CRM: what it is, what are its types and what are its functions
Building and maintaining great customer relationships is at the core of any good business model. But staying on top of who your customers are and what their relationship is with your company at any given time can be very difficult.
And that's true in every way - whether you're a small business with a hundred customers or a large one with hundreds of thousands.
The best way to face the challenge is with the right tool, in this case, a good one CRM. But for those who aren't familiar with this market yet, there's a lot to learn.
To begin with, there are three main types of CRMs: strategic, collaborative, operational, and analytical. To help you get your bearings, we'll cover what a CRM is to start with, how the four types differ, and how to select the right product for your business.
What is CRM?
Customer relationship management (CRM) means customer relationship management.
This term describes a work strategy focused on the client and also the tool that assists in the effective management of all relationships with them.
The most important question about CRM comes right in the first word of the acronym: it's about customers. A CRM tool, on the other hand, serves to help companies better understand their consumers and use this information to offer them the best possible experience.
Currently, all customers move between different channels such as WhatsApp messages, e-mail, social networks and telephone to seek to communicate with companies.
With more and more ways to research products and services and make purchases, the customer journey has become more complex. And for companies, the difficulties of managing everything also increased.
So, as customers interact with companies across different channels, their data also changes.
This means that with the wrong strategy, this data may be lost and the customer experience may not be as positive.
This is why keeping track of each interaction with leads and customers can go a long way in creating better experiences for them, and this can be done with the use of CRM software.
What are the types of CRM?
Although most of these functions apply to practically every type of CRM, the tool can be divided into categories, where each one has specific features.
Learn more about each one of them.
- Operational CRM
Operational CRMs help simplify a company's daily processes and tasks in the relationship with the customer. Especially those related to Marketing, Sales and Service.
They provide tools to better visualize and more efficiently handle the entire customer journey, even when it includes a large number of touchpoints.
This starts from the first interactions with your company's website, going through the entire lead management process as they move through the sales pipeline, and continues with their behaviors when they become customers.
In other words, from the receipt of complaints, feedback, support requests, submission of proposals, among others, all of this goes through the operational part of a CRM.
- Analytical CRM
Analytical CRMs are primarily focused on helping you to analyze the data from the customer you have to obtain important information. Digital tools and platforms now facilitate the collection of large amounts of data.
But data analysis — the necessary step to transform that data into something useful for your business — is a difficult task. In fact, estimates suggest that more than half of the data collected by companies is never used.
Your customer data is too valuable for that. An analytical CRM provides features that help you use the data you have to see trends in how your customers behave.
With this information, you can better understand which steps lead to more successful sales, which increase customer retention, and what are the most common customer problems.
- Collaborative CRM
One of the main focuses of collaborative CRM systems is to break down silos. Often, the marketing team, sales representatives, and customer support agents are all in different departments that seem disconnected.
And for larger organizations, each of these departments is separated based on factors such as geographic locations, channels they serve, products they focus on, or skill specialties.
But to provide a seamless customer experience across the entire customer journey, you need a way to share information across the organization in real time.
Collaborative CRMs ensure that all teams have access to the same up-to-date customer data, regardless of the department or channel in which they work. A call center's agents updated data about customer interactions that took place via email or messaging channels.
Collaborative CRM treats each interaction as part of a larger, integrated conversation between the brand and the customer. This integration between departments and channels prevents customers from having the dreaded experience of repeating itself each time they speak to a new contact.
Each employee they interact with can quickly and easily obtain a record of all previous interactions with the consumer to consult and learn all the relevant details.
- Strategic CRM
Strategic CRM is the combination of all the previous ones. In this example, collecting information about customers and the interactions between them and your business can improve their relationship with them.
This type of CRM is called strategic. It not only provides immediate insights, but it also adjusts or personalizes the way you interact with customers over the long term.
This solution is useful if you're in a business where the focus is on long-term relationships, rather than quick sales and short campaigns.
How do I choose the best type of CRM for my business?
Choosing the right CRM for your business may raise some questions. With so many options available, each with a different variety of tools and resources, what can you do to identify the right one for your business?
When hiring a new CRM for your company, there are some issues that need to be considered.
Some of the factors you should take into account are:
- Know your business objectives and requirements
- Make a list of the essential resources you'll need
- Research the best CRM providers that meet your needs and fit your budget
- Gather information from multiple teams and departments
- Decide the type of CRM that's right for your business
- Get the right CRM and start the implementation
An excellent customer relationship management (CRM) system helps companies effectively manage customer data and streamline sales processes.
However, choosing the best CRM involves a careful decision-making process to maximize your time and financial investment.
Several aspects, including pricing, features, ease of use, and your own business objectives, must be considered before purchasing a CRM.
Conclusion
Without a doubt, CRM plays a very important role in the success of any business.
No matter the size of a company, it's always a good option to map out what your needs and requirements are along with your budget to find the right solution.
Choosing the right CRM for your business is an important process that must be done very carefully. This involves research and planning.
There's no one right CRM solution, and each one meets specific business needs.
So before you choose, involve your entire team and identify the essential resources you need to make the best use of the tool.
Even if initially a company does not need all the resources and that a CRM system offers, this does not mean that the company will not need additional and more advanced functionality in the future.
This content was produced in partnership with Ploomes, the largest CRM company in Latin America.
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