In the following post, we shed light on what CRM systems are, which platforms are the best, and how to integrate them with Magento 2. With the continuously growing market, CRM systems already gained the status of the biggest software market in the world which is expected to reach more than $80 billion in revenues within the next 6 years. Before describing the Magento 2 CRM integration, let’s take a look at key features of CRM systems and current trends.
It’s not a surprise that CRM developers are always trying to improve the accessibility of their systems attracting more and more new customers every year. As a result, you can access customer data in real-time anywhere and anytime. Multiple mobile and cloud solutions completely revamped the way people used to interact with information regarding their clients even a few years ago.
Furthermore, modern CRMs cover everything from email marketing to personalization. Thus, you can efficiently organize your daily routine and improve decisionmaking due to the most in-depth insights provided in a user-friendly manner. Let’s explore core CRM features for further understanding of how such systems work.
Contact Management: segment your contacts (clients) into groups. There are several Magento 2 extensions that provide the ability to do the same thing (not to be confused with the native customer groups). As for the CRM capability, you’ll be able to gather crucial customer data to make more precise marketing campaigns, improving the personalization of all interactions with customers.
Lead Scoring and Management: identify customers that are most likely to convert. Optimize your sales process by prioritizing customers and customer segments.
Reports and Dashboards: get the most in-depth insights into the customer-related segment of your enterprise. Leverage business intelligence tools, reports, dashboards, and other instruments.
Sales Analytics: being a part of reports, sales analytics is one of the most valuable CRM features. Get insights, make conclusions, and create better sales campaigns.
Mobile Support: it is very important to connect to your CRM system anytime anywhere. Thus, top systems provide mobile support so that you can keep controlling your enterprise even from a smartphone screen.
Automation: with a modern and reliable CRM system, you will easily automate multiple backend processes. No more repetitive tasks will prevent you from solving important business problems!
Forecasting: on the basis of the collected data, your CRM system should provide you with precise forecasts. Create a benchmark and determine whether your results are actually on par with your efforts.
Email Client Integration: leverage an email client inside of your CRM system to provide your clients with the best possible care. Thus, the platform should support integration with third-party email clients.
Email Marketing Integration: the ability to integrate with a third-party email marketing system is always a must since you may want to turn to a more robust solution that the one represented in a CRM system.
Workflow and Approvals: let the CRM system optimize your workflow by automating multiple processes and enabling approvals. Most tasks that are now done manually can be automated.
Sales Data: note that your CRM system should be able to organize your sales and customer data and then visualize everything to help you make better decisions. Quantify KPIs, identify pain points, and make data-driven decisions – all these and multiple other goals can be easily achieved with a reliable CRM.
Data Storage: the more data is analyzed – the more precise reports and forecasts you get. Therefore, your CRM system should be able not only to store everything it collects but also prevent losses and security breaches.
Files Share: every CRM system lets you sync data between different systems. Most tools let you synchronize files, but only a few of them provide the ability to share files between all members of your team. Spreadsheets, docs, emails, presentations, and multiple other files should be supported in terms of sharing within one system.
Powerful Sales Console: the more user-friendly and feature-rich an admin section is, the more efficiently you use your CRM system. You leverage an external platform to streamline and improve the customer experience, but it doesn’t mean that no one should improve yours while you work.
Sales Performance Management: with a reliable CRM system, you should always see what aspects of the sales team are performing well and which need improvement. Identify problem areas and fix issues before they provide any notable damage.
Marketing Automation: leverage this feature to target your audiences more efficiently. A reliable CRM system allows controlling the terms of automation so that you get the most precise results.
Chat: having a chart on your website dramatically increase the conversion rate because you introduce a convenient communication channel for your customers. Therefore, a CRM system should provide you with its own solution or be able to integrate an external system.
Call Center: the same is about a call center and other branches of a modern support department. When you work with people, all communication channels are important.
Support Automation: all communication channels and support subdivisions should be automated. Due to the high level of AI, you can freely eliminate multiple tasks in such areas as FAQ pages, chatbots, and email correspondence
Web Analytics Integration: a more in-depth layer of analytics is always welcome. Get tools to identify problem areas and discover new ways to improve the way your business runs.
Different Distribution Models: there are lots of cloud-based CRM systems but what if you need an on-premise solution? Choose the one that suits your needs. Luckily, there are enough platforms to choose from.
Product Level Quotes: note that some CRM systems can provide inventory database features for your products. Thus, it is possible to keep up with quotes for the products discovering your bestsellers and exploring where sales are lost.
Role-Based Views: increase the security level of your enterprise by leveraging role-based views for your CRM system. Restrict your employees’ access based on their role in the organization. By the way, the same functionality can be achieved for the Magento 2 backend.
Testing Environment: the availability of a testing environment dramatically increases the efficiency of applied changes. First of all, you can teach your employees. Secondly, it is possible to gather customers’ feedback.
3rd-Party Integrations: it is a mandatory feature for every CRM especially if you are a Magento 2 user. Luckily, we’ve introduced the ability to integrate Magento 2 with any CRM system, and it is described below.
Campaign Management: how can a CRM system even exist without this functionality? The ability to manage your entire sales campaign from a single UI is extremely important. Campaign ROI, scheduling, analytics, and other tools should be represented in a user-friendly manner in a single place.
Customization: you must admit that it is impossible to find a CRM system that matches your business needs for 100%. Therefore, the ability to customize the provided software is a must. Thus, you will tailor every tool to your unique standards gaining the maximum efficiency from the CRM integration.
SMM Integration: while most CRM platforms provide quite decent SMM functionality, you may want to get more out of your interaction with customers on social media services. Therefore, your CRM system should support integrations with social media management systems.
Case Management: to increase customer satisfaction? You should implement an individual approach to each customer. To achieve this goal, manage each customer case individually. You CRM doesn’t let you do that? Choose another one!
CRM Trends 2019
SuperOffice posted a great article about CRM trends for 2019. Below, we list key aspects of the longread. You can find the full material here: 18 CRM Statistics You Need to Know for 2019.
Mobile CRM
All technologies are going to mobile screens and CRM is not an exception. A few decades ago, e-commerce was something unbelievable. Next, when we got used to purchasing goods on our computers, mobile e-commerce became a trend that looked weird but raised dramatically. And now, all systems that can be used to control your enterprise tend to be mobile-friendly so that you can manage all their functionalities from your smartphone. According to SuperOffice mobile CRM not only increases the use of the software but also improves the productivity of the workforce by 15%. Furthermore, Innoppl Technologies illustrates that of sales reps who have adopted mobile CRM show better results. According to the survey, 65% of them have achieved their sales quotas, while only 22% of specialists with non-mobile CRMs have reached the same targets.
Support for multiple devices is also important. It makes your employees more flexible as they can switch between mobile and desktop devices depending on the situation. As a result, the productivity can be improved.
Cloud-Based CRM
The ability to switch between multiple devices and use smartphones often depend on the cloud nature of CRM. Below, you can see how on-premise solutions were replaced by cloud-based tools within the previous decade.
CRM Growth
The growth of the CRM market is unstoppable. It has already become the biggest software market and specialists expect that its revenue will reach over $80 billion by 2025, becoming the fastest growing one.
Personalized Marketing
Here at Firebear, we talk about an individual approach to customers for years. This trend was always important, but when it comes to CRM systems, its importance cannot be overestimated. Now, when the customer experience takes the top spot in marketing priorities, it is vital to follow this trend especially if you are an e-commerce merchant. Delive personalized marketing messages through every channel to beat the competition and build a brand that consumers know, love, and trust.
With this tendency in mind, you should understand the importance of CRM systems, and below we’d like to draw your attention to the list of top platforms and articles that describe their integration with Magento 2.
Magento 2 CRM Integration
To connect your Magento 2 store to a CRM system, you need the Improved Import & Export extension. Our module lets you organize the data flow between the two systems. Furthermore, you not only synchronize the information exchange but also make it completely automated. Schedules and event-based updates are designed to move data between your Magento 2 store and a CRM system after a specified interval or when a certain action (a customer is registered, an order is placed) takes place.
At the same time, you can leverage the advanced mapping functionality of the module matching Magento 2 attributes to ones used in external systems and vice versa. It will help you make data output suitable for any external CRMs.
And don’t forget that you never need to import/export data files and convert them to a suitable format. The Improved Import & Export extension establishes the bridge between Magento 2 and CRM systems via API. At the same time, our extension supports multiple file formats and such intermediary services like Google Sheets.
SugarCRM– another powerful system that lets you streamline your work with customers. To find more information about the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration and the system itself, follow this link: Exploring Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration;
Pegais a reliable CRM platform that offers numerous industry-specific solutions that can be effortlessly connected to your e-commerce website. Magento 2 Pega Integration.
eGain offers lots of features, tools, and apps to improve your customer services, decrease the related costs and increase the efficiency of your employees. Magento 2 eGain Integration.
Verint is a CRM platform developed to simplify, modify, and automate customer engagement for businesses in different industries. Magento 2 Verint Integration.
Hubspot. Leverage a fully-featured CRM platform for free and then upgrade to a more robust solution as your business grows. Magento 2 HubSpot Integration.
Insightlyis a modern customer relationship platform developed to accelerate your business growth by building lasting relationships with your customers. Magento 2 Insightly Integration.
Zoho CRM is a software solution developed to help you sell smarter, automate numerous marketing efforts, and accelerate business growth. Magento 2 Zoho CRM Integration.
Nimbleis a CRM solution that dramatically improves daily duties and automates various processes when it comes to building relationships with your customers. Magento 2 Nimble Integration.
PipelineDeals is a powerful platform designed to accelerate your business growth, improve your interactions with customers, automate numerous routine processes, and implement a plethora of other improvements. Magento 2 PipelineDeals Integration.
Adsoup. With this CRM, you can gather all communication channels on the same screen, making your employees way more effective. Magento 2 Adsoup Integration.
There are two ways to perform the Magento 2 CRM integration. Both are based on using third-party extensions, but they represent a slightly different approach to the realization of the same idea. At the same time, you can do everything manually if you have enough programming skills. Nobody guarantees a success, but you can always try.
As for the first approach to the Magento 2 CRM integration, it allows integrating your Magento 2 website with any CRM system with the help of our Improved Import & Export extension. The second approach is based on other third-party modules, the enable Magento 2 CRM integration via a special connector. Let’s compare both approaches before describing any Magento 2 CRM extensions.
Our module – the Improved Import Export Magento 2 extension – has several significant benefits over competitors. Of course, it doesn’t provide the desired integration out of the box, but you can easily configure it in accordance with any necessary platform. If you purchase a connector, it is linked to a single CRM system only. Therefore, it is impossible to use it for the integration with other third-party platforms.
Since Improved Import & Export covers multiple areas of usage, you get multiple connectors in one. The extension allows integrating your store to any accounting system, SAP solution, ERP service, PIM platform, or anything else. And there is no need to pay for each extra integration! In order to simplify integration, we introduced flexible import presets (more and more will be available soon). Apply the preset, and the Improved Import/Export module will automatically move the desired data in a custom format to your e-commerce store.
If the necessary preset is absent, use mapping. Thus, you can create two-way synchronization between your website and the CRM system. And you can rely on the API connection instead of the default file exchange. Contact us to get the feature.
Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension
Before describing any third-party Magento 2 CRM extensions, let’s tell a few words about the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 module. Its core features are listed below:
Seamless integration with any third-party platform without programming skills;
Support for three file types: CSV, XML, and TXT; more formats will be added;
Mapping for files with custom data structure on import and export;
Mapping presets on import;
Fully automated Import/export cron jobs. Asynchronous run from admin or via CLI;
Export filters;
Default values for import and export;
Categories import;
Attributes and attribute values import;
Orders export with documentation;
FTP, SFTP, URL, Dropbox as import/export sources;
Support for all types of products;
Average import speed: 3000 products per minute.
The video below illustrates the extension’s functionality in more details: