The market is increasingly competitive. Businesses are looking for ways to excel and without a CRM tool, this is somewhat impossible. It helps companies to better manage their customer relationships and that’s what stands you out from your customers. Nevertheless, attaining effective CRM can prove to be a daunting challenge for businesses. The latest CRM trends reveal that many CRM software solutions now incorporate advanced technologies, which can complicate the process of optimizing these tools for maximum benefit.
Post-pandemic, there’s a major shift in customer demands even in the B2B space. Specific demands on businesses have escalated significantly. As many as 58% of consumers now anticipate improved customer service compared to a year ago, as per Talkdesk's research from 2021. This, in conjunction with the advent of new customer technologies, places a greater onus on businesses to enhance their customer relationships constantly.
To assist business owners and entrepreneurs in this endeavor, we have compiled a list of the most crucial CRM software trends for 2023. These trends are going to rule in the coming years as well, predicted CRM experts. Even the CRM product itself will evolve in the coming years. With new-age enterprise CRM software, business owners and their teams can gain better insights into how to cater to customer requirements more effectively.
Here are some of the latest trends that are going to rule the enterprise CRM market in the coming years.
Evolution & Expansion of the CRM Platform Market
The CRM platform market appears to have a promising future, based on the latest CRM software trends. Previous estimates had predicted that the CRM market would be valued at $113 billion by 2027. However, more recent data suggests that the global CRM market could reach a worth of $129 billion by 2028, as per Fortune Business Insights in 2021.
Alongside the top players in the market like Zoho, HubSpot, and Salesforce, various other high-performance players have come to the scene. Mention must be made of PipeDrive, ConvergeHub, and Engagebay. They are expected to maintain and even expand their market shares in the future, according to Software Reviews 2023. The increasing investments of businesses in top CRM software are driving the growth of these companies. Such investments provide business owners with the necessary tools to enhance and sustain their customer relationships.
There are more. CRM experts have calculated the estimated return on investment (ROI) of such investments. As per the CRM trends of the current year, businesses can reap as much as $30 for every dollar spent on all-in-one CRM, according to Carter's findings in 2023. Therefore, CRM technology represents a wise investment for any business, given its potential ROI.
Enterprise CRM is the most preferred platform for understanding customer requirements
Today, enterprise CRM software is no longer restricted to contact management and lead nurturing. These tools now facilitate businesses in gaining an intricate understanding of their customers, thanks to their ability to amass vast amounts of data. Sales and customer support teams can use this data to create comprehensive profiles of every customer they engage with.
Sales teams, in particular, stand to benefit considerably from this comprehensive customer perspective. As per a sales industry report, 70% of salespeople deem CRM as "very important" in closing deals, according to Chang's research in 2021. Thus, keeping up-to-date, all-inclusive CRM data is crucial for sales teams to achieve remarkable success.
Focus on an integrated CRM platform
With changing consumer behavior and the growing reliance on virtual interactions, businesses are recognizing the significance of maintaining an efficient CRM system. The integration of CRM software into all aspects of operations is crucial to fully harness its benefits.
By connecting CRM with other business tools and software, organizations can create a comprehensive view of each customer and eliminate data silos within the company. Consequently, marketing systems can utilize this unified and accurate data to create highly personalized customer journeys. As a result, these personalized experiences contribute to increased brand loyalty (Salesforce, n.d.).
For example, modern CRM tools offer seamless integration with various marketing software, such as email marketing platforms. Synchronizing data between CRM and marketing systems ensures that customer contact information remains up to date. Moreover, this integration reduces the inconvenience of dealing with duplicate emails.
Social CRM is growing significantly
The prominence of Social CRM is set to continue in the upcoming years. This form of CRM emerged as one of the top CRM practices in 2020, and today, businesses are still leveraging social media to foster stronger customer relationships. To facilitate this, modern CRM tools seamlessly integrate with popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Alongside CRM systems that offer social media integrations, businesses now have access to dedicated social CRM solutions. These tools enable companies to extract valuable insights from a vast pool of customer data, including purchasing patterns and product feedback. Such information empowers businesses to develop a more comprehensive understanding of their customers.
As the number of social media users steadily increases each year, it is understandable that companies have also amplified their utilization of social media platforms. A staggering 92% of companies now employ social media, at the very least, for marketing purposes (Wutzke, 2021).
Automated workflows have become a trend
In addition to the advancing capabilities of these tools, industry experts anticipate a rise in automation functionalities within CRM systems. Many CRM platforms now offer features that enable teams to automate repetitive tasks, including updating customer data, document sharing, and manual email sending. These tasks, often referred to as "work about work," can consume up to 60% of skilled professionals' valuable time (Koetsier, 2020).
Automation brings benefits to various CRM processes. For example, you can establish automated email workflows to nurture leads, send follow-ups for abandoned carts, and reach out to customers with personalized product recommendations (Hufford, 2021). By automating these tasks, CRM professionals can dedicate their time to more valuable activities, such as mapping customer journeys and analyzing customer data.
Wrapping Up
As you know the current CRM market is evolving at a rapid pace with technology upgrades happening at every stage. Accordingly, businesses also need to come up with strategies that are in line with CRM evolution, so that the best customer experience can be provided. It’s a good time to evaluate your use of CRM systems and see if these tools can still meet your business needs.
