CRMs are a blessing in today’s world, they have automated the sales process, allowing organizations to free their resources for closing deals, and making the most of the business.
In 2021, about 62% of the total information and communication companies in France were recorded using a CRM, which shows how successful it is in managing customer relationships.
Using CRM results in centralized contact management, auto-generated emails, push notifications, and much more.
But, when it comes to CRMs, there are many types. In today’s blog, we’ll look at the different types of CRM, and how you can choose the best one for your business. So stay tuned and keep reading.
Now, let us look at the different types of CRM software available.
What is a CRM?
CRM software helps businesses make informed decisions about sales, and keep a long-term track of customer relationships. CRMs record important information, such as customer contact details, locations, and email addresses. They also provide several features, such as helping create landing pages for a particular deal and sending automated emails. They also provide sales agents with advice on how to handle a lead and convert it into a long-term customer.
There are three types of CRM software available in the market:
-Operational CRMs
-Analytical CRMs
-Collaborative CRMs
1. Operational CRM
An operational CRM is a type of CRM that automates tasks that pertain to sales, customer support, and after-sales.
In-depth, an operational CRM helps with centralizing customer information to a single source. This information includes contact details, purchase history, and past interactions. Centralizing all available information ensures that the user can find it in one spot, showing them a holistic picture of the customer.
Operational types of CRM also automate workflows, which eliminates repetitive tasks such as lead scoring, email follow-ups, and appointment scheduling. This allows your team to focus on more strategic activities.
An operational CRM also becomes a central platform of communication as it is connected to all communication channels within your organization, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Email. Thus, the platform helps ease communication with customers.
By automating tasks and streamlining communication, an operational CRM helps greatly in improving efficiency within your organization.
By using an operational CRM, your organization benefits by:
-Better lead management.
-Enhanced sales forecasting
-Faster response times to customer forecasting
-Personalized customer interactions
2. Analytical CRM
An analytical CRM is a type of CRM that goes above the tasks of only creating automation and efficiency. This type of CRM acts as a business intelligence tool, providing insights and actionable advice that can change the outcome of business decisions.
The core role of an analytical CRM is to gather data from multiple sources, such as operational CRMs, website analytics, automation tools, and social media platforms. An analytical CRM also plays a major role in analyzing the data by using tools such as data mining, reporting, and forecasting. These tools uncover data patterns within the reports and provide insights for action.
An analytical CRM also provides actionable insights such as those related to consumer behavior, purchase history, and preferences. These insights help businesses make decisions about how to position and market their products and services.
The benefits of using an analytical CRM are:
-Better marketing campaigns.
-Improved customer service
-Increased sales opportunities
-Improved product development.
3. Collaborative CRM
Unlike analytical and operational CRMs, a collaborative CRM aims to provide a consistent information flow amongst all stakeholders within the organization. In a jist, a collaborative CRM ensures a smooth and consistent customer experience. It does this by firstly, encouraging cross-departmental communication between departments such as sales, marketing, and customer service. This allows for better interactions between the agents and the customers.
Another feature of a collaborative CRM is the ability to share customer data because the CRM acts as a repository for customer data, which ensures that everyone has access to the same data. This makes it easier for cross-functional departments to collaborate and make essential decisions, which avoids misunderstandings.
The CRM also offers further collaborative features such as chat tools, task management, and document sharing. These features ensure that all teams are on the same page.
Collaborative CRMs provide numerous benefits, such as:
-Improved efficiency
-Better customer experiences
-Providing fast resolution for issues
-Improving the alignment between the sales and marketing departments
To sum up, a collaborative CRM plays a major role in blurring the boundaries between various departments, which helps them work together for better results. So, these are the three types of CRMs.
Now that we know about the various CRMs, let’s look at some of the factors that you should consider before choosing a CRM type for your business.
