Contrary to the popular belief, CRM is not just used for gathering data related to leads, opportunities, and customers. Today’s CRM tools are sophisticated and come with a whole of features that can play a crucial role in the growth of your business. More specifically, the tool should present data in a format that is easier to understand and that benefits your company.
Following are the features to look for when buying a CRM tool:

Reporting
Sell smarter and faster by using CRM reporting feature. Gain insights into sales trends and predict future sales numbers accurately with the reporting tool. CRM reports can help you set and monitor sales goals, track total sales performance and easily identify problems to take corrective actions quickly. With this feature, you can easily analyze your business data and take informed decisions to reach your business objectives.

Email Marketing
Simplify your email marketing process by using CRM software. The software tool comes with built-in email options, which allow you to shoot out emails in bulk to your prospects and customers. You can also track these emails and know their open and click rates, thereby giving you a clear idea whether your email marketing campaign has been successful or not. So whether it is about sending invitation emails or monthly reminders to renew the subscription, the process can be easily automated using the tool.

Analytics

If CRM for small business and big companies is used only for storing customer data, it would hardly serve any purpose. However this is not the case. With the ‘Analytics’ feature, the data collected is then analyzed using data mining techniques, which can provide valuable information about the shopping behavior of customers. It can help to understand customer preferences, exactly what they are looking for when they visit your site. You will also be able to identify the most valuable or profitable customers. This in-depth analysis of the data can help you design promotions and offer special deals that elicit positive response from customers.