Your customers keep your business going. To earn their loyalty, you must understand what they want and reach out at the right time. That’s exactly what customer relationship management (CRM) software helps you do.

But choosing the wrong type can leave you with siloed data and missed opportunities. The right one, though, can transform how you engage, convert and retain your customers.

So, how do you know which CRM is right for your business?

This article breaks it down. You’ll learn what CRM can do for you, the different types of CRM software available, and how to choose the one that fits your company best.

What is a CRM system?

CRM systems help businesses track and improve customer relationships. They organize customer data and automate tasks such as follow-ups or targeted campaigns.

What started out in the 1990s as simple tools for storing contacts and tracking sales has evolved into comprehensive platforms. Today’s enterprise CRM solutions manage millions of data points and support real-time engagement across email, SMS, mobile apps and social media. This lets teams better understand customer behavior, respond faster and get better results.

Why do you need a CRM solution?

The right CRM solution helps you in many aspects:

• Improved productivity: Automate follow-ups, data entry and marketing workflows, so your team doesn’t waste time on repetitive tasks.
• Better customer relations: Track customer interactions and send messages based on their behavior, e.g., which ads they click on or what they buy most. Show customers you understand their needs!
• Refined data management and reduced silos: Ensure that all your teams have access to the same information about customers’ interactions. They can collaborate without needing to rely on multiple, disconnected systems.
• In-depth view of customer profiles: See detailed customer profiles with customers’ locations, preferences and engagement with your brand. This lets you segment your audience precisely and send more targeted campaigns.

Talk to an expert to learn what the right CRM can do for your business.

The 4 types of CRM software

There are four main types of CRM software examples: operational, analytical, collaborative and strategic. Each focuses on different tasks and helps you improve specific parts of your work. Let’s break it down.

*Note: Loadstone fits strongly in all four categories—operational, analytical, collaborative and strategic CRM. It stands out due to its embedded CDP, real-time segmentation and omnichannel communication. 

Let’s explore these four types of CRM software in more detail.

Operational CRM

An operational CRM system helps businesses centralize and manage customer communication on multiple channels, e.g., email, SMS and social media. This lets you automate tasks such as sending reminders when customers leave items in their carts. This type of CRM typically doesn’t focus on in-depth analytics. Instead, it supports daily business processes, i.e., marketing campaigns, customer service automation or mass and transactional messaging.

Analytical CRM

Analytical CRM spots patterns in how people interact with your business—what they buy and respond to. That way, you can segment your audience more precisely and match your communication to their needs. However, these tools often require complex infrastructure and technical expertise to maximize their potential.

Collaborative CRM

Collaborative CRM systems connect communication between marketing, customer service and sales teams. Everyone can view customer interactions with the brand, ensuring that all teams are aligned when reaching out to customers. While it improves collaboration, it can pose data security risks due to shared access to sensitive information.

Strategic CRM

Strategic CRM focuses on building long-term customer relationships through insights into customer behavior. Companies then use those insights to run loyalty initiatives, such as sending discounts on products customers buy frequently or setting up tiered memberships. One limitation is that strategic CRM often needs integration with operational or analytical CRM to execute and measure efforts fully.

How to choose the right type of CRM for your business

Choosing the type of CRM for your business comes down to what exactly you want to achieve with it.

Here are some key questions to help you understand what your true priorities in a CRM are:

• Do you need marketing automation?
• Are you prioritizing data insights and segmentation?
• Do you want to engage customers in different ways (mass campaigns, personalized messages, promotions), and do you need alignment across efforts?
• Is real-time access to customer data necessary for you?
• Do you use multiple channels (email, chat, social media) to communicate with your audience?
• How important is it for your team to respond instantly based on live customer data?

Expert advice: Modern customers receive thousands of brand messages daily. To stand out, you need a CRM that segments your audience in real time and connects with them across all channels. This ensures you reach the right people at the right moment with offers that match their needs, whether through email, SMS or social media.

Why all-in-one CRM ecosystems are the future

After going through the questions above, you may have come to the conclusion that you need features from more than one CRM type to meet all your needs.

If you’re breaking a sweat at the idea of juggling multiple platforms, training your customer service team and ending up with a scattered experience—we get it.

But what if instead of all that hassle, you could have all four types of CRM software in one solution?

When all your customer data and relationship activities are in one place, you don’t have to switch between different tools. This reduces friction and improves productivity as you run campaigns, analyze customer data and plan long-term strategies from a single system. 

The good news is that such a “four-in-one” CRM solution exists. It’s called Loadstone CRM and Communications.

It combines the key features of all types of CRM software into one CRM and marketing automation platform. Here’s how.

Loadstone CRM and Communications lets you use it as an operational CRM to send messages through channels like email, SMS, mobile push and social media. Automate abandoned cart campaigns or restock alerts for customers who left items in their cart or viewed a sold-out product.

Analytical CRM features in Loadstone are in its built-in Customer Data Platform (CDP). This system collects customer data and segments it in real time. Group customers based on factors such as their location or the channels they use most frequently. Loadstone also offers detailed analytics with insights into open rates or conversions.

Your collaborative CRM needs are covered through a complete view of every interaction you’ve had with each customer. All teams—marketing, sales and support—can see how the customer was contacted and what they responded to. You get detailed profiles with names, purchase history and loyalty program status.

Speaking of keeping customers engaged, Loadstone lets you use it as a strategic CRM to build long-term relationships. Use its loyalty features to automate assigning points for every purchase or sending special birthday deals.

In Loadstone, you can create all your automations with a visual editor and zero code. Just click and drag elements to set triggers and follow-up actions.

Loadstone’s WYSIWYG builder lets you design content blocks and see exactly how your messages will appear to recipients.

Plus, you can test your ideas using the A/B/n testing tool. Try different email content or offers, and choose the one that performs best.

Loadstone CRM and Communications is part of the Loadstone composable martech ecosystem. You can expand your CRM by combining it with other Loadstone products, such as Loyalty Management and Promotional Marketing. 

If you need help choosing the right ecommerce tools, setting them up, or getting the most out of them, the Loadstone team of experts is here for you. They’ll guide you through every step to ensure you get the best results.

Book a call to discover how Loadstone can support your CRM needs and help you reach your goals.

Traditional types of CRMs vs Loadstone CRM: Comparison table

Here’s how traditional CRMs compare to the Loadstone CRM and Communications unified solution. 

Which type of CRM software is for you?

Every business is different, and so are its CRM needs. The smartest way to choose the right CRM is to look for the one with the exact features that help you achieve your goals.

If you need all four types of CRM software features, Loadstone is the solution you’ve been looking for.

It helps you connect with your customers through messages that reflect their actions and preferences. See how each campaign performs, so you know what works. All customer interactions are in one place, making it easier for your teams to plan together and build better experiences. You can also set up loyalty automations, like giving purchase points or moving shoppers into new tiers as they buy more.

That’s just the start. Talk to our experts to see how Loadstone CRM can help you connect with your customers, keep them engaged and turn them into loyal fans.

FAQs

What are the 4 types of CRM?

The four types of CRM software are operational, analytical, collaborative and strategic.

What are the different CRM software?

Different CRM software options include solutions like Loadstone, HubSpot or Zoho CRM. 

Which is the most commonly used CRM software?

The most commonly used CRM software tools include Loadstone, Salesforce and HubSpot. Unlike Salesforce and HubSpot, which are primarily operational CRMs and require separate purchases for advanced analytics and loyalty management, Loadstone includes analytics, communication tools and loyalty features in a unified solution. It also includes an embedded CDP for real-time segmentation and omnichannel capabilities for reaching customers across all channels, tracking interactions and automating loyalty flows without extra costs.

What are the 3 basic CRM functionalities?

The three basic CRM functionalities are managing customer data, handling communication with audiences and automating workflows.

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