5 Steps to Building a Great eCommerce CRM: A Definitive Guide

The use of CRM solutions for maintaining relationships with customers is a longstanding trend. As when it comes to online retails, customer data management is an essential part of any e-commerce platform.

Using CRM software, business owners see a full picture of customers’ behavior, changes, and trends. Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of CRM system for eCommerce and how to make use of them.

Benefits of CRM Software

First, let’s find out how exactly e-commerce CRM helps to improve customer service quality.

• Sales growth: Sales and CS departments will easily access data like customers’ order history, payments, inventory, and so on. That leads to building a more personalized approach.

• Better demand and supply planning: eCommerce CRM comes with a demand-driven planning feature. That’s how the company can better predict the demand and manage their reserves.

• Targeted advertising: Due to centralized information, companies can quickly launch targeted and personalized marketing campaigns so they can make more customized offers even after the sale.

• RMA management: Return Merchandise Authorization is often among CRM benefits. With its help, a support representative having all the needed data in hand finds the best approach to the customer’s problem.

• Reduces costs: Auto synchronization eliminates the need for manual data transmitting, which often leads to errors and bad client experience.

Why & How to Build a Custom eCommerce CRM?

Although there are lots and lots of ready-made CRM solutions, they can’t meet all the requirements of various companies and firms. For example, some suites miss vital features like activity tracking or support channel. Or you’d like to include ready-made templates and create a marketplace website. Finally, they often have too many useless ones and slow business processes down.

In this case, built-from-scratch solutions come to the rescue. First, custom software can be developed for any business process. A CRM system designed for a specific company includes the functionality needed to solve its problems and provide data exchange.

Now, let’s figure out how to build one.

1. List the goals

It all starts with writing down the goals and needs of your company. Think about an e-commerce CRM strategy. It’ll help you define the problems you’d like to solve and why having a CRM is that important for your business.

2. Create the feature-list

Add features that your solution needs and consider their importance. Besides, you can add basic features required for an MVP first and then, with your business expansion, add more complex ones.

Here are the must-have features for an e-commerce CRM:

• Market analytics;
• Marketing campaigns creation;
• Activity tracking;
• Well-organized support;
• Customer lifecycle analytics;
• Messaging channel.

3. Brainstorm

Meet with your employees or partners and discuss the list of features. Together you will decide on the must-haves and cross out features you don’t need for now.

4. Find a good tech partner

Now’s the time to look for software creators. You may either go for in-house or outsourced development. The main trick is to check the team thoroughly you’re entrusting your product – what’s their expertise, reviews, portfolio cases.

5. Don’t overestimate CRM purposes

In sum, CRM is useful, but it’s not a magic wand. Let’s face the truth – it won’t solve all your business problems. It’s just a tool to optimize sales processes and improve relationships with customers. But this tool can do much if appropriately used.

CRM benefits to businesses are quite distinct, and its importance is high. The main trick is to understand the needs of your business and all its divisions’ requirements. Only then you can build a solution that works for your company and does it well.