Whether you got a garage startup, budding small business, or massive global enterprise, your business will only grow by making use of great customer relationship management technology, or CRM tech.
There are three main types of CRM: operational, analytical, and collaborative CRM systems. However, our article includes two additional types of CRM software: strategic CRM and CRM for campaign management.
There are 3 main types of CRM software: operational CRM systems, collaborative CRM systems, and analytical CRM systems.
All these different types of CRMs feature similar functionalities, but their purposes are different. Keep reading to learn about the differences between these CRMs and how to determine which one best suits your business’s specific needs.
CRM Software 101: What is CRM & Why is it Important?
CRM stands for customer relationship management. CRM software gathers customer interactions across all channels in one place. Having centralized data on all people who interact with your business can help you improve customer experience, satisfaction, retention, and service.
The main benefits of using CRM software include:
- Streamlined and optimized sales process,
- Increased conversion rates by up to 300%,
- Detailed customer profiles that lead to better customer service,
- Increased employee productivity by up to 34%,
- Improved customer retention rates and reduced customer churn.
We won’t go into the finer points of what is CRM and what its benefits are, but you are welcome to check out our article about it. Now, let’s move on to what you came for – types of CRM.
How many different types of CRM systems are there?
The five different types of CRM systems are:
- Operational CRM – used for running your business,
- Analytical CRM – used for measuring your success,
- Collaborative CRM – used for easier management of different departments,
- Campaign management CRM – used for all things marketing,
- Strategic CRM is – for planning new products, goods, services, or business directions
Below, we’ll discuss each type of CRM in more detail and its benefits, purpose, and use.
5 different types of CRM software & their benefits
Let’s now turn to the many types of CRM softwares. As you’ll see, the group of CRM categories we will cover here includes the most important types of CRMs on the market.
Most CRM solutions can't cover all aspects, but there’s one that’s worth your attention: GreenRope CRM. It claims to be a one-stop-shop for all businesses because it integrates sales, marketing, customer service, and much more!
1. Operational CRM
First on the list is operational CRM. Operational customer relationship management is all about helping you streamline the activities of various departments, mainly marketing and sales, although customer support plays its role, too. This type of CRM allows you to take and organize all your customer interactions and turn them into clear and useful customer data.
This customer information is often collected by a marketing team, and it is the purpose of operational CRM to pass that data of those potential customers on to the sales team. This includes contact information when each contact was first made, via what platform or media touchpoints, and other demographic data on new customers like age, location, purchase history and browsing preferences.
Operational CRM does much of the automations, too, like sales automation and service automation.
Benefits of these types of CRM applications
The benefits of operational CRM are many and are hard to ignore. Customer satisfaction is heavily based on getting the most personalized experience across all touchpoints with your company. This leads to some of the most important parts of any business: expanding your network, getting an increase in sales and boosting profitability.
Also, having better customer retention and forging deeper and longer relationships with each customer, not to mention getting more positive referrals. Operational CRM covers the basic contact management and interaction management functionalities. The various automation help save your team loads of time from mindless tasks so they can put their best efforts into selling or providing support.
With so many best small business CRM, companies of all sizes can afford to get one.
2. Analytical CRM
Next up among our types of CRM systems is analytical CRM, which leverages the power of data mining. CRM solutions gather loads of information throughout the customer lifecycle for data analysis. From there, you get reporting, which is often updated regularly in real time and further helps sales forecasting.
Analytical CRM shows you the strong points and pain points of your whole business process. It assesses the success rates of marketing automation campaigns, the sales process, social media interactions, and even the performances of individual sales reps or customer service agents. Analytical CRM reports are often accessible by everyone in an organization and can even be checked out on mobile devices while on the go.
Benefits of these types of CRM applications
If you can’t imagine what the advantages are of analytics and reporting in a CRM solution, you’re not thinking hard enough. Your business needs to keep the pulse on every aspect of its operations, from marketing campaigns to sales lead management and beyond.
Analytical CRM shows you where customer churn is happening so you can plug it up or where your products are selling the best so you can focus more attention on those areas for cross-selling and upselling. Lead scoring is a particularly useful tool to show you which contacts are more likely to buy something.
Another benefit of CRM is that you can manage your salesperson or support team’s daily activities to provide the best resources to help them do their jobs.
3. Collaborative CRM
Any business or organization is only as good as its people are; that’s why collaborative CRM is crucial. Collaboration on CRM softwares lets teams work together on tasks and projects. It lets team leaders and managers keep track of their teams in both quick overview modes or by drilling down into the details.
You can imagine collaborative CRM as a combination of a CRM and a project management tool. It lets team members communicate with one another via various channels not limited to emails and phone calls, as most collaborative CRMs have internal chatting and note-making. Yet, at the same time, it contains all the information about your customers that different departments can access at any point in time.
What’s more, collaborative CRMs are ideal for when you need to invite people outside your organization to chime in on a task or project. Document management is often included here as well, letting teams work together on shared docs from easily accessible places.
Benefits of these types of CRM applications
The pros of collaboration are very clear to anyone who has to work with teams, whether small or enterprise-level large. Collaboration saves people time by making each conversation easy to find, either with searching or filtering. This is much more efficient than having to dig through email threads or text message archives.
Everyone can get an idea of where their colleagues are at within group projects, which is key for dependent tasks. What’s more, with larger numbers of companies going for remote work setups or even just distributed workforces with many offices, you lose none of that spirit of collaboration with a great collaborative CRM.
4. Campaign management CRM
If CRMs started off with sales teams, it was marketing that was the next department to really take advantage. Campaign management CRM is the module of customer relationship management that does all things marketing. It can help you plan, write and design marketing campaigns like email marketing campaigns and social media marketing campaigns.
Campaign CRM collects data on every user who interacts with your campaigns and prepares that data to become a potential lead for sales. Campaign management also comes with robust analytics and reporting.
Regarding marketing automations, this kind of CRM often includes workflow templates or makes it simple to set up your own automation and workflows.
Benefits of these types of CRM applications
The best business models begin with the most suitable outreach for new contacts, and the best CRMs are equipped with campaign management tools to do just that. And yes, even some free CRM software have these features, so you can take your campaign management to the next level
With campaign management CRM, you don’t just get any cold contacts, but you are already one step ahead by getting primed contacts who have already shown interest and, therefore, have a higher turnover rate. This also includes useful marketing attribution info to see how each contact came to be added to the CRM database.
As so much of marketing is now based on a personalized experience, a properly planned email campaign or ad placed on a different channel can certainly help increase sales.
5. Strategic CRM
Perhaps strategic CRM is the newest type of CRM system on the market. It tries to help you plan your company’s products, processes, and overall customer experience by considering the customer and end user’s perspectives.
This type of CRM software can help you better understand how customers interact with your store or website, what they are looking for in terms of products or special offers, and which direction your company should take when making strategic plans for the future.
Benefits of these types of CRM applications
A great CRM for strategic planning will have tools and modules to help you with all your business decisions. It gives you added and deeper insights, not only into the ways customers interact with you and your company but also into what is happening in the larger business world. For example, it can help identify trends on social media or online shopping.
Strategic CRM is all about the long run and helping businesses grow. While it may not be the first tool in your bag for getting more leads and winning more turnovers, it is a crucial tool for creating enduring and rewarding relationships with your customers and fans.
Which of the different kinds of CRM systems is right for you?
Choosing a CRM for your business requires careful consideration and a strategic approach. Here are some actionable steps to help you identify the most suitable CRM type among those we've discussed:
- Assess Your Business Needs and Goals: Reflect on your company's challenges and objectives. Do you need to manage customer interactions more effectively, streamline sales processes, or enhance strategic planning? Define clear goals to focus your search.
- Understand Your Customer Base: Analyze your target audience's behavior and preferences. If you need in-depth insights into customer interactions and preferences, consider a strategic CRM. For managing sales pipelines and customer data effectively, an operational CRM might be more appropriate.
- Evaluate Existing Processes: Review your existing business processes and identify inefficiencies or gaps. Determine which CRM type can best address these issues. Analytical CRMs, for example, are excellent for businesses looking to leverage data for decision-making.
- Consider Your Budget: Different CRM solutions come with varying costs. Compare your budget with the price points for each CRM type. Cloud-based CRMs often have lower upfront costs but may require subscription fees, whereas on-premise solutions might entail significant initial investment.
- Integrations: Ensure that the CRM can integrate seamlessly with your current systems such as email marketing tools, e-commerce platforms, and customer support software. This integration is crucial for maximizing the CRM's efficacy.
- Scalability: Choose a CRM that can grow with your business. If your company is in a phase of rapid growth, opt for a CRM that can handle increasing customer data and activities without compromising performance.
- Trial Period and Demos: Take advantage of trial periods or request demos to get a hands-on feel of the software. This practice allows you to determine if the CRM meets your functionality needs and integrates well with your workflow.
By methodically assessing your requirements and weighing the features of different CRMs, you can make a well-informed decision that will enhance your company's productivity and customer relationships. Remember, the right CRM is one that not only meets your current needs but also adapts to future demands and growth opportunities.
Key Takeaways
That wraps it up for our piece on the types of customer relationship management systems. Whether operational, analytical, collaborative, campaign management or strategic CRM, there’s little doubt: Better customer relationships mean better business.
To select the right CRM for your business, focus on factors such as seamless integration, scalability, ease of use, vendor support, and the availability of trial periods or demos. Remember that a good CRM not only addresses your present-day needs but also possesses the flexibility to adapt to future growth and changes.
What’s more, with free versions, free trials, and open source CRM, your excuses are limited to none. If you still have questions, check out the rest of our articles and reviews. Otherwise, time to get on the CRM train and start your successful CRM implementation!
FAQs
Operational CRM vs analytical CRM, what’s the difference?
There is a slight difference in the focus between operational CRM and analytical CRM, though many operational CRMs include analytics as a feature. Operational CRM streamlines the business process between departments like marketing, sales and service. Analytical CRM uses data to provide business insights using clean reporting.
Is there any software that covers the needs of all CRM types?
Many of the best customer relationship management systems cover the needs of all CRM types. Most of the best types of CRMs have basic plans and extra modules which you can buy to cover the needs of a specific type of CRM, like collaborative or strategic planning.
What are the types of CRM strategies that can be utilized with these applications?
There are many types of CRM strategies. Automation strategies create workflows to save time on easy repetitive tasks. There are marketing strategies which help plan and execute great marketing material and aim it at the target audience. Sales strategies let you pick the perfect products for the right customers.