Who benefits of using CRM solutions
The answer is pretty simple. Both sides: businesses and customers. However, before choosing a CRM system, you need to understand whether a client-oriented approach meets the principles of your business. There is no need to use such systems within your business model without a sufficient justification, only because such systems exist and work for some other business.
For example, such businesses as online stores, wholesale companies or beauty salons will not be able to work effectively without paying enough attention to incoming calls. After all, the fulfillment of orders and customers' satisfaction are very important for each of these businesses. It’s the only way to gain loyal customers.
So, if your business model is based upon the importance of incoming calls or requests (leads) from new customers, or if your business makes effort to obtain and retain new customers, you will gain benefits of using a CRM system.
Benefits of a CRM for eCommerce
Here are some ways how introduction CRM in eCommerce can help you improve the quality of customer service.
Sales growth. Representatives of the sales and customer service department will be able to access information, such as customer order history, payment history, product inventory, and so on. This deep insight will allow to apply a more personalized approach to customers.
Improved demand and supply planning. Ecommerce CRM software provides demand-driven planning feature as well. Now the company can better predict the demand for its products and better manage its reserves (sales, search, manufacturing, etc.).
Targeted marketing and advertising campaigns. Due to the centralized information, you can launch targeted and personalized marketing and advertising campaigns.CRM solutions allow to create self-service portals for your customers to access the status of their order, track the shipment, check inventory and much more.
Improved after-sales service. Having all the necessary information, you will be able to better serve customers after the sale, making more personalized offers.
Integrated RMA Management. Return Merchandise Authorization or RMA may also be among CRM benefits. What does it mean? A support representative who has all need information can find the most suited approach the customer's problem solving on phone or using remote diagnostics.
Reduced costs and losses. Automatic synchronization of information eliminates the need for manual data transmission, which is subject to errors and can lead to unsuccessful client’s experience.
How to choose a CRM system
The first step in choosing a CRM system for your business is to identify the goals and objectives you are pursuing. Then, you are ready to investigate the market of currently available CRM systems. Take some time to decide on the functionality and budget that you are willing to spend on implementing your CRM system. Will it be an individual solution or a ready-made option? Let's figure it out. Here are a few options you should be aware of.
Cloud CRM system (SaaS) The main point is that all information is stored in the cloud. Cloud solution is perfect for small and medium businesses as it does not require extra money for additional equipment and technical personnel.
Standalone CRM solutions Quite obvious that you will have to need your own server. However, unlike cloud technologies, you can fully adapt the system to your needs.
Individual eCommerce CRM The system is tailored to match all your individual business needs and the requirements of your customers.
Off-the-shelf solutions They can be adopted by almost any business. Though they may not be a perfect fit for your company, their development costs and speed to deploy will offset the disadvantages.
The question is whether to use a ready-made software offered by various vendors, such as Salesforce, Oracle, and Zoho or to develop your own solution from scratch. Therefore, we want to consider the advantages and disadvantages of CRM developed from scratch and customized off-the-shelf solutions with the use of the provided SDKs.
