Your CRM system is the beating heart of your business, helping you to deliver on your business objectives and provide and exceptional customer experience.
In fact, in today’s competitive world, your CRM system can make all the difference. Did you know, for example, that CRM can boost conversion rates by 300%? Or that the ROI of a properly implemented CRM system can exceed 245%?
Yep, when it comes to customer relationship management, the stakes are high. After all, you’ve most likely invested a pretty significant amount of money into your CRM system, so it’s essential that it does what it’s supposed to do so that you can get the most out of your investment.
But how can you check that the heart of your business is healthy and make sure that your CRM is doing everything you need it to do? Well, that’s where we come in!
From referring back to your original goals to checking key metrics, read on to discover four ways to see if your CRM is delivering – and what to do next if it’s not.
4 ways to check if your CRM is delivering
1. Look back at your goals
First things first, if you want to see whether your CRM is delivering, you need to go back to basics and check back against your original goals.
What was it you wanted to achieve from your CRM system in the first place? And why? Whether you wanted to better map your customer journeys, were looking for ways to decrease churn, wanted to access higher quality leads, or wanted to boost referrals, to review the success of your CRM system, you need to look back at your original targets and see whether you hit them.
Once you’ve reminded yourself of what it was you were trying to achieve in the first place, you can review your CRM strategy and make any changes to ensure your CRM hits the mark.
2. Review your strategy
It’s no secret that if you’re going to get the most out of your CRM, you need a smart strategy in place from the beginning – so if your CRM strategy hasn’t been getting the results you need, now is the perfect time to go back and make any necessary changes.
An effective strategy is essential to the success of your CRM. It enables you to keep track of your data, overcome disconnected data silos, increase sales and marketing effectiveness and deliver an unbeatable customer experience to boot – so it’s super important to make sure you’ve got a powerful strategy in place.
If your CRM strategy hasn’t been delivering, now’s the time to take a close look at your strategy, strip it all back, and build a data-led strategy from the ground up. Which leads us onto our next point…
3. Zoom in on your data
Poor data management is one of the biggest barriers to getting value out of your CRM system. After all, your CRM is only as good as the information you put into it – so if your CRM isn’t currently delivering the results you need it to, it’s important to take a good look at your data.
Ask yourself this: do you really trust your data? Over one-third of Chief Marketing Officers don’t. But if your CRM is going to deliver the results you need it to, then this needs to change – and fast.
So, how can your data tell you whether or not your CRM is delivering? Well, firstly, you need to complete a thorough data audit so that you can get to grips with the state of your data, identify any areas that you need to improve, and eliminate any mistakes.
When it comes to testing your data, you should be looking for things such as missing data, duplicated records, incorrect data in fields, and inaccurate reporting.
Any of these errors will prevent your CRM system from working properly, so it’s really important to fix any problems as soon as possible so that you can ensure your CRM is able to deliver the results that you need moving forward.
4. Measure churn and retention rates
Finally, one of the best ways to monitor the success of your CRM system and see whether your strategy is working is to track the performance of your campaigns and see what works and what doesn’t.
Some important metrics to look at include customer lifetime value (CLV), revenue generated by campaigns, and the length of the sales cycle – but a great place to start is by looking at churn and retention rates – aka, the holy grail of CRM metrics.
These two rival metrics are absolutely essential if you are going to understand the success of your CRM system. If one goes up, the other goes down – but knowing both statistics is essential if you are going to make a fair judgment about your CRM’s performance.
Let us help you get the most out of your CRM
If you are concerned that your CRM isn’t performing as it should, rest assured that we’re on hand to help.
As a specialist CRM agency, we’re experts in CRM consulting – so when you enlist our help, we’ll strip everything back to your core objectives so we can create bespoke CRM strategies that actually work. We’ll then use data to drive our approach and create powerful transformational CRM strategies that empower you to build stronger relationships with your customers.
So, whether you want to decrease churn, increase lifetime customer value, or introduce a new product, our dedicated CRM consultant team will deliver a bespoke solution that’s designed to meet your needs.
Want to find out more how we can transform your CRM strategy? Contact us today to learn more.
