What is CRM Integration? Key Concepts and Strategies (2024)

CRM software program could be a highly effective advertising and marketing, gross sales, and repair answer by itself, however it’s usually paired with different instruments in an organization’s expertise stack. The best manner to make use of a CRM platform is to have it operate as a hub for all of your buyer info, marketing campaign insights, and gross sales stories.

CRM integrations join all your small business instruments and purposes together with your CRM software program to extend effectivity and enhance the general buyer expertise.

What is CRM Integration?

CRM integration is the connection between your normal CRM software program and some other enterprise software. It is a basic function of any CRM software that controls knowledge sharing and automation performance that eliminates the necessity for customers to modify between instruments.

CRM software program can combine with each native and third-party purposes. Native instruments, or built-in integrations, are software program that’s owned or supplied as a part of a collection of merchandise by the identical CRM vendor. For instance, Zoho CRM customers can sync info from their Zoho Analytics account via built-in integrations.

Third-party purposes are instruments supplied by utterly totally different suppliers that corporations have already subscribed to or plan to make use of sooner or later. CRM suppliers can combine with these totally different instruments, however I like to recommend first confirming that the CRM software program you wish to spend money on helps integrations with the primary instruments you have already got.

Companies use connectors like Zapier or create their very own APIs to combine software program. APIs are simply endpoints in every software that management how purposes can work together with one another. If your IT group is provided, they’ll create APIs to utterly customise how your organization integrates instruments. This could be very helpful when you’ve got area of interest enterprise wants and even in-house software program that you just wish to combine together with your CRM software program.

5 Types of Useful CRM Integrations

Email and calendar

The first integration I recommend establishing is syncing your CRM software program together with your firm e mail and calendar. Much of the gross sales course of occurs via e mail communications and assembly scheduling, so when your CRM is built-in with these instruments, reps can shortly ship personalised and even automated emails and schedule conferences with clients with out leaving the CRM interface.

• Google Workspace: Access your complete suite of instruments, together with Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Chat, and Jamboard.
• Microsoft 365: Use Microsoft’s wide selection of productiveness instruments, together with Teams, Word, SharePoint, OneDrive, and extra.

Lead Generation

Having new leads and prospects continually funneled into the CRM helps reps establish after which interact with new enterprise alternatives on the proper time. Investing in a lead era firm or B2B database can do loads of the heavy lifting with regards to discovering pre-qualified leads. This manner, corporations can at all times generate leads within the background with gross sales reps prepared to start out nurturing.

• Zoom Information: Get certified leads prepared to have interaction, plus real-time insights into their firmographic knowledge.
• Visa: Verify emails, telephone numbers and job titles in seconds with this Chrome add-on.

Social Media

As an extra avenue for lead era, social media integration permits your CRM to immediately import and handle new leads and advertising and marketing campaigns. Connecting your organization’s social media accounts to your CRM software program permits reps to answer inquiries, construct model consciousness, and establish extremely certified leads who interact together with your content material.

• LinkedIn: Get leads with LinkedIn Sales Navigator and have interaction with prospects via content material.
• Click Like: Distribute, observe and handle ongoing social media advertising and marketing campaigns out of your CRM.

Communication instruments

Most of the gross sales course of occurs via direct communication with leads. Integrating your commonest communication instruments together with your CRM software program makes it straightforward for gross sales reps to succeed in and reply to clients via a number of channels. Instant messaging or video calls enable group members to speak each internally and externally for streamlined operations. CRM integration with these instruments additionally makes it straightforward to keep up a chat historical past.

• Microsoft Teams: Chat with group members, schedule conferences, and sync calendars.
• Loosen: Send messages internally whereas saving paperwork, calls and chat historical past.
• Zoom Meetings: Organize and report gross sales calls, inside conferences or webinars.

Billing and fee processing

Some CRM suppliers supply built-in invoicing, quote administration, and fee processing capabilities. However, since most shouldn’t have these as native options or solely as costly add-ons, integrating the present invoicing software program your small business makes use of could also be one of the best answer.

• Quick books: Manage invoices and bills with this industry-leading accounting software program.
• Quotation Machine: Create, assessment and ship interactive quotes and invoices on to clients out of your CRM.

4 Benefits of CRM Integration

Provide a unified view of buyer knowledge

When CRM software program is built-in with a variety of different purposes in your gross sales or advertising and marketing expertise stack, gross sales reps and full groups can entry a extra unified view of all buyer knowledge. This is nice for reps who wish to interact with a buyer through telephone, e mail, or social media from a single click on to viewing stories on buyer traits for technique.

Automate processes

Workflow automations simplify and velocity up many redundant gross sales duties. All one of the best CRM suppliers supply automations for this very purpose. These automations can lengthen past the CRM software program for added simplicity. When automations can combine with different instruments in your expertise stack, the gross sales course of will be extra advanced, which in flip improves the client expertise. For instance, via an e mail integration, leads can obtain personalised and focused automated e mail campaigns which are built-in into the CRM.

Greater knowledge accuracy

When you’ve all of your gross sales and advertising and marketing instruments in sync, knowledge will be up to date in actual time. This can embody buyer contact info or detailed income monitoring. Having correct knowledge means customers can promote with confidence with out having to waste time double-checking info.

More collaboration alternatives

CRM integration can result in extra superior collaboration each internally and externally. For customers who need extra alternatives to attach with clients or prospects, there are reside chat instruments or touchdown web page builders. For groups who wish to get rid of siloed workflows, there are integrations with communication apps and progress trackers.

Top 3 CRMs for Integrations

HubSpot

HubSpot is a well-liked buyer platform with highly effective AI, advertising and marketing instruments, and aggressive scalability. In addition to a strong free CRM, HubSpot provides a Marketing Hub, Service Hub, and Operations Hub inside its suite of instruments that every one combine internally. HubSpot can combine with over 1,500 apps and even advocate apps for companies simply beginning out.

To study extra, take a look at this HubSpot assessment.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is a advertising and marketing CRM answer that provides an awesome mixture of primary and superior options at an awesome worth. Some of the function integrations for Zoho CRM embody Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Sack, Shopify, Mailchimp, and Facebook.

For extra info, learn this impartial assessment of Zoho CRM.

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is an easy gross sales CRM with pipeline and undertaking administration instruments. Within the Pipedrive market, corporations can search, filter, and even seek for different expertise instruments. Pipedrive’s AI assistant may even discover related third-party instruments for integration suggestions of their market.

Want to study extra? Check out this Pipedrive assessment.