How to Design a CRM System

No business can exist without customers. And modern consumers are very demanding of the products and services they get. Yet, finding the key to your customers’ hearts will result in a devoted audience and higher profits.

Want to know your customers better? Adopt a CRM platform. Stats say that this tech will improve your sales by 87% and increase your customer satisfaction by 74%. Adding to that, it will boost your overall business efficiency by 73%.

Having a CRM system is one thing. 91% of companies with over ten employees have already adopted it. Another is how this system works and how user-friendly it is. 50% of sales leaders still struggle with their CRM product because of its inconvenience.

What’s the solution to this problem? It’s all about the system’s design. Thus, in this post, Arounda will explain why the customer relationship management platform’s UI/UX matters. We’ll also tell you about CRM design tips and processes.

Our digital product agency has over five years of experience designing human-centric software that can benefit any business. We’ll use our extensive expertise to share valuable CRM insights with you.

What Is a CRM System, and What Are Its Main Features?

Before we tell you how to design CRM system, let’s figure out what kind of software it is.

A customer relationship management (CRM) platform is software that enables effective communication with customers. Implementing this tool in business operations improves customer relations, increases profits, and optimizes company processes.

The foundation of the CRM platform is customer data analytics. Accordingly, such a system offers the following features:

• Data collection. This tool collects all customer information, such as contacts, behavior on your platform, reactions to marketing efforts, and more.
• Data storage. This CRM system feature helps store the collected information conveniently. As a rule, most CRMs use cloud storage.
• Data access. Thanks to the CRM platform, you can quickly access any information about your customers for further analysis.

In addition to these features, the CRM system consists of two main components:

• CRM dashboard UI. It is part of the system that provides access to all client data and analytic tools.
• CRM software. It is a part of the system that contains other functions besides the dashboard, for example, customer support.

We mentioned the main elements of CRM, but such a system offers much more diverse features. Some examples include email marketing, file sharing, or reporting. In general, such a platform can be adjusted to the needs of each specific business.

Why Does CRM Design Matter?

You can develop CRM with top-notch functionality, but it won’t matter if your clients don’t know how to use it. That’s the primary reason design is so crucial.

While CRM UX design plays a significant role in the convenience of your customers, they are not the only ones who will benefit from it. Here’s what your business will get:

Better ROI

Get a better return on investment by improving the design of your CRM system. It is possible thanks to several factors. First, you make it easier for users to interact with your platform; they don’t need much time to learn how to use your software. Second, a user-friendly system means your customers will use it more often.

Potential Customers Tracking

A well-thought-out CRM platform will not allow you to miss a single customer. Now you can easily track them thanks to the convenient dashboard design and stay in touch with your leads.

Consistent Communication

74% of customers use several communication channels before making a purchase. Do you think they want to interact with a business that communicates messily? A well-designed CRM system provides unified access to all customer information, so there are no misunderstandings in communication.

Saved Time

With a high-quality CRM strategy, you and your team will not waste time figuring out various work points. All the information is easily accessible, and the employees can quickly familiarize themselves with it. A good UX will also enable your customers to interact productively with you.

Main Steps of the CRM Design Process

Let’s now look at how to build a CRM system from scratch. There are a few steps to make your platform’s design perfect.

1. Conduct Primary Analysis

If you are using one of the available software as a service CRMs, you need to examine its initial design. Look at each feature and its popularity among users and evaluate how customers behave on the platform.

If you are building a CRM system from scratch, your designers need to think through the user flow and create a customer journey map.

2. Carry Out Competitor Analysis

After you have analyzed the initial information on your CRM system, you can move on to studying your competitors. See what features your opponents offer and think about which ones you can implement or improve. Also, look through the SaaS CRM design examples.

3. Handle User Interviews

You have roughly decided on your CRM platform’s features at this step. But what’s critical is to check whether your potential audience needs these functionalities. To do this, you need to conduct interviews with real users.

Conducted surveys will allow you to understand what users expect from your CRM and which features are more relevant to them.

4. Develop Information Architecture

This step is a transition from various research directly to the design process. Now you finally decide which features will be available on your platform and how all elements will be displayed. As a result, your designers create the information architecture of your CRM platform.

5. Create Wireframes and Design Prototypes

At this stage, you develop initial versions of what your platform will look like once finished. Your designers create wireframes and prototypes to visualize your ideas and test them in practice.

6. Finalize Your CRM Platform’s Design

After you have looked at the ready-made prototypes, you can decide on the best solution for your platform. Now your team can complete the design work.

CRM Design Best Practices and Useful Tips

The process may seem relatively straightforward when you look at the steps to build a CRM design. However, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. In fact, CRM platform design is a more complex process that requires particular attention.

That’s why we have prepared tips for you, thanks to which you can make your mobile or web application design user-friendly and profitable for your business.

Define Your Goals First

The market and the CRM system’s design analysis won’t help if you haven’t set clear goals that you want to achieve. Think about what purpose your platform should serve. It can be attracting more customers, keeping existing ones, or increasing sales.

Consider Every User

As a rule, different departments of your company will use your CRM system. It may be the customer support, sales, or marketing team. Think about each worker and the platform tools they may need to serve your customers properly.

Try Innovation

Want to beat your competition? Don’t be afraid to implement innovative solutions in your CRM system. The main thing is that your decisions about integrating new technologies must be balanced. Cloud storage, mobile CRM, and social media integration are among the latest trending innovations. It applies to design as well. See what’s trending and adopt it.

Make It Simple

Do not overload your CRM platform’s design with unnecessary elements. It’s especially true of its dashboard. If you fill your dashboard with a confusing bunch of graphs, numbers, and tables, it will only repel and confuse users.

Develop Intuitive Navigation

The simplicity of your platform is only half the battle. The practical convenience of the CRM system stems only from an intuitive design. It’s precisely why your designers conduct UX research and create a user flow.

Study Feedback

It is a straightforward tip but still very important. Who but your users will point out errors and inconveniences in your system? Carefully study the feedback and improve your platform’s design.

Provide Seamless Communication

Consider a database where all customer information and actions will be stored. It will significantly facilitate the work of service representatives. Your customers will be able to communicate with any of your workers and not feel any difference or discomfort because your employees will have all the customer data at their fingertips.

Use Analytics

Be sure to use analytics tools to improve your CRM UX design. It will help you determine popular features, the customer’s behavior before buying, etc. Many ideas for design improvements can come from past data.

Final Thoughts

CRM systems can make your business profitable. You will attract loyal customers, grow sales, and increase your company’s overall efficiency, but there is one ‘but.’ All this will be possible only if you pay close attention to your platform’s design.

Our specialists have prepared this guide specifically to show how critical the CRM platform’s design is for your business. And also to help you navigate this process.

We are at your service if you want to adopt a CRM system or improve an existing one.

All you need to do is to drop us a line.

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