3 Types Of CRM - Which Is The Best One For You?
One of the things that you may not know about CRMs is that they're not all the same. Some offer special features which are then reflected in the price they charge. This is why business owners need to understand the differences between the 3 main types of CRMs - operational, analytical, and collaborative.
Today, we decided to show you all the differences between the 3 so you can make a better decision.
3 Different Types Of CRM
As you probably already know, a CRM helps you manage and analyze all customer data. From simple interactions to customer service, a CRM platform can help you grow your sales and increase retention.
One of the things that we have been seeing over the last couple of years is the increase in the number of features that are offered. So, we ensure that you can pick the right CRM for your business, you need to know what you need in the first place. You may then choose between an operational CRM, an analytical CRM, or collaborative software.
#1: Operational CRM:
This is the most common type of CRM you can find available on the market since it covers a wide range of features.
Overall speaking, an operational CRM includes many different features including:
- Customer Service: Since an operational CRM allows you to have all your customers and leads data gathered in one place, your employees can easily access all communication that has been done so far with each one. This helps not only nurture your customers and leads as well as it should also help increase your sales in the future.
- Marketing: With this type of CRM, you can automate your marketing campaigns. This allows you to send the best offers at the best times as well as approach both customers and leads to ensure they take the next step. Most operational CRMs allow you to communicate with customers and leads in different ways, including phone calls, email, chat, and social media, among others.
- Sales Automation: This feature allows you to have all the information gathered in just one place to ensure that you always meet your customers' needs. This type of feature usually includes a wide range of tools such as sales forecasting, contact management, and lead management.
- Service Automation: When you want to grow your business, you need to make sure that all your employees are on the same page and that they can help customers and leads. This is done by using features like setting up chatbots, coordinating live chats, or even setting up inboxes. In addition, service automation also allows one of your employees to quickly delegate one or more tasks to a more knowledgeable colleague, for example.
The main goal of this type of CRM is to help business owners centralize all leads and customer interactions, marketing processes, and business operations so that the company can be more efficient and drive more profit. But more than this, an operational CRM allows you to get all the information gathered in the same place so that your employees can access it and better serve customers and leads.
Operational CRM - Pros & Cons
There's no question that an operational CRM can help your business improve customer satisfaction, internal cohesion, and improve processes. However, you need to take into account that this type of system requires a lot of data entry which can take a lot of time. This is one of the reasons why operational CRMs are usually meant for small and mid-sized businesses.
When You Should Use An Operational CRM System
Overall speaking, you should choose an operational CRM system when you are looking for teams to work better and when you want to ensure that they can fully understand your customers and leads.
In sum, an operational CRM helps small and mid-sized businesses streamline the different processes for customers and lead relationships. This will allow businesses not only to generate leads but also to turn these leads into paying customers, and make these customers repeat customers.
#2: Analytical CRM:
The analytical CRM is another type of CRM you can choose to run your business. Its main goal is to take a deeper look at customer data to get actionable insights and trends so that you can improve your customers' experience. It's important to notice that the data that you get may include trends, touchpoints, customer preferences, touchpoints, and channels, among many others.
Analytical CRM - Pros & Cons
One of the main advantages of using an analytical CRM is that it helps businesses aggregate large amounts of data making them perfect for big companies. However, this also brings a very important disadvantage. When choosing an analytical CRM, you want to make sure that you pick one that can handle well with data imports. After all, importing big chunks of data is crucial and may take a lot of time if you have to do it manually. In addition, if you don't import the right data or keep getting errors or duplicates, you won't be able to get the right information to improve your customer relationships, improve your processes, improve your marketing campaigns, and increase your profits.
When You Should Use An Analytical CRM System
Overall speaking, analytical CRM systems are meant for mid-sized and large companies that need to deal with a lot of data.
In sum, an analytical CRM will help your business better understand your customers and leads. This information combined can then be transformed into trends and actionable insights that can help you grow your business. Some of the most popular analytical CRM systems on the market include Flowlu CRM Analytics.
#3: Collaborative CRM:
Also known as strategic CRM, a collaborative CRM allows different teams to interact on the same platform. The main goal of having different departments of your business interact is that everyone knows what they need to do and they can all access important information regarding customers and leads. This means that when you're looking for a CRM that allows you to mainly focus on customer service you should go for a collaborative CRM.
One of the things that you need to know about collaborative CRMs is that they usually have two different components:
- Interaction Management: This component of the collaborative CRM focuses on communication between the business and the customers. So, besides accessing all interactions that have been made, you can also know of the customer isn't overloaded with information.
- Channel Management: This second component relies on the first one. Ultimately, it uses the information gathered in interaction management to determine the best way to communicate with each one of your customers.
Collaborative CRM - Pros & Cons
One of the main advantages of using a collaborative CRM system is that you'll have all your teams (marketing, sales, and customer support) working together to increase your profits. This collaboration will allow you to determine specific barriers that may appear when communicating with customers and overcoming them. However, to do this right, you need to make sure that all your teams are on the same page and that they know what they need to do. When this doesn't happen, you will see your customer experience fall.
When You Should Use A Collaborative CRM System
One of the best things about collaborative CRMs is that they can be used by companies of all sizes. However, they are usually more meant for companies that operate in different locations or for companies that tend to rely on remote work.
In sum, a collaborative CRM system allows all your teams and departments to easily communicate to better help your customers. Some of the most popular collaborative CRM systems on the market include Flowlu and Microsoft Dynamics 365.
