With virtually every business online, managing your website is important. You’ll have an understanding of managing customer relationships online and are encouraged to do so using a CRM product. But what is CRM? What benefits will it bring your business? 

What is CRM?

A customer relationship management (CRM) tool is a piece of software. It is used by companies and organisations from across all sectors that helps to effectively manage customer relations. The aim is simple – to improve how well you communicate with your customers.

But like all software tools, the functions that you need it to deliver will vary from other businesses. Finding the right type of CRM software is important but what are the options?

Different CRM Methods

There are four main types of CRM software:

A conversation CRM makes it easier for you to establish a good relationship with your customers via online conversations, such as email responses.

Leads and deals CRM is a popular form of this software tool as it allows you to track potential customers, the steps taken and so on.  

Contact CRM revolves around building a relationship with the client and helping you get to know them before further interactions are made. This method allows you to input and store information about the customer and any interactions. 

Marketing CRM allows you to track emails sent to clients, whether it was opened and which marketing emails they responded to. This information allows you to send better-targeted emails in the future.  

The Benefits of using CRM software

There are many benefits to using CRM software:

  1. Better knowledge of customers, what they want and what they respond to. For any business, carving out positive customer relationships is essential to capturing customer loyalty.
  2. Improved personalisation is also key. Sending out blanket emails, for example, is too broad in an age where customers now expect to receive information from a company that is of interest to them. CRM allows you to build a better and more accurate picture meaning you can segment marketing campaigns to maximise conversions.
  3. Increasing customer retention is also a benefit of using CRM software. Capturing new customers takes time, money and effort. Retaining current customer takes far less of energy and money too and so building a loyal customer base is key. 
  4. Great customer service can be delivered by using CRM which is reason enough for any business, large or small, to invest in a good CRM system. Even when trading online, businesses are expected by customers to make and maintain relationships with people who buy from them.
  5. Better communication – with better communication you’ll have happier customers. You may not get customer service right all of the time but when you are responsive, customers have a better impression of your brand. 
  6. Improved data protection is also important in the times of both GDPR and the Data Protection Act. You only collect the information you need to hold on customers and when this is no longer relevant, appropriate or needed, you can delete or archive data safely.

A robust CRM system will make a huge difference to any business. But you need to find the software tool that you can modify to fit your business needs.