CRM Data: This data is important for your CRM database

1. What is CRM data?
2. How is a CRM database structured?
3. How can CRM data be collected in compliance with the GDPR?
4. What data should be entered in the CRM system?
5. CRM software recommendations
6. Conclusion

In this article, you will learn which data is of the utmost importance for your customer relationship management and CRM database.

In today's digital world, with ever-increasing advertising costs, it is more important than ever that companies carefully manage and maintain their customer relationships. A CRM software is essential to improve customer relationships and drive business growth.

An important prerequisite for the functioning of a CRM system is the right database. But what data is really important for a CRM database and how can it be obtained in a GDPR-compliant manner? In this article, our guest author Idris Farjad takes a closer look at the structure and importance of CRM data and shows which data is particularly important for sales.

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What is CRM data?

CRM data includes all information about customers that has been collected by a company. This includes master data, such as names, addresses, emails and telephone numbers, but also every interaction between the customer and the company itself. This information can be evaluated in the next step and offers many opportunities and CRM benefits to optimize your company based on data.

For example, the results of the analysis can help you to focus on certain marketing channels that have proven to be the most profitable or to find out at which point in the customer journey customers have dropped out in order to effectively improve this point. Workflows for automating CRM processes can also be created based on the results.

A CRM system helps companies to keep customer data up to date, track every customer interaction and manage customer accounts. It is designed to help companies improve their customer relationships and increase their customer lifetime value. This is crucial due to the vast amount of data that companies generate on a daily basis.

CRM data is often collected and managed using CRM software, which allows companies to store all customer information in one central location and make it accessible across teams. The software can also be used to analyze campaign performance and identify customer trends early on.

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In order to manage and utilize a company's CRM data, it is important that company employees continually update and maintain it. In this way, they can ensure that the data is up-to-date and accurate and that it is of maximum benefit to the company.

Overall, CRM data is a valuable tool for companies to improve relationships with their customers, optimize the customer experience and consequently increase the company's sales.

www.medium.com/dataseries/how-big-data-turns-crm-into-something-truly-valuable-c44f55482557

How is a CRM database structured?

A CRM database usually consists of three different categories:

1. Collaborative CRM

The collaborative CRM system aims to organize processes and workflows across different organizational structures. It facilitates cross-departmental collaboration by providing a centralized customer database that every department - including marketing, sales and customer service - can access.

This centralized CRM system provides insight into all customer communications, including purchase history, service requests and notes. It gives customer service representatives the tools they need to resolve customer issues and expedite service. Collaborative CRM includes master data and any interaction with the customer.

2. Operational CRM

Operational CRM automates various business tasks. These include lead generation, sending and evaluation of marketing campaigns and the nurturing of contacts to turn prospects into buyers and buyers into repeat buyers. Operational CRM thus supports three important areas in the company, namely sales, marketing and customer service.

In sales, it takes over the tasks of lead management, sales forecasting and order creation. In marketing, operational CRM can automatically send targeted, personalized messages to target groups at the ideal time. And in customer service, inquiries can be answered, problems escalated and cases forwarded.

3. Analytical CRM

Analytical CRM works in the background to analyze the sales and interaction data collected by operational CRM applications. Based on various performance metrics, these are displayed in graphs and tables. This information can be evaluated by the company in order to initiate measures to improve the performance metrics.

• This allows companies to utilize the results of the CRM analysis:
• Segmentation of customer groups into the various stages of the customer journey
• Calculate the efficiency of the sales pipeline in the various stages of the customer journey
• Calculation of customer lifetime value based on the acquisition channel
• Personalized marketing based on the actions of the prospect or customer
• Identification of customer characteristics and behavioral patterns for better targeting
• Identification of customers with churn risk to initiate measures to prevent this

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How can CRM data be collected in compliance with the GDPR?

The GDPR, also known as the EU General Data Protection Regulation, defines how personal data may be processed by companies and organizations. This also includes CRM data that is stored in a CRM database.

In order to collect CRM data in compliance with the GDPR, it is important that you obtain the consent of the data subjects and inform them in a transparent manner. This includes telling people what data is being collected from them and for what purpose it is being processed.

It is also important that you only collect the data that is actually required for the purpose of processing. It is not permitted to collect or store unnecessary or excessive data.

In addition, the data must be processed and protected securely. This includes taking appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect the data from loss, theft or misuse.

Finally, you must also ensure that the data subjects can exercise their rights, such as the right to information, correction, deletion or objection.

What data should be entered in the CRM system?

There are various ways in which you can enrich your CRM system with data. One way of enriching CRM data is to enter the data manually, e.g. via an online form or an input mask. Another option is to automatically transfer the CRM data from other systems or tools, e.g. by connecting it to an email marketing tool or website analysis software.

It is also possible that you retrieve the data from other systems via API interfaces (Application Programming Interface) or pass it on to them. This allows you to integrate and synchronize the data in the CRM system with other systems. By integrating data from different sources, you can create a comprehensive customer profile and make customer relationships even more effective.

Various data can be entered into the CRM system to enable effective customer relationship management. Here are some examples:

Master data

This data includes basic information about the customer, such as name, address, email and telephone number. It is important for identifying and contacting the customer.

Qualitative customer information

This data includes detailed information about the customer and their needs, such as preferences, interests and goals. It is important in order to deepen customer understanding and create customized offers and campaigns.

Lead sources

This data shows where the customer was found and how they became aware of the company (e.g. through a Google search or a recommendation from another customer). It helps to analyze and optimize the effectiveness of marketing and sales activities.

Customer interactions

This data includes all interactions that the company has had with customers, such as emails, calls, meetings or orders. It provides information about the course of the customer relationship and makes it possible to identify trends and patterns.

Job title

The job title tells you what this person does in the company and whether this person is a decision-maker. Make sure that you don't waste your time unnecessarily, but talk to someone who can also make decisions in the company.

A CRM system therefore offers many possibilities for managing and optimizing customer relationships. It is important that you enter and update the right data in order to exploit the full potential of the CRM system.

Why is it so important for sales to store customer data in the CRM system?

There are five reasons why it is so important for sales to store customer data in the CRM system:

1. Customer understanding: By collecting customer data, sales employees can develop a deeper understanding of customers' needs and wishes. They can better categorize and segment customers and create tailored offers. This allows them to determine where the prospect or customer is within the customer journey and what actions need to be taken to encourage a purchase or repurchase.

2. Customer contact management: The CRM system helps to track and document all contacts with customers. Sales employees can track the progress of the customer relationship and plan important appointments and tasks. They are also able to make notes and record additional information that could be important and decisive in the course of the customer relationship.

3. Customer analysis: The CRM system makes it possible to analyze customer activities and identify trends and patterns. Sales employees can visualize and compare sales per customer or customer satisfaction, for example. These metrics can be used to assess the employee's performance and determine the trend of their work. If the CRM system detects that a customer's churn risk is increased, this information is automatically communicated to sales or customer service so that the employee can contact the customer. Customer analysis can also help to understand customer behavior and make predictions about future purchasing opportunities.

4. Increase efficiency: The CRM system helps to optimize work processes in sales and increase efficiency. For example, sales employees can automate recurring tasks or see at a glance which customers need to be looked after in the near future. By automating the business tasks that arise in sales, such as order processing, order tracking, information exchange and contact management, the sales employee is supported in focusing more on the customer and not on administrative tasks.

5. Increase in sales: The increase in sales is made possible by cross-selling, personalized marketing campaigns and tailored, automated offers through workflows at exactly the right time in the customer journey. As a result, the customer stays with the company for longer and customer retention increases. Increased customer retention means that the customer stays with the company for longer and pays for products or services for longer. This ultimately leads to increased customer lifetime value and thus increases the company's turnover in the long term.

CRM software recommendations

B2B companies usually rely on the market leader Salesforce Sales Cloud . For B2C e-commerce companies, Klaviyo convinces again and again. Of course, it all depends on which CRM software suits your CRM goals and your CRM strategy. By the way, we have already prepared a list of the best CRM sales software and the best free CRM software for you.

Conclusion

To summarize, CRM software are a key component of any successful business. Not only can it save time across departments, but it can also be an important driver of your company's turnover, especially because workflows and other automations only need to be created once. However, the CRM system will only ever be as good as the data it is fed with. So take your time and set up your CRM system thoroughly. It can be the reason for the success or failure of your company.