Which CRM System will Help You to Improve CX?

I have spent over 13 years working in the Customer Support and Customer Experience industry. I was a support consultant, a manager of a support department and, ultimately, the CEO and Managing Partner of a Support-as-a-Service company. During this time, a lot of things have changed. But one of them remains unaltered — customer experience and satisfaction are still central players in everything we do. This includes selecting the right CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. 

CRM systems — the evolution

Before CRM systems came into play about 40 years ago, customer support was all about ledgers, tables, and even handwritten notes (it is like it was Stone Age, isn’t it?). And I am not even going to describe how inconvenient and unsafe non-centralized information was. Something had to be done. 

Then, the world of customer support was changed as CRM systems came to the rescue and became a must for any business and any customer support team. 

How can a business select the right CRM system? 

The right criteria are the key 

Even though customer communication is evolving non-stop, there are several constant criteria that should be determined before selecting a CRM system. 

First, what channels of communication will be covered. As we at SupportYourApp see, customers want to communicate with brands by all means available — live chat, phone calls, emails, social media, and whatever else we may see in the future, like voice notes, for example. There is also a high chance a team will have to utilize the omnichannel approach, which means they will have to work with all these channels. 

A business needs to understand all nuances of customer communication channels and make its CRM choice accordingly. 

Then, there is a question of whether it will have to be integrated with any other system like time tracking or billing software. Every CRM system has a limited number of integrations, so a business needs to set its priorities straight and figure out the necessary number of integrations before making the final choice. 

Third and, arguably, the most important question is whether a support team will be scaled along the way. Some CRM systems will only fit a small business, so a growing number of support consultants might mean a shift to a whole other software, which is not pleasant and usually means support services have to pause — something customers may not stand for. 

Defining the criteria from the get go will make the choice of a CRM system easier and faster. 

No time for looking should be spared

After all the criteria are defined, the time for the actual search comes. Today, Freshdesk, Zendesk, Gorgias, Zoho Desk, Intercom, HubSpot, Salesforce, Jira Service Management, Help Scout, LiveAgent, LiveChat, and Front are at the top of the CRM market. Why? Because they are the most optimal, offer diverse pricing plans, and deliver the biggest number of possible integrations. Usually, the entire scope of information can be found on a system’s website, which means enough time should be dedicated to researching the information the company offers publicly. 

It is also worth remembering that some time should be set aside for communication with a company that offers a system. After all, they may not offer the entire scope of necessary information on their website, which means a person or a team responsible for integrations will have to connect with them directly to get all the needed answers and make the right decision. 

Another important step is to set some time aside for setting a chosen system up and getting properly acquainted with it. This is the moment when the departments or professionals, responsible for integration, security, and support, come together to make sure it is covering all the bases and everyone is comfortable working with it. 

The proof is in the testing

After everything is said and done and a system is chosen, a time for testing comes. 

Most CRM system providers offer a free demo period, and using it to its fullest extent seems like good sense to me. A support team should test how well a system will deal with a big or irregular influx of customer communication, how comfortable all the settings are and how easy it is to change them if needed.

Another big question that needs to be answered during a demo period is the system’s security and reliability. For us at SupportYourApp, security is the highest priority, so we make sure all third-party software we use to communicate with our clients’ customers and collect their data is safe and leak-proof. If not, we simply do not work with them and continue the search for the most optimal and secure system that will fit all requirements of a particular project. 

What is the best CRM system? In truth, there is no universal solution that will suit all businesses equally. So, the answer to the question “Which CRM system will improve my business’ CX?” is “The right one”. Dedicating time to setting the criteria, researching, and testing may seem like a waste, but it is the only right approach a business can take to ensure its CRM system covers all its needs and delivers the anticipated results.