Next-level CRM Software Trends & Predictions for 2023

CRM Software Trends & Predictions for 2023 

The importance of CRM systems for businesses of any size has been continuously growing for the last decade. Some trends stay on the radar and deepen; some have emerged recently as technology evolves. The CRM platform market is expected to grow from today's $65 billion to $129 billion by 2028, thanks to the accelerated demand from companies increasing investments in top CRM software.

The most exciting stats say that a company can make as much as $30 for every dollar spent on CRM. The ROI of CRM technology makes it almost irresistible for any business. CRM technology is rapidly becoming an essential feature in all businesses.

According to industry estimates, over 91% of companies with 10 or more employees use a CRM to manage customer conversations. Dynamic growth isn’t limited to CRM but spreads to other areas, including data analytics, CX, and content management.

We picked 6 trends that you should keep your eye on in 2023:

• AI-generated content
• Voice recognition and conversational UX
• CRM for solo entrepreneurs and freelancers
• Deeper process automation
• Channel-less CRM
• Cross-team integration

1. AI-generated Content

Imagine that your CRM platform offers features overlapping with a full-fledged CMS. Like Hubspot, for example. And the mix is spiced up with embedded AI tools. The main benefit of this integration is that AI technology quickly goes through high volumes of unstructured data, identifying interesting patterns and turning them into insights. Understand consumers’ buying behavior, check recommendations for sales channel optimization, or start segmenting your customers in new ways.

This is something that has been here for some time and keeps increasing its impact on marketing and sales. The latest trend is AI-generated content. The new breed of applications and tools powered by GPT-3 makes using artificial intelligence in marketing a bit more practical. AI content-generation tools continue to become more advanced and easy to use, and their outcomes are better daily.

Images and texts generated by AI are now almost indistinguishable from human work. You have surely come across artwork made by generators like DALL-E 2 or Midjourney.

The same applies to texts that AI now writes better than ever before. You might not guess that the previous paragraphs are machine-generated, but they are! The magic is in the prompt; the better instructions you give, the higher the probability that AI generates text that will suit your purpose. When these tools merge with CRM, most marketing and sales tasks regarding customer communication will get to a whole new level. Faster, more personalized content tailor-made for a specific purpose in a blink of an eye. That’s the future.

2. Voice Recognition and Conversational UI

Future CRM tools will use voice recognition and conversational UI to improve team workflow and accessibility. What is it? Voice recognition technology makes the software more accessible and easy to use. It can speed up data entry, help you record meetings, etc. Your team can access customer data faster and more accurately with voice recognition enabled.

The conversational UI (CUI) is expected to become a norm among many IT experts. This intuitive user interface allows teams to interact with CRM systems via a wide range of verbal and written phrases. Through these simple interactions, you'll be able to quickly access or input customer data, generate reports, and prioritize tasks. You might already encounter Typeform, but many other platforms use this approach in their services (Skyscanner, Facebook Messenger bot, Duolingo etc.).

Typed CUI merged with voice recognition is a new trend that we expect to speed up in 2023.

3. CRM for Solo Entrepreneurs and Freelancers

The statistics show that 90% of companies with more than 10 employees already use CRM software. Despite the increasing complexity of these solutions, they are becoming more and more accessible. CRM companies are now creating new plans for solo entrepreneurs and freelancers, adjusted to suit single users satisfying their specific marketing and sales needs.

Contact management, deal tracking, invoicing. The basic features that every entrepreneur needs are pillars of CRM systems that can easily help even micro businesses to grow with no complex workflows and automations. A company of one can benefit from CRM software as any other, and data proves that entrepreneurs creating multimillion-dollar successes have shared a passion for CRM since their beginnings.

4. Deeper Automation than Ever

With all the tools and technology, automation is expanding. Increased automation capabilities of CRM systems help businesses to eradicate routine manual tasks, such as updating customer data, email distribution, or document management. Ineffective tasks consume up to 60% of professionals’ work time. 

Whether we talk about nurturing leads, sending out invoices or managing personalized email campaigns, sales and marketing processes benefit from automation. Automation helps businesses focus on tasks that matter, and thanks to advanced integration, it will also work across all software platforms the company uses. In 2023, automation will reach deeper levels in companies, effectively preventing any opportunity from being missed.

5. Channel-less CRM

Previous trend summaries were dominated by omnichannel inboxes and whatnot, but this year it's time to switch your thinking about CRM the other way around. Channels are no longer needed, and channel-less CRM is on the rise. Are you ready to start working on new strategies for your marketing? You don’t have to try to meet customers in all the channels they use; stop focusing on the different strategies for each communication channel.

Instead, focus on the communication itself. Personalize it, make it valuable for the customer, and let them enjoy the seamless experience when they are in your company’s focus. The four main ingredients of every channel-less strategy are personalization, relevancy, transparency, and simplicity. It’s not a technical breakthrough; it is a change in thinking. Don’t count channels, and don’t try to maximize their number. Focus on outstanding customer experience and then deliver it whenever possible.

6. Cross-team Integration

This business key insight, paired with the recent trend of integrating CRM into every part of a business, points to a future that sees CRM being used by all teams in an organization. Traditionally, CRM technology was considered a tool for the customer-facing sales and customer support teams. However, this may change in the coming months as CRM becomes part of a tech stack intertwining through the entire organization.

To ensure collaboration, it’s important to have CRM systems that support multi-team functionality. For example, finance and accounting teams can also benefit from CRM tools, of course, only when they come with invoicing software features. Once sales teams successfully close deals, accounting teams can use these CRM systems to immediately send an invoice to customers. Using these systems to manage invoices and payments makes tracking revenue easier.

To be successful, teams have to align, set similar KPIs, and implement a CRM system that satisfies the needs of the entire digital strategy. Marketing teams are ultimately responsible for gaining attention from target audiences. From there, these leads are gradually pushed further down the funnel for sales teams to pick them up and close a deal.

In a nutshell

Are you ready to sail into the year 2023? Yeah, sure you are; now, when you know everything, that will change in CRM oceans. Adjust your business strategies, explore new features and tools, and prepare for more pressure to deliver superb customer experience.

Check if your current CRM system is future-ready, and if you have any doubts, you still got us. Book a free consultation with our CRM experts and let us help you with the assessment. It would be a shame to miss AI, automation, or conversational UX just because you have outgrown your good-but-old CRM.

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