Customer relationship management (CRM) software is already a powerful tool for sales and marketing teams, but it has the potential to be even more effective. Artificial intelligence (AI) can improve your insights, engagement, and close rate when you integrate it with your CRM. AI related to CRM software could account for $1.1 trillion by the end of 2021. But just adding AI to your CRM isn’t enough to get a piece of that revenue. We cover how you can make these AI bots and your CRM work together for you.
To find the right AI-powered CRM tool for your business, use our Product Selection Tool. After filling out a short survey, you’ll get a list of CRM vendors tailored to the needs of your business.
Making AI and CRM work together
- Vital CRM integrations
- Optimized nurture campaigns
- Improved lead scoring
- Top CRM tools with AI
- Getting the most out of your AI-powered CRM
Vital CRM integrations
In order for AI to be a valuable asset within your CRM, there are some key integrations your CRM needs to have.
Business intelligence software
Your CRM should integrate with your business intelligence platform in order to pull historical data and allow the AI to learn from past trends. Through this integration, your CRM’s AI capabilities can improve lead scoring, identify when prospects are most likely to close, and provide better sales forecasting.
Email marketing software
If your CRM doesn’t include an email marketing system, it should integrate with your software of choice. Using AI, your CRM can automatically send follow-up emails to prospects when they’re most likely to open them. This integration provides better personalization within the emails and increases the likelihood that your prospects will engage with them.
Customer service software
If you use a live chat feature on your website, it should also connect with your CRM. Not only will this keep all of your customer conversations in one place, but you can also connect your AI to the live chatbot and allow it to handle simple requests from customers. This way, you can free up some of your sales reps’ time and respond to your prospects faster.
Also read: The Only CRM Integration List You’ll Ever Need
Optimized nurture campaigns
Email marketing has one of the best ROIs of all marketing channels, at around $44 earned for every $1 spent. But just having an email marketing campaign isn’t enough. You need to optimize it properly in order to convert at a high rate. Adding AI to your CRM improves your nurture campaigns, providing a great level of personalization because it targets specific people and companies rather than a general demographic.
Along with personalization, your AI-powered CRM can A/B test send times, subject lines, and other variables to determine the best version of your marketing messages. It will then learn from these tests and apply the findings to future campaigns.
Also read: 5 Essential Analysis Tips for Content Syndication Lead Nurture Campaigns
Improved lead scoring
Lead scoring is a great way to determine which leads your sales team should be pouring most of their energy into. It tells you how likely leads are to convert and which leads are likely to convert the soonest. By adding AI to your CRM software, you can improve your lead scoring capabilities and gain more accurate insights into your prospects. The AI analyzes different factors, including the length of time a prospect has been in your funnel, historical sales trends, and job title to more accurately qualify each lead.
Rather than using rules-based scoring like traditional CRM software, CRMs with AI use predictive analytics. This method involves a mathematical model along with predefined rulesets and historical data, allowing the AI to make educated predictions about how likely it is that your team can close each lead.
Top CRM tools with AI
Not all CRM software systems include AI out of the box. We’ve compiled a short list of CRM tools that offer AI without requiring code.
Salesforce
Probably one of the most well-known CRMs currently on the market, Salesforce offers its Einstein AI to provide customer insights based on previous interactions and historical data. The platform also streamlines workflows, making it easier for your sales team to determine what the next best steps are in a customer’s sales journey.
Hubspot
Hubspot’s Sales Hub CRM includes AI that analyzes interactions with your customers to provide deeper insights that help you improve your service and offerings. The platform also offers predictive lead scoring and forecasting, allowing you to better plan for your business’s future. However, AI isn’t included in their free version, so you’ll have to upgrade to take advantage of it.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is great for small businesses and includes AI for sales forecasting, lead conversion and deal closure predictions, and more. Zia, the AI assistant, is conversational and understands commands and queries given through both voice and text. Zia makes it easier to find the data you’re looking for and get insights into your sales process.
Nimble CRM
Nimble CRM includes a social listening AI that scours social media sites for mentions of your brand and uses text analysis to categorize those mentions. It also includes sales forecasting capabilities and helps you keep contacts organized by recognizing and merging potential duplicates.
Getting the most out of your AI-powered CRM
Having AI included in your CRM is great, but the AI is only as good as the information it’s trained on. To get the most out of your CRM, you’ll need to spend some extra time after implementation to train your AI and ensure that it’s pulling the right data. While this can be difficult at first, the insights and optimizations you’ll get in the long run will be well worth it.
If you’re ready to switch to an AI-powered CRM for your business, use our CRM Product Selection Tool. Answer the questions, and you’ll get a short, unbiased list of software that’s perfect for your company.
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