What is CRM Software? Definition and Must Have Features
The concept of CRM can be hard to grasp sometimes. There's a lot of different terms used like CRM software, CRM system or CRM tool, and sometimes it can feel confusing with all the technical language involved.
- What is a CRM system?
- Why should you have a CRM software?
- How do you choose the right CRM system?
- Lime – CRM software with a twist
What is a CRM system?
The term CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and its purpose is to strengthen customer relationships and earn more satisfied customers. By using CRM software, you can actively work with your customer base, keep track of customer interactions and gain valuable insight into your customer data.
By using your customer data from your CRM software you can increase sales and provide better marketing and customer service.
The main purpose of a CRM system is to earn more satisfied customers who want to stay with your company for a long time and become your biggest supporters!
Why should you have CRM software?
So, what are the benefits of using CRM software, and why does it matter? It's easy to say you care about your customers, it's harder to actually implement a process to care about customers in a systematic way. This is how CRM software can help you achieve your goals.
- You gain improved customer data management. With a CRM system in place, your business can organize all your customer data into one central database, which makes it easier for you to access and manage the data.
- With centralized data you get better customer insights. A CRM system gives you insight into your customers behaviors, their preferences and their buying patterns. From this data you can start making better decisions on what your sales and marketing strategy should be.
- With your customer insights you can increase your sales. With the right kind of CRM software, you can automate repetitive tasks that take up valuable time for your sales representatives. Sales representatives can then focus on what actually matters — building better customer relationships and closing more deals.
- Better customer focus gives you a way to enhance your customer communication. With your CRM system you gain the ability to track every customer interaction, such as their emails, phone calls, chats and social media interactions. It'll be easier for you to make sure you have a coherent way of communicating with your customers across all your channels.
Not only do you get increased customer focus, better customer communication and better data handling, you also gain better ways of handling your back office. A CRM system helps your sales team, marketing team and customer service team work better together. Your CRM software allows every team member to collaborate between departments in an easy and coordinated way.
What's the bottom line? You gain better customer insights , better customer communication , increased sales and last but not least, increased profitability.
How do you choose the right CRM system?
Choosing your CRM software can be a complex and intricate process, and there are many things you need to keep in mind when choosing the right CRM software for your specific needs. Here are some of the things you need to keep in mind to find the right CRM tool.
- Functionality. Think about your business and what your needs and requirements are. Do you need to handle customer service, improve your sales or find marketing insights? Is a website chat function such as Userlike important, or do you need a function to send newsletters in your CRM?
- Usability. Think about the users of your new CRM. Is it user-friendly? Does it have an easy-to-navigate interface? Can you customize it to your business needs?
- Integrations. Even though most CRM systems offer great out-of-the-box solutions, every business has specific needs that need to be met. What current systems such as e-commerce platforms, websites or chat software do you have that you want to integrate with your CRM data?
- Scalability. You need CRM software that can grow with your needs as your business grows, so you don't need to switch to another system later down the line. Is the CRM software you’re choosing scalable?
- Security. Your new CRM needs to be GDPR-compliant and have modern features such as data encryption to keep your customer data safe and secure. A data leak can have devastating effects on your business and is obviously not something you want to risk.
- Support. Sometimes there are complex questions or integrations that need to be handled. Can your CRM provider give you local support to help with situations that appear?
Lime – CRM software with a twist
With Lime CRM you get a leading and secure SaaS CRM system from one of Europe's best CRM suppliers. We know the difference between an okayish and a good CRM system and have been in the CRM system business for over 30 years.
Lime CRM is user-friendly and easy to use. With a modern UI, customizable views for every user and smart search functions, it's easy to figure out what needs to be done.
Since Lime CRM is web-based, you can use it from anywhere you have access to the internet, such as your phone or your computer. For businesses that have more complex solutions in place, it offers plenty of pre-made add-ons and integrations to the most popular systems. Customers rate us 9 out of 10 points in all reviewed aspects, far above average compared to the ratings of similar CRM solutions.
Lime CRM & customer messaging
Userlike and Lime CRM seamlessly integrate with each other, so you can enjoy using your CRM system with your already established customer messaging client.
Save entire chat conversations and attachments straight into Lime CRM and have the CRM system automatically identify who you’re chatting with, which saves time when you have a busy chat with many interactions. By having all information gathered in one spot you’ll get a 360° view of all your customer contacts and can work smarter and faster delivering a better service to your customers.
With all the data gathered on your customers in one CRM system, you’ll be able to gain insight into what helps your business grow over time, and act on those insights.
You’ll believe it when you see it? This is how BMW Financial Services used Lime CRM to increase their retention rate from 25% to 40%, in just one year!
Do you want to know more about Lime CRM and what we at Lime Technologies can do to help your company reach the next level?
