Industry insiders and trade gurus predict the value of the CRM technology market to be a whopping $128.87 billion by 2028, which means a CAGR of 12.1%. Now that is some growth I have to say!

No wonder, Marketing CRM has generated so much buzz in the last few years. But, before we get into the nuances of the role that CRM system plays in designing effective marketing campaigns, let’s understand the concept ‘CRM Marketing’.

“Customer relationship management CRM marketing is a term that encapsulates within it the entire ecosystem that supports the efforts of the marketing team of an enterprise to build and manage customer relationships.”

The term “CRM marketing” encompasses everything from strategies, tactics, and technology supporting the execution of strategies and tactics, that marketers utilize to manage a brand’s relationship with their customers throughout the customer lifecycle. The end goal is to enhance and optimize customer relationships and experience to drive customer loyalty, retention, revenue, and customer lifetime value.

Marketing CRM is beyond attracting one-time customers

Today a customer is spoilt for choice, however, individual attention seems to have gone out of the window in the modern business landscape. This is where a CRM solution can help automate and optimize the marketing efforts of an enterprise to bring an element of personalization and cater to the individual needs of its customers. A good CRM platform enables a business to automate and personalize its marketing efforts irrespective of the customer database size.

When we say CRM Marketing automation, we refer to a set of processes executed by a software that enables the system to automatically respond to customer activities. This in turn leads to a good customer relationship with businesses. CRM automation comes into play from the very first interaction a potential customer has with a brand. The CRM automation continues throughout the customer lifecycle and provides valuable insights at each stage of the customer’s journey by capturing relevant data, behavior patterns, and activity for each customer. The software bases the information gathered automatically generates personalized and relevant customer communications. The communication content is personalized according to the nature of the customer, the type of interaction, and the stage in the customer lifecycle that the interaction occurred. CRM automation system can be customized to suit the specific needs and models of each individual business.

Must have CRM System for ‘effective marketing’

• Lead capturing across channels and integration:

  A potential customer’s first point of interaction could be your website, video, social media page, an advertisement, etc. In short, the possibilities are endless. However, when the prospective customer enters his basic details like name, email-id, and contact info the CRM should automatically populate it in your database whether or not a customer saves it or submits the form.

• Deep segmentation and personalization capabilities:

  Your CRM system must be able to segment your customers on parameters such as location, industry, lifetime value, date of last interaction, and so on. This will enable you as a brand to engage with your potential customers in a relevant way. It will also ensure you send them nurturing marketing emails with personalized promotional offers which will nudge them to eventually purchase your product or service.

• Legacy data integration:

  When implementing a new CRM system you should not lose out on the historical customer data already available on your legacy data systems. The CRM should seamlessly integrate with the old system and flow all historical data into the new system. It should then be able to store each customer record activity in a chronological manner enabling the marketing team to deliver relevant communication at the right time.

• Customized and automated e-mail marketing campaigns:

  A CRM system should be able to save the time marketers have to spend on making e-mail lists and follow-up emails. Your CRM should automatically identify the stage where the customer is in his journey and send e-mails accordingly.

• 24×7 accessibility:

  Cloud technology has witnessed unimaginable growth in the last few years and for a good reason. Your CRM tool should be accessible to your employees anytime, anywhere provided they are connected to the internet. A cloud-based CRM can be a game-changer for your business as it will ensure that your sales team is connected with your customers on the go. It can give you real-time and detailed customer insights to enhance the customer personalization experience.

• Predictive analysis capabilities:

  One cannot undermine the value that an AI (artificial intelligence) powered Marketing CRM brings to the table. Imagine if you as a sales and marketing person could predict your consumer behavior. Your CRM must be able to analyze and predict customer behavior. This way you know areas you excel in and areas that need improvement. Predictive analysis helps you design more relevant and targeted marketing campaigns.

• Visibility through real-time reports:

  Your CRM platform must be able to generate reports that give you a clear picture of which marketing channels are reaping more benefits over the others. This way you know where to invest more time and money and where to withdraw your resources from.