Would you like to increase the return on investment (ROI) of your digital e-commerce marketing strategies? The most efficient way is CRM strategies for e-commerce, because by engaging existing customer base one will reduce the need to constantly invest in acquiring new customers, resulting in higher profitability of online store.  

What is CRM?  

Everyone who dealing with online sales will probably already know that customer retention is very important. Regardless of the industry or niche market, building and maintaining quality customer relationships is a key factor to success.

CRM is the abbreviation for “Customer Relationship Management”. The ability to collect a large amount of information about the customers in an organized manner is a fundamental aspect of a CRM system that aims to put the customer at the heart of the business, create good relationships with the consumers of the online store and also helps to win new customers. Every interaction a company has with prospects or customers generates strategic information. 

To deal with so much content, automated business solutions are essential. They help to get to know potential customers and, based on this, to generate more accurate offers, sell more, structure suitable marketing campaigns and increase customer satisfaction.

Although this definition may seem a bit abstract, what CRM does is pretty practical. The system works on different e-commerce touchpoints so that all business phases work harmoniously and one can offer a good service to consumers in all phases of the purchase process.   

What is a CRM for?  

With a good CRM tool, it is possible to understand how the consumer's buying journey works, i.e. one can analyse user behaviour. In addition, this technology allows collecting the e-mails of users who browse the site, which enables, for example, sending reminder messages in case of abandonment of the purchase. So, the software helps to get the most out of the users' visit and do whatever it takes to convert that visit into sales.  

Why is it important to implement CRM for your online shop?

This software allows the e-commerce manager to have a customer-centric integrated management system. It is important to emphasize that CRM software not only brings the customer closer to the company, but also helps in the acquisition of new customers. Because the better the entrepreneur knows his existing customers, the greater the chances of identifying new customers and winning them over to his business.   

CRM is also called an "integrated system" because it needs to be available for different areas of the company. In other words, not only does sales need access to the software, but also marketing, technical support, and customer service.   

Not only large companies need this software. However, this is a technology that is also of interest to medium and small businesses because all entrepreneurs need to know their target audience. In addition, a CRM solution also helps in increasing e-commerce sales: it is the basis for a successful business.    

Benefits of CRM for Ecommerce  

It costs up to 5x more to acquire a new customer than to retain a customer who already has a connection with your brand. This affects the profitability of the company.  

1. CRM Helps Improve Relationships With Active Customers   

One of the main benefits of using a CRM system is better customer satisfaction. Thus, the maintenance, marketing and sale of your products are organized and managed systematically. In this way, one can improve the strategic sales management of the company. Can also improve customer service by better understanding their issues. 

This allows sellers to make accurate offers at the right time, with a particular focus on cross-selling and upselling. Thanks to the tracking that CRM platform enables, the chances of this offer being picked up are huge!

2. CRM helps to acquire new customers 

Customer acquisition goes far beyond a simple phone call or a speech to offer a product or service. Whether it's via email or text, customers need to have a good experience from start to finish, for that business strategies need to be established and constantly monitored.

To help the lead decide on the right product, the business needs to know the customer's profile and understand their needs and specifics. The CRM system is the right technology to make all this information accessible and automated.

3. CRM Increases Average Shopping Cart Value   

It really is possible to increase the sales numbers using this tool. The reason is simple: it allows you to understand the customer's needs, what they expect, and what stage of the consumer experience they are at. With this strategic information, it is much easier to lead every prospect or customer to conversions, meaning sales!

With the data collected by the CRM system, you also give the sales people information about their entire sales history, including the average cart value. The sales can analyse which items are bought most frequently by customers. This allows new (similar or additional) products and services to be offered.  

4. CRM improves sales team communication   

A good CRM solution also helps in establishing better communication within the sales department. However, the exchange of data between different employees and even with other departments (e.g. sales and marketing) means that everyone knows the customer better. For example, instead of contacting support staff, a sales rep needs to access information about a specific customer in the system.   

5. CRM gives the sales manager more managerial powers   

A good CRM software is also a management tool that allows the managers to check the productivity of the sales force and other indicators. With a few clicks, it is possible to generate reports on the performance of each individual seller or the entire team. This helps to set goals and demand results.  

6. Better use of time  

Due to individualized work processes, entrepreneurs and employees lose valuable time every day. Such measures as sending birthday emails or direct mail can be carried out through the tool. The system segments customers according to different needs and can carry out specific actions for each group. This saves a lot of time.  

EspoCRM - outstanding CRM solution for e-commerce  

EspoCRM is an open source CRM solution for small, medium and even large businesses. The system can be used in many industries, such as wholesale and retail, e-commerce, banking and finance, call centres, manufacturing companies, educational projects, tour operators and hotels, medicine and pharmacy, and insurance carriers. 

The software has been on the market and has gained trust from many users. Over 50,000 companies in 163 countries use EspoCRM. It offers interfaces to Outlook, G-Mail, MailChimp and many other systems, which are available as extensions. In e-commerce, these additional systems are very important.                       

EspoCRM is available to consumers as a free open source and a paid cloud solution. In the first case, all data is stored locally, on your own server. Users can make any changes in the code to adapt the system to their needs. The database has no volume restrictions. 

In the second case, the information is stored virtually on the cloud, can be used immediately after downloading. The cloud version is chargeable (EUR 20 per user) and connected to the manufacturer. In this case, no adjustments can be made in the code.  

What are the advantages of EspoCRM?   

• Intuitively understandable CRM system. EspoCRM is very structured and has a clear user interface. It is displayed responsively on all end devices. Thanks to the good usability, no training is required to work successfully with the system.
• Customization and Configuration. EspoCRM is fully customizable to the specific needs of each company. It is possible to configure layouts, set fields, entities and relationships - layout managers and entity managers are available to the administrator.

• Expandable and integrable. The EspoCRM solution offers integration with Mail Chimp, VoIP telephony, Google Calendar, LinkedIn and XING, Microsoft Outlook and other systems. There is also its own API, which allows you to connect any third-party system.  
• Data security. EspoCRM has advanced data access options. The administrator can set the roles and teams and access rights for these roles and teams so that each user can only create, view, change and remove certain preset data. The system is therefore very flexible and secure. 

• Reporting. The Advanced Pack includes the reporting module, which allows reports to be configured, saved and evaluated.   
• Activities. With this function you can track all changes made, comment and create certain posts and much more. All processes are clearly recognizable.    

The detailed list of all EspoCRM functions can be found on the manufacturer's website.  

EspoCRM has, among other things, a forum for users to ask questions and get help from the community. The forum contains various topics for the convenience of users, is active, which also indicates that the system is constantly being developed. 

Are you considering introducing EspoCRM for your company? We're happy to help, so you don't have to worry about server hardware requirements, operating systems, tweaks, and configurations. We take over these processes and adapt EspoCRM to suit any business needs. Our agency has been working with EspoCRM for a long time - the implementation costs are low. We offer you excellent value for money and you will start to benefit from EspoCRM very quickly.   

If you want to know more information about possible solutions for your business, we recommend our article about Navision ERP and about the comparison of Shopify, Magento and Shopware.