WHAT IS A CRM?

What does CRM stand for?

A CRM is a customer relationship management system. It helps businesses manage their customers more effectively by providing tools and information that help them achieve this. CRMs are used within many industries, including B2B (business-to-business) sales, B2C (business-to-consumer) sales, healthcare and retail.

Looking to enrich your customers' experience, attract leads, and retain your existing customers?

In today's digital world, customers have multiple options at their fingertips. Great customer service will be the key differentiator between them coming back to your business or going to a competitor.

And the tool that helps you offer differentiated customer service is a goodCustomerRelationship Management system or CRM.

In this article, we'll look at what a CRM is and how it can benefit your business. We will also provide some tips on how you can select the right CRM software for your business.

Let's get started.

What is a CRM?

Imagine having to write down every phone call you made to customers, or manually keeping track of every email you sent or received from customers. Not only is this process laborious, but can inevitably lead to the loss of valuable customer data.

A CRM, or customer relationship management system, is a tool that can help you keep track of all your customers' interactions.

Successful businesses worldwide use CRM to manage customer interactions and track leads which in turn enables them to better serve their customers.

How does a CRM work?

A CRM system stores all your customer data in one place, so that it can be easily accessed at any time. This includes contact information, meetings, emails received and sent, sales histories, inquiries you received, and any other interactions your customers have with your business.

The best part is that your sales teams can track all of this data in real-time so that they can make informed decisions about the best way to serve their customers.

A good CRM provides three main functions:
-It allows you to leverage instant messaging to connect with customers on a variety of instant messaging apps
-It manages customer information and data
-It analyses customer behavior
CRM software is often integrated with other software such as email marketing platforms, sales automation, and social media management tools.

You can use CRM for lead generation, lead management, customer retention, sales, and marketing purposes. Above all, the right CRM solution allows you to offer exceptional customer service with instant chat support on popular instant messaging apps.

Capabilities of a CRM

A CRM software is an extremely powerful tool that can help businesses in a variety of ways. With a CRM tool, you can:

Store, track, and manage customer data, sales data, marketing data, customer purchase history, customer contact information, and communication.
Connect with your customers in real-time over Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber.
Leverage sales opportunities, and marketing campaigns.
Automate and streamline your sales and marketing processes
Create custom reports on the number of leads, sales, conversions, the number of calls your sales representatives made, etc.
Monitor your brand on social media
Create and manage customer loyalty programs
Segment your leads to personalize communication
Determine your marketing ROI with data on profit and loss
Understand how customers interact with your website

How CRM helps business?

A CRM is an important tool for any small business which interacts with customers on a regular basis. It can help you improve your marketing efforts, increase sales opportunities, and stay on top of all your leads at once.

CRM software can have a number of benefits for small businesses, including:

Improved customer service -Customer-centric businesses can use a smart CRM platform to provide real-time responses to customers' queries on instant messaging apps.

Better customer retention -A CRM tool helps you better understand your customers and develop strategies to improve customer retention.

Improved efficiency -With CRM software, you can automate your sales and marketing tasks, freeing up time for more strategic activities.

Better data management -A centralized database offers real-time access to customer data.

Better decision-making -By using a CRM, small businesses can make better decisions about how to allocate their limited resources and time, and can better understand their customers' needs and wants.

Improved team collaboration -CRM software helps sales and marketing teams easily share data and synchronize their activities.

Better target marketing -With a 360-degree view of your customers, you can segment your leads and design personalized messages to attract and engage them.

Improved bottom line -Better customer service boosts engagement and loyalty, leading to higher conversions and sales.

However, not all CRM tools are created equal. Given the vital role customer experience plays in a company's success, you need a CRM solution that helps you go above and beyond to provide your customers with the best possible experience.

This involves providing a seamless omnichannel experience, where a customer has a consistent experience regardless of the channel they use.

There are many benefits to providing an omnichannel experience for customers. In addition to the increased customer value and retention rate, an omnichannel experience can also lead to increased sales and a better overall customer experience.

Future-focused businesses are increasingly interacting with customers on instant messaging apps including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram to engage with their customers.

To do this, you will need a chat-focused CRM tool.

Why switch to a chat-focused CRM?

It's the era of instant messaging! Chat apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger support instant connectivity.

According to Statista, over two billion people use WhatsApp while millions of people are currently using Facebook Messenger and Telegram.

Not only are your prospects and customers using chat apps, but prefer to shop with businesses that can communicate with them through these apps. Across age groups, consumers prefer messages over phone calls or emails because these apps speed up the response and resolution time.

What's more, after interacting with a business on chat apps, consumers are more likely to make a purchase, provide feedback, and share product photos. According to another study, live chat offers the highest customer satisfaction levels at 73 percent compared with 44 and 61 percent for phone and email respectively.

Chat-focused CRMs will help you connect with your customers on their preferred chat app to maximize customer experience and leverage sales opportunities.

Sign up for our chat-focused CRM

Our chat-focused CRM offers you an easy way to provide an 'always-on' responsive customer service that helps you stay ahead of your competitors.

PureCRM's cloud-based platform offers seamless integration with WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, and Facebook Messenger. With a centralized platform to manage customer interactions across these channels, you can ensure responsive customer service and gain a competitive edge.

Sign up for a free account here and start simplifying your customer interactions.