With the ushering of automation in several fields, integration of CRM and Marketing Automation comes to the forefront. Since each and every integration are not built equally, the productivity and the ROI gets seriously affected owing to the application or integration. We can safely presume, those organizations which do not adhere to these technologies will face serious issue while working with the cross channel engagement in due course.
The benefits of CRM is immense and for the last couple of years, it has been experiencing big extras from adding marketing automation into the mix. At this juncture, marketing automation helps the companies to flourish through leads or using lead nurturing campaigns. Therefore, follow this informative user guide to know how the amalgamation of CRM and Marketing tool contributes to the business growth and channelize your business towards a unique direction.
Culminating the Significance of CRM and Marketing Integration
Since both CRM and marketing automation comes with added benefits, they appear to be more powerful and rigid when connected. Now it’s high time to delve into the pass of leads between sales and marketing and therefore, take it as a challenge similar to the rowing competition. Both the teams must sail on the same boat and work in collaboration to accomplish the goal. Without proper integration of CRM and MAP, your teams will never be a line.
As per the latest study, companies with aligned sales and marketing operations account for more than 36% of the retention rates. Also, they enjoy more than 38% of the sales rate. However, it is quite surprising that more solution providers are not working to make sure the system works fine. It appears that there are certain marketing automation providers who are reducing the number of CRM systems which they use natively in order to integrate.
Know About it From Experience, Workarounds are Not Fruitful
If you are looking for alternate solutions to integrating CRM and MAP (Marketing Automation Platform), then there are certain alternatives that can be followed if the integration doesn’t work properly. However, these alternatives are really problematic when it comes to managing certain things. The worst possible situation takes place when these alternate solutions decrease the overall productivity and restrict the ROI. You can even use certain third party tools between the CRM system and the MAP in order to integrate. Owing to this fact, the marketing team might have to undergo certain tasks manually. Obviously, it minimizes productivity and increases human error since manual intervention is involved.
Data reduction takes place through cracks and the third party tool increases the overall expense. This, in turn, lowers the ROI. However, with the launch of new marketing tools equipped with native CRM management, you can immediately understand the value and save the cost missed out earlier.
Why CRM and Marketing Work Effectively When Associated?
As already mentioned, CRM and Marketing Automation goes hand-in-hand. It is imperative to know the reasons for their joint usage. Follow the below points with rapt attention to get a comprehensive idea.
Ensuring Sales and Alignment of Market
With the help of native CRM and MAP integration, you can ensure the alignment of sales and marketing. All of us are aware of the age-old distinction between sales and marketing. They are transmitting the lead baton from the time of inception but is there anyone who is flowing in the same direction? With the use of integrated sales and marketing system, we can embark on a new voyage. It makes the interaction and communication between two teams in a seamless fashion. Also, it enhances accountability, garnering standardized methodologies for lead follow-ups and thereby crafting a single platform for reporting.
Permitting True Automation
Most of us are quite used to with the phrase “they wear a lot of hats” while explaining the marketers. The notion that marketers cover a lot of hats holds good nowadays. It surfaces the fact so much that it is not possible to perform it without the implementation of automation. Suppose you are working on a system and scrutinizing the spreadsheets on a daily basis to identify the leads having an adequate engagement to turn them into sales. However, this is not convenient for marketers. Mostly, if your database is overfilled thousands of leads.
The integration between MAP and CRM can take care of this automatically. Automation between both the teams is significant when both sales and marketing automation collaborate to achieve their target.
Better Reporting
With the mammoth rise in technology, reporting seems to be an explicable tool for most of the modern organizations. In this tech-friendly world, where marketing professionals are tied with performance-oriented KPIs, correct and timely reporting is very important. It directly connects the marketing side with the sale structure thereby exhibiting a complete picture of what’s going on. You can also automate reporting through the integration of the system. Therefore, marketers don’t have to spend the entire week analyzing the data to get the results and compare their success as per the target of the organization.
Cost Cutting
A well versed CRM marketing automation can reduce the cost to a large extent. The two solutions which collaborate natively requires no surplus costs. Without the use of native integration, you have to pay a lump sum amount for one or several third-party systems to ensure a smooth connection. Apart from this, you need to adopt certain workarounds to streamline this. These workarounds will be expensive. Moreover, the solution is limited in its functionalities. So that, it renders low ROI.
Integrate Right Tools and Don’t Complicate Unnecessarily
With the mammoth increase in marketing tools, technology has received critical acclaim in achieving marketing objectives. Soon, as we enter the next phase of maturity, proper integration of CRM and marketing automation is an absolute win-to -win situation. A native integration encompasses certain factors like reduction in costs, management requirements, and increase in productivity. As a result, getting a good ROI is not a problem. Therefore, incorporating CRM and marketing automation within a single framework renders a better outcome.