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( votes)For most people, e-commerce is a household word. You probably shop online pretty much every week, or at least once a month.
Nonetheless, if you look at the global picture, e-commerce in 2020 is forecasted to only take up 15.5% of all retail sales worldwide. Less than 1/6th of all of the global retail volume. With a massive estimated $4.13 trillion in e-commerce in 2020, this is just the beginning of its global expansion.
The infrastructure servicing the e-commerce realm has been keeping up with this frantic pace. E-commerce software takes all different shapes and forms. There are e-commerce platforms, inventory control software, payment processing software, point of sale software, and retail management software systems helping e-tailers run successful online shops the world over.
But then there are CRM tools for e-commerce that work as a multiplier of whatever efficiencies the e-commerce software managed to create. This synergy of the Customer Relationship Management system and the e-commerce software solutions is the best thing after sliced bread for e-tailers and we will tell you why.
Before deep-diving into how to best use CRM for e-commerce business, let’s have a quick overview of the industry-specific solutions so that you have a better understanding of the subject as a whole.
Categories of E-Commerce Software Specific to Industry
E-commerce Platforms: The Big Boys On The Playground
To start with, the “A” in the e-commerce software’s ABC are e-commerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Wix, and more. These are all one-stop shops that usually allow a total newbie to set up an e-commerce website just by following easy YouTube tutorials without much coding skills.
Such e-commerce platforms have an endless list of features that come with a monthly subscription as well as an army of devoted developers, who manufacture plugins to focus on specific functionality.
These e-commerce platforms have proven to be so user-friendly and affordable that many don’t bother creating a custom-made website anymore, preferring this out-of-box solution.
General E-commerce Software: Features & Examples
So, e-commerce software, in its most general meaning, mostly coincides with the e-commerce platforms we have enlisted above. It offers several functions from website design with ready-made templates to inventory management, online payment processing, and sales reporting.
Features of e-commerce software:
- Inventory management
- Returns management
- Website builder
- Reviews management
- Multi-store management
Examples of e-commerce software solutions:
Inventory Control Software: Features & Examples
These SaaS solutions are developed specifically to automate all things related to inventory management.
Features of inventory control software:
- Inventory tracking
- Inventory management
- Barcoding
- Inventory optimization
- Reorder management
- Supplier management
- SKU/UPC Codes
Examples of inventory control software:
Payment Processing Software: Features & Examples
Payment processing software automates credit card processing for e-commerce and offline retail alike.
Features of payment processing software:
- Online payment processing
- Billing & invoicing
- Multiple payment gateways
- POS integration
- Payment fraud prevention
- PCI compliance
- Debit/credit card processing
Examples of payment processing software:
Retail Management Software: Features & Examples
Retail management software enables e-tailers to integrate all the individual systems and solutions into one process with financial reporting, inventory management, and human resources features under one roof.
Features of retail management software:
- Employee management
- Purchase order management
- Returns management
- Commission management
- Loyalty program
- Merchandise management
- Mail order
Examples of retail management software:
Now, that you have some idea about the roles and functions of all types of e-commerce software let’s see where e-commerce CRM software fits into this tech stack.
Ecommerce CRM: main features & examples
The Customer Relationship Management system is a solution used and needed by pretty much every business out there.
Major features of CRMs include:
- Email marketing
- Social media integration
- Task management
- Pipeline management
- Marketing automation
- Calendar & reminders
- Client & partner management
There are a few leading solutions when it comes to customer relations management, Nimble being one of the top solutions with 140 thousand + professionals using it to save money and time daily.
Other best CRMs on the market include Salesforce, Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Zoho.
Let’s review how a CRM can be used to increase efficiencies in e-commerce based on the Nimble CRM experience:
Why CRM Matters For E-commerce
As we have ascertained, e-commerce has been rapidly growing and is nowhere near to its peak potential.
While professional predictions don’t extend more than a couple of years ahead, the COVID situation gave a powerful surge to the further expansion of e-commerce to the everyday lives of people. Without much exaggeration, it’s probably safe to assume, that at some point by 2030 e-commerce could take up to half of the world’s retail sales.
From this point on, it is becoming crystal clear that growth and efficiencies are going to be the driving factor for e-commerce to be able to double or even triple its share in the next decade.
This is where e-commerce customer relationship management can help the industry. To grow the client base and to ensure high brand loyalty. Among the gazillion reasons why CRM is a must-have for any online store, below are the few vital ones:
- Smooth client management on all stages of client interaction with the brand.
- Big data convertible to actionable reporting.
- Smooth seamless integration with other e-commerce software.
- Powerful social media insights for social listening, retargeting, and increased loyalty.
Nimble CRM For E-commerce: How To Use Nimble CRM For E-commerce
Nimble CRM has been used successfully by thousands of e-tailers, let’s scrutinize the functions that are most useful for the niche.
Generate leads: Attract New Customers
While most e-commerce software solutions can only work with existing customers, CRM systems for e-commerce like Nimble are capable of sourcing data at the very first contact with the brand.
Nimble CRM can be integrated via Zapier with tools like Facebook Pages, Lead Ads, custom audiences, Google analytics, turning every potential customer into a data point in your CRM before the client has had a chance to purchase even.
Lead generation and prospecting are simpler than ever with Nimble, so the customer acquisition function is one of the biggest favorites.
Retain Existing Customers
Nimble is one of those social media-wired CRMs that essentially built their entire concept around the acknowledgment of the massive revolution that social media brought into how we live, communicate, and buy.
The Nimble Prospector tool works pretty much everywhere – if you are using email, web, social media, 3rd party apps, or the e-commerce CRM platform itself. You just need to hover your mouse on top of the name or contact, so that Nimble can provide you with an extensive profile of the person, inclusive contact data, and employment details.
Social insights enable users to always have a client’s information and social activity at hand – for quick and easy one-stop check and reacting. Imagine being always in the know of what your clients think and care about – customer retention would be that much easier, right?
Improve Customer Experience
Customer’s expectation now is that a business will have all the communication in an omnichannel environment collected in one place. They want you to know about the review on Facebook, tweet mention, and the letter all at once.
This is just an everyday routine for Nimble users – this is exactly what they get while processing client data inside this tool.
Improve Sales Team Performance
Sales spend way too much time on reporting, scheduling meeting appointments, creating analytics, and enriching contact data.
With the help of advanced task management, deal management, and pipeline management features, you have your entire team’s tasks in a dashboard for best overview, assignment, delegation, or rescheduling.
The calendar can be integrated with Outlook for convenience.
Better Inventory Planning And Forecasting
Inventory planning is a crucial factor to be competitive on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy. You have to have just enough to go by without running out.
Extensive pipeline management module, task management with customizable fields enables the creation of a seamless system, whereby team members are assigned tasks to check, order, schedule items as they get sold out.
Providing Advanced Analytics
The reporting module is as user-friendly yet as sophisticated as it gets. Nimblers enjoy the visual tables and graphs that are easy to decipher and translate into actions.
Due to the fact that every module has a customizable field, you can program any datapoint into a column in the reports. Any data point that you tag respectively.
Popular reports can be scheduled to be produced on a regular basis and sent out to a select list of team members for timely review.
Integrate With Your Favorite Applications
There are multiple ways to integrate Nimble to your existing tech stack, for example via API, Zapier, or other 3rd parties. Contacts can also be uploaded via a spreadsheet.
Once your systems are all connected and the data can flow seamlessly, there’s no stopping this powerful synergy of technologies. The systems can now complete each other in several ways, starting from client contact enrichment to enhanced reporting and boosted deal management. E-commerce CRM integration is a quick and easy mission with our advanced alternatives.
Client Communications
If you need to communicate to clients, vendors, partners, suppliers, customs, or other parties, Nimble makes business correspondence an outright enjoyable process. Even if you hate the look of your inbox now, wait until you see this mission control center Nimble has created as its inbox and email marketing tool.
Contact data enrichment, social insights in a click, email open rates data, and mass emailing are all just a small fraction of the niceties awaiting a Nimble inbox user.
Considerations For Picking The Right CRM
Now that we have gone through the benefits of a CRM system, let’s consider the main points to take into account when choosing a CRM.
- UX – intuitive interface. You need your CRM to have a really low learning curve to enable new team members to quickly master it. Nimble CRM literally builds itself for you. Dozens of webinars available on our YouTube channel allow users to quickly brush up the skills needed and check out best practices.
- Price. Many entrepreneurs looking for customizable CRM for small and medium businesses are price-conscious. A fixed price of $19 per month per user is transparent and easy to budget. The free 2-week trial helps to make an aware decision.
- Scalability. Your company may grow sooner rather than later. Ensure your CRM can keep up with your growth.
- Easy integration. Switching to a new CRM or implementing a tool should be a quick process. Zapier and API integrations help make Nimble extremely user-friendly in this respect.
- Social media. If you think that social media is there to stay, having a CRM that has made SM part of its main features will help you drive sales, retain more customers, and communicate more efficiently.
Why Choose Nimble CRM?
When looking for the best CRM for e-commerce, consider giving Nimble a try.
We mean, a free try. Our 2-week trial is so free, you don’t even have to take your credit card out.
Nimble helps hundreds of thousands of professionals to find new efficiencies as well as to save money and time on a daily basis. It is recognized as one of the top customer relationship management systems in the world by Capterra and G2.
Insert your email here to see if this is THE CRM software for e-commerce to help your online store increase market share.
