Selecting a CRM and Automating Your Data Mining

During the past few weeks, I’ve discussed eMail design and data management. With a lot of feedback coming in, I’ll change this blog to address my experience in choosing a CRM and how to use that CRM to automate your marketing. Again, a CRM is not a requirement for managing your data, but if used correctly, it can save you significant time and resources by consolidating your data into a central database and using its automated features to create workflows to trigger actions.

Choosing the Right CRM for You

There are many CRM systems. You can go to a major office supply store and buy an entry-level system like Act or Goldmine, or you can look into much larger enterprise-level systems like Siebel, Salesforce, SAP, or Microsoft Dynamics CRM (MSCRM). Before going into further details, I need to clarify that I’ve had experience with Act, Goldmine, and currently use Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

While the selection of a CRM is dependent on many different factors, the primary factors are budget and requirements. If you are just looking for basic functions to manage your customers and need only a few seats (or licenses), I would recommend a store-bought system. However, note that store-bought systems limit your possibilities, integration abilities, expansion and number of users.

Larger CRM systems are built for much more flexibility, use by many users, integration amongst multiple systems, and more, but the costs are greater. You will be able to find many features in these systems, so choosing the right CRM system can be difficult, so here are a few suggestions to use:

1. Document Your Requirements: I can’t stress this enough … document, document, document. Notate what you need for your initial launch, how long your “proof of concept” will last, and any future wants or needs. A detailed list of requirements will help you choose the type of CRM, technical assistance, budget and more.
2. Establish Your Budget: These days, you can find CRM systems available for an average $60/user/month, have your CRM system hosted, or you can host it yourself. There are benefits in either scenario, but if you are just starting out, I would recommend reviewing hosted scenarios for you to prove your case and establish your requirements … then build from there. Also, if your budget allows for it, I suggest using a consultant vendor to assist with your setup, integration and customization.
3. Finalize Your Selection: If you use the above suggestions, you’ll most likely find that every CRM provider will say that they can meet your needs. This is where it gets tricky and you’ll need to do your homework. My experience is to leverage each provider against each other in your research. You’ll find some providers limit your integration (especially some of the popular ones), others only offer expense licenses, and others will require a high level of customization. One last comment, I’ve found that every CRM can do the same “100 features,” most will handle the next “100 features,” and any features after that may be limited to select CRM providers … the problem is that most companies only need “50 features” that every CRM provider can provide. On that note, don’t be oversold by features and benefits that you won’t use for the next three to five years (especially since most CRM providers update tools approximately every three years and their features will then change. Instead focus on your requirements and if you need to integrate with another system, talk with the technical experts from that system and get their advice, comments and limitations on integration.

*** Note: There are many websites online that give guidelines for choosing a CRM; however, I’ve found many of these sites to be BIASED and are usually sponsored heavily by one CRM provider. If you find many articles on that site favoring only select providers, I would highly recommend using a different website to use for guidance. ***

Automating Your Marketing with a CRM

While I can’t tell you exactly how to use your CRM for automation as they all have subtle differences, the concept is essentially the same. Again, I cannot stress enough that everything revolves around data, data and more data. You can use a CRM for simple reporting and export that data for your marketing or you can set up more complex automation. The automation also depends on the level of integration that you have.

Here is an example of a common automated process. Let’s start with the collection of data … in this case; we are collecting a lead from a website. The automation could begin with a simple integration with your online form where the fields are mapped to the CRM. Once the data is inserted in the CRM (and if you have your CRM set up this way and integrated with an eMail Service Provider like ExactTarget), you can have an automated message sent to the customer and details of the lead sent to a salesman or management through eMail and text messaging. Based on the type of lead, your system could also trigger a dynamic letter to be printed out and mailed with a brochure to the customer.

Automating your CRM is really dependent on your needs and data in the CRM. I’ll write another blog with other examples of automation later on, but hopefully your creative juice is flowing. … One last thing … take advantage of this automation for not only marketing activities, but also for analytics and reporting (both for online and offline use).

Summary

In our last CRM selection, we used a project team and defined deliverables in our CRM selection, secured the use of an expert vendor to assist us in setting up and integrating our system, and are now using it for many automated features. Your selection and automation will vary dependent on your requirements so remember my suggestion to document, document and document as well as the importance of data, data and data.

Finally, if you are interested in more information and can attend the Microsoft Convergence conference in Atlanta, GA on April 25 - 27, I’ll be speaking on the topic, “Unleashing the Power of Marketing Automation.” Also, don’t forget to send me your comments or questions and remember to follow my Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/ebizlessons or my FaceBook feed at http://facebook.com/ebizlessons for daily updates to complement this blog.