“Relationships are hard” was probably the thought lingering in your head after your first middle school breakup. Now that you are older, the same thought may pop into your head when trying to build and maintain relationships with customers. 😅
Luckily, nowadays, most businesses can afford access to customer relationship management (CRM) software and, more importantly, create CRM workflows!
These workflows ease and automate a range of customer support tasks, account management tasks, sales tasks, and even tasks done by marketing teams , thus allowing employees to be more productive and put their brains and effort into tasks other than repetitive ones.
In this article, we will dig deep into what CRM workflows are and the benefits of implementing a CRM workflow management tool to give your business and teams the competitive edge they need to win customers and work at their best.
So if you have an appetite for learning more, keep on reading!
What is a CRM Workflow?
While CRM is a strategy for managing customer relationships , a CRM workflow represents CRM-related actions performed in a sequence that has been carefully designed. Each action within this sequence is initiated in a CRM system only when set conditions have been met and is intended to get you closer to a specific goal.
What’s especially great about this approach is the fact that it allows you to have an overview of an entire process and thus keep track of progress. In other words, with a CRM workflow, you will know exactly what actions need to be performed to close a sale but also when you can remove certain actions from your to-do list .
And although some CRM workflows might still exist only in the form of diagrams or charts , most of them are encoded in CRM software serving as a foundation for the efficient completion of business processes.
What is CRM Workflow Automation?
So far, we have covered the theoretical aspect of CRM workflows, but there is one more thing we have to address before getting into any technical steps or explanations, and that is CRM workflow automation.
With CRM workflow automation, you can partially or fully automate processes or workflow parts in line with pre-defined workflow rules. This has been proven to be beneficial for boosting productivity and efficiency as well as reducing the amount of human input necessary to complete processes.
Create custom or use pre-built automation recipes to automate routine work and simplify your complex workflow
Good examples of CRM workflow automation can be seen in the automation of sales processes, which typically consist of a number of tasks ranging from lead generation to creating customer profiles and voicing customer needs, as well as the occasional customer complaint to other members of your sales team .
Here’s an example of a workflow outlined in ClickUp’s Whiteboards :
Create a visual representation of your workflows using ClickUp Whiteboards created by Dzenana Kajtaz from Mailtrap
When enhanced with CRM workflow automation, the sales process can go from being hectic to having a trigger-based structure such as the one described below:
- A potential customer contacts your business by filling out a form
- Your CRM software sends out communication to this individual
- In case no reply is received, the CRM software will send a follow-up
- In case a reply is received, the CRM software will proceed with lead scoring and then notify the appropriate team about the potential lead
When to use workflow automation
Now you might be thinking, “Great! So I should use workflow automation whenever the chance, right?”
The answer is, it depends because not all processes are the same. You’ll have to assess which processes and teams could benefit from automating workflows and which won’t.
Workflow automation only works on mature business processes, not those that are inefficient or wasteful. If applied where a business process is not optimized, this approach might actually do more harm than good.
So, before diving headfirst into workflow automation, make sure it’s the right decision. If yes, you will have nearly unlimited ways at your disposal to create and customize automated CRM workflows!
The Benefits of CRM Workflow Automation
Boosting productivity as well as efficiency and reducing the use of human resources , we have already established these as the main benefits of CRM workflow automation. But are there more? Yes, plenty more!
- 👩💻 Less human error: CRM workflow automation can almost completely eradicate errors made by humans when completing repetitive tasks and activities. These errors can range from minor transcription errors to forgetting to reach out to a customer
- ⚡️Greater productivity: Repetitive tasks are not only error-prone but can also hinder productivity. With CRM workflow automation, you can take repetitive tasks off your hands to give you the time and energy to focus on more critical, thought-provoking, and or creative activities
- 🙋More transparency and accountability: Within big teams or even medium-sized teams that are juggling a lot of tasks, it can become a challenge to keep track of task completion as well as individual team member performance. With the help of CRM workflow automation tools, managers and supervisors can provide a transparent overview of all tasks, and team members will benefit from automated notifications
- 😌 More work satisfaction: It goes without saying that team members and employees are much more satisfied when there are fewer mundane and repetitive tasks on their plate. Give your team the gift of time to allow them to work on the more important and creative part of their jobs
- 💰Lower costs: CRM workflow automation can also help cut costs by reducing inefficiencies and allowing companies to reallocate funds into product development, marketing campaigns, and so on
- 🚀 More scalability: CRM workflow automation allows you to create consistent processes and allow you to focus on reaching more customers and focus on growing your business
How to Create CRM Workflows in 4 Simple Steps
Now that we have touched upon the most important ins and outs of CRM workflows, it’s time to go through the steps necessary to create them.
1. Decide which CRM processes need workflow automation and begin planning your ideal workflow
As mentioned earlier, not all processes are automation-worthy, so the first step in your CRM workflow creation process is to decide which ones you want to automate. As a rule of thumb, try to avoid automating processes that require human input to a considerable extent, as automation is more suited for repetitive tasks done earlier in the funnel ( sales funnel, marketing funnel, etc. )
To help you out with making this decision, here is a list of a few automation-worthy processes you might want to keep in mind:
- Lead generation and qualification
- Contact generation and managementCustomer onboarding is a Technical Content Writer at Mailtrap with years of experience as a writer, editor, and content marketer. She specializes in covering tech-related topics but loves creating fun and engaging content for other content niches as well.