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Automation in business has gained traction dramatically in recent years. Mainly due to its ubiquitous applications. CRM or Customer Relationship Management is a great avenue for business growth.
Automation has gained ground mainly due to businesses’ demand to cut down costs with increasing profits. Automation allows businesses to change their focus towards more revenue-generating activities. Automating manual tasks such as lead management, email campaign distribution, and landing page lead capture are some of the exciting applications of automation. However, before we dive into automating your business’ CRM and marketing strategies, it is necessary to understand the difference between the two.
CRM Software
CRM is a dedicated contact-based hub that aims to enlist all the interaction data of your customer with your business and all prospect data. CRM is the point of understanding for all the interactions a customer has had with your business. The information generated by your CRM software can be used by your marketing software to automate future campaigns. Thus, CRM is a great tool for business growth.
Marketing Automation Software
Marketing automation software uses the input data, usually from CRM tools, to automate repetitive marketing tasks and measure and tracking campaign progress. As a result, marketing automation enables the sales and marketing teams to shift their focus from repetitive tasks to more revenue-generating tasks.
Relationship between CRM & Marketing Automation Tools
CRM system and the marketing system has a close relationship. The data generated by the CRM system is inherently highly valuable. However, the data is useless without the right data extraction tool. The marketing tools are excellent devices that can leverage the power of the data generated by your CRM drive.
Your CRM system is meant to capture all the interactions and data points from leads and customers at any point during the customer journey. Your marketing automation tool will use this data to help increase your business’ revenue and profitability. According to reports, CRM and marketing automation tools have a lot of potentials since 82% of businesses still use manual methods to manage their leads. To help you reach a decision faster, here are a few of the key benefits of investing in CRM and marketing automation for business growth.
Data Collection
CRM tools are great at tracking data points. They can track and store all the customer data you want. As it is automated software, the data reported will be highly reliable and fit. Furthermore, this customer data can easily be used to generate analytical reports. In other words, CRM generated data is processed and doesn’t require any alterations before it is ready to be used.
Better Customer Experience
Undeniably, customer experience is what predicates the loyalty of a customer. With a dedicated CRM system, you can analyse data far more efficiently and generate better marketing strategies. Customer outreach and personalisation have been the driving force of business during the pandemic and will continue to do so in the future. Personalised dynamic content can be generated with the help of reliable data from your CRM system.
Focused Approach
All leads are not equal. Some leads can be converted faster than others. Your CRM system can enhance business growth by identifying the leads that have the most chances of conversion. Use this invaluable information to better drive your business. It also enables your team to focus and work on the right leads for maximum profitability.
Cost Reduction
As elucidated earlier, a CRM system can identify the best prospects. As a result, costs can be reduced. Unnecessary time-consuming activities such as contact information extraction, incorrect data analysis, missing values, checking the last conversations, etc., can be eliminated completely. The time saved can be used in other revenue-generating activities.
Now that we have established the importance of CRM and marketing automation in your business, let us discuss the best methods to leverage this technology.
- Workflow Generation
To better leverage the full potential of the marketing tools, employ dedicated workflow systems. Creating dedicated workflows reduces redundant manual tasks. A few good starting points would include:
- Removing test data created by sales teams.
- Workflows that better transfer data from one source to another.
- Removing unsubscribes from your database that has now turned into dead leads.
Workflows are especially helpful in maintaining and keeping your data clean and organised at all times.
- Email Drip Campaigns
Offering discounts on services and products in exchange for the prospect’s email address is a great way to jumpstart your CRM and marketing automation system for business growth. By doing this, you have the opportunity to follow up with a prospect while they are still searching for a solution. In such a scenario, an automated email drip campaign is a great way to educate the prospects about your offerings and help them determine the solution better. CRM tools are adept at segmenting customers based on their behaviour and contact ownership. Thus, CRM allows for highly specialised email marketing, which in turn enhances the conversion chances.
- Upselling and Referrals
Upselling campaigns are great to sell your product or service to past or current customers. Automate emails with a specific onboarding process that allows you to deliver tip drips based on user behaviour. Adding Google reviews and positive testimonials improve the odds dramatically.
Referral campaigns are great strategies to spread positive word of mouth about your business to other customers. It encourages your current user base to refer your product to others in exchange for special offers and discounts. CRM automation can prove the ideal match for such a campaign as it can segment the database effectively, allowing you to target the most likely customers.
Final Word
Automation has started to gain its due recognition, and the business world has started to leverage its potential. CRM and marketing automation tools are widely employed to increase business growth rates. Use these excellent tools to reduce costs and save a lot of resources, including time. The aforementioned strategies are great ways to start your automation journey. Leverage their potential by making an informed choice.
