CRM integration: how marketing automation improves customer relations
CRM integration to improve your customer relations: sounds too far away? And yet, by automating your processes and linking your marketing and sales departments, you'll be able to obtain dynamic, qualitative data. The ultimate goal? Define and establish optimal customer relations, based on perfect customer knowledge.
How can a CRM solution be easily integrated? What results can you expect? Your proactivity and optimized use of your tools help boost your sales performance. Find out how CRM integration can help you make the most of your CRM software.
What is CRM integration?
To put it simply, CRM integration consists of aligning your tools- particularly your website and marketing tools - with your CRM. The aim is to enrich the latter with data collected on your prospects and customers.
It also enables you to set up processes to standardize, rationalize and streamline the flow of information before, during and after the sale. It also automates and standardizes your working methods after the sale, from invoicing to support, including customer contact and follow-up.
Use marketing automation to enrich your CRM.
The other advantage of CRM integration is that it means your CRM software is no longer just a static collection of customer data. Automation automatically feeds relevant information into your customer or prospect files.
Integration with your website enables you to collect data from a contact form, for example. In this simple example, you'll quickly see the benefits of CRM integration:
- a prospect downloads a white paper from your website, entering his or her personal details ;
- your marketing automation software retrieves and analyzes the data entered;
- the prospect is evaluated and given a score ("lead scoring");
- integration between your marketing automation software and your CRM enables you to automatically create a prospect file in your CRM, by filling in the fields with the data specified by the prospect on your website;
- your sales force can complete the prospect file, select the hottest prospects, and contact the people in question, knowing the history of interactions between the prospect and your company.
This makes it easier for you to spot business signals and process them more efficiently.
CRM integration in line with your CRM strategy
The benefits of successful CRM integration
Successful CRM integration is an undeniable asset for your company, and gives you a real competitive edge. Data centralization improves the volume and quality of data collected by your teams. This data is then analyzed and used by your sales force:
- the overall volume of customer data increases,
- the volume of data per customer also increases
You'll be able to obtain qualitative, dynamic data to boost your sales and build solid customer relationships.
What benefits can you expect from successful CRM integration?
- Customer or prospect files contain more information.
- Prospects are better qualified.
- You know your contacts better; you're better able to answer their questions and provide a solution to their needs.
- You segment your prospects more effectively.
- You know which prospects to prioritize and which can wait, etc.
- You can concentrate on the most interesting prospects, and save time.
Follow your CRM strategy
For effective CRM integration, it's essential to have established a precise CRM strategy in advance, one that meets the requirements of your company's overall strategy.
For example, having established a multi-channel, or even better, omni-channel approach, can put you on the right track in terms of which channels to prioritize for sourcing data from your prospects and customers. So you know which integrations to favor, with which tools, and how.
Among other things, it appears that integrating mobile into your strategy has become an imperative if you are to adapt to customer behavior and remain competitive (Source: Markess).
RGPD and the use of data
Data is at the heart of CRM and marketing automation integration issues. Since the RGDP, the General Data Protection Regulation, came into force on May 25, 2018, compliance and use of data must be central issues when implementing CRM strategy and integration.
Companies need to address the use of data from all their tools. They collect data from a wide range of sources:
- email marketing (newsletters),
- contact files,
- databases,
- Excel files,
- websites, etc.
The use of this data, then integrated into the CRM, must comply with the conditions of the RGPD. Some CRM software packages, such as Simple CRM, directly integrate a data audit and RGPD policy implementation module.
RGPD compliance also involves managing rights and securing data. In other words, who can see and do what with data in CRM? Appointing a Data Protection Officer (DPO), a person responsible for steering your company's RGPD policy, is the first step in ensuring your compliance.
In the event of non-compliance, the fines provided for by the law can be as high as 4% of worldwide annual sales.
Connecting sales and marketing: the key to CRM integration
The aim here is to take advantage of marketing automation and lead nurturing techniques, which enable you to detect prospects and then nurture them to the point of purchase. To achieve this, you can rely on :
- omnichannel campaigns,
- account-based marketing,
- emailing
- mobile,
- social networks,
- digital ads (targeted advertising),
- your website,
- predictive content.
💡All these levers can be found at monday.com CRM. Its CRM is as comprehensive as it is effective, enabling you to improve commercial relations with your customers by focusing on customer loyalty and sales growth, thanks in particular to the automatic integration of your marketing and sales tools (Gmail and ERP) on the platform. So every time a new user registers on your site, a personalized welcome e-mail will be sent!
The synergy between marketing and sales boosts your sales performance and reinforces the positive dynamic of collaboration between these two departments:
- sales reps are aware of the hottest prospects and maximize sales ;
- the marketing department benefits from sales data and measures the return on their actions.
Don't forget to update your data!
The aim of bi-directional integration is to create a virtuous circle between marketing and sales, so that both reap the benefits of this interconnection. Automatic data synchronization between marketing tools and CRM software facilitates lead enrichment at every interaction, regardless of the tool used.
Once the data has been integrated, it's time to think about and implement a data update policy. This policy streamlines and automates the updating of data or the extraction of data from other tools (from your website to the CRM, for example).
CRM integration requires the harmonization of semantics between tools to ensure optimal transmission of information.
Putting data to work for your customer relations
Once you have a clear vision of what customer relations are, and the CRM strategy you want to adopt, CRM integration comes naturally to feed your CRM software and :
- automate data sourcing,
- automate the creation of prospect and customer files,
- promote lead nurturing,
- segment your prospects and personalize your messages,
- optimize your chances of closing a sale thanks to customer knowledge.
This applies to all CRM software, from the best-known such as Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics, to the lesser-known, more suitable for VSEs and SMEs.
CRM integration increases the volume and quantity of data you have at your disposal. You can show your customers that you know who they are, and build their loyalty by providing precise solutions to their needs. In short, effective CRM integration boosts your sales performance and improves customer relations.
Article translated from French