There are three primary types of CRM software: collaborative, operational, and analytical. Let’s understand them in detail and how you can choose the right one for your business.
3 Types of CRM Software
The benefits of CRM software apply to all types of CRMs. However, they differ in terms of features and focus.
Let’s understand how each type of CRM compares with each other.
1- Collaborative CRM Software
Collaborative CRM is a tool that primarily focuses on improving the customer experience. It does so by bringing together all your employees from across departments and locations.
For example, in an MNC with multiple products and offices in different countries, each department (marketing, sales, and support) is separated based on locations, channels they serve, and products they focus on. This poses a challenge for companies to provide a seamless experience across channels.
However, collaborative CRMs ensure all tools have access to the same information, irrespective of the department or channel they work in. This means that marketing employees can quickly check what kind of leads convert more often so they can optimize the campaigns to target specific prospects.
( Source: ecrmsolutions )
Similarly, if a customer complains on Twitter, social media support agents can quickly check if they have previously contacted the company over other channels (phone, email, etc.). They can then provide a better solution to the customer on Twitter while still maintaining the brand image.
Benefits of collaborative CRM software
- Helps improve customer service, and enhance customer engagement
- Makes customer data available across teams and departments for better multichannel interactions
- Enables you to reduce customer churn
- Improves efficiency and productivity as employees have the necessary information at their fingertips
- Promotes a customer-centric culture
2- Operational CRM Software
Operational CRM is a tool that helps businesses more efficiently manage the entire customer journey – from the first touchpoint to the latest interaction. An operational CRM is designed to improve day-to-day operations and store data related to your business operations with customers and prospects.
Let’s understand this with an example.
A marketing executive captures a lead and enters the details into the CRM. A sales representative takes over by engaging with the prospect over email, phone, or text. The agent will document all the notes, interactions, and next steps for each lead.
When the prospect converts, they will hand them off to the fulfillment team, who then takes care of onboarding and helping the customer understand the product.
The support team will be able to see all these details in the CRM and can provide more personalized service to each customer.
Benefits of Operational CRM Software
- Enhances marketing processes by enabling marketers to analyze buying patterns
- Improves inter-departmental communication, and information sharing
- Maximizes the chances of upselling and cross-selling
- Helps provide better customer service as you have all the information from their first touchpoint to the latest interaction
3- Analytical CRM Software
Analytical CRM is a tool that provides businesses with in-depth insights into their customer interactions, enabling them to improve their services and boost customer satisfaction.
Irrespective of how huge the data is, analytical CRM can structure and present them in a way that you can easily decipher.
( Source: softwaresuggest )
Modern analytical CRM software comes with artificial intelligence that further enhances data quality. It also makes it easier to focus on insights that matter the most.
Benefits of Analytical CRM Software
- Helps discover new trends and identify patterns in buying behavior.
- Creates more accurate sales forecasts
- Provides a better understanding of customers, helping you provide the best possible service to every individual
- Improves your marketing efforts by pointing out where to put more resources and money
Tabular Representation of Different Types of CRM Software
To recap what we’ve discussed and make comparison easier for you, we’ve created this table.
| Collaborative CRM | Operational CRM | Analytical CRM | |
| Primary Function | Data sharing and employee engagement | Manage customer journey throughout their lifecycle | Data analysis |
| Perfect For | Addressing internal communication breakdowns | Customer-facing functions | Making data-backed decisions |
| Benefits |
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Wrapping Up
While all three types of CRMs help improve customer relationships, they focus on different aspects of customer management. Therefore, it is important to choose the right type of CRM for your business.
Before you decide which ty is best for your business here you can read some Use Cases of CRM Software for Businesses and once you decide on the type of CRM you need for your business, you’ll need a guide that provides insights into how to choose a CRM. That’s what we’ve covered in our next chapter.
Updated : June 13, 2022
