Did you know that customer experience influences 73 percent of customers’ purchase decisions? To stand out in the highly competitive startup world, improve retention rates, and attract new customers, small businesses and startups must provide a consistent and memorable customer experience.
This is where customer relationship management (CRM) tools come in. The best startup CRMs help you manage your sales pipeline, accurately forecast revenue, engage your customers, understand their needs, and resolve their problems while building solid relationships.
In this article, we’ll show you ways a CRM tool can make your startup more profitable and look at what makes the ideal CRM for startup businesses. Let’s dive in.
Why do startups need CRM software?
Most startups lack the resources to invest in systems and processes. As a company that’s just getting off the ground, a startup doesn’t have significant sales and customer service resources and these limitations often compel founders to wear multiple hats while bootstrapping their way to success.
CRM solutions can make this journey much easier and provide startups with proven workflows and insights to deliver the following key benefits.
Attract and convert leads
The best startup CRM systems include marketing automation tools that offer traffic and lead generation resources such as landing pages, email marketing automation, and workflows to approach and follow up with prospects. This significantly reduces costs and frees up valuable time you can invest in other core business functions.
View customer data in one place
A CRM tool provides accurate, real-time reporting and metrics via customizable reports and dashboards by integrating all of your customer data. As a result, you don’t need to search dozens of disconnected spreadsheets to find critical customer data and can easily pinpoint priority contacts and deals.
Additionally, the ideal startup CRM tool includes integrations with applications that you’re already using like QuickBooks, Google, Outlook, Zapier, and DocuSign so information flows seamlessly between these applications, thereby saving you time and reducing keying errors.
Track the complete customer journey
The right CRM platform allows you to streamline and track the complete customer journey starting from your prospects’ first interaction with your company. You’ll be able to track their engagement with all of your digital resources including your web pages, newsletters, emails, and content as well as your human interactions including telephone calls and meetings, giving you a bird’s-eye view of their journey.
Provide a consistent and personalized customer experience
Every time a customer reaches out, your CRM acts as a collaboration tool by showing you their entire history including satisfaction levels, specific complaints, and any service staff who’ve handled their cases before. This allows you to understand the customer’s challenges and provide them with an expedient and positive customer experience. And, with integrated marketing automation, you can easily segment your customers into lists and create email campaigns that speak to their specific and unique needs.
Increase customer retention
The best CRM tools directly impact your bottom line by increasing customer retention and lifetime value. They help you provide an excellent customer experience, resulting in more upsells and renewals.
Get started easily
Today’s startup founders are stretched for time and resources so ease of use is paramount for a startup CRM. Whether you’re a CRM beginner or pro, it’s important to look for user-friendly, drag-and-drop features as well as self-serve, digital onboarding and training resources to help you get started right away.
The best CRM for startup businesses
Act! is the best all-in-one CRM and e-marketing solution for today’s startup business. It includes everything from workflow automation, lead generation, and engagement tools to sales pipeline management and customer issue tracking.
Act! is the best CRM for startups because it’s:
- Affordable: Pricing plans start as low as $30 per month
- Scalable: Act! grows with you by providing transparent pricing and affordable plans that let you subscribe to the features you need now and easily add others as your business grows.
- Personalizable and highly customizable: Startups serve diverse markets and solve unique problems. Act! Premium is highly customizable letting you capture and track the information that fits the unique way you do business.
- Flexible: You can deploy Act! Premium on-premises, in the cloud, or via a hybrid solution with Desktop Sync, depending on your business needs. Regardless of your deployment preference, you’ll experience its matchless customer management features. Additionally, Act! integrates with the applications you’re already using.
- Mobile: Stay connected to your key Act! details from your phone or tablet with Act! Companion, our mobile app.
- Insightful: Save your valuable time and energy by quickly capturing sales and pipeline insights with Act!’s customizable dashboards and reports.
Grow your customer relationships with CRM
Growing your customer base means identifying and attracting the right customers and keeping them engaged throughout their journey. You’ve got enough on your plate. Let an integrated CRM and e-marketing tool automate repetitive tasks, track performance, pinpoint priority leads, and accurately predict your revenue. Work smarter, not harder (and more cost-effectively) with a world-class and fully integrated CRM tool like Act!.
Want to see it in action? Start your free Act! trial now.
