Why should businesses prioritise email-CRM integration?

Whether you are just starting out in the business world or have decades of experience, email remains a crucial tool for connecting with your target audience, engaging in personalised conversations, and nurturing your leads. And the benefits multiply when your email provider seamlessly integrates with CRM solutions. Before we delve further, let’s take a closer look at CRM.

In this article, we will discuss:

• What is CRM?
• Why should businesses prioritise email-CRM integration?
• What are the benefits of email CRM integration?
• Gmail and Outlook integration with CRM
• Google Chrome extension

What is CRM?

CRM, which stands for Customer Relationship Management, refers to a technology or tool designed to oversee your interactions and connections with both current and prospective customers. From a business standpoint, CRM facilitates faster customer acquisition, improved nurturing of customer relationships, and expedited deal closures.

CRM encompasses various types, including Operational CRM, Collaborative CRM, and Analytical CRM.

Why should businesses prioritise email-CRM integration?

While CRM is a powerful tool for enhancing customer relationships, integrating it with emails can take your customer engagement to the next level through personalised communication. Here are a few compelling reasons why CRM and email integration should be a priority for businesses:

• You can manage and optimise customer journey

Emails play a vital role in the sales process. Even if they don’t lead to immediate conversions, they guide prospects into the sales funnel and move customers along the sales pipeline.

• You can seamlessly send emails from your CRM

Your CRM stores every bit of vital customer information. However, constantly switching between your CRM and email platforms like Gmail or Outlook can be a time-consuming task when you need to reach out to your customers. With CRM email integration, you can now effortlessly send work emails directly from your CRM account, all while seamlessly logging your emails without ever leaving your CRM inbox.

• You can set triggers and gently encourage your customers to take action

Crafting an effective prospecting strategy and nurturing your leads are vital steps in business growth. Imagine this scenario: After a product demo, if a lead remains inactive for 48 hours, you can set triggers within your CRM to initiate lead nurturing email campaigns. These gentle reminders can rekindle their interest and highlight what they might be missing out on.

What are the benefits of email CRM integration?

As a business expands, it often encounters an array of new challenges. Among these, one of the most daunting is the issue of scattered data, where vital information is spread across various silos, such as spreadsheets or standalone applications. This challenge can be effectively addressed through the implementation of an integrated CRM system.

A few of the benefits of email CRM integration are listed below.

1. Gives a holistic view of customers’ data
   An integrated CRM system that includes email functionality eliminates the need for constantly switching between tabs and reduces the risk of misquoting customer information. Sales representatives can access a comprehensive overview of customer data, promptly respond to client emails, and efficiently manage lead nurturing email campaigns all within a single platform. This streamlined approach enhances their ability to close deals effectively and achieve their desired outcomes.
2. Helps in personalisation and increases sales opportunities
   When establishing and nurturing customer connections, delivering a personalised, one-on-one experience is paramount. Achieving this level of personalisation is made possible through the integration of CRM and email systems.
   Integrating CRM with email empowers you with real-time insights into how customers are engaging with your emails and understanding their behaviour. You gain access to more profound insights, such as identifying which prospects have opened emails and clicked through, allowing you to tailor your conversations during various sales activities accordingly. This approach significantly enhances your sales prospects.
3. Enhances responsiveness with automation
   Consider the inconvenience of having to wait 2–3 days for a response from your service provider. It can be quite exasperating, right? Fortunately, email automation offers a solution to this issue.
   Email automation streamlines your sales process and elevates your ability to promptly address inquiries, significantly improving customer satisfaction. When integrated with CRM systems, email automation ensures that you can follow up with customers promptly.
   With instant access to customer information, including contact details and interaction history, sales representatives can swiftly respond to inquiries and email interactions.
4. Helps in focusing on the target audience
   Statistical data suggests that audience segmentation can boost click-through rates by 65% and reduce unsubscribe rates by 8.98%. Integrating a CRM system with email functionality offers you the chance to personalise your email communications for your specific audience. By crafting emails that align with their demographics, preferences, interests, professional roles, and past purchasing behaviour, you can significantly decrease the number of people opting out of your email list.
5. Easily manages and updates information
   Through the integration of CRM, you can seamlessly connect your email with the CRM platform, granting you access to a comprehensive email client within the CRM system for composing and dispatching emails. This ensures that your customer records are continuously updated in real-time, providing you with the latest information about your clients. Additionally, integrated CRM offers various advantages, such as contact synchronisation, calendar integration, and seamless integration with Google Drive.
6. Helps in email nurturing
   Email nurturing is like laying a strong foundation; it guarantees that your customers receive continuous attention and support throughout the sales process. By employing lead nurturing email campaigns, you have the opportunity to cultivate trust, provide reassurance, and cultivate loyalty among your customers, aiding them in their buying choices. Even if a customer isn’t prepared to make a purchase right away, a well-executed lead nurturing approach has the potential to guide them down the sales funnel over time.
7. Efficiently manages contacts
   Managing contacts becomes more streamlined and efficient with an email-integrated CRM, enabling you to effortlessly and promptly follow up with your customers.

Gmail and Outlook integration with CRM

Gmail and Outlook stand out as two of the most widely used email platforms globally, catering to both personal and professional communication needs. As a substantial portion of communication occurs through email channels, businesses are increasingly turning to CRM software with email integration capabilities.

CRM integrated with Gmail or Outlook enables seamless synchronisation of customer data within the CRM system. This integration offers significant advantages to businesses. Here is a list of a few of the advantages:

• Minimises the potential for human errors.
• Streamlines the task of populating the database.
• Offers a comprehensive view of your sales strategy and interactions.
• Simplifies managing all your emails within the CRM inbox.
• Facilitates team collaboration and enhances communication tracking.

A highly regarded sales CRM system such as Pepper Cloud CRM offers seamless integration with both Gmail and Outlook, granting sales teams convenient access to all their sales-related discussions. This integration enables you to effortlessly import contacts from your email conversations and swiftly incorporate them into your contact list with a simple click.

Google Chrome extension

To enhance the efficiency of your tasks, integrated CRM software offers a Google Chrome extension. Installing this extension enables a two-way synchronisation of all your emails, granting you the capability to seamlessly manage and modify contacts and leads within your CRM directly from your Gmail inbox.

A few advantages of using the Google Chrome extension include:

• You can easily record your emails in your CRM inbox.
• You can seamlessly import contacts from your Gmail account into your CRM, all within the Gmail interface.
• You can gain instant access to comprehensive contact and account information without toggling between Gmail and CRM.
• You can effortlessly manage and modify CRM activities directly from your Gmail inbox.
• You can receive emails from new, unlisted email addresses in your CRM as potential “Leads” or “Contacts.”

Conclusion

It is crucial for businesses to consolidate and organise their data in a unified location. When you combine email with extensive CRM data, it becomes a potent sales asset.

Email-integrated CRM simplifies the management of contacts, leads, accounts, activities, and sales discussions, all within a single platform, streamlining your business operations. If you are interested in learning how to seamlessly integrate your Gmail and Outlook inboxes with the best sales CRM, read the entire article originally published on Pepper Cloud Blog.