How to Select the Best SaaS CRM for Your Business
Customer relationships are crucial to succeeding in business, isn’t it? However, keeping track of patron information can prove cumbersome for organized companies and utterly chaotic for the rest. If you are searching for a customer relationship management system, you have hit the spot where spreadsheets of buyer information like contact details, email addresses, purchase history, and much more have become disorganized and unproductive.
According to Grand View Research, the global customer relationship management (CRM) market was valued at USD 43.7 billion in 2020. However, the market is projected to rise at a CAGR of 10.6% from 2021 to 2028. One of the primary trends in the sector is the increasing demand for deploying CRM solutions and suites through the software as a Service (SaaS) model.
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Increasing demand for automated engagement with shoppers and magnifying the scope of digital operations, customer services, and experience drive the demand for CRM platforms across different sectors across Canada, France, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and others.
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Moreover, advancements in cloud computing technology, the evolution of serverless computing, hybrid cloud computing, and the availability of multiple service models like SaaS, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are predicted to encourage the CRM market increase over the forecast period.
What is a CRM System?
CRM year-over-year growth is assumed to be over 25% among marketing leaders. Customer relationship management systems streamline your sales process by enabling you to track your customer’s information. Versatile companies provide supplemental systems for customer service and marketing teams.
However, having a sense of price tiers, features, third-party add-ons, and subscription services can be as stressful as initiating a spreadsheet. To make the task smoother for you, we have listed everything that will help you to know how you can find the right CRM for your Saa-based company.
Must-Know Factors to Choose the Best SaaS CRM for Your Business
Every B2B business these days must have a customer relationship management (CRM) system. There are various questions that brands come across while choosing the best SaaS CRM for their business; these include:
- How does the SaaS CRM benefit their business?
- Why must they invest in a CRM system?
- How can they choose the right CRM vendor?
- How does the CRM platform help them stand out in the market?
Starting from deployment methods to functionality to user experience, there are various things that you need to take into consideration while choosing SaaS CRM software for your business. Let’s check each point in brief, helping you to make better decisions than ever before.
Identify Your Business Requirements
Searching for the right CRM software, then you must identify your business requirements and consider your regular sales process and activities. Highlight all essential steps and types of consumer interactions. The feature-rich and powerful solution helps boost your business success, but you need to identify your business goals before that.
You need to be clear about the requirements to choose the solution that helps you deal with various issues like:
- Difficulty in searching shopper information;
- Poor interaction;
- Incapability to retain or acquire loyal customers;
- Long or extensive sales cycle;
- An issue in handling schedules;
- Inadequate visibility into agent production.
There are many other issues that you can consider while choosing SaaS CRM software. The prime object is to tie together all the above issues and streamline the sales process and operations. Starting with listing issues can help you determine the features of your CRM solution.
Decide on CRM Deployment: Cloud Vs. On-premise
Both cloud and on-premise have their own pros and cons. With a software as a service solution, you do not require technical expertise on your side. You can log into the cloud-based CRM system using the Internet browser, and you are all set to go. All information resides on the vendor’s server.
However, it becomes essential for you to stay online at the time. If your Internet connection breaks, you will fail to access the information. At the same time, the on-premise CRM solution is hosted physically at your location. The system provides you with direct access to the servers if you aim to integrate with other apps.
Besides, you do not have to deal with recurrent subscription charges for the same. But you require to purchase all essential hardware and software, resulting in higher upfront costs. Explore the pros and cons between cloud and on-premise CRM platform development to make an intelligent choice.
| On-Premise | Cloud |
| Control over system or data | No cost for software license |
| Data is stored and handled internally | No need for new IT infrastructure |
| Need IT professional for maintenance support | A small cost for services |
| Demands high initial investment | Low start-up cost |
Pay Attention to User Experience
One of the essential factors to choose a SaaS CRM system is how you feel? When you use it. Does it help you, is it intuitive? or is it something that aggravates that slows you down. For example, you can ask the huckster to show you:
- How many clicks will it require to perform a specific task?
- Check how effective the user interface is?
- Is the action flow logically?
- Is the button labelled clearly?
Hence while evaluating the system user interface, check the user interface, features, and functionality. You might be wondering why to check it?
According to research, businesses must get user-friendly solutions as more than 86% of prospects consider user-friendliness the most crucial aspect of choosing a new system. Hence make sure to invest in user-friendly and engaging CRM platforms for your business.
Scrutinize Different CRM Types
There is no “one size fits all” SaaS CRM solution. The closest thing is to look over the basic operations system that offers a common platform where your marketing, sales, and support units can work on. It helps you address the issues of searching customer data since all the units will be using a centralized database for customers’ information. However, there are different CRM types that you can scrutinize, these includes:
- Operational;
- Analytical;
- Collaborative;
- Campaign management;
- Strategic.
Once you decide which CRM solution can meet all your requirements, you can proceed further and purchase a CRM solution from the best vendor in the market.
Have Look Over the Features
The customer relationship management software market is worth app software revenue globally, as it totaled $193.6 billion in 2018, Gartner’s study reveals. Hence investing in the solution can be a smart choice, but it becomes vital to research everything before investing your money.
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One of the critical parts that demands extra time is research. You can head straight to the list of the best SaaS CRM solutions for your business on the internet or can find high rated solutions based on different factors, make sure to have a look at factors like:
- Main functionality;
- Ease of use;
- Collaboration features;
- Customization;
- Integration;
- Security;
- Mobility;
- Help & support;
You can evaluate a system and make better decisions to get your investment worth based on the above aspects.
Consider the Cost
Wondering how much the CRM platform costs? The cost depends on various factors, including deployment methods, features and functionality you choose, and many more. You can take a free trial and then invest in the best option.
You might be thinking that you have multiple items on the checklist but keep calm. It will take limited time to go through the list and check the features; it will help you choose the one that matches all your business requirements.
Take Demo
After going through the vendors and narrowing product choices, it’s time to experience the software’s working by yourself. Most CRM vendors provide free trials of their software. Hence, it’s a better option for you to choose the easy-to-navigate and intuitive features system.
Without worries of strings and cost attached, it’s the most reliable method to know if the software satisfies your expectations and matches your business obligations. If it does, you can choose to shift from the trial to the paid version. If not, then opt out during the trial period and try for other software available on the list.
Make a Smart Choice to Get Worth!
No matter what size of enterprise you own, a robust CRM solution enables you to stay competitive by enabling you to:
- Keep track of customers interactions;
- Maintain strong relationships with every customer;
- Sell more products or services;
- Improve interaction between marketing and sales team;
- Manage your sales and marketing efforts.
However, choosing the right solution is not an easy task. The challenge is multiple options available to choose from, making it difficult for you to make a smart choice. But there are various options that you need to consider before making a choice; these include the ability to customize, scalability, business value, cost, etc.
With multiple things to consider, there is another essential thing that you have to address which is your own requirements. It’s crucial to identify whether your business requirements match the functionally offered, helping you decide whether the CRM solution is the best choice for your business. It seems like a lot of effort and work, right? Fear not; you can take support from the web to ease the stress of decision-making to choose the best and right CRM system for your business.
