17 CRM Statistics: Growth, Revenue & Adoption Trends in 2024
Quick summary:
Explore the dynamic world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) through 17 compelling statistics that highlight its growth, revenue impact, and adoption rates.
Our article delves into the facts that define CRM's role in modern business, from its expanding market size to its transformative effects on customer engagement and sales efficiency.
On the surface, we live in a world of human connections: handshakes and small talk, networking and fostering long-term value in relationships. But beneath that surface is another world, one of numbers, dollars, percentages and ratios. That is the mighty world of statistics.
CRM statistics abound on the world wide web today more than ever, and even make up a large part of overall software market statistical studies. This is likely because CRM is one of the fastest-growing and most important kinds of business applications and software-as-a-service (SaaS) on the planet.
This article goes over some of the more interesting results from CRM research, collected from a range of useful resources including business magazines, networking social media sites like LinkedIn, as well as directly from some CRM software companies. It covers topics like CRM profits, CRM revenue, and CRM growth.
17 2024 CRM statistics & facts you need to know
Once upon a time (say, before the pandemic), business was conducted out in the open, face to face, in crowded meeting rooms and bustling cafes. Now, with the pandemic, more and more business goes online and remote, so it’s not surprising that software and SaaS are increasingly crucial to help mediate between the now-remote human minds and hands which make the business world go round.
If you have a business or are thinking of starting a company in this day and age, then you’ll need a CRM solution. Not sure what is CRM? Well, make sure to get acquainted with the basics first.
Then, you should check out these important statistics, facts, and forecasts about CRM software and the future of the CRM industry. Knowing the numbers helps you plan a budget when choosing the right CRM, and will give you a head start on the best ways to implement the CRM among you and your team.
These 17 statistics and facts will offer you a great foundation to educate yourself on the benefits and barriers of total CRM implementation.
CRM adoption rate statistics
Statistics about CRM adoption rates refer to the number of people, companies and organizations who are using or plan to use a CRM solution. What we see with the below data is that CRM adoption has only one direction to go in, and that’s up.
12% - CRM adoption growth over the next 5 years
What does this CRM adoption statistic mean? It means that between now and 2028, the amount of businesses adopting a CRM system will steadily increase by 12%. This is regarding a figure known as compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, which means that each year the percentage increase applies to the previous year and not the initial figure when the increases began.
So how does this turn into money talk? The answer is that the value of the CRM industry in total by the end of this 12% growth in 2028 will be a whopping $129 billion dollars, not to mention a boost in customer satisfaction which also feeds into increased sales, profits and ROI on that CRM software purchase.
$55 Billion - Increase in CRM revenue between 2010 and 2020
According to Statista, reporting on a study from Gartner, the revenue of CRM businesses has increased from just under $14 Billion US dollars in 2010, to about $69 Billion in 2020. That’s an increase of about $55 Billion, or in percentage terms, an increase of an impressive 393%.
This statistic isn’t exactly reflective of adoption. However, revenues by CRM platforms do offer a window into the rates of increase in the adoption of CRMs by businesses.
CRM solutions will make up the largest area of expenses in enterprise software
Remember, customer relationship management is far from the only business SaaS provider in the game. There are ERP apps, or enterprise resource management, as well as CMS, content management systems, and a range of other business acronyms.
CRM systems are actually newer than ERPs, so it’s not surprising that ERPs have historically sucked up the most money companies were spending on productivity software to boost business and increase profits.
But famed research and consulting firm Gartner, as reported on by business magazine leader Forbes, proposes that we are undergoing a shift and that the best CRMs are poised to surpass ERPs.
Benefits to companies that use CRM
There are many benefits to companies that use CRM, mainly to get new customers, close more deals, and deepen customer loyalty. Because without constant and steadily increasing sales, a business can’t really survive in today’s competitive arenas.
$8.71 - Expected average ROI for every dollar spent on sales CRM software
Back in 2014, a popular study of the benefits of sales CRM solutions came to the conclusion that for every dollar a company spent on a CRM system, they could expect a return on investment (ROI) of about $8. Now, eight to one is a solid investment statistic, but those numbers need to be compared to what’s come before.
The last time this study was done in 2011, the ROI ratio was only $5.60 to one, which means we have a 38% increase in just a few years. More recent studies have predicted that in the future, that magical ROI figure can get up to as high as about 30 to 1.
This is surely because of the value added to a company via CRM when it comes to giving sales teams better tools for higher customer retention and being able to offer an overall better customer experience.
$1.1 Trillion - Revenue from CRM solutions that use artificial intelligence
This CRM statistic comes directly from CRM powerhouse and sales technology pioneer Salesforce, so you might want to take that data with a fraction of a grain of salt (though we trust it’s been delivered in good faith).
CRM software rarely comes these days without some AI sales tools and functionality, especially when it comes to automation, workflows, email marketing, follow-ups, notifications, and even contact management, as well as new lead acquisition.
So, this impressive CRM trend of over one trillion dollars is no statistic to thumb your nose at. That’s a lot of cash over and above the old-school manual CRM advantage.
Improved customer experience - Top benefit of using CRM customer analytics
While CRM may stand for customer relationship management, what that basically means for the customer is that companies who use CRMs are doing so to deliver a great customer experience.
This Statista study shows this to be true. The study shows that in 2018, in the USA, 85% of CRM users expected an improved customer experience to be one of the best benefits of CRM software.
Next on the list at 58% is that CRMs help make decisions faster. Then 54% said streamlined operations, and 53% said better collaboration between sales, marketing, service, and operations.
Other benefits lower on the list include introducing new business models or products, increased innovation, and finally, CRMs help businesses be more competitive in the digital sphere.
CRM users & usage statistics
This set of statistics is about the numbers of CRM users both in general and within organizations. It’s important to look at CRM usage as a separate factor from CRM subscriptions and sales because even though a company may purchase CRM software, it doesn’t mean everyone there is using it or all its features to the maximum potential.
91% - Percentage of companies with 10 or more employees who use CRM
We hear a lot about CRM solutions for small businesses or, if anything, SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses). This is no coincidence, as much of the early bread and butter of the customer relationship management industry has been startups and small businesses.
Perhaps this is the case since larger companies and enterprises have historically been earlier adopters of very robust (and expensive) business applications, like products from Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and even Salesforce.
But this CRM statistic is telling: Now, even small companies with tight budgets and an employee count of barely more than 10 people consider the best CRM for small businesses a necessary feature for sales professionals.
18% - Percentage of a salesperson’s time spent using CRM applications
It should be obvious that the top sales priorities are not doing administrative tasks like data entry. Rather, sales teams need to focus on what matters: finding new customers, getting more opportunities into the sales cycle, and focusing on ways to increase sales and blast through sales quotas.
So, what does this CRM statistic really say, since it seems that most salespeople spend less than one-fifth of their day on a CRM platform or actively using its features?
It says there is room to improve, and we’ll surely start seeing that percentage go up with the popular adoption of mobile CRM, more streamlined functionality around workflow automation, and tighter sales funnel management.
Lead generation and customer retention - Largest use of CRM by application
By now, we all know that CRMs are way more than complex spreadsheets for customer data management systems. They have many different applications, ranging from marketing tools to sales features to customer support and service tools.
However, this Fortune Business Insights statistic shows us that CRMs are still most commonly used for sales, that is, to generate new leads and keep customers happy by providing a great customer experience.
These applications make up about 32% of CRM usage. Going down the list after lead generation is customer support, contact management, automation like email marketing, and then other tools like social media marketing and brand management.
Statistics on CRM barriers to entry and use challenges
While CRMs are getting easier to buy, onboard, and use, there are always some problems that cause some CRM barriers to entry. These statistics demonstrate some of those problems, along with other challenges of using a CRM platform.
50% - Percentage of sales managers who say CRM is difficult to implement
This CRM statistic comes from inbound marketing giant HubSpot, which also offers a wealth of software advice and data on its blog. This statistic may seem a bit troubling: after all, half is half, no matter how large your sales team is.
The fact that half of all sales leaders and managers openly admit that CRM implementation is a problem is a huge barrier for companies and sales reps to be able to take advantage of these sales process optimization tools.
The good news is that CRM software is improving regarding ease of use, becoming more affordable and more customizable every year. Now, you even have free online CRM and desktop options and open-source CRM to choose from. We hope to see this percentage drop as barriers to CRM entry slacken.
<40% - Percentage of CRMs that have full-scale adoption in a company
There are many reasons why a company that implements a CRM fails to get everyone on board and fully takes advantage of the tools and features to boost sales productivity. According to this one study reported on by CRM solution SuperOffice, there are several reasons for this.
They are as follows: According to 35% of people asked, technology only accounts for part of this problem. 40% of people asked think it's a strategy and deployment issue.
Most importantly, 42% of people who were asked about why less than 40% of CRM implementations are fully successful said the problem was with people; that is, companies did not have CRM implementation experts or properly train their sales managers to help their teams with CRM onboarding.
Manual data entry - The biggest challenge of using CRM
This statistic is less about barriers to entry and more about barriers to full and proper CRM usage.
These figures, reported by Statista from a HubSpot in-depth study of inbound marketing, show that 23% of people say that manual data entry is one of the main barriers to beginning to use a CRM or the challenges of using one regularly.
At 17%, the next barrier and challenge is a lack of integration with other tools.
After that, other barriers and challenges listed include sales funnel tracking difficulties, bad data, a lack of adoption or use by the managerial class, and, of course, there is the barrier that it is (or seems) too complicated, though only 7% of those surveyed gave that answer.
CRM market share statistics
The customer relationship management market share competition is getting fiercer by the year, both in terms of CRMs competing with other SaaS as well as between different industries. CRM comparison statistics help us understand what’s really going on.
CRM market size in 2022 – Greater than $47 Billion
Statistic website Statista is the source for this highly impressive figure. This is the total worldwide market size of CRM as calculated in US dollars. That number has gone up from $24 Billion back in 2015 to $45 Billion back in 2020.
The same source is also willing to test its forecast accuracy by predicting the future market size of CRM worldwide. They say it will be close to $50 Billion by 2025.
This projection demonstrates a compound annual CRM software market growth rate of 1.7% between 2020 and the 2025 forecast, or almost $5 billion in dollar terms.
If you could put a dollar amount to the value of great customer data, then these statistics show how important customer data is now and will continue to be in the future.
Salesforce - Leading CRM vendor since 2016
This is one more set of statistics brought to you by Statista. It covers the market share divisions by some of the biggest names in CRM and business software. These vendors include Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics 365, among others.
The years covered are 2016 until 2020, and Salesforce has remained on top each year, getting anywhere between 16.8% (in 2018) and 19.6% (in 2017) of total CRM market share, with 19.5% for the most recent year.
Number two rotates between SAP and Oracle, while Microsoft and Adobe entered the scene only in 2017, with each never quite hitting the 5% mark.
Professional services - Largest CRM market share by industry
According to a study by Apps Run The World and reported on by Statista, the largest market share for industry-specific CRM goes to professional services, covering close to 30% of the CRM market. This is based on Salesforce’s data.
Professional services refer to highly skilled career people who often need some official certification to do their jobs, such as lawyers, accountants, medical professionals, engineers, IT specialists, and teaching professionals.
Next on the list is the manufacturing sector, at about 12%, then banking and financial services, at roughly 9%, and finally, retail, at about 8%.
However, it is in sectors like retail, especially e-commerce, where CRM is poised to become more and more dominant. This is also valid for industries like leisure, hospitality, restaurants, and other personalized entertainment services.
Other CRM facts
3:1 - Ratio of sales reps who meet their quotas using a mobile CRM compared to those who do so without
Every good piece of SaaS these days needs to have some presence on mobile devices. Often, the web browser version is responsive to different screen sizes and adapts when accessed with a laptop, tablet, or mobile device.
Some CRMs have dedicated mobile CRM apps that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
This statistic shows that sales reps who use mobile CRMs meet their sales quotas about 66% of the time, while sales reps who do not use mobile CRMs only hit their target sales numbers 22% of the time.
That’s a three-to-one ratio, and one not to be scoffed at if you are a salesperson needing to crush those conversion rates and get those bonuses.
Social media monitoring - Most desired new CRM feature
This statistic might seem a bit old and outdated, but still there are some useful insights in there (it’s from 2015). The results of this study featured in Statista show that social media monitoring was the most wanted new tool to be part of a CRM kit, getting 25% of this vote.
Just behind it, at 24%, is the ability to pull in new leads off of social media profiles, something a few of the best CRMs now do. Other features include a mobile app, customer loyalty tracking, e-commerce integration, and territory assignment.
How to use these CRM research figures: Our conclusion
There are other online resources that serve up a trove of CRM research and statistics (like Capterra). Still, we’ve done the work of reviewing and comparing them all to give you the most robust rundown of some key CRM stats when it comes to CRM adoption rates, CRM growth, CRM revenue, and more.
The main conclusion is mostly the same across the board: CRM is only going to grow in importance, market share, adoption rates, and usage, as well as enter into many new industries. Especially during pandemic times, it is increasingly becoming a necessary tool in the business toolkit, not only for salespeople but for marketers and support agents, too.
After all, behind all these numbers, dollar amounts, and percentages are the very people businesses aim to serve, and when it comes to customer satisfaction, all the numbers point to one direction: more CRM, better CRM, The Best CRM!
CRM Statistics FAQs
What is CRM in Statistics?
CRM statistics isn’t the same as CRM analytics. So, CRM analytics is the process of examining customer data using software. This process gives organizations insights that improve their decision-making and business operations. It operates as a type of online analytical processing (OLAP) and may involve data mining techniques.
Overall, this approach helps businesses better understand their customers so that they can use more effective strategies and improve their decision-making processes within the realm of CRM.
As for CRM statistics, they reveal the progress of CRM over the years, which you can learn more about in this article.
What is the Success Rate of CRM?
CRM’s success is evident through a projected 12% adoption growth, aiming for a $129 billion industry by 2028. Revenue surged from $14 billion in 2010 to $69 billion in 2020, a 393% increase. Moreover, businesses achieve a standard ROI of $8.71 for every dollar invested in sales CRM software.
In a nutshell, despite challenges, CRM helps businesses make their customers happier and make better decisions based on actual data.
What Are the Statistics Related to CRM in 2024?
In 2024, CRM is booming! The best part? It’s only going to get better! CRM is set to grow by 12% over the next five years, reaching a massive $129 billion by 2028. CRM revenue soared from $14 billion in 2010 to $69 billion in 2020, a 393% increase.
Most businesses get a standard ROI of $8.71 for every dollar spent on sales CRM software. Furthermore, the integration of AI in CRM is expected to bring in over $1.1 trillion.
Additionally, improved customer experience is the top benefit, with 85% of users expecting better interactions. Lastly, professional services lead in CRM use at nearly 30%.
Challenges remain, with 50% of sales managers finding CRM implementation tough and less than 40% achieving full adoption, emphasizing the need for better onboarding.
What is CRM Data Analytics?
CRM data analytics involves analyzing customer data within CRM systems to uncover insights. It utilizes techniques like descriptive analytics for historical data, predictive analytics to forecast future trends, and prescriptive analytics to recommend actions.
By understanding customer behaviors and preferences, businesses can make well-informed decisions, personalize interactions, and enhance overall customer satisfaction. This data-driven approach contributes to strategic optimization and growth in customer relationships.
Resources
On CRM adoption rate statistics
On benefits to companies that use CRM statistics
On CRM users & usage statistics
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/customer-relationship-management-crm-market
https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/customer-relationship-management-crm-market-103418
On CRM barriers to entry statistics
On CRM market share statistics
https://www.statista.com/statistics/972598/crm-applications-vendors-market-share-worldwide/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1251110/salesforce-crm-customers-by-industry/