How to Create a custom CRM System?
The marketing of 2018 keeps leaning even more to the automation side of things. The main reason is, that businesses now tend to monitor, analyze and customize all of their online interactions with clients. That’s hard to do manually after you pass even “10-15 clients” mark.
The other reason for marketing automation is that customer service and customer loyalty now reign the business world. Whether you run a small store or a worldwide corporation, you won’t succeed without loyal customers onboard.
The reasons mentioned above inevitably lead to businesses using customer relationship management (CRM) systems on a daily basis.
An efficient CRM workflow will help you build a more personal relationship with your clients, offer suited services for them and boost customer loyalty. And loyalty is important considering the costs of acquiring a new customer are 4 to 10 times higher than retaining an old one.
The CRM market nowadays is full of ready-to-go solutions like ZohoCRM, AmoCRM, Pipeline and tons of others. So why would anyone need a custom system to reach their goals? And if they would, how does a business go about building it? Let’s dive into it.
Why do you need a custom CRM anyways?
According to Gartner, the CRM market will soon exceed $40 Billion (making it the largest enterprise software market), but paradoxically, the real install rate around the world stays only at 1%. Thus, a question emerges: How can a market so huge be so under-penetrated?
Many worldwide business software powerhouses such as Salesforce, SAP, and Oracle offer their own CRM systems, but they are very difficult to integrate, and they cost a lot of money, while not always being suitable for small and middle businesses. So why not create a CRM tailored specifically for your business?
Your Exact Needs
Pre-built CRM solutions are built to suit a wide variety of customers. They are full of bells and whistles which you would never actually use. Thus, they are too difficult to integrate and learn. Moreover, they are expensive.
With a custom-built solution, you get exactly what you need and what is necessary. If you need to extend the functionality later, you’ll still be able to, without the need to rebuild and re-learn everything.
Better Integration
By using your own CRM platform rather than a pre-built package, you’ll find extra value by automating other areas of your business. Paperwork, sales, technical support, social media, communication can be done on a single dashboard.
For instance, creating an advanced web system for a startup called GetClean we provided this Sharing Economy project with a system that now covers nearly 90% of business processes running in the company.
GetClean users leave their orders on a website developed by us, then the orders are processed by the sales department, the suitable cleaners are assigned for the time ordered.
After the job is done, admins can view the whole order history for each client, edit cleaners’ schedule, analyze reviews etc. As a result of introducing a custom, CRM GetClean were able to get rid of a huge chunk of paperwork. A bit later they became the leaders of the cleaning market in Belarus. For more details about the project – jump over here, folks.
Affordable
The majority of CRM system pursue pay-per-user system, which is not always effective for companies with multiple departments. While sales managers use CRMs every day, other employees might not use them that often. Accordingly, the price you pay for those who use the system occasionally is way exaggerated.
With a tailored CRM solution by OZiTAG you will pay only for the functions you need. Afterwards – invite as many users as you need. The system will grow together with your business.
Essential features for every CRM System
Address book
A basic function all the CRMs evolved from in the first place. In the perfect scenario, the address book of your CRM should store information about all the people involved in your business.
Traditionally, new contacts are added to a CRM system manually, but nowadays there are incredible opportunities for the automation of the process. Salesflare, for example, gathers contact information from email signatures and social network profiles.
It’s also possible to build a custom API to gather customer information from forms, emails and other interactions with your content. If you’ve already been using some other CRM before switching to a custom one, it will be possible to import your contact data into your brand new system.
Leads and deals
As it usually goes in business, you start following your potential customers as “leads” through marketing funnels, add some data while you’re convincing them your product or service is worth trying, and finally close deals with these leads. An active CRM system should gather, calculate and present data for your convenience at every stage of this process.
Activities
Dealing with a variety of multi-profile events can be tough both for managers and regular employees. That’s why efficient CRMs provide scheduling tools with notifications for regular activities and planned events like calls, follow-ups, and meetings.
Mobile
Of course, with the popularity of mobile devices today, many business people would like to have customer management functions in their pocket at all times. That’s why a well-optimized mobile version is a great investment while creating a custom CRM.
Integrations
Sometimes developing all the awesome functions by a dedicated team might be a bit too expensive for a business trying to get on its feet. That’s where integrations come in handy.
The variety of lightweight third-party services can be easily introduced to your CRM, making it a swiss-army tool for efficient daily use. Stuff like Trello, Yesware, Callmaker, MailChimp, and Google Apps is available for integration, as well as some other services at your request.
How to create a custom CRM System
The priorities in the process of CRM development are quite clear. They are:
- Convenience to use
- Affordable costs
- Functionality
At OZiTAG, we focus on detailed intelligence of your business and creating a clear roadmap prior to actual development to make sure we go the right way, and both sides will be satisfied in the end.
Reconnaissance
When a new CRM development project is on the horizon, we start with a series of interviews with the key personalities in the company to view a bigger picture of the kind of product you need. The standard questions include:
- What types of customer information should be tracked?
- How would you define your CRM?
- What goals do you put in front of digital solutions in your company?
- Which departments and professionals will be using the product?
We also perform the research of your industry and competitors to suggest more unique features for a custom CRM. This way, your business will definitely stand out from the bunch.
CRM Project Scope and Requirements
At this point, we already have a personal project manager assigned to work with you and make sure all your ideas get implemented.
Based on the goals of the project, we create a comprehensive list of technical requirements, as well as approximate development stages and processes
The costs and price of CRM development
As a business owner, your goal is to get maximum value for your money. That’s why we make sure all your expenses are justified and the return on your money is sustainable.
The cost to develop a CRM system depends heavily on deadlines you set, on the functions you’d like to implement, and additional customization like the design, integrations, etc.
A full-scale custom CRM by OZiTAG will cost from $10000, potentially more. We agree it’s not the sum of money just hanging out in your pocket at any given time.
That’s why we usually offer to create MVP (a Minimum Viable Product) at the lowest costs and move on adding functions from then on. This way the investment gets spread over the course of several months or even years, and you can start earning from the product as quickly as possible.
The Trends in CRM Application Development
According to a recently published report by Forrester, the followinп factors will be key in the CRM development field in the following years:
- Mobile – remote and mobile workforce is getting even more common. Yet the CRM solutions of today can’t fully satisfy the need for lightweight optimized systems.
- Cloud – The standards of web storage and data exchange are constantly evolving, so every successful CRM system just has to provide quick and secure cloud data features.
- Social Media – content-driven marketing is now trending around the world, so the demand for great SMM analytics and automation tools within CRMs is absolutely justified.
If you’re looking for a web and mobile development company to build a flawless custom CRM solution, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We’ll give you a free project assessment within 24 hours!