform, online auctions, etc.
Business intelligence
Automatic capabilities to control and escalate problems, perform proactive actions, generate individual and template reports (as a rule, there are many ready-made forms), planning, modelling.
User support
Built-in user support tips.
Summary
Hope, the above-mentioned points help you in finding the best CRM software that matches all your business needs. The choice of best system act like a backbone in the body. Good Luck!!!
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Co-Authored With
Julia Ching is associated with Salonist – Hair Salon POS Software, where she is working as a writer. She manages all content management projects and is keenly interested in writing technology, CRM software and Business Software related topics.
