How Customer Expectations Impact the Growth of CRM

Customer loyalty cannot be taken for granted, and so companies are focusing on delivering a seamless customer journey, with a view to build a relationship with their consumers. Subsequently, organizations across multiple sectors and industries are investing heavily in CRM to help drive an improved multi-channel customer experience.

So, what does all this mean for you and your business? Well, if you are a business who is yet to adopt CRM – now could be the time to get on board, particularly with half of your competitors already utilizing its benefits.

One could almost say it was inevitable. Customer expectations can already be seen to impact the growth of SaaS / CRM, and in today’s market, for companies to see continued growth it has to have the consumer’s welfare, and wants at heart.

In recent years, the CRM industry has seen staggering growth, with last year (2016), being no different, as it was estimated that overall, CRM usage increased from 56% to 74%. Broken down, this statistic translates to 91% of businesses, with 11 employees or more, are now using a CRM system, compared to 50% of those with 10 employees or less. With CRM systems being more & more intuitive, an estimated 74% of users say that their CRM software has helped improved their access to customer data.

So how has this impacted the growth and development of CRM systems?

Mobile & Tablet Enabled

Since the very early days of CRM, some businesses invariably struggled to get their teams onboard in adopting and using CRM software. But with the ever-increasing dependence on mobile technology, those companies with CRM mobile solutions are seeing far higher adoption rates.

Recent studies show that 48% of CRM users now access their software from a smartphone, while 45% use their tablet. Although this figure is still lower than that of laptop or desktop users, this rising use of mobile and tablet devices means that 81% of users are now accessing their CRM software across multiple devices – and the results are beginning to show. If you already have a CRM solution, does it have tablet or mobile capabilities?

Cloud-Based Solutions

With the increasing need to access software from multiple devices and locations, we have seen a rise in cloud based CRM solutions. In 2008, only 12% of businesses used cloud-based CRM – this figure has now increased to 87%, with Gartner’s research showing that 41%+ of CRM budget was spend on SaaS deployment. If you hadn’t sussed it already, cloud is most certainly the future.

Businesses will continue to increase investments in CRM solutions, fuelled not only by improving results, but also a need to keep up with their competitors and create a great customer experience. Flexibility, scalability, ease of deployment and the ability to quickly access new functionalities are amongst the reasons for the shift to SaaS.

Customer Experience & Expectation

Customers are now more demanding than ever, with reviews and feedback accessible via smartphone, and as such, customers expect a superior experience whichever channel they choose to contact you through.

Between mobile applications and cloud storage, the expectations for automation is ever growing. A good CRM will anticipate what customers need or would have use for, and remember the settings for each user, whether it’s importing data or tagging contacts through to insights and analysis.

Today, it’s an amazing experience. And tomorrow, it will be far better.