A stable customer relationship is at the core of any business, no matter the size or industry. With innovation and emerging technologies, many communication channels are now at customers' disposal, and it's crucial to keep track of and manage customer data and interaction.
Having a centralised and automated system for organising your customers' information equips you with the ability to ensure a great customer experience, and this is where the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool comes in.
These are 7 reasons why you need a CRM for your business:
1. You can have better customer data management.
In an online survey of 304 CRM software users conducted by Software Advice, a significant majority (74%) of businesses said that CRM software allowed them to have improved access to customer data.
The amount of information that you need to collect from customers can be overwhelming. From contact information to their pain-points, a CRM tool can help you organise, integrate, and align all that data.
2. You can improve your customer data analysis.
In Software Advice's report, 74% of users cited that having CRM software helped improve their understanding of customer data.
A CRM tool can help you better gauge your customers, which can help you create better engagement strategies based on their data, such as previous purchases. You have access to what products or services they're interested in, or if they had problems, and whether they were happy with the product or service offered to them.
3. You can increase customer retention and satisfaction.
A poll conducted by Capterra found that 47% of businesses that use CRM have better customer retention and satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction has become vital in any industry. With CRM, you can leverage customers' data and offer personalised experiences for each customer, which can help you establish brand loyalty. Once customer satisfaction increases, it will lead to higher levels of customer retention.
4. You can improve sales and productivity.
According to a Salesforce report, businesses that switched to CRM software saw their sales increase by 29%, their sales productivity by 34%, and their sales forecast accuracy increase by 42%.
Knowing what task to prioritise is crucial to business success. With the help of a CRM system and its analytics features, you can delegate which tasks each member should direct their focus on. When you know which tasks to prioritise, productivity will then increase.
You also have access to other high-quality features and personal customer data that allows you to reel in potential customers and engage with them in a personalised way, which can help increase sales.
5. You can increase ROI.
A recent survey by Nucleus Research found that for businesses that use CRM, their average returns from CRM increased to $8.71 for each dollar spent.
With the help of CRM, you can automate manual processes, which saves you and your team a significant amount of time. You can spend more time delivering excellent customer experience.
6. You can nurture your leads.
According to The Annuitas Group, nurtured leads make a 47% bigger purchase than leads that aren't nurtured.
A quality CRM solution can improve your sales lead nurturing efforts. Using CRM can help your sales team by tracking incoming leads, following potential customer engagement, and scheduling follow-ups.
7. You can improve your team organisation and increase effectiveness.
Research by Aberdeen Group states that the most effective sales organisations are 81% more likely to practice consistent usage of their CRM system.
CRM can vastly improve team organisation, especially if used consistently. With the help of CRM, your team can communicate and collaborate easier since they have access to all interactions.
These are some of the top reasons why there's a need for CRM in any business. It is a necessary and vital tool that helps businesses organise and analyse customer data and manage customer interaction easily. A CRM tool used to its full potential can drive your business to success.
About the author:
Ammar Quettawala is a strong advocate of automation and passionate about helping businesses to create a superior customer experience. He runs a consulting company, QTECX Solutions, that provides implementation and integration services for CRM, Enterprise Application Integration, and Business Process Automation. He has travelled globally and worked with industry leaders in North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Far East, and Asia Pacific. He also has lived in three countries.
Ammar loves to speak in business forums and conferences. He mentors business owners as well as final-year university students to help them express their uniqueness and stand out as professional individuals. His life mantra is simple: "Be good, do good". Find out more about Ammar on LinkedIn.