There are many people who think that the CRM software and the marketing software are just the two sides of the same coin. They may have been probably guided by the notion that both these system utilize the same type of information. However, apart from the overlap in terms of information that each system utilizes, everything else is quite different. Therefore, it is quite crucial for marketing and sales CRM professionals to understand the difference between this software and how it could help businesses to overcome the obstacles that they usually face.

Before we dive into the comparison of both the software’s, let us first discuss what actually does CRM software and marketing automation software means?

CRM which stands for Customer Relationship management is related to all your efforts the organization tries to get in the overview of the customers. This system can help to streamline with other efforts of the organization for managing its relationship with the potential and existing customers. With the top CRM system, the sales and the customer service team can be helped in getting access to customer data at anytime and anywhere. The mobile and cloud CRM solutions allow the sales professional to view the details of the customers such as their past records, current status of a purchase, etc.

On the other hand, the marketing automation software lets you follow the prospects of a top of the funnel activities which include when they visit your website, open an email, read your blogs and fill out the feedback form, etc. Scheduling and tracking the marketing campaigns is also done by the help of automation software. This platform provides you with the ability to conveniently segment the leads and the prospects into a separate mailing list which is based on the previous interactions with your organization.

Benefits of using CRM Software

Let us take a closer look at the benefits of CRM software solutions and how they help businesses to overcome the major obstacles as:

• Tracking & monitoring

In layman’s term, the CRM can be simply defined as the tracking system which does more. The sale personnel track and monitor the customers with the help of the sales pipeline and help to close the deal in a more effective manner.

• Better lead conversion

The organizations will be able to offer more targeted promotional material with the high probability of led conversion which also helps to improve the faith between the clients and you. CRM helps to generate better leads than any other software.

• Complete customer overview

CRM helps the sales personnel to get the entire overlook of the customers with which they are dealing with. It also includes their history with the organization. The sales personnel will be better equipped with all the right information while talking to the customers and thus making the call as successful as possible.

• Integration with the social media platform

CRM has now the capability to get in sync with the social media platform like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, etc and can better help to track which one is driving more traffic. By this, you will be well aware of what people are talking about you in the digital world.

Benefits of using Marketing Automation Software

There are some distinctive benefits of marketing automation software which proved to be the best software for the marketers from the different industry background as:

• Segmentation of prospect

The difference between marketing automation and CRM solutions is the latter’s ability to segment prospects into the list of emails. The segments are done on the basis of past interactions with the organizations and their preferences as well as interest.

• Lead nurturing

Another most important benefit of marketing automation is the lead nurturing facility. This lets the marketers automatically send the triggered emails at regular intervals to most interested prospects in the company’s products or services.

• Analytics & Insights

Once the particular marketing campaign ends, then the system generates insights on the analytics that shows the success rate of the campaigns. This helps to foster the leads and get them ready for the sales team where CRM development solutions play a major role.

How CRM & Marketing Automation Software Works?

Now that you have gone through the benefits and basic introduction to what are these software’s, let us discuss about how this software will work and the basic differences between both of them as:

• User type

While the marketing professionals use the marketing automation software, the CRM software services are popularly used by the sales professionals and the service reps, both the solutions streamline the daily tasks all across the different processes with important insights, analytics, and automation. The users of CRM software development and marketing automation solutions can help to measure and streamline the progress and effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

• Key Functionality

Marketing automation software primarily helps at the stage of lead generation; therefore, by using this software, you can easily track the business or any individual who is interested in your product. This can also help to track the source of leads, whether they have come as the result of referral point or direction. The Best CRM software systems are also used for nurturing those leads by analyzing the information based on each demographic.

• Ultimate Goal

Marketing automation software helps to generate the qualified leads, where CRM comes with the goal to convert the MQLs into the qualified leads and thus promoting conversion. Both of these solutions are different from each other in terms of their respective goals and distinct roles. Their roles, however, are complementary with both solutions being quite effective together in making the journey from attracting prospects to convert them into sales smoother.

• Lead segmenting

The marketing automation helps in the easy segmentation of leads and prospects by the number of different criteria such as the instant type, gender, age, purchase history, demography and many more things. By using marketing automation, you can simply send the messages and email campaigns by identifying the relevant fields without blowing with the help of the spreadsheet.

• A/B testing

Either it is an email subject line or content, the marketing automation allows you to test the number of different elements by using the A/B testing methods. This helps the users to make the easy decision by identifying what is performing best out of it.

Conclusion

While the marketing automation software is used for creating the awareness of your products and services, on the other hand, the CRM implementation can be used to set up the purchase. By using these both solutions, you can unify your sales and marketing funnels to ensure the smooth buyer's journey.