The CRM trends that defined 2023 and will shape 2024

CRM trends are constantly developing and evolving. A customer relationship management system is a key tool for both sales and marketing teams. But to make the most of their CRM, or if or if you’re in the market for one, you need to be aware of new and growing CRM trends.

CRM solutions can help with numerous business problems, from managing customer interactions to organizing and improving your marketing efforts. Keeping track of the most popular CRM software trends may help you stay ahead of your competition.

In this blog post, we'll explore CRM trends that we're seeing in 2024 and how they affect your business.

Why are businesses using CRM software?

CRM software is the fastest growing software in digital marketing and with good reason. There's a lot of evidence on how CRM software can help businesses of every size grow and meet their goals. Let's examine the facts:

• CRM software can improve conversion rates by 300%
• 13% of companies say investing in a CRM platform is one of their top sales priorities
• CRM systems can increase customer retention by 27% and improve customer relationships by 74%
• By 2025, the CRM market will be worth $82 billion globally.
• 91% of businesses with over 11 employees now use CRM systems
• Sales forecasting and report accuracy can increase by 42% with CRM software
• Businesses can use a CRM to cut lead costs by 23%

Top CRM trends to watch in 2024

Artificial intelligence

AI is a hot topic in tech and its continued development is making it more accessible for businesses of all sizes. Advancements in AI and machine learning have created a world of new possibilities for CRM software, helping companies streamline their processes and create new personalized experiences for customers.

AI can help businesses with problems like:

Automation:

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help you improve your project management and customer handling skills. A key benefit of AI is its ability to streamline tedious and time-consuming tasks like customer segmentation allowing you to build detailed customer profiles.

With the right customer profiles, you can better understand their specific needs. An automated CRM system helps you analyze your customer data more efficiently so you can adjust marketing campaigns and better target your audience with things like nurture sequences. CRM also helps you adjust specific variables like demographics and behavioral trends to better boost your marketing efforts.

Communication tools:

AI helps businesses communicate with customers quickly and efficiently. Conversational AI tools like chatbots and voice assistants help improve your customer service efforts by allowing you to keep your communication channels open for more serious and urgent customer problems.

Natural Language Programming (NLP), can also determine which customer requests should be prioritized. They can classify the most urgent and important customer queries, by analyzing and understanding customer needs allowing your team to deal with business-critical requests.

Analytics:

Predictive analytics can help you anticipate and address potential business challenges before they become a problem. When set up properly it can identify user behaviors, helping you improve your sales opportunities and assist your marketing team by helping them to make better informed decisions.

Customer experience

Successful businesses know the value of excellent customer service and 45.9% of businesses claim that customer experience (CX) is their number one priority. Many small organizations invest resources to develop CX teams whose purpose is to support their customer’s experience in hopes of gaining higher levels of engagement and retention.

86% of buyers state that they're willing to pay extra for a ‘seamless customer experience’, and 38% of customers say they’ll become a repeat customer if they have a positive customer service experience.

This is where CRM technology comes in. The right CRM can help you provide excellent customer service making it easy to draw in prospects, boost your ROI, and stand out from your competitors. Providing your CX team with the right tools is the first step to success. With the right CRM, your team can manage their customer relations efforts and go above and beyond for the end user.

Omnichannel experience

Customers expect a seamless experience across all your company platforms. It doesn't matter if they're communicating with your business via social media, your mobile app, or in person, CRM systems will help you create an omnichannel customer experience.

You should ensure that customer data and interactions are cohesive across all touchpoints to offer a unified brand experience. Consider how best to consolidate your customer interactions into a single profile by frequently updating your CRM system. Doing so allows you to provide consistent service and marketing messaging to both existing customers and prospects. Whether you're sending targeted emails based on prior purchases or offering personalized marketing recommendations based on previous customer behavior.

CRM mobile apps

Mobile CRM apps are big business and they’re becoming increasingly popular.. Customers want access to their data wherever and whenever. This is why more and more customers are downloading mobile CRM apps onto mobile devices.

Portable CRM solutions are useful for sales reps as they allow them to stay connected while in the field with clients. Reps can respond to inquiries quickly As technology advances, businesses will continue to update their mobile CRM solutions with new updates and features to provide better value.

Data security

Customer relationship management software is an easy target for cyber attacks, with threats becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Besides the exfiltration of data from cyberattacks, complying with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA are always something businesses should be concerned with. Protect sensitive information and unauthorized access with stringent security policies.

Users expect CRM software to keep their data analytics safe from potential threats so they will only select SaaS vendors that share these concerns and provide the right safeguards. Capsule is ISO267001 compliant, so you can trust that our software will keep you and your data secure and protected.

Industry-specific software

Different businesses have specific needs. While all companies may need to complete similar jobs, like prospecting or customer communications, sales professionals may need different tools to complete their tasks.

This has led to one of the latest CRM trends, industry-specific software. Businesses like healthcare organizations have begun switching to software designed with insider knowledge as they have a better understanding of specific workflows, regulations, and legal requirements. This specialized software helps companies streamline their operations, improve efficiency, and enhance productivity by supplying features specifically relevant to their day-to-day tasks.

Industry-specific software often comes with built-in best practices and compliance measures, helping companies ensure they can easily meet industry standards and regulatory requirements.

Enhanced automation

Automation has become a key part of CRM technology because it streamlines processes and improves customer relationships. No one enjoys repetitive tasks, because they take time and effort.

CRM automation can help a company, and its sales team, free up valuable time so that they can focus on nurturing relationships and closing deals.

CRM automation can help with tasks like:

• Lead management: The right CRM can help you capture and qualify leads based on your criteria
• Email automation: Send out welcome and renewal emails automatically so you never miss an opportunity.
• Data management: Automate data entry, cleansing, and synchronization across systems to save resources and avoid manual errors
• Workflow automation: Streamline internal processes such as approvals, notifications, and task assignments by automating workflow triggers and actions.
• Analytics and reporting: Generate reports, dashboards, and insights based on your predetermined metrics and KPIs.

People are by far one of the most expensive resources that a company has, so free up their workload and allow them to focus on the tasks that matter.

Low-code, no-code solutions

2024 has shown that customers are shifting towards more self-service CRM solutions. Previously, customers had to rely on tech professionals to help them manage and maintain complex, and often expensive business management systems. But now, low-code and no-code solutions are leading the pack.

A self-service, CRM system like Capsule, requires little or no manual coding, meaning that it can be easily rolled out across companies and used by teams regardless of their prior technical knowledge. Like Capsule, most self-service CRMs are cloud-based meaning they're easy to set up and scale making them perfect for freelancers and small teams. This can save users both time and resources as they spend less time seeking support or providing teams with training, making them more affordable.

Improved third-party integrations

Users want their CRM systems to act as a one-stop shop for all of their sales and marketing needs. CRM platforms are increasingly integrating more third-party apps to help sales teams manage all their sales processes in a single system. Whether it's a marketing automation application, an e-commerce platform, or an ERP system, integrations are crucial for bringing together your organization’s business operations.

Businesses want integration processes that are easy to set up and maintain. Most modern CRMs have drag-and-drop integration builders that require little or no coding, making integration simple. Tools like Zapier already help CRM vendors improve their data import capabilities, APIs, and SDKs.

Integrating software solutions like Quickbooks can help finance teams manage and track their purchases and payments. When multiple teams consolidate CRM data in one accessible space, instead of using multiple customer data platforms, it can improve team alignment across the business.

Social CRM

Social media is big business. You'd be hard-pressed to find a business that doesn't have at least a few social media channels they regularly post on, but how does it relate to growing CRM trends?

Social CRM refers to companies integrating social media platforms directly into their customer relationship management systems. Customer service reps already know the importance of using social media to manage customer communications.

A social CRM can help businesses gain valuable insights into customer preferences, behaviors, and sentiments in real-time. Armed with this detail, a customer service rep can tailor their interactions and offerings more effectively. This growing CRM trend reflects the changes happening across customer relations as an industry. Customer engagement specialists need to be aware of how social media helps shape brand perceptions and influencing purchasing decisions.

Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network of connected devices that use embedded sensors and software to collect and exchange data.

By integrating Internet of Things technology, businesses can change how they interact with clientele by tapping into this vast network. CRM providers could access new data streams that offer invaluable insight into customer behavior and preferences and enhance the overall customer experience.

IoT data can help CRM systems craft personalized marketing campaigns tailored to each customer journey, helping to drive engagement and boost customer satisfaction and loyalty. Beyond marketing, integrating IoT with your CRM data systems can help with product development. By collecting feedback from existing customers on connected devices, you can identify key trends and use customer data to better meet user demand.

Conclusion

CRMs are growing in popularity and the CRM market is adapting quicker than ever before. This increased demand means that CRM providers mustwork fast to meet the needs of an ever-growing market.

Many CRM systems are placing increased focus on automation, customization, additional integrations. and centralizing databases in hope that they will stand out as the future of CRM systems.

Learn how Capsule CRM can help you and your business grow in 2024 with your free 14-day trial.