Regardless of which Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, tool you choose to use, it’s important o know how to use the information provided to improve the ROI of all your content. Believe it or not, email marketing is an area of content creation that many business owners tend to forget when thinking of CRM uses, but this is actually one of the best places to use your data to really make a difference. There are a lot of little things you can do to help entice people to open your email or click on an article, but what about the aftermath; what about managing each relationship in such a way that more and more people begin to open, click, read, and engage with your content more frequently? Is CRM software the answer?

The short answer is yes, CRM software can be used to increase the ROI of your content. This will differ for every company, but there are a few general things you can keep in mind that work for anyone needing that extra push with their campaigns.

CRM vs. Marketing Automation Software Differences and Benefits

Before diving into CRM systems, it’s important to understand that CRM software is oftentimes used interchangeably with the term Marketing Automation software, but this is slightly incorrect. In general the biggest difference is that CRM software targets primarily sales-focused companies and offers that type of data whereas marketing automation is more marketing-focused. CRM software usually comes first to help optimize the bottom of the sales funnel and close deals. In most cases, companies will sync their marketing automation to their CRM data so it’s all in one place, or they use CRM software that already has marketing automation features included. You can learn more about marketing automation here.

With this in mind, it’s clear that marketing automation software can sometimes offer even more information than CRM software, but that doesn’t mean that CRM software isn’t important and doesn’t have its place. A few CRM specific benefits include:

  • The information you get about a customer can help you create a stronger relationship.
  • CRM tools oftentimes have cool features such as syncing with social media outlets to keep track of what people are saying about your company. Many also send alerts to tell you when something is planned with the client—a phone call, renewals coming up, etc.
  • As discussed above, CRM systems help you keep information (such as leads and account information) all in one place. This helps you stay organized.
  • It’s all about the sales funnel. Knowing where a client lands in the sales funnel can help you offer the most personalized content and therefore hopefully help you improve your conversion rate and ROI. More on this in the next section.

A few great CRM system options include Salesforce, Infusionsoft, ProsperWorks, and more that you can check out here. I recommend giving each a free trial so that you can see how they work. Once you’re working with the systems, the benefits will be pretty clear, but it’s knowing how to use these benefits effectively that really matters.

Top Ways to Use a CRM System Effectively

Below are some of the top ways you can use your CRM software to further your business and help improve the ROI of your content:

Demographics and basic contact information

You can consider sending customized emails based on the basic information you have about a customer. Not only will this help your content be more relevant to a certain group of people, but a CRM system in general helps you stay organized with this type of information. If someone changes their contact email address, the collaboration features allow any employee to make the change so that you always know you’re sending your messages to the right addresses.

Where a customer lands in the sales funnel/ Purchase history

Knowing where a customer lands in the sales funnel can help you segment your audience (consider creating personas). As discussed above, this can help you create different categories of customers or potential customers so that you can serve them the best and most relevant content. This goes not only for content on your website, but also content in email marketing letters, whitepapers, EBooks, etc. You can also check out a client’s purchase history for the same reasons—categorize your clients and you’re able to better serve appropriate content.

Social media history and action

This will help you see what type of content your client’s are sharing and engaging with most often. It saves you the time of having to look at social accounts and figure it out yourself, but again, it’s a great way to learn more about the company and then serve content on your social channels that will help get you shares and make your business more relevant. Knowing this information should help create a domino affect (as social sharing can), so it’s a benefit all around for both parties.

Your Turn

Of course as you may have imagined, there is a lot more you can learn regarding CRM software and some advanced data you can dig into when you have the time and resources. The information above lays out the most basic data and the best way to use that data to help improve your email marketing ROI specifically. For a more detailed list of all that CRM software can do, I recommend visiting this article from Salesforce.

Do you have any tips on using CRM software to improve your email marketing ROI? Let us know your story and your thoughts in the comment section below.