Definition: A CRM, which stands for customer relationship management (CRM), is a type of software that manages a company’s relationships and interactions with clients and potential clients.
Do you feel like your customer data is all over the place, and you can’t keep track of everything? Then you may want to think about investing in a CRM system. So, what is a CRM and what does CRM stand for in marketing?
CRM stands for customer relationship management (CRM) and is technology that stores, manages, and tracks your organization’s relationships and interactions with current and future clients.
Departments across organizations can use CRMs, including sales, marketing, and customer service.
Keep reading to learn more about CRM software, including:
- What Does CRM Mean?
- What Is A CRM?
- What Does A CRM Do?
- Who Should Use A CRM?
- Do I Need CRM Software?
- How Much Does A CRM Cost?
- Why Should I Use CRM Software?
What does CRM mean?
What does CRM mean? CRM stands for customer relationship management (CRM) that helps keep your customers’ information all in one place. CRMs can help with managing sales, managing contact information, and increasing productivity.
What is a CRM?
A CRM is software that enables you to manage customer relationships and maintain information about your company’s interactions with potential clients and current customers.
CRM software helps you stay connected with these customers and deliver tailored information that personalizes their experience.
In that way, it’s similar to an enterprise resource platform (ERP), except that it focuses specifically on customer data.
What does a CRM do?
Now that you have an answer to “What is a CRM software?” and know the meaning of CRM, you’re probably wondering what CRM marketing software does. CRM software has multiple functions for your business:
Collects necessary information about your prospects and customers
What is a CRM system? First and foremost, it’s a medium for collecting all your customers’ information in one place.
You collect and store data like emails, phone numbers, and social media profiles to help you have a basis for contacting your prospects.
Keep customers engaged with your business
A CRM system helps you stay engaged with prospects. When you know some basic information about these prospects, like what content they read on your website, you can deliver tailored content to fit their interests.
Tracks where leads are in the sales cycle
CRMs help you organize all your data so you know where different prospects are in the sales cycle. It enables you to deliver the right content at the right time to your prospects.
Plus, it’s easy for other sales team members to jump in and see where a lead is in your sales cycle.
Who should use a CRM?
You have the answers to several critical CRM questions, including:
- “What does CRM stand for?”
- “What is a CRM?”
- “How can it help?”
Now, it’s time to answer the next burning question: Who should use a CRM?
When you look at CRM software for digital marketing, you may wonder if it’s the right choice for your business.
Generally, two types of companies benefit from using CRM software:
- Business-to-business (B2B) companies that rely on lead generation and nurturing for sales, as well as have a long sales cycle and need to keep track of customer data for a longer period.
- Business-to-consumer (B2C) companies that have clients who take longer to consider a purchase and rarely impulse buy — think plumbers, landscapers, and painters.
Departments within B2B and B2C companies that can benefit from CRM software include:
- Sales
- Customer service
- Marketing
- Talent acquisition
- Business development
If you operate outside these departments, it doesn’t mean you won’t benefit from using a CRM program. Each company is unique, so it’s crucial to analyze whether a CRM software fits your department’s specific needs.
Do I need CRM software?
When determining if you should use CRM software, ask the following questions:
- Do you need a central place to store and maintain lead and client information?
- Have an abundance of data for your clients and don’t want to lose track of it?
- Do your customers interact with multiple people from your company?
- Need to monitor your sales teams’ productivity and sales structure?
- Do you want to have a better understanding of your buyer’s journey and sales funnel?
If you answered yes to any of these, your business will benefit from CRM software.
Related: Everything you need to know about a CRM strategy
How much does a CRM cost?
The average cost for CRM software is around $50-$100 per user per month.
If you find that your business could benefit from using CRM software, the next thing you want to know is how much it will cost to get the software. You want to see if it’s worth the investment for your business.
Generally, CRM pricing operates on a monthly subscription based on the number of users. So, you need to consider how many people need to access your CRM software, from your sales team to managers.
Typically, businesses will invest $50 to $100 per user per month into CRM software.
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Show Me the GuideWhy should I use CRM software?
With CRM software for digital marketing, you can help your business grow online.
Here are four reasons to invest in this marketing software for your business:
1. Improve your relationships with prospects
Your company is fighting with dozens of other businesses for your prospects’ attention. You must personalize your audiences’ experiences to keep them interested in your company. With CRM software for digital marketing, you help build a better relationship with your prospects.
More than 74% of businesses say that using a CRM gave them improved access to customer data.
With CRM statistics like that, using a CRM platform is one of the best way to learn valuable information about your audience.
A CRM enables you to keep all the information about your prospects in one place. It allows you to keep track of important information about your leads so that you can engage with them. You know all you need to know about your leads, like what they like, dislike, and say about your company.
When you have all that information in one place, you can provide your audience with a more tailored experience.
This experience helps you build a better relationship with your prospects. You send them the information they want, or that’s relevant to their interests.
As a result, they’re more likely to engage with your company and your content.
2. Stay organized
CRM software for digital marketing is the key to keeping your sales team organized.
If you have multiple people engaging with one prospect, it’s easy for information to get lost or not get passed on to another team member. Instead of relying on your team to transfer data, you can keep it all in a central hub that anyone can access.
You won’t have to worry about people mixing up information, either.
Human error happens, and it can sometimes affect a sale. So, instead, you can use CRM software to keep your information clear and organized, so your sales team doesn’t miss a beat.
CRM marketing software helps you organize the information logically, too.
Software like Nutshell, for example, enables you to track the lifecycle of your leads, from their first interaction to the time they purchase. Having all this valuable information, in a logical sequence, helps you stay organized and understand your prospects’ journeys better.
3. Remain competitive
You want to stay competitive with your competition.
If you don’t already have CRM marketing software, you’re falling behind. Your competition is already using CRM software to help boost their sales process, and you should use it too.
Using CRM software will help you compete with your competition.
CRM analytics enables you to gather your prospects’ information efficiently and gain valuable insights, like your competition, and remain competitive in reaching your prospects and personalizing their experience. If you have competitors that aren’t using CRM software for digital marketing, you’ll put yourself a step above them by building better relationships with your prospects.
4. Save company time
When you invest in CRM marketing software, you save your company time.
You don’t have to spend hours logging data to make sense of your customers’ journeys. Your team doesn’t have to take the time to update other team members about clients they’re working on together. Instead, all the information gets logged and stored in one place.
You can record all the vital information from each prospect to ensure you have a full picture of their journey.
It saves you time from having to manually log and input each detail about the buyer’s journey. You won’t need to waste time trying to find lost information.
This software enables your sales team to pick up where they left off without skipping a beat.
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Invest in CRM marketing software today
So, what is a CRM? It’s the key to helping you build a better relationship with your audience and earning more sales for your business.
If you haven’t invested in CRM software yet, you’re missing a prime opportunity to help your business thrive.
With our CRM marketing software, Nutshell, we can help you:
- Track the lifecycle of your leads
- Manage your sales pipeline
- Track your return on investment (ROI) from marketing
- Close more deals
- And more!
Give us a call today at 888-601-5359 or contact us online to speak with a strategist about our marketing software!
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