CRM and marketing automation: Integration’s problems and advantages

Customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation platforms (MAPs) are key components of current marketing stacks.

CRMs are used by both marketing and sales teams to manage customer data, which includes information on contacts such as their job title and engagement history, as well as information about businesses such as revenue, headcount, rivals, and so on.

Marketing automation tools enable the operationalization of prospect and customer data. MAPs mostly use email for outreach, but they also assist marketers in creating and deploying online forms to collect prospect information. They also automate operations by sending appropriate messages based on data and engagements.

In a perfect world, this is orchestration at its best. When a prospect fills out a web form, a record is created in the CRM, and the prospect can now be contacted as part of an automation or future campaign. This includes the initial outreach, which could just be an auto-responder when the form is completed that thanks the prospect for their inquiry.

These two critical tools are frequently linked, which is why many of the biggest names in marketing, including Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce, and HubSpot, provide both. And, as you might assume, working with a single provider provides the simplest path to integration. But we don’t live in a perfect world.

There are several marketing stacks out there that mix and match products due to decisions made by a previous leadership team, mergers and acquisitions, or simply because the process of establishing a stack over time isn’t always as smooth as you would like.

Regardless of the rationale, marketing teams that combine their CRM and marketing automation platforms reap numerous benefits.

Benefits of Integrating CRM with Marketing Automation

At a high level, connecting CRM and marketing automation systems allows you to collect and store data about prospects and customers, which can subsequently be used to build your business.

Adopting and integrating these systems can assist organizations in the following ways:

Personalized communication.

Integrating CRM data with marketing automation allows your firm to generate highly targeted marketing campaigns based on individual customer preferences, habits, or purchase history. This targeted message increases engagement and strengthens relationships with customers and prospects.

Improved lead management

CRM connection allows for the easy transmission of lead data between sales and your marketing team, ensuring that your leads are properly nurtured and given appropriate follow-up. Marketing automation automates lead scoring and nurturing procedures based on established criteria, allowing your firm to prioritize prospects and direct resources to those who are most likely to convert.

Timely and relevant messages

Marketing automation software enables your company to send timely and relevant messages to clients and prospects depending on their interactions with your brand. When you use your CRM data to create automated campaigns, your team may send messages at critical moments in the customer journey, such as birthdays, anniversaries, and abandoned shopping cart reminders.

Streamlined Customer Journey

Integrating CRM and marketing automation enables your team to plan and optimize the full customer journey, from first contact to post-purchase interaction. Marketing automation software automates workflows. It employs triggering actions based on customer behavior, allowing you to more successfully steer prospects through the sales funnel while providing a consistent experience across all touchpoints and platforms.

Enhanced consumer segmentation.

CRM integration enables your firm to segment its customer database based on a variety of variables, including demographics, purchase history, and engagement level. Marketing automation systems can then use these segments to provide tailored messages and offers to different consumer categories, hence enhancing relevance and engagement.

Data-driven decision-making

Integrating CRM and marketing automation can provide your company with useful information regarding consumer behavior and campaign execution. This data-driven strategy enables marketers to evaluate ROI, assess campaign effectiveness, and modify marketing plans based on real-time feedback.

Common challenges when integrating CRM and marketing automation

Many marketing teams want to improve their customer insights, streamline communication, and better target their marketing activities.

But first, firms will face many hurdles when attempting to integrate their CRM and marketing automation systems.

Data consistency and quality.

One of the most difficult difficulties is ensuring that the data is consistent and of good quality across both platforms. Discrepancies or inconsistencies in customer data result in inefficient marketing initiatives and miscommunication with customers.

Integration complexity

Integrating CRM and marketing automation systems can be challenging, especially if the systems use different data structures or APIs. Organizations might devote substantial time and resources to creating proprietary integrations or using third-party integration solutions.

Process alignment

CRM and marketing automation systems frequently perform separate functions and may have distinct workflows and processes. To ensure a smooth experience, your business must synchronize these processes.

Scalability

As your company grows, the integrated CRM and marketing automation systems should be able to scale to handle growing data volume and user engagement. When selecting vendors and creating the integration architecture, you must keep scalability in mind for both systems. The quantity of records and users frequently influences licensing prices. Both of these are likely to develop with your firm.

User Adoption

Change is difficult for many people. Users who are accustomed to old systems or procedures may react negatively when new technological platforms are introduced. Your company must give appropriate training and assistance to guarantee that staff can effectively use the linked CRM and marketing automation tools.