Imagine you’ve come up with the best product or service available. What good is it if you cannot find people to buy what you sell? Now imagine you have software that processes the existing data in the system and provides insights for future sales and business decisions. Luckily you do not have to settle for imagining because this software exists, and it is called a customer relationship management (CRM) software. 

CRM analytics uses the data in your CRM software to evaluate client data and offer you the knowledge you need to improve your customer acquisition and retention efforts.

What is CRM Analytics?

Analytics is CRM software functionality that analyzes existing data in the system and provides insights for future sales and business choices. Analytics help you monitor customer care activities, validate customer data, analyze customer behavior, and generate improved leads. In short, your CRM analytics show you how well your business is doing in terms of sales and customer service. It is not surprising to see CRM software quickly becoming a must-have in all business forms. 

According to Grandview Research’s industry estimates, more than 91% of organizations with ten or more employees utilize a CRM to manage client conversations. CRM analytics is also one of the fastest-growing areas of customer experience.

Benefits of CRM Analytics in Sales & Marketing

Among its other capabilities, CRM analytics can be used to improve your sales and marketing processes. Your sales and marketing teams are responsible for closing deals, reaching out to leads and prospects and growing your business. Here are 5 reasons why they need CRM analytics to improve their functions:

1. Lead management

Are you a growing organization with many leads flowing into your firm? You do not have to fly blind. Segment your leads based on the product, geography, size, zip codes, etc. You can easily launch marketing and sales campaigns based on this segmentation and also set predefined rules to assign prospects to salespeople automatically.

2. Accurate revenue forecasting 

It forecasts the sales cycle for all your deals. Analytics help you identify: 

  • The probability of winning or losing a deal
  • An approximate close date for ongoing deals
  • Revenue projections based on the deals in your pipeline

According to Nucleus Research, in 2014, the average ROI on CRM was $8.71 for every dollar spent. In 2021, Dynamic Consultants estimated that this amount would have climbed to roughly $30.48 for every dollar spent, based on the growth of the CRM industry.

3. Analytical data on customers 

What is the average amount your customer spends each quarter? What product categories do they frequently browse? Do they purchase the same items over and over? You’ll obtain definite answers to these questions with CRM analytics, and you’ll be able to apply what you discover to improve your marketing strategy.

A Forrester study stated that between 60% and 73% of the data in an organization is underused for analytics. In an age where deeper, actionable information, particularly about consumers, are a competitive need, this is unacceptable. CRM analytics can help eliminate this issue by converting data into actionable insights.

4. Keep track of your sales results

Understand what works best for you and what areas require improvement with insights into your campaign performance, lost deals, phone conversations, sales team performance, etc. 

Generate sales reports to identify the following: 

  • Top-performing salespeople
  • Your outreach i.e. the number of successful emails and phone calls 
  • Goals set vs. Goals attained 

In a recent report, Grandview Research found that over 82% of organizations utilize CRM systems for sales reporting and process automation.

5. Prioritize the right deals

CRM analytics can assist your sales team in achieving their objectives by: 

  • Providing them with a summary of the prospects’ website activity to help them figure out the aspects they’re most interested in. 
  • Displaying the actual metrics to help identify areas for improvement 
  • Allowing them to entirely focus on selling by automating the majority of arduous data entry.

Businesses will continue to invest in CRM solutions because of the hunger to improve results, stay ahead of the competition, and provide superior customer service. 

Conclusion

CRM is now the centerpiece of every growing business, and CRM analytics is critical for companies of all kinds. When you’re dealing with many prospects and customers at once, it can be tough to keep track of where each one is in the sales funnel. You lose sight of prospects, lack context in interactions, and risk missing out on potentially lucrative deals. You wouldn’t want that, would you? If your company has not adopted CRM yet, now is the right time to invest.