Odds are, you’ve heard of plenty of marketing different tools you can use for your business. Some of those tools are for automation, others are for analytics, and still, others are for design.
But one of the most important tools to use in your business is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. CRMs help your business gather, store, and analyze valuable customer data. But why is that useful? What are some of the key benefits of using CRM software?
Keep reading to learn the answer to that question.
9 key benefits of using CRM software
There are many different CRM software benefits, and in this blog post, we’ll cover nine of the most significant ones. Keep reading for more information on the key benefits of using CRM software.
Here are nine aspects of your business that CRM software can improve!
1. Customer insights and analytics
One of the first and most significant CRM benefits is that a CRM can improve your customer analytics. This isn’t surprising since many CRMs have built-in reporting features. On top of gathering and categorizing your data, these CRMs can analyze it for patterns and trends.
Some CRMs even let you generate customized reports based on specific metrics—for example, you could create a report on customer churn rate. Without a CRM, your customer data would be disorganized and distributed across multiple platforms, making it hard to analyze.
2. Marketing and audience targeting
Another benefit of CRM software is that it can help you improve your marketing and your audience targeting. The only way to drive sales is to market to people—and not just any people, but the demographics most likely to take an interest in your products or services.
CRMs let you see exactly which types of people are most likely to buy from you, helping you hone your targeting. Plus, you can see what those people are most interested in, allowing you to focus your marketing on those pain points and interests.
3. Customer service and engagement
CRMs are also great for upgrading your customer service. Building off the last point, CRMs help you see what your customers like and dislike. That includes seeing what sorts of things they want your help with. You can then tailor your customer service to address those needs.
That, in turn, will foster more customer engagement. You’ll have far more success grabbing and keeping people’s interests, leading to more revenue overall.
4. Data organization
One of the most important things a CRM does is organize data. That’s kind of the point—without a CRM, your data will be spread all over the place, and it won’t be conveniently organized. But a CRM brings all that data into one platform and then sorts it into different categories.
With so much more organization to your customer data, you’ll have a far easier time finding the information you need and acting on it. That saves you time and effort, as well as helping you avoid making mistakes based on misreading data.
5. Conversion rate
All the CRM software benefits we’ve addressed so far share the goal of driving more sales, and that’s exactly what they help you accomplish. One of the biggest reasons to use a CRM is that, quite simply, a CRM will drive far more sales, boosting your conversion rate to new heights.
The benefit of that is obvious—more sales equal more revenue, which is an unequivocal success for your business.
6. Sales process
CRMs are fantastic tools for streamlining your sales process. A faulty or convoluted sales process will lead you to losing out on a lot of leads, and even the leads that do convert will take a long time to do so. But a CRM can change that.
Using a CRM, you can identify points in your sales pipeline where leads commonly get stuck or jump ship. You can then analyze those points to figure out what the issues are. From there, it’s simply a matter of removing the roadblocks and helping leads traverse your pipeline more quickly and smoothly.
7. Team collaboration
One of the most surefire ways to hurt your company’s efficiency is to let your team members get out of sync with one another. When your team doesn’t communicate, not only does everyone miss out on valuable info from other team members, but many of them will perform the same tasks others have already done.
A CRM resolves that problem. Since all your customer data is stored in the same platform, all your team members will be working with the same information. If someone on your marketing team updates the status of a lead, your sales reps will see it as well. That will help everything flow better.
8. Sales forecasting
Sales forecasting is a valuable strategy for any business. It’s where you view sales data to predict future sales and revenue, and it’s important for planning your budget and production. Thankfully, you can make your forecasts easier and more accurate with a CRM.
We’ve already mentioned how CRMs make it easier to view data and generate reports. That applies to sales forecasting reports, too. You can generate reports that take all your customer data into account and provide more accurate numbers than if you tried to do it manually. That lets you plan more effectively.
9. Data security
The last major benefit of CRM software is that it offers greater security for your data. There are hackers, bots, and malware out there seeking your company data, and you want to make sure your information is protected. The good news is CRMs are usually guarded against such threats.
That means storing your data in a CRM is a good way to keep it safe rather than simply putting it into Excel spreadsheets or leaving it stored in its original location.
Nutshell offers many CRM benefits to your business
Now that you know the main CRM software benefits, you may be thinking of getting a CRM. But which CRM should you get? The easy answer to that question is Nutshell.
Nutshell is a CRM designed for small businesses, and it’s one of the best out there. We offer sales automation, data reporting, and a top-of-the-line customer service team that can help you through any questions or problems you might have.Want to see what Nutshell can do for you? Check out our 14-day free trial today!
