9 Key CRM Features to Boost Customer Satisfaction and Sales

We have created a list of key features that will make a significant impact on your business and customer relationships.

Must-Have Features in Your Customer Relationship Management Software

1. Contact Management

Struggling to get details of your potential customers from the heaps of spreadsheets managed by different sales member? A CRM software should have contact management feature to store all your customers’ data at one place. 

You should be able to group contacts by location or industry. Also, it should keep track of every interaction you have with a customer, so you can build a strong relationship over time. 

2. Workflow Automation

Automation will make your sales team’s work ten times easier than now. Feature like workflow automation helps your sales team to do simple tasks like sending a follow-up message. It can even automatically report to sales managers whenever a team member completes a task. On top of that, you can create custom workflows to automate specific tasks. 

3. Lead Management

Your sales team should not be blindly chasing any lead. It is a waste of time because that lead may or may not convert. Therefore, your CRM software should have a lead management feature. It helps your team focus on quality leads based on pre-set demographics and other factors. 

It also ensures that everyone gets fair share of leads by automatically assigning them leads. Most importantly, this feature let you know where the leads are in the sales pipeline to take the right action at the right time. 

4. Reporting and Analytics

Want to know how many sales generated in a month? Or how did your campaign perform? An online CRM software with reporting feature lets you get these reports on your fingertips. You don’t have to wait for a week or month to get insights from your sales team.

All that you need will be available whenever you want on a custom dashboard. You can even decide how you want to see those insights. 

5. Sales Forecasting 

What if you could predict future sales? Interesting, isn’t it? The best customer relationship management software has a sales forecasting feature to improve sales. It tells when your customers would like to purchase more and which product/service they might be interested in. 

How it does? The software uses information like historical sales data, and current sales in the pipeline to make such prediction. Imagine the number of deals you can easily close with the sales forecasting feature. 

Also Read: How AR in Retail is Changing Customer Experience and Boosting Sales

6. Mobile CRM

Customers expect instant communication and service. Thus, your sales and customer service teams should be able to connect and manage customers on the go. A mobile CRM software removes device restriction allowing them to access all features from smartphones or tablet. 

It also makes them more productive while keeping everyone on the same page beyond workplace or desktop boundaries. 

7. Integration Capabilities

Whether you are developing a customer relationship management software or purchasing an off-the-shelf software, integration feature is must. It acts as a glue that holds your existing business tools and software together. 

Imagine your customers are trying to connect through emails or a potential lead enquires about your business on social media. Without social media and email integration, they will be lost if your sales reps don’t constantly check these channels. 

Therefore, it is important to have a software that connects all your channels and tools at one place. Here is a list of key integrations to have in your software:

1. Email marketing tools
2. Calendar 
3. Scheduling apps
4. Ecommerce platforms
   
5. Accounting software
6. Customer service software
7. Social media platforms

8. Task Management

A free CRM software is not only useful to manage customers and leads but also for your sales team. With task management feature, it helps sales reps to manage tasks without switching between multiple tools. 

Here’s how it helps:

• Create tasks and assignments based on expertise and workload.
• Prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance.
• Track progress of each task. 
• Clear view of what needs to be done and by whom.
• Automatically set reminders for upcoming tasks to meet deadlines.

9. Campaign Management

Running multiple campaigns on different channels and collecting insights from each to make decisions is time consuming. A custom CRM software should let you 

• Create campaigns based on location and target audience. 
• Launch them on multiple channels such as email and social media platforms.
• Track the key metrics to know which campaign is performing good.

Besides these ten most important features, make sure the CRM is completely customizable, lightweight, and easy to use. 

In case you have changed your mind and want a ready-to-deploy software, we have got a list of best ones in the market. They are built to fit your every business needs. 

The Best Customer Relationship Management Software

1. Salesforce CRM
2. Freshworks 
3. Zoho 
4. Monday Sales 
5. Oracle NetSuite

Not Just Features, Look for Scalability and Security 

Features are undoubtedly the first thing you should focus on whether purchasing or developing a customer relationship management software. But scalability and security are unavoidable aspects. 

You will need a robust tool to manage customers as your business grows without worrying about data security. Because once a data breach happens, all your hard work of building customers trust will go into a waste. 

So, here are a five essential security features to look whether investing in a free, paid, or custom CRM software.  

• It should be cloud-based as they come with robust security features.  
• It should have a built-in malware protection to protect from latest threats.
• It should comply with GDPR policy. 
• It should have two-step authentication feature.
• It should have role-based access control to prevent any user from accessing your customers’ data.

Conclusion 

Every business is different in the way it operates but they all need a CRM software to achieve great customer satisfaction and business growth. 

Investing in a custom CRM is thus an investment in the future of your customer relationships. By building a system that has the above-mentioned features, you can connect, nurture, and convert leads in better way.