As a company, who does not want to bring and nurture customer relationships to create a steady income stream? After all, your customers are the backbone of your business and the more you build relationships, the more likely they will become your reliable brand advocates.
OAnd, here comes the role of a CRM Software that streamlines communication, manages & enhances customer service, and optimizes the complete sales cycle. But, you can make the most of these benefits when you choose the right product for your business. Honestly speaking, that’s a daunting task ever, given the plethora of options available in the market. To make the process easier, here are five things that you cannot ignore while buying a CRM software.
Consider the Business Objectives carefully
Make sure that the functionalities of your CRM Software product you choose is in line with your business process. So, how would you do that? Ask yourself what to achieve with the software? Are you trying to improve customer retention rates or increase sales? Do you want to streamline communication between departments or automate manual tasks? Identifying your business objectives at the very first stage helps you choose the right CRM software that aligns with your needs.
Let’s talk about an example. For many SMBs, a CRM software is still a platform to enhance customer service. They can opt for products that are mostly used for support jobs like ticketing systems, chatbot support, and more. But, an all-in-one CRM software does much beyond that. If you are planning to scale up, a CRM software helps automate manual tasks and speed up the process and makes the most of your sales and marketing efforts
Choose a Scalable Product
Maybe you are a small business today, but obviously you have some growth plan for this. So, how you are going to manage everything when your customer base will grow bigger? Thus, choose a CRM software that is scalable and can adapt to your changing requirements. It’s about two features- user scalability and feature scalability.
User scalability is basically the capability of a CRM product ( practically any software product) that can effortlessly tracks, manages and organizes a growing number of users wherever your business expands. Alternatively, feature scalability refers to the ability of the software to handle the growing number of features as and when required. With the growth of business, users as well as the requirement for features will also increase. If your CRM product is scalable enough, it will be easier to upgrade those both vertically and horizontally, depending on your business needs.
Consider the Ease of Use of the CRM product
Is the product easy to use? If not, it is pretty obvious that you are not going to make the most of it. Make sure that the product you choose, whether the desktop version or the cloud one, does not need extensive training. The CRM software providers give proper training at the very beginning. If the product which you are buying is pretty easy and effortless, the users won’t take much longer to get started. Therefore, choose a CRM software that has an intuitive and user-friendly interface that your employees can navigate easily.
So, what’s the features of an easy-to-use CRM Software. Find out if the product you are looking for is easy to set up, configure, and customize, with clear instructions and documentation. Even if there’s no support agent ( practically it’s impossible), you must learn the process easily. Moreover, it should integrate seamlessly with your existing workflows and tools, such as email clients, social media, and marketing automation tools. A CRM software that is difficult to use can lead to low adoption rates, which can, in turn, affect its effectiveness.
Check the Data Security and Privacy
When it comes to a CRm Software data security and privacy become a special concern. Whether the product is on cloud or on the desktop, the growing number of security threats are not uncommon. Popular CRM software products like ConvergeHub ( Winner of Emotional Footprint Award in the Software Reviews) has implemented MFA to reinforce data security in the system. Customer data that is highly sensitive, and any breach can result in significant consequences, such as loss of trust, legal penalties, and reputational damage. Therefore, it is essential to choose a CRM software that offers robust security and privacy features.
Leading CRM software products come with features like data encryption, secured data storage mechanisms , and access controls to protect customer data. Moreover, it should comply with international data protection regulations.
Customer Support & Training from the Provider
Choose a provider that will offer top-notch training, excellent support and most importantly documentation of the product thoroughly. Right from installation to your initial usage of the product, the CRM software provider must guide you so that they can use This includes training on how to use the software, troubleshooting, and ongoing support. Make sure to check the vendor’s support policies before making a purchase.
Wrapping Up
In the age of digitization, there is no dearth of the CRM Software products in the market. And, the most interesting part is each of the software products has their own unique benefits. While many of these features are similar to each other, there are exclusive features as well. That’s what differentiates one from the others. There are plenty of products in the market. Wortal, Salesforce, GubSpot, Zoho , PipeDrive, ConvergeHub are some of the popular names.
We would recommend you to do your own research before you choose any product. Pricing point can be a differentiating point but, make sure that you do not need to compromise on the above mentioned features and qualities just to purchase an affordable version. Again, the purpose of implementing a CRM software is to maintain customer relationships, which further helps you increase sales and revenue. If you invest in a highly functional product, it’s obvious that it will be a more expensive version than what is available in the market . You can also choose the affordable alternative, but make sure that it offers everything you need to run your process effortlessly.