Hows, Whys, and Whats of AI in CRM

Nowadays, you can’t surprise people with AI tools, and their popularity only grows. We use artificial intelligence to make our daily routines easier, whether it’s just asking Siri about the weather or booking a hotel room for your vacation. And while an average person benefits from AI by saving their time and nerves, businesses also get cost savings, increased team productivity, and even profit growth.

Many CRM providers started implementing artificial intelligence into their software, which took CRMs from being customized Excel sheets to providing the entire business automation. But how and why is AI such a great complement to your customer relationship management? And what else can it bring to your organization? Let’s find out.

Why is there a need for artificial intelligence in CRM?🤔

We can use this question for absolutely any sphere of life. Like, seriously, why do we need voice assistants, chatbots, or smart houses when we can make notes, answer messages and remember the milk ourselves? And those who have ever been lost in thousands of memos, forgotten grocery, meetings, or waited for a shop assistant’s reply for hours know the answer. Same to those who worked with CRM where they could store data but still had to spend nights analyzing it. So, the answer is AI makes everything much easier and faster. And your engagement with CRM included.

How useful is AI for CRM users? 🧐

Okay, let’s say you believed us and think that artificial intelligence is a nice technology. “But how nice is AI if we talk about CRMs?” you ask. So, there are a few main aspects artificial intelligence helps with.

Sales process and marketing automation 💸

Every company, not to mention every sales rep, uses a constant circle of certain actions (sales pipeline) to turn a lead into a client and then into a loyal customer. Also, marketers build a strategy from mostly repetitive actions. Sending emails on each and every holiday, posting a new case study every Monday, or reassuring the time and place of the meeting the day before seem like pretty easy tasks, while they still take your energy and lots of working hours.

AI-powered CRM, in turn, takes these tasks from your shoulders and lets you get down to challenges that require more attention. 

Customer experience analytics ⚖️

One of the main CRM’s purposes is to have all customer data in one place. With AI algorithms, you get ready-to-use analytics after the CRM automatically collects and processes all the details of your customer journey. Some AI-powered software can also advise you on how to improve your customer experience and explain where exactly the problems occur.

Churn predictions 🔮

Since AI monitors and analyzes each and every step of your customers, it’s easier to predict when a client has a bigger chance of falling off. This helps you take the right action in time and prevent customer and, respectively, profit loss.

By the way, we have an entire article about churn predictions, so you can read it to get the whole idea of how current technology works.

Automated management 📋

No need to ask your employees to send you their work reports or send them a message to check what task they are working on now. CRMs can automatically inform you about every team member, their workflow, results, and even the things they’re having trouble with.

What are the examples of AI in CRMs?

And now when you know how beneficial artificial intelligence may be for your CRM, the logical question is which CRM providers support current technology. So, we’ve prepared a few of the most popular ones for you.

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Let’s start with the classics. Microsoft offers a bunch of tools for team and customer relationship management. The company released new AI tools for Microsoft Dynamics 365 back in 2018. And from then on, artificial intelligence helps users prioritize tasks and manage their workflow and customer relationships.

Zoho

Zoho CRM solutions offer their users a built-in AI assistant Zia. Ask Zia to help with your tasks management, data processing, and analysis, or seek advice on how to enhance your productivity. “Zia has all the answers”, claims Zoho.

Salesforce

The company calls its AI-tool Einstein. Salesforce Einstein can be integrated into any Salesforce-based CRM and help users with various processes: from planning a day to talking to clients. So, you can be sure that your business is fully automated with this one.

What to start with? 🧗

Sure thing, with deciding on a CRM provider. It’s one of the most important things, like choosing a place for an office or a team structure. Everything depends on what you expect from your CRM and what your business needs. So, which one to choose?

You might already have an answer or still be confused. But if you opt for Salesforce or need a hand understanding the difference – don’t hesitate to contact our team. We’re always here to help you find the best ways to improve your business💛

Hope you enjoyed reading it! Cheers 🍻