CRM Automation: What it is/does and how it benefits you

CRM software has almost become legendary at this point. You are probably familiar with the most common benefits of CRM automation: data organization, better sales performance, customer retention, and so forth. With CRM automation, you can add many more benefits to this list.

What is CRM Automation?

CRM automation is the ability of a CRM system to automate repetitive tasks to improve productivity and streamline work. A CRM system can automate various functions, including sales, marketing, and service activities.

CRM tools make it easy to manage all external interactions and relationships essential to business success. Automation can help you focus more on strategic, meaningful work.

Companies can automate CRM by taking advantage of the rapid advances in AI technology over the last few years.

Marketing Automation vs. CRM

Marketing automation is an integral part of any discussion about automated CRM. Although it can be confused with CRM, marketing automation is different.

Marketing automation is the middle and top of the funnel. Marketing automation also helps automate repetitive tasks that marketing departments face at different points in the customer lifecycle. It covers all aspects of the customer's lifecycle, from when they first enter the system to when they become customers.

CRM, however, focuses mainly on the bottom stages. As a result, CRM is a broad approach covering all aspects of your customer relationship.

These are the common capabilities that each of them has.

Software for Marketing Automation

Campaign management for lead generation
Email campaigns are often used for lead nurturing and re-engagement.
Prioritization of lead using lead scoring and win probabilities

CRM

Contact management is a system that stores contact information, such as email and company size.
A visual sales pipeline allows you to easily track each lead's progress and status.
Order management and a quote will facilitate your purchase.
Reporting is a way to get high-level snapshots or more detailed information about your performance against KPIs.
Customer service functionality includes creating a customer portal or ticketing system.

Marketing automation tends to be more focused than CRM. However, CRM covers a broader range of activities and goals. Marketing and service tools can be included in CRM and the more familiar sales features.

Other key areas

Automation of CRM tasks can be used to automate marketing tasks and sales and service. But, first, let's look at how it works.

SalesForce Automation

The sales force automation (SFA) tools can be a great way of expanding the functionality of CRM software. They can be used as standalone systems, but they are often integrated into CRM software as an integral module.

SFA software lets you manage every aspect of your sales cycle so that you can convert leads to customers. The software offers a wide range of features to help you monitor, optimize and manage the entire sales process.

Salesforce automation is about tracking every interaction with customers during the sales process. This includes calls, meetings, and emails. This will ensure that your marketing efforts don't overlap and are optimized to deliver maximum results.

Salesforce automation also makes sales reps' lives easier by helping them track relevant information and pointing out areas where they can improve their efficiency.

SFA tools can help you manage the entire sales funnel and automate many manual tasks. In addition, SFA tools allow sales reps to do what they love best: close deals. This is a win-win situation for everyone.

Automated Customer Service

Customer service automation provides:

AI powers Chatbots
Self-service for customers (FAQ page, knowledgebase).
Automated solutions, such as the reset of a password
When a customer creates new tickets, case routing is performed

These capabilities, along with others, help reduce the amount of manual labor involved in supporting customers. For example, Salesforce's State of Service report revealed that 34% of agents who work with AI spend most of their time doing mundane tasks, compared to 51% of those who do not have AI.

Although efficiency is a motivator for automating customer service aspects, it can also be a great motivation to improve customer satisfaction.

Automation of Specific Components

We have covered the functions of CRM automation. This includes marketing automation, customer service automation, and SFA. It's now time to look at concrete examples of what you could automate.

Email drip campaigns. Automating email campaigns can be one of the most time-saving tools you will find. You can have a simple sequence or multi-faceted campaign based on multiple triggers and criteria.
Reports. Reports are now automated. A CRM makes it easy to quickly extract the metrics you need and create reports in a fraction of time. In addition, many CRM solutions allow you to export reports and email them to anyone who requires them.
KPI tracking. Dashboards are a central feature of CRM systems. You can see critical metrics clearly and easily digest them. You don't have to go through complicated steps to compile your KPIs. All you need is to configure your dashboards to display the information you want. It can include everything from total sales to the number generated by each channel.
Notifications. The system can be set up to send alerts in an automated fashion for any number of situations. For example, a lead is moving to a different stage in the sales pipeline.
Invoices. Instead of manually sending each invoice out, you can program the system to send them when a customer makes a purchase. This is particularly useful for B2C businesses that deal with large orders.
Welcome emails. This is used when a contact joins your system through a particular action. This could be, for example, when they sign up to receive your newsletter or complete a form to get a piece of content.
Assignment of leads. You can eliminate the guesswork and save time by assigning leads to sales reps by setting up rules. For example, the match can be based on the sales region, industry, product, and any other criteria.
Transitions between stages in a pipeline. Automate moving deals from one stage to another in a sales pipeline. For example, a lead receiving an email regarding a sales call can take action and trigger the system to move them to the next queue.
Data sync. Data sync is possible with multiple systems, such as a separate CRM and marketing automation tool. For example, if a lead is added to your marketing automation platform, it creates a contact profile within your CRM.
Re-engagement efforts. This is helpful for leads who abandon shopping carts. This email can be used to re-engage them and possibly determine their reasons for leaving a shopping cart right before they purchase.
Assignments. Based on their interactions, sales reps can receive a list of tasks to complete. For example, they could send a follow-up note after a sale call. This keeps essential details from being lost in the void.

These are just a few of the automation options available. Ensure you have a list of automation you are looking for when you research CRMs. This will help you to weigh the value and suitability of each solution.

Primary Benefits

Automating tedious tasks can help you save a lot of time each week, as you would expect.

Imagine, for instance, what automation could do for an email campaign. What would it take to manually send out a sequence of emails to a group of 550 people? Even if you were superhumanly fast, this would take a lot of time.

With a CRM, you can be sure of a smooth transition. This is because the CRM will manage the workflow, triggers, content creation, and rest. As a result, it's much easier to manage.

CRM automation offers many benefits, including the ability to spend your time on more critical tasks.

You can streamline tasks to get more done with fewer hours.
Follow up faster to generate more leads and improve qualification rates
You can increase sales conversions by focusing your attention on the hottest leads and pairing them up with the best sales representatives
You can easily create multiple campaigns, and you can do so using drag-and-drop features.
Customer satisfaction can be improved by promptly attending to customer service problems.
Increase profits by retaining customers
Service agents are free to spend more time on complex problems

Last Thoughts

Are you looking for an automated CRM system? Yes, you likely do. However, your business type and interactions with customers will determine the areas of automation. CRM automation encompasses marketing, sales, and service activities. These can be done either with integrated tools or a robust database. These are an excellent place to start when thinking about CRM automation.

If you are thinking to automate your business processes and want to know more about web and software development options - contact us at anytime with any questions. It is our first priority to assist you!✌️