Important CRM Trends and Statistics Every Business Should Know in 2020

What is CRM? 

Customer relationship management (CRM) was historically used as a tool to collect, store and manage a database of customer information in order to retain customers and enhances sales.  However, CRMs have become much more than that in recent years as they are now a way to create and maintain relationships and interactions with your potential and existing customers.  

In 2020, look for ways to enhance your CRM in order to increase sales.  Instead of simply improving your sales and marketing processes, you’ll want to look at automating communications and increasing your reach.  Before revealing the statistics that will help you understand how important your enhanced CRM will be in 2020, let’s take a look at the 2020 trends.

CRM trends for 2020

• Artificial intelligence
  In order to allow your customers to have the complete customer experience, it may be necessary to understand their specific behaviors and have constant touchpoints with them.  With a small sales team, this may seem impossible.  In 2020, artificial intelligence (AI) will be more important than ever to incorporate into your CRM.  It will help you collect information such as behaviors and actions taken by your customers.  Plus, it can help you create and manage drip campaigns to ensure you get in touch when it is most effective for conversion purposes.
• Customer experience
  It’s not enough just to have a superior product anymore.  Customers desire a whole “customer experience” in order to win their loyalty.  This includes everything from initial communication to post-sale service.  In 2020, this may just make the difference between you and your competitors.
• All-in-one communication
  Sales representatives are required to switch screens between communications channels over 1,000 times every day.  This can be reduced greatly in 2020 with the emergence of enhanced all-in-one CRMs that can help you communicate much more effectively both internally and externally.
• Social CRM
  Social media has proven time and time again to be an effective means of engaging with your existing and potential customers.  In 2020, look to integrate your social media interactions into your CRM and have ways in which customers can get in touch with you for service-related issues through social media.
• Mobile CRM
  The ability for your sales representatives to be mobile is going to be one of the keys to increasing your sales in 2020.  With the capability of accessing customer information from anywhere and inputting information at any time, it can help them with their interactions and help you with your sales forecasting.
• User-friendly CRM
  For the sake of your sales team, you’ll want to look into making sure your CRM is as user-friendly as possible in 2020.  Sales representatives can easily find their own, simplified ways to keep track of all of their customer information if you don’t make your CRM user-friendly.  Everyone will be glad you did.

2020 statistics

In order to understand these trends fully, here are the results of research completed by industry experts about CRMs in 2020:

• By 2020, 45% of organizations will have invested in AI to enhance CRM initiatives (Avaya)
• 68% of consumers indicate that customer communities (like forums or chat rooms) will be more likely to be utilized frequently in 2020. (Walker)
• CRM will overtake the data management market and become the largest of all software markets by 2020. (Conquerors Tech)
• The customer of 2020 will be more informed and in charge of the experience they receive. (Walker)
• In 2018, 56% of companies targeted their audiences based on CRM data such as purchase transactions, postal address and customer service information.  This is expected to rise to 69% in 2020. (Salesforce)
• Towards the end of 2019, 86% of customers are willing to pay 25% more for better customer experience. (Small Biz Genius)
• CRM marketing will be worth $73 billion in 2020. (Infoholic)

2020 CRM solution

Luckily, there is an all-in-one CRM solution that can help you compete in 2020 called Agile CRM that can help your sales team hit the ground running in the new year.  With the ability to automate your sales, marketing and service in one affordable platform, you’ll be able to focus on your customer’s experiences and leave the hard work to the AI assistants.  Plus, with a 30-day free trial, there is no risk to see if it is right for your sales team.

Implementing a CRM that is more efficient for your team to manage their customer relationships rather than just their contact information is going to prove to be a very important move for your sales team in 2020.  By finding a robust and effective all-in-one CRM, you’ll be able to do so much more than simply sell; you’ll create long-term loyalty.