Are you looking for a way to effectively analyze your customer data? Then an analytical CRM system might just be what you need!
However, selecting the wrong one can lead to a disastrous outcome and a waste of resources. With so many analytical CRM options on the market, choosing one that aligns with your business goals is essential.
My name is AJ! Over the last decade, I have successfully built and sold my own digital agency! After a successful exit, I began Small Business Bonfire (SBB) to help other entrepreneurs and small business owners like me.
While growing the agency, I used multiple analytical CRMs to better understand my customers. Now, I aim to share this knowledge with the SSB community!
FYI — The SBB team and I reviewed dozens of CRMs and created a list of the best CRM for small business! Be sure to check it out after reading this review!
Key Takeaways
- Analytical CRM makes capturing sales data easy
- Monitoring sales activity is simple with CRM analytics
- There are many different analytical CRM software available
- Customer analytics provides accurate financial forecasting
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Types of CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Overview
If you are looking for a CRM, there are many different types to consider, each with its own unique features and benefits.
The most common CRM types include:
- Analytical CRM
- Operational CRM
- Collaborative CRM
Let’s discuss these in more detail!
Analytical CRM
An analytical CRM is a customer relationship management system that analyzes consumer data based on customer behavior, preferences, and trends.
This solution is designed to help businesses better understand their customers, identify high-value segments, and personalize marketing and sales efforts.
Businesses can make data-driven decisions that optimize their operations, boost customer acquisition and retention rates, and increase revenue by leveraging the information gathered from this data.
Operational CRM
Operational CRM focuses on aspects related to customer-facing operations, such as sales automation, marketing automation, and customer service automation.
These modules enable companies to automate routine tasks, store customer information, and track customer interactions throughout their life cycle.
This type of CRM is all about streamlining and optimizing day-to-day processes that involve customers. It helps companies efficiently manage customer experience, improve customer relationships, and increase business performance overall.
Collaborative CRM
The main objective of a collaborative CRM is to promote inter-departmental communication for companies with multiple locations and teams to improve customer relationships.
It involves sharing real time customer data and information across departments such as customer service, sales, and marketing. This collaboration ensures businesses provide a seamless, consistent, and positive customer experience.
With improved collaboration and communication, teams have access to all essential client information and can easily stay on top of changes to customer-related tasks to ensure customer retention.
What Is an Analytical CRM System?
As we briefly mentioned, an analytical CRM is a software tool that helps businesses make sense of customer data and optimize customer relations by providing insights into customer behavior patterns, purchase history, and preferences.
It uses data mining techniques to identify trends in existing customers’ marketing and sales activity, which can help businesses optimize their marketing efforts, improve customer satisfaction, and increase the overall customer life cycle.
This system can also use predictive analytics and machine learning to forecast future customer behavior and recommend strategic actions businesses should take based on these CRM analytics.
By leveraging these data insights, businesses can personalize the customer experience, tailor marketing campaigns for individual clients, and boost key metrics like retention and revenue.
Features of Analytical CRM
Having used multiple analytical CRMs during my time at the digital agency, I discovered that there are main features these systems offer small businesses to help them gain valuable customer insights.
These features are as follows:
- Customer data tracking
- Campaign tracking
- Analytics-based decision making
Let’s take a closer look at these features!
Customer Data Tracking
One of the main features of an analytical CRM is customer data tracking. This involves collecting and storing client data from various sources, such as customer interactions, payment and credit history, and demographics.
This data is then analyzed to identify trends and patterns, such as which products and services are in high demand, which demographics are most profitable, and which channels are most effective in reaching customers.
With this information, businesses can tailor their sales performance and marketing strategies to target specific customer segments with the right messaging through the proper channels at the right time.
Campaign Tracking
Another key feature of an analytical CRM is campaign tracking. This refers to monitoring and measuring the performance of marketing campaigns by tracking customer response rates to promotional offers, emails, newsletters, and other marketing activities.
This allows companies to identify how effective their campaign management drives customer engagement and sales opportunities. These reports help businesses recognize which campaigns are generating the most revenue, which ones are improving customer loyalty, and which ones are falling short of expectations.
Business owners can use this feature for marketing campaign optimization and planning for future campaigns to increase their return on investment (ROI) and improve customer satisfaction.
Analytics-Based Decision Making
Finally, an analytical CRM offers predictive analytics-based decision-making capabilities to help businesses optimize their customer relations strategies. This involves leveraging data from past customer interactions, marketing campaigns, and sales forecasting to make informed decisions about future actions.
It can help organizations predict future trends, identify new opportunities, and improve operational efficiency. These insights can be used to optimize business processes, design targeted marketing strategies, and deliver highly personalized customer experiences across channels.
Armed with this information, companies can make strategic decisions that will create better customer relationships and increase sales processes, which can help drive revenue growth and improve the sales pipeline.
Benefits of an Analytical CRM
There is also a wide range of benefits businesses can take advantage of while using an analytical CRM.
Better Customer Analysis
One of the most significant benefits of an analytical CRM is the ability to conduct more in-depth customer analysis. Businesses can comprehensively view customer preferences, attitudes, and behaviors by tracking customer interactions across multiple touchpoints.
This means that an analytical CRM can help you discover what your customers like, need, and dislike, giving sales and marketing teams the insight they need to create a more personalized, customer-focused approach to their sales operations.
Additionally, analytical CRMs enable teams to identify customer pain points, such as product or service defects, and quickly address them through actionable insights based on customer analytics to help improve customer satisfaction.
Moreover, these systems also offer insights into customer retention data, enabling businesses to identify customers at risk of leaving and helping them proactively implement retention strategies.
Better Sales Analysis
An analytical CRM can also give businesses insights into current, future, and past sales trends. It helps sales teams better understand customer preferences and purchasing history by analyzing consumer sales data.
This helps businesses to identify the most profitable customers, which can lead to more efficient use of marketing resources, which could result in higher revenue and an improved sales pipeline.
Furthermore, analytical CRMs can also assist with cross-selling and upselling during the sales cycle by identifying consumers who are likely to be interested in additional products or services, which could help sales teams spend less time generating leads and more time cultivating meaningful relationships with existing customers.
Better Market Analysis
Another major benefit of using analytical CRMs is that they can provide businesses with insights into their marketing data, enabling them to make more educated decisions about which products or services to focus on.
These systems allow marketing teams to understand their marketing data on a deeper level. In turn, this lets businesses make more accurate predictions about future marketing campaigns and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly.
This personalized approach can lead to greater customer loyalty, increased brand trust, a higher customer conversion rate, and better lead generation. With the right data mining and analytical tools, businesses can improve their market analysis and gain a competitive edge by understanding customer patterns and trends.
Better Service Analysis
Businesses can use an analytical CRM to gain insights into how customers interact with customer service through service analytics. This can help them identify areas where customer service processes can be optimized and improved.
By utilizing information from client interactions and customer satisfaction data within the system, businesses can gain valuable insights into how well their customer service teams are performing and make adjustments that will ultimately enhance customer retention.
These service analytics can also help businesses predict when customers may have a service issue, allowing them to proactively address any problems before they arise. This helps minimize the impact of customer service issues on business operations and ensures that customers receive high-quality support promptly.
Better Channel Analysis
Finally, CRM analytics also enable businesses to analyze customer data across different channels, such as their website, social media, email, apps, phone calls, and in-store visits. It helps them understand their customers and how they interact with their company, which can be invaluable for marketing teams and sales reps.
With an analytical CRM, businesses can track customer behavior across those channels, identify which channels have more impact on their customers, and target their marketing efforts to those channels that yield the most significant return.
This approach has proven to be cost-effective as businesses can allocate their resources to the most effective channels, which could help boost sales and customer satisfaction. Additionally, these tools give companies a holistic view of the customer journey, allowing for personalized interactions with each customer.
Analytical CRM Data Analysis Examples
There are multiple examples of how organizations can leverage CRM analytics and techniques to gain insights into customer behavior.
Some of these examples include the following:
- Descriptive Analytical CRM
- Diagnostic Analytical CRM
- Predictive Analytical CRM
- Prescriptive Analytical CRM
Let’s dive deeper to find out more about each of these examples!
Descriptive Analytical CRM
One example of data analysis in analytical CRM is descriptive analysis, which is used to understand the “who, what, when, and where” of customer interactions.
Through this approach, businesses can identify their most valuable customers, determine which products or services are most popular and at what times, and even identify patterns in customer buying habits.
With descriptive analytics, a company may find that customers who purchase a particular product often buy a similar product along with the first one. With this knowledge, business owners can tailor their marketing efforts to promote both products together, increasing sales and customer engagement.
Diagnostic Analytical CRM
Diagnostic analytical CRM focuses on identifying the root causes of certain customer trends and behaviors.
This involves a detailed examination of why certain customers are more likely to churn, why certain products are more popular, or why certain marketing campaigns are more effective.
For instance, a company may notice that customers in a certain demographic (based on customer segmentation) are less likely to return for repeat purchases. By analyzing this data, they may discover potential bottlenecks, such as a particular product or service that customers are dissatisfied with, allowing them to make changes and improve customer satisfaction.
Predictive Analytical CRM
Another example of analytical CRM data analysis is predictive analytics, which forecasts future customer behaviors.
Predictive analytics leverages data from past customer interactions and combines this with external data sources to identify potential patterns or signals that may indicate a customer will behave a certain way.
For example, predictive analytics can be used to determine which customers are most likely to churn or which ones are most likely to make additional purchases. This information can be used to target customers with the right offers or incentives to increase their loyalty and retention, which could lead to reduced churn rates.
Prescriptive Analytical CRM
Lastly, prescriptive analytical CRM is used to generate recommendations based on customer behaviors to aid businesses in delivering the best possible customer service.
This approach combines predictive analytics with additional data points, such as customer preferences, product availability, and pricing, to give companies a holistic view of the customer journey.
Instead of simply identifying trends and bottlenecks, prescriptive analytics makes predictions. It outlines different scenarios that help organizations anticipate what might happen in the future and determine the optimal next steps.
Based on this data, businesses can create personalized offers for each customer tailored to their specific needs, which could improve customer engagement and satisfaction and drive growth over time.
How Does an Analytical CRM System Work?
As previously stated, analytical CRM systems use data analytics to optimize and personalize the customer experience. It extracts and analyzes customer information to segment customers into different groups based on specific characteristics and behaviors.
It allows businesses to gain insights into their customer base and help customize their sales and marketing campaigns with the right message for individual consumers. With these advanced analytics, companies can use this data to tailor policies and practices and optimize each customer interaction.
Ultimately, analytical CRM aims to improve customer satisfaction, increase customer retention, and drive revenue growth through informed and targeted decision-making.
Analytical CRM vs. Operational CRM
Unlike analytical CRMs, an operational CRM is focused primarily on improving efficiency in everyday customer-facing processes. With it, a company can track consumer data and interactions, such as orders, inquiries, and complaints, throughout the client’s life cycle.
For example, it might help automate the process of emailing customers promotions or follow-up surveys, prompting customer service reps to follow up with clients regarding submitted support tickets, or triggering targeted marketing campaigns based on past purchase history.
Overall, this CRM can help companies better understand their customers and personalize their interactions, which is essential for building long-lasting client relationships.
Analytical CRM vs. Collaborative CRM
While an analytical CRM gathers and analyzes data to drive decision-making, a collaborative CRM focuses on improving collaboration between departments within an organization. This type of CRM typically involves tools like chat, email, and project management software that help employees work together more effectively.
This approach emphasizes teamwork, communication, and coordination among sales, marketing, and customer service teams to ensure the customer receives a consistent and seamless experience across all touchpoints.
Organizations that embrace collaborative CRM techniques can empower their teams to work more productively, provide excellent customer service, and ultimately grow their revenues through increased customer retention and sales rates.
How to Choose an Analytical CRM
When it comes to choosing an analytical CRM, there are several factors that you will need to consider.
Below are some things I considered while trying to find the right system for the digital agency.
Understand the Intended Use
The first step is to understand how you plan to use the system. What kind of insights and data do you need? Do you want to track customer behavior or improve customer service? Having a clear idea of your goals will help narrow your search and find the right system for your specific needs.
Get the Features You Need
Once you understand your goals, start looking for a CRM system with the features and capabilities that can meet them. A good analytical CRM should be able to collect, store, and analyze data from multiple sources to generate reports. Make sure to create a list of must-have features, such as reporting, predictive analytics, and customer segmentation, and compare them across different systems.
Know if Your Team is Tech Savvy
Another important factor to consider is the technical proficiency of your team. Some systems may require more technical knowledge than others, so ensure you find one that fits their skill levels and abilities. It’s also a good idea to look for a system that offers training and support services.
Test the Analytical CRM
Finally, once you have narrowed down your list of options, test the system for yourself. It’s important to understand how easy it is to use and whether it can meet your needs. Most services offer a free trial or plan, so take advantage of that and get a feel for the features and interface. This will help you decide if it fits your business correctly. Also, ask questions and get feedback from other users before making a final decision.
Analytical CRM Software
If you are looking for an analytical CRM to help you better serve your customers, there are several excellent options on the market. Each platform is different in terms of features, pricing, and user experience, so make sure to take your time in researching them.
While at the agency, I discovered some of the best CRM software solutions!
Let’s take a look at these platforms!
Salesforce Einstein
First, let’s talk about Salesforce Einstein!
What Is Salesforce Einstein
Salesforce Einstein is an AI-powered analytical tool that enhances customer relationship management by providing insights and predictions based on historical customer data. It uses advanced machine learning algorithms to identify patterns and trends that would otherwise go unnoticed and offers actionable recommendations to optimize marketing, sales, and customer service efforts.
Salesforce Einstein Pricing
Salesforce Einstein is an add-on that can be purchased for $50 a month per user annually and integrated with Salesforce’s main CRM platform. Users must contact the Salesforce team to purchase the service.
Salesforce Einstein Pros and Cons
Salesforce Einstein is a popular and respected analytical CRM tool with numerous pros and cons.
Salesforce Einstein Pros
- Streamlined sales processes
- Powerful predictive analytics
- Customized recommendations
Salesforce Einstein Cons
- Limited integration options
- Some technical expertise required
HubSpot Marketing Hub
Now let’s go over HubSpot Marketing Hub!
What Is HubSpot Marketing Hub?
HubSpot Marketing Hub is a complete marketing automation platform designed to help businesses attract, engage, and delight customers. It offers a suite of advanced tools that allow you to create and manage email campaigns, social media campaigns, landing pages, blogs, and more within a single, unified platform.
With HubSpot Marketing Hub, you can easily optimize your marketing efforts using data-driven insights and analytics, building long-lasting customer relationships. If you want to learn more about this platform, check out our HubSpot Marketing Hub review!
HubSpot Marketing Hub Pricing
HubSpot Marketing Hub offers three different pricing options based on the business size and its needs. Its Starter plan begins at $20 a month and goes up to $3,600 monthly for the Enterprise plan. However, they offer a 14-day free trial of each subscription so users can test the service before deciding which plan they need.
HubSpot Marketing Hub Pros and Cons
There are many benefits and drawbacks to using HubSpot Marketing Hub.
HubSpot Marketing Hub Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- Customizable ad campaigns
- Comprehensive analytics and reporting
HubSpot Marketing Hub Cons
- Limited customer support
- Pricing is steep for more advanced plans
Zoho Analytics
Lastly, let’s review Zoho Analytics!
What Is Zoho Analytics?
Zoho Analytics is a powerful analytical CRM software designed to help businesses manage, analyze, and visualize customer data efficiently and effectively. With it, you can track customer interactions, identify patterns, and create targeted marketing campaigns to increase conversions. The platform also integrates seamlessly with popular business tools like Zoho CRM, enabling you to combine CRM data with other data sources, such as social media and website analytics.
Zoho Analytics Pricing
Zoho Analytics offers a 15-day free trial of its services and provides multiple pricing plans for users to choose from. It has a free forever plan for up to one user on a local server. However, its Basic plan costs $24 a month annually for up to two users. The platform is highly scalable, so business owners can upgrade their plans at affordable rates as their company grows.
Zoho Analytics Pros and Cons
These are some of the main advantages and disadvantages of Zoho Analytics!
Zoho Analytics Pros
- Cost-effective
- Advanced analytics
- Real time reporting
Zoho Analytics Cons
- Limited data visualization
- Limited automation options
Closing Thoughts
An analytical CRM gives businesses a competitive edge in a highly competitive market. It uses advanced tools and techniques to analyze customer data and generate valuable insights that can be used to develop effective marketing strategies.
With an analytical CRM, businesses can improve their customer experience and build long-lasting relationships with their customers. So, if you haven’t yet considered an analytical CRM, it may be time to start exploring the benefits it can offer for your business!
Do you want to improve your sales pipeline and customer retention? Do you have any questions about how to find a reliable analytical CRM? Sound off in the comment section below!