Ask a seasoned business professional for the key to recruiting and keeping clients, and they’re almost certain to cite the need for a great customer relationship management system, or CRM system. Companies use CRM systems for tracking customer interactions, nurturing customer relationships, and recording customer preferences for specific products or services.
With the introduction of artificial intelligence came the development of CRM solutions that take these standard customer engagement features even further. Today you can easily find a CRM platform that leverages AI for everything from completing routine tasks to tracking high-level data analytics and performing sales forecasting. Here’s how an AI-powered CRM system works, plus tips for finding AI-driven CRM solutions of your own.
Table of contents
How are CRMs using AI?
- Automating routine tasks
- Using predictive analytics for sales forecasting
- Assigning predictive lead scoring
- Personalizing customer interactions
- Optimizing sales processes
- Producing actionable insights for process improvement
Artificial intelligence (AI) integration lets CRM platforms process vast amounts of customer data, helping businesses quickly respond to changing customer needs. Adding AI capabilities to traditional CRM systems doesn’t change the fundamental purpose of customer relationship management, but it can make a CRM solution more efficient. Here are some of the uses for AI in CRM software:
Automating routine tasks
AI CRM solutions can automate routine tasks such as performing data entry, sending follow-up emails to customers, updating sales ledgers, and managing calendars. Automating simple tasks lets the sales team focus on more strategic endeavors. A CRM integrating AI can also reduce the chances of human error, thus improving CRM data accuracy.
Using predictive analytics for sales forecasting
AI-powered CRM systems can leverage machine learning to forecast customer behavior by analyzing factors like historical data and recent sales trends. This data analysis helps businesses anticipate customer needs and adapt their sales strategies accordingly. For instance, a mobile phone company could use machine learning (ML) algorithms to analyze customer data and predict when customers might upgrade their devices.
Assigning predictive lead scoring
AI can help streamline the sales process by using predictive lead scoring to identify high-value sales leads. AI tools can conduct a behavioral data analysis for each lead and assign a score based on the lead’s likelihood to convert. The AI tool’s ability to forecast customer behavior enables businesses to focus their efforts on the most promising prospects. The result is better conversion rates and enhanced sales team efficiency.
Personalizing customer interactions
Personalized customer interactions can go a long way toward closing a sale. AI-driven personalization can help you pitch relevant products or services at the right time, potentially leading to higher customer satisfaction and customer retention. For instance, by analyzing data from a customer’s purchase history, an appliance retailer may discover that the customer needs new water filters for the refrigerator they bought six months ago. The CRM software can generate a personalized email that tells the customer about water filter options. The inclusion of a discount code might help to seal the deal.
Optimizing sales processes
Sales teams rely on CRM software to power their day-to-day business processes. One of the best ways AI can enhance customer relationship management is by guiding a sales team with helpful suggestions, reminders, and automations. For example, AI sales assistants can recommend an action based on performance metrics and ongoing interactions, such as proposing you email a client who recently visited your ecommerce store. You can think of your CRM as an AI sales assistant that optimizes the work your human team is already doing.
Producing actionable insights for process improvement
AI excels in analyzing data from multiple sources within CRM systems, including website activity, purchase history, social media interactions, and customer service inquiries. By leveraging machine learning, AI can sift through vast amounts of CRM data, identifying patterns and trends that humans might overlook.
For instance, your AI-powered CRM may use customer segmentation to flag a set of website visitors who often browse on weekends between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. but rarely complete purchases. You could act on this insight by scheduling email promotions and ads that run during that time frame. By enhancing customer interactions like this one with AI, you may improve your customer conversion rate.
Top CRM platforms with AI
- HubSpot CRM
- Salesforce CRM (with Einstein)
- Zoho CRM (with Zia)
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI (with Copilot)
- Freshworks CRM (with Freddy)
The age of AI in customer relationship management is upon us. If you want a CRM platform with leading-edge AI features, consider the following:
HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is a well-known and widely used CRM platform with a strong focus on marketing campaigns and sales automation. Its robust AI capabilities include natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis, which enhance its ability to understand customer interactions and personalize the customer experience.
HubSpot sports generative AI for creating email templates, marketing materials, and FAQ pages. It offers real-time customer service with AI-powered chatbots for improved customer satisfaction, and its sentiment analysis tools can chart customer sentiment across emails and social media interactions.
Price: HubSpot offers a limited free plan, with paid plans ranging from $100 per user per month to $3,600 per month.
Salesforce CRM (with Einstein)
Salesforce is a leading CRM platform that now includes a powerful AI engine called Einstein, offering a wide range of AI capabilities including predictive analytics, natural language processing, and machine learning. Like HubSpot, Salesforce can help you improve customer interactions, sales efficiency, and marketing effectiveness.
The Salesforce CRM includes a vast array of proprietary tools, including Buyer Assistant (which helps with lead management), Einstein Activity Capture (which eliminates the need for manual activity logging), and lead scoring, which helps you predict which customer inquiries will result in sales.
Price: Salesforce offers a variety of pricing plans tailored to different business needs. Prices start at $25 per user per month for an AI cloud platform called Sales Cloud.
Zoho CRM (with Zia)
Zoho's AI, named Zia, is a comprehensive AI solution integrated with a highly flexible CRM platform. Its relatively low cost for a wide range of features make it ideal for startups and small to medium-sized companies. Among other things, Zia can enhance customer interactions, sales productivity, and marketing effectiveness.
Zia sports advanced capabilities for organizing, structuring, and optimizing your data. This includes Zia Vision, an image validation tool that leverages image recognition algorithms to analyze graphics and detect anomalies or inconsistencies. Meanwhile, the Zia Similarity Recommender helps businesses identify and recommend products or services based on past customer behavior.
Price: Zoho CRM’s prices start at $20 per user per month.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI (with Copilot)
The Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is particularly strong for enterprises that use other Microsoft products because it integrates seamlessly with the Microsoft 365 software suite. Its AI-driven insights make it ideal for complex business environments requiring detailed analytics and lead management.
The integrated Copilot AI tool can optimize your business operations for sales, customer insights, customer service, supply chain management, and finances.
Price: Dynamics is included in a Microsoft 365 suite, although license fees vary depending on the nature of your business and the services you need. Consult Microsoft for details.
Freshworks CRM (with Freddy)
Freshworks is a cloud-based CRM platform known for its user-friendly interface and affordable pricing. Freshworks CRM is one of the less expensive services that use AI to aid in customer interactions, sales productivity, and marketing effectiveness.
The Freddy AI tool can score your contacts by analyzing their behavior patterns and then recommend the strongest leads, which helps your team drive conversions and boost revenue. It also serves as a generative AI tool, helping you draft personalized emails or catchy calls to action (CTAs).
Price: Freshworks offers paid plans starting at $11 per user per month.
AI in CRM FAQ
Can we combine CRM and AI?
Yes, combining CRM and AI lets businesses enhance customer relationship management by automating tasks, analyzing data, predicting buyer behavior, and personalizing interactions for improved customer satisfaction.
What is the future of AI in CRM?
The future of AI in CRM likely lies in deeper automation, predictive analytics, real-time personalization, and more advanced natural language processing, among other developments.
What can be automated in CRM?
AI tools can automate CRM tasks like performing data entry and lead scoring, making customer inquiries, issuing follow-up reminders, and drafting and sending marketing emails.
