crm
2 Steps to Clean Data and Import it into CRM ⭐
Imports are tough when your data are messy and full of inconsistencies. Make data clean and import them on the first attempt into the CRM.
Imports are tough when your data are messy and full of inconsistencies. Make data clean and import them on the first attempt into the CRM.
How well do you know your CRM system? We bet there are still some features that you keep underestimating or haven’t noticed yet. Deduplication, advanced tools for automated drip campaigns, or omnichannel inbox might sound familiar. But have you ever thought about removing C from CRM and using it just as an RM system? Let’s discover all the 7 features we have for you!
As businesses of all sizes increasingly adopt CRM systems, it is more important than ever for users to be aware of all the features these systems offer. In many cases, the subtle well-hidden gem in the CRM system can have the biggest impact on day-to-day operations and long-term success.
As experts on HubSpot, we will use HubSpot CRM for all practical examples in this article, but you can easily transfer the new knowledge to the CRM system of your own choice.
Let’s explore the 7 most useful – but often overlooked – features of CRM systems.
What is a CRM?
If you are new to the field, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a platform that allows companies to create and maintain relationships with customers.
Sales and marketing reps use this tool to manage and automate customer life cycles. Most CRMs offer sales and a marketing module, so companies can effectively consolidate customer information in a single system that enables them to automatize business processes, communication and monitor teams' performance and productivity.
💡 Is it possible to change the CRM system? Yes, it’s very common. As a company grows and its needs change, changing of CRM system is almost inevitable. If you are thinking about this decision, check more about CRM migration, it doesn’t have to be complicated.
1. Tags for superb personalization
Most CRM systems offer automated tagging features that can help you identify what your customers like and give them more of it! A simple thought, but technically quite challenging to achieve without the help of digital platforms.
Let’s see one example.
An online grocery shop sent a newsletter and noticed that some readers clicked on gluten-free bread while others were interested in discounted beef steaks. The CRM can use this insight to tag the first group as “gluten-free customers” and the second as “meat-eaters.” Next time the company creates content for a newsletter, they can use tags to personalize content to customers’ preferences or to create different campaigns focused on gluten-free products or a new BBQ offer.
CRM systems like HubSpot offer automated or manual tagging options which are priceless for A/B testing or drip campaigns.
Use it right and your conversion rates will go through the roof!
2. Omnichannel inbox
Communication with customers can quickly get messy as we all got used to sending emails, SMSs, making phone calls, or reaching out to companies via social platforms. The solution is easy; the CRM can serve as an omnichannel communication platform organizing various communication threads and managing tickets.
No more Outlook synchronization and missing important updates in the customer requirements!
When your customer calls, you can easily pull up all previous interactions and information to help them as fast and as well as possible. The smart way to make your effort more effective is to incorporate smart automations and chatflows into the processes.
Chatflows are available for all HubSpot packages. With them, you engage website visitors via a chat widget, which takes them through a series of questions handing them over to a person at a specific point in the conversation. It can be either straight away if you prefer live conversation with the customer or introduced by an automated chatbot that sends templated responses to the visitors.
💡 You don’t use HubSpot CRM and still want to try chatflows? Similar chatflow to those offered in HubSpot can also be created in Facebook Messenger, which comes especially handy for conversation from mobile devices.
3. Weed out duplicates
Weeding your database regularly to keep data clean and maintain its quality is often an underestimated task by many companies. Yes, simple marketing automation can be the key to a forever-clean database.
HubSpot automatically deduplicates all contacts, companies, deals, tickets, and products right upon their creation via bulk import or form submission.
💡 Did you know that HubSpot’s tools run a proper deduplication check? Every few weeks, it scans the database and shows you 2,000 records that are likely duplicates. Merging them is another handy tool built into this CRM system that one simply can’t stop loving.
4. How could one live without customer intelligence
Customers’ behavior and preferences are changing every minute. B2B or B2C, the pace of changes is speeding up, leaving companies behind. Companies learned to collect data and forge it into business intelligence to catch up with the dynamic development. And that’s precisely the point when CRM comes in extremely handy.
The better marketing data, insights, and knowledge of your customers, the more precise decisions you can make when it comes to creating sales strategy and marketing tactics. CRM systems can store and help you understand an instant 360° snapshot of each customer so that you can adjust your operations accordingly without any delay.
However, CRM systems must evolve, too, as digital marketing is becoming more and more customer-centric, highlighting their overall satisfaction as the number one priority. CRM systems can autonomously analyze and suggest the optimal tactics and strategies to marketers and sales reps.
More and more often, you can encounter dashboards explaining the context of the data presented, turning Big Data with the help of Artificial Intelligence into stories that can explain patterns and trends even to non-specialists.
5. No C, just an RM system.
What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM) without customers? Right, Relationship Management. CRMs used to be crucial for sales, marketing, and customer success teams.
It's a vital part of companies' tech stacks throughout industries, and managers love detailed reporting.
However, not only relationships with customers can benefit from CRM adoption. Ask us how to manage to recruit via HubSpot, and you’ll be surprised what can be achieved with a single system.
💡 Really, how could HR benefit from a CRM system? It’s happening, read more about managing Inbound Recruiting in HubSpot.
Source: HubSpot
6. Ads tracking too
Eager to search for patterns and insights in the ads performance reports? You will love HubSpot’s Ads tool (available on all HubSpot packages, including Free CRM) that provides comprehensive data about your campaign's performance.
Source: HubSpot
Simply connect your Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn advertising accounts to HubSpot or any other suitable CRM and it will automatically attribute created records to specific ads.
It can sync leads from your lead generation ads, connect them to the contacts that interacted with your ads, and easily manage and edit your accounts’ pixels to target precisely chosen audiences. A single place, deep insight into the ads' performance.
💡 How does HubSpot know it all? To attribute contact to your ads, HubSpot adds tracking parameters to the end of your ad URLs, allowing it to trace back contacts origin.
7. File Manager
Oh, we know. File manager doesn’t sound like the best of the best features. But trust us, if you use it on an expert level, a quite trivial tool can turn into a powerful buddy. For example, HubSpot and many other CRMs’ file managers offer advanced options allowing you to share all stored files smoothly within marketing assets as online links.
Let’s check one easy task to grasp the idea of file manager potential.
Do you know websites that use a single image in multiple locations? Yes, something like a logo, Tripadvisor badge, or sales rep profile photo. How much work replaces such an image when you need to update it? How many errors can you make on the way? With HubSpot or any other file manager like that, you can simply replace the single file in the file manager, which will be updated in every location. Smooth, right?
Another cool feature is that by one click on the file, you can find where the file is used throughout the CRM system and whether it’s a part of some automations or templates.
And what’s our favorite thing? Some CRMs have a free Shutterstock photobank integrated so that you can pick from 60,000 royalty-free stock images for your marketing content within the platform.
💡 There must be some catch. What is it? The only catch we can think of is the size limit. HubSpot's limit is 2 GB for video files, but all other formats can be stored without limitations.
In a nutshell
CRM systems are complex ecosystems of tools and features that often hides true gyms deep within their dark corners. We tried to bring 7 of such features to light for you, but we don’t say there isn’t more. Have we missed some juicy expert tool that should get mentioned? Let us know on our social profiles:
Do you observe one of the 5 signs it’s time to switch your CRM? Maybe it’s time to change it. Don’t hesitate to consult us on your case. It takes little time, costs no money, and your findings might be the real game changers!
