Introduction
CRM is an integral tool to establish a strong relationship between a business and a customer. A CRM gathers and stores data related to customer’s buying behavior, campaign performance, sales performance, customer segments, etc. These data provide insights for businesses to make critical decisions. However, making sense of the raw data can be challenging and sometimes may require specialist intervention.
CRM reporting presents complex data points in an easily digestible visual format. With CRM reporting, customer relationship data can be quickly accessed without much hassle.
In this article, we will explore the different types of CRM reports and how to create them. We will also share insights on the best practices for presenting data through CRM reports.
What is a CRM reporting?
Modern customer relationship management software is a powerhouse for customer data, and a CRM report turns this customer data into visual representations. These visual data points are much easier for a meaningful understanding of customer preferences, market trends, campaign performance, etc.
Different types of CRM reporting track various types of data. Each report may analyze various metrics related to that data to present a visual report. You can track customer reviews, campaign performances, workflow efficiency, sales performance, etc. Every data will help you track different operations within your business.
Why is a CRM reporting so important for your business?
Traditional reporting is highly tedious and time-consuming, as vast raw data needs to be analyzed and summarized into meaningful data. Even appointing a specialist to do the job will be a burden to the budget.
Reports indicate that 93% of businesses attest to higher customer retention rates since embracing CRM solutions. However, such significant change can only be realized when CRM data optimizes processes and improves products and services.
CRM reports ensure clarity in complex data forms, ensuring businesses gain insightful information to make data-driven decisions. Let us divulge the benefits of CRM reports, which make them so important for any business.
- • Gain critical insights into business progress: CRM is a major source for insights into customer data. Tracking key metrics like lead conversions, customer acquisition rate, buying preferences, etc., can provide key information about customer segments, buying behavior, and consumer trends.
- CRM data in customer feedback reveals customer satisfaction and their experience, which will measure their chances of converting into a loyal customer. A complete overview of CRM data provides you with information on customer experience, product feasibility, areas of improvement, sales process efficiency, and team performance.
- • Make strategic decisions: When businesses have accurate information regarding customer experiences, lead conversions, sales performances, the efficiency of the sales funnel, campaign effectiveness, etc. It strengthens them to make strategic decisions. Comprehensive customer data helps plan process optimization, effective resource utilization, and budget allocation, etc.,
- Additionally, when a business is going through expansion into new regions, customer data becomes a reliable source for making critical decisions. It will equip the managing team with insights into customer segments, their preferences, and behavior to plan accordingly.
- • Track performance: CRM data can be analyzed in real-time to understand sales performance and customer buying trends and optimize as needed. When data is presented in a consolidated manner, it is easier to understand areas that are underperforming, processes that are not efficient, activities that are not bringing ROI, or buying trends that indicate product improvisation.
- • Streamline workflows: Often, process inefficiency or bottlenecks in a workflow are culprits in extending superior experience to customers. However, without conclusive evidence and meaningful data, it is difficult to pinpoint the areas that need improvement. CRM reporting is a good way to analyze such areas with clear data-backed evidence.
- Now, as teams have sufficient data on various workflows, they can better plan to improve processes that bring value not only to customers but also to the business.
- • Analyze return on investment: CRM reports are a good way for investors to understand their return on investment. The comprehensive reports present a clear view of customer satisfaction, feedback, and buying preferences to understand the effectiveness of their investment.
- Additionally, it is also possible to create simulations, which will allow the managing team to create sales predictions, understand consumer trends, or evaluate process efficiency. It can equip businesses to strategize for present and upcoming trends.
What are the different types of CRM reports?
CRM is a versatile software that offers insights into different workflows via its CRM reporting. It lets you track sales performance, customer experience, campaign performance, etc., in a comprehensive visual report.
Let’s look at some of the commonly used types of CRM reports.
- 1. Sales pipeline report: As the name defines, a sales pipeline report visualizes the journey of qualified leads through the sales funnel. The report helps track sales pipeline stages, inconsistency in any stage, lead conversion rates, etc.
- 2. Sales forecast report: Through CRM reporting, it is possible to generate a sales forecast, which can inform regarding revenue, cost expenditure, etc. The CRM can create a simulation to predict sales projections based on present data to create a sales forecast report.
- 3. Lead source analysis report: The source of leads is an essential insight that is helpful in optimizing lead generation campaigns and resource allocation. A CRM report can present a graphical representation of data for lead sources. For sales teams, it can be helpful to identify the channel for maximum lead generation, whether it is emails, social media, WhatsApp, referrals, or through specific lead generation campaigns.
- 4. Customer service report: Customer service is a critical process that may define positive and negative customer experiences. Through CRM reporting, it is possible to understand the state of customer support through specific metrics like resolution time, customer satisfaction rate, number of queries resolved, etc. These metrics are also helpful in understanding each support executive’s, performance.
- 5. Sales performance report: To understand the performance of a sales team, companies can generate sales reports that track key parameters essential to determine their progress. Using CRM reporting, companies can track the sales, sales timeline, number of leads pursued, revenue generated, number of sales proposals created, etc.
- 6. Sales activity report: A sales activity report informs about the sales activity during a designated time. It identifies the feasibility and success of any sales activities toward the planned sales objective. A CRM reporting on sales activity may include data on the number of sales outreach performed, email campaigns executed, number of sales meetings conducted, number of ongoing deals, number of deals closed, etc.
- A sales activity report may also include individual reports on sales executives to understand the number of leads assigned, number of leads converted, time taken to engage one lead, proposed value generated, etc.
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Best practices of presenting data through CRM reporting
CRM is an exhaustive tool to track and manage: customer relationships, sales, marketing, and customer support. There are various workflows, each with its data set and metrics to define their performance.
To get the most out of your CRM reporting, it is best to follow a few simple steps as a best practice. It will help you track meaningful data that is essential for your business growth without drowning in the sea of CRM data analytics
• Frequent data update: For accurate CRM reporting, the data updated in the CRM system must be up-to-date. Often, duplicate and non-working contacts in the CRM are behind report discrepancies. Teams must regularly check and confirm the accuracy of every customer’s data.
• Segment your data: It is best to categorize customer data into different segments to achieve a detailed insight into data. It can be categorized based on sales region, national or international customer, purchase history, preferences, age, etc.
• Use data visualization: Ensure to use of visual representation to present data. Charts, graphs, tables, infographics, dashboards, etc. Visualization of data helps people see, interact, and understand them much more clearly than plain Excel sheet representation. It can help them draw meaningful, varied conclusions from a single data set.
• Monitor inconsistencies: It is best to check for data inconsistencies frequently to ensure that CRM reports remain accurate. It can be identified by generating reports, which may present an unclear meaning.
• Refine and repeat: CRM reporting is a continuous process to analyze different stages of a process in different time intervals. To keep up with the continuous process, it is essential to tune reporting techniques with changing business needs. Modern CRM reporting software offers the flexibility to customize your reports with different features. Explore different customization features to represent data uniquely for better understanding.
Conclusion
Today, CRM reports are not a luxury but a necessity in a fast-paced business environment. It enables businesses to have immediate access to critical data, allowing informed decisions, a quick response to market changes, and a strong benefit over the competition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditional reporting usually makes use of batch processing and older data, while real-time reporting is immediately available and allows using current data.
Problems with data accuracy require us to protect personal information while hiring people with valid data analysis skills.
It allows firms and companies to gain immediate access to important information, which helps in deciding and responding to changing environments.
Yes, this CRM reporting helps businesses recommend other related products or the premium versions of the standard ones that customers are already using.
Nisha Sneha
Nisha Sneha is a passionate content writer with 5 years of experience creating impactful content for SAAS products, new-age technologies, and software applications. Currently, she is contributing to Kenyt.AI by crafting engaging content for its readers. Creating captivating content that provides accurate information about the latest advancements in science and technology has been at the core of her creativity.
In addition to writing, she enjoys gardening, reading, and swimming as hobbies.
