21 CRM Facts Your Business Needs to Know Now

How can CRM help your online business succeed? In short, it helps you to get to know your customers and better tailor shopping experiences to them to create loyalty while optimizing your budget for the highest return.

Such as what you’d find in ReadyCloud CRM, easily seeing all your multichannel data in one dashboard with real-time reporting, an industry-specific CRM solution can be a powerful tool that conveniently does much of the time-consuming work for you. In fact, it’s such a powerful tool that 91% of businesses (with more than 11 employees) use a CRM tool.

With ecommerce expected to surpass $2 trillion in annual sales worldwide this year, it makes sense to have a strong strategy in place for success. Make sure you know these CRM facts, so your team has the weapons it needs to skyrocket sales.

1. CRM is a $36 billion industry

CRM is quickly evolving. Over the past two decades, this industry has grown immensely in value. For 2017, it’s valued at a $36 billion global industry. By the year 2020, think tanks are predicting that it will be worth more than $40 billion.

Last year, Gartner reported the industry’s worth reached $39.5 billion and was the largest software market of 2017. By the year 2025, think tanks are predicting that it will be worth more than $80 billion.

2. CRM industry has 27% year-over-year growth

CRM has a higher growth rate than every other software markets in the industry, per Gartner, and it shows no signs of slowing down with explosive growth projected through 2025.

This comes from an increase in technology-focused spending from a reported 70% of businesses. Also, a major trend right now is the race for ecommerce businesses to become GDPR compliant.

3. CRM delivers an ROI of almost 245%

That’s what a recent Forrester study found when they followed a group of more than 2,000 employees that were split into groups at various companies.

Other studies have found that:

• CRM has an ROI of $5 for every $1 that is invested into the solution at an enterprise level.
• A 41% revenue increase is realized with CRM.
• Leads that are nurtured in the CRM system convert 47% of the time.
• Conversion rates can improve by 300% with CRM in place.
• Average purchase value can improve by 40% with CRM.

4. Cloud hosted CRM comprises at least 87% of all active solutions

Gone are the days of desktop powered, client solutions. These days, studies show that the clear majority of CRMs are hosted in the cloud.

With cloud CRM becoming the new norm, it’s propelled this industry to new heights. In 2008, only 12% of businesses used cloud-based CRM, but this figure has now increased to 87%.

5. Mobile CRM skyrockets sales quotas

A study comparing mobile to non-mobile CRM systems found that companies that were using mobile solutions achieved 65% of their sales quotas, as compared to those that were not, which only achieved 22% of their sales quotas.

Those same companies that implemented mobile CRM solutions found a 15% increase in productivity, per IBM.

6. 65% of people using CRM want it to be easy-to-use

Of the most important feature sets desired in any CRM system, ease of use tops the cake.

The other top two categories CRM users prioritize are “Schedule Management” (27%) and “Data Snapshot” (18%).

7. Team productivity increases dramatically with CRM

With the right CRM system in place, the productivity of corporate teams has been found to increase by 50% or more.

According to the Forrester study mentioned earlier:

• 50% of teams improved productivity
• Sales productivity and uplift increased by 5%
• Consultation time was reduced by 10%

Of businesses surveyed, 60% answered “increases in productivity” as the driving factor behind adopting a CRM software.

8. Customer service labor costs drop with CRM software

If you have the right CRM system in place, studies find that labor costs for customer service decrease by as much as 40%, and in some cases even more. With less time being spent gathering information, one person can just about do the labor of two .

Labor costs drop with a CRM, and customer service as a whole improves by 47%, per Capterra.

9. CRM helps most businesses improve customer relationships

With numerous studies helping to feed this fact about CRM, the findings show that a whopping 74% of businesses improve customer relationships.

A good CRM is there to help you, the e-tailer, get to know your customers. You can then take a multitude of actions using the data to provide them with a better, more personalized experience that keeps them coming back for more. It’s no wonder most businesses see improved relationships after adopting a CRM.

10. Most businesses will have a strong adoption rate

The average adoption rate, across the board, for CRM is about 26%. This number increases when cloud solutions are combined, and increases further when cloud and mobile solutions are integrated.

There is a reported a rise in mobile and tablet adoption with 48% and 45%, respectively, accessing CRM from those devices. Factoring in mobile and tablet access, 81% of users access their CRM tool from multiple devices.

11. Revenue streams improve by a large margin with CRM

The right solution in place has been shown to improve revenue streams by 41% or more within 36 months of implementation. This is due to decreased spending on leads, higher conversions, the previously mentioned better and less costly customer service and improved customer retention rates.

A CRM also helps e-tailers see all their data in one place and encourages multichannel selling, which increases revenue by up to 143%.

12. Leads nurtured by CRM have a higher average conversion value

If your team uses this software to nurture leads, studies show that the average conversions value is 47% higher, according to Marketing Sherpa.

In contrast, 79% of leads pursued without a CRM never convert.

13. CRM helps increase the average purchase value

The right system can help your company improve the average purchase value by 40% or more.

14. The cost of leads goes down with CRM

Leads can cost a fortune these days. But with the right CRM in place, the cost of leads decreases by 23% on average.

15. Improved customer retention rates

Good customer relationship management helps a business improve their customer retention rates by 26% or more.

Think about it: A CRM displays the data needed to build a relationship with customers, such as product preferences and loyalty. E-tailers can then turn the data into personalized messages, digital coupons or other opportunities for repeat sales. A consumer is much more likely to return to a brand that is treating her like a person instead of as an order number.

16. Email marketing is a popular feature in CRM systems

60% of small businesses report using CRM primarily for email marketing and gathering/nurturing of those inbound organic leads.

Looking to 2019, 60% of respondents answered in a survey that they planned to increase spending for email marketing.

17. Customer service can set new milestones

Recent reports on CRM find that more than 47% of companies using it have improved their customer service rating overall.

As customer service is prioritized, Aberdeen Group found 63% of businesses report being “extremely” customer-driven, with 81% responding that their organizations plan to be “extremely customer-driven” within two years.

18. CRM provides insights into a complete customer sales cycle

CRM isn’t just for marketing, it also helps you track the entire lifecycle of your customer. This includes from the originating sale or point of contact down to every order, shipment, return, inquiry and dispute.

19. CRM is equally as powerful a customer service tool as it is a sales fueler

A Tech News World study finds that 74% of companies using CRM report using it to improve customer service, not nurture leads.

You already read that customer service sees almost a 2x improvement with a CRM, so its success rate as a customer service tool makes it a viable option even for businesses not looking to funnel consumers through a sales pipeline.

20. Cloud CRM offers a secure way to store your customer databases

With an offsite hosted system in the cloud, such as the newer CRM systems offer, the customer database, settings and preferences are safeguarded by the cloud, intrusions are reduced and corrupt files are a thing of the past.

Cloud-hosted data also makes system migrating much easier, letting you skip the lengthy downloading and uploading process between websites, online shops or other mediums where you use your data.

21. Mobile CRM usage is expected to increase by a staggering 500% by 2020

Studies are showing that mobile accessible CRM improves productivity by at least 15%, with most companies showing a strong 20% improvement.

Related studies found that48% of users were accessing CRM from their smartphones in 2014, and over half using their mobile devices now.

With CRM for ecommerce, you can plug the software directly into all of the sales channels that you are using. This not only gathers your customer information immediately for analysis. What’s more, the CRM also enables you to monitor trends, buying habits, return patterns, cost vs. profit, lead origination sources, conversion funnel tendencies and more.