CRM 2024 = More Freebies?

This week on Funnel Frontier: Explore the latest CRM freebies, adding cosmic security to apps, and a quick guide to post-sales email sequences.

This week on Funnel Frontier:

• Less greed, more free apps I need (via Pipeliner)
• Feelin’ secure (via Salesforce)
• Servicing yr service schedule (via Zendesk)
• In space, no one can see your short-form steez (via HubSpot)
• Post-purchase email sequences FTW (via EngageBay)

Stat of the Week 

In a poll of 32,000 global respondents, 76% trusted the tech sector in general, while 50% trusted AI. (Edelman)

Greed drools, free apps rule (via Pipeliner)

Some SaaS apps go for the sweet digital gold—i.e., yours. They’re like overpriced Jetsons-themed diners, charging you an arm and a leg to dock your space jalopy. And don’t get me started on “space fries” price inflation.

In such a grub-eat-grub universe, Pipeliner CRM swoops in like a quirky xenomorph barista. They’ve announced they’re now serving customers their Voyager AI Email Assistant on the house. 

So why not imagine a robo-Shakespeare in your dashboard, penning emails with the wit and “radical candor” of a cosmic playwright and not even asking a Venmo in return? 

As rival app-ers hike their tolls, Pipeliner plants its flag in the asteroid belt of affordability, belting out a long, Vader-esque "No!”

In 2024, Pipeliner will not raise prices. Also, they give customers access to a bunch of other free apps, like:

• Appointment Scheduler
• Appointment Planner
• Relationship Mapping Tool
• Account Management Tools
•  Email Sequences Tool

The idea is to provide a Swiss Army Knife for the alien jungle, ensuring your corporate messaging beams across the galaxy with the accuracy of a laser-guided comet. 

Get app’d up, and the only thing lighter than your workload will be your mood (ideally).

The Week @ CRM.org

Small Business CRM. When your business is small, but your aspirations are big, and you're okay with explaining to everyone what “Bigin” means.

Help Scout vs Zendesk. Help Scout whispers sweet nothings while Zendesk crashes the party with a marching band. What’s your style?

Open Source CRM. You see, jumping into open-source CRM is a bit like hosting a potluck dinner…

Weekly Bloom

How Logitech Designed A New Future. Once notorious for cranking out junk, Logitech moved to careful, “big idea” product design. ‘Tis the reason behind their miraculous turnaround.

Cyberattack Plan 9 From Outer Space (via Salesforce)

API cyberattacks are mean and bad. They’re also ticking up faster than a red-hot rocket, with a 137% increase in cruel, unkind blast-offs in 2023.

Danger, danger. And so, Salesforce unveils its latest gadget: the Anypoint Flex Gateway Policy Development Kit (PDK). 

The PDK, now generally available, gives fast-ness, lightweighted-ness, and distributed API gateway that secures any API across the human-adjacent universe. 

The “flex” is in allowing developers to zap out custom API force fields, making the digi-cosmos a safer place for business apps, especially those flirting with the AI nebula.

Imagine! In this vast API star system, where 33% of IT revenue is harvested like precious Starcraft minerals, the need for an intertwingled security force has never been more critical. 

Salesforce boasts this new PDK will have developers conjuring up flexible, AI-ready security policies with a flick of their code-sabers, ensuring our beautiful internet remains a place of innovation rather than a black hole of cyber threats. 

And with all that money saved, there’s enough to send cyberattackers to a nice prison planet. You know, the one with tennis and such. 

Stellar Strategies: Tips & Tricks for Sales, Marketing & Service

Service with a schedule (via Zendesk)

In a galaxy far, far away, the mystical secrets of service agent scheduling doth dwell.

But in a galaxy near and dear, our tin-can ship is beeping, pelted by time-off requests, PTO pleas, and the ever-elusive balance of customer demand versus labor costs.

Imagine this poor space captain—on your earth-world you’d call them “workforce manager”—piloting through this chaos with nothing but a spreadsheet for a map and a prayer to Schedulor (god of scheduling).

Zendesk says there’s hope. But intrepid leaders must master the cosmic dance of shift planning, staff forecasting, and the dark matter of real-time team monitoring to ensure their crew doesn't end up bobbing in the void of under or over-staffing.

Then, there’s aligning the planets of employee satisfaction with the moons of operational efficiency. Because the gravitational pull of enhanced employee experience and improved customer satisfaction orbits around the sun of effective agent scheduling.

Find out more here.

In space, no one can see your short-form steez (via HubSpot)

The Hustle's YouTube squadron has been peeping short-form vids, and they’ve got opinions.

This matters because these little ditties propel marketing campaigns to stratospheric success. 

A staggering 31% of marketers in HubSpot’s latest survey flagged these micro-odysseys as the most potent ROI fuel. This year, 26% will put most of their chips into short-form vids. 

But how do you craft short-form that’s out-of-this-world? The Hustlers find authentic storytelling is the major wormhole to success. A dash of behind-the-scenes stardust couldn’t hurt either. Nor could a juicy title and an “opinionated declaration” kick off the vid. 

And fret not if your Linden Dollars are stretched. Whether a dive into the bubble tea abyss, or a journey through WWE cyber-lore, you don’t need a Hubble budget—just a shooting star of creativity. 

Post-purchase email sequences, am I right folks? (via EngageBay)

Picture this: you've just danced your way through the Anime-style missile circus and acquired a customer. Now, armed with carefully crafted digital missives, you're ready to blast them into an orbit of loyalty.

I mean that in a nice way.

EngageBay posted some tips on following up with customers after a successful sale. Turns out each element in your post-purchase email sequence is a step towards galactic domination, i.e., customer loyalty.

Yes, there’s the “thank you” dispatch that sets the tone of your appreciation, then the probe is sent out for feedback, and after that, the satellite of value-added content orbits their inbox.

But on that last one, it’s less about blasting out promotions and more about crafting a clear constellation of customer delight. In this universe, the power of gratitude, support, and exclusive benefits shall vanquish the baddies.

Timing, segmentation, email frequency, and mobile optimization couldn’t hurt either.

The mission? To keep your brand’s flag flying on the moon / “soundstage where they faked the moon landing” so that solitary customers wandering in space might become fanatical followers of your cosmic crusade.

Galactic Gourmet

CRM blips from around the web

Innovaccer is 2024 Best in KLAS CRM Solution. The healthcare-specific award was given for smoothing out relations between organizations and consumers, backed by healthcare executive testimonials and customer feedback.

New A2P SMS Market Report drops. The 2024 report predicts the global market for A2P SMS will reach $89.3 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 4.4% from 2022-2030. It also finds CRM services are part of what’s driving market opportunity. 

Salesforce set date for announcing Q4 2024 results and conference call. That date is Wednesday Feb 28, and the call is 5 PM EST (webcast available).

Astronomical Assets

Significant Stock Moves from Last Week

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