In this series of short blog posts, we'll provide a high-level overview of some of the key features within CRM software. Today, we're looking at Contact Management features. We'll cover what these feature are and what they do, how they can be used to improve productivity and customer relationships and why they have become so essential for so many organisations.

Let's jump right in...

What exactly is contact management?

Contact Management, in layman's terms, is the process of organizing and managing all the data you have gathered about your customers, leads, and prospects.

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Within a CRM, Contact Management features provide your team with a single, centralised hub whereby they can access a history of every single interaction customers, leads and prospects have had with your business. 

Every touchpoint can be recorded, including emails, calls, meetings, purchase history, customer service records, and even custom information about any action a person may have had with your business. With a good CRM tool, you can even track clicks on your website or video views.

For example, in the image below of our CRM tool GIST, we have created segments of contacts that have interacted with our CRM survey tool. That way, we can see how effective it has been as a marketing tool and send specific communications to only those contacts that interacted with it. Super helpful!

How we use contact management features in GIST CRM

Examples of contact information that can be stored within a CRM

  1. Full name
  2. Company name
  3. Contact information (phone, email, physical address)
  4. Job title
  5. Industry
  6. Company size
  7. Source of lead (e.g. referral, website, event)
  8. Lead status (e.g. cold, warm, hot)
  9. Sales rep assigned to the lead
  10. Date of last interaction
  11. Purchase history
  12. Average order value
  13. Time spent on website
  14. Clicks on website or in email
  15. Social media handles
  16. Marketing preferences
  17. Interests or hobbies
  18. Geographic location
  19. Demographic information (age, gender, income)
  20. Any custom information you choose

Why contact management features are important

Simply put, they helps you build better relationships with your customers and prospects. By having easy access to their information and history, you can offer a highly personalized service and increase conversion rates.

You can also use this information to segment your audience for targeted marketing campaigns, identify customer issues quickly, and improve the productivity of your sales team.

5 specific ways to utilize contact management features

Now that we've covered the basics of contact management features, let's dive into some practical tips and specific examples of how you might use these features to improve productivity in your business:

  1. Segment your audience for targeted marketing campaigns: One of the most effective ways to use contact management features is to segment your audience for targeted marketing campaigns.By creating an audience based on demographics, interests, behavior, or any custom action, you can send personalized emails or SMS campaigns to re-engage users who haven't purchased anything in the last 12 months.

    For example, if you run a fashion e-commerce store, you can create an audience of users who have recently viewed a specific product category and send them an email with a special offer for that category.
  2. Identify customer issues quickly: Another way to use contact management features is to identify customer issues quickly. With a CRM, you can access every previous interaction your team had with a customer, view their feedback, and get to the root of the issue faster than ever before.

    For example, if you run a SaaS business, you can use a CRM to track support tickets and quickly identify customers who are experiencing the same issue. You can then reach out to them with a personalized solution and prevent future issues.
  3. Improve the productivity of your sales team: Contact management features can also help you improve the productivity of your sales team. By using these features to get an overview of the status of every lead in your pipeline, you can set reminders for your sales team to follow up with all leads that have upcoming contract renewals.

    For example, if you run a B2B SaaS business, you can use a CRM to track the renewal dates of your contracts and set reminders for your sales team to follow up with clients a few months before their contracts are up for renewal.
  4. Encourage more collaboration in your organisation: Contact management features can also help you collaborate with your team. With a CRM, you can share customer information and notes with your team members, assign tasks to specific team members, and track the progress of those tasks.

    For example, if you run a digital marketing agency, you can use a CRM to track the progress of your team's campaigns and assign tasks to specific team members based on their strengths and skills.
  5. Use reporting features to gain insights on your contacts: Most CRM software comes with built-in reporting features that allow you to generate reports on specific data points about your contacts. You can utilise these reporting tools to gain insights into how your contacts are interacting with your business and identify areas of weakness.

    For example, you could create a report that shows the average time it takes for your sales team to close deals with different types of leads, such as those who filled out a contact form on your website vs those who were referred by an existing customer. Use this information to optimize your sales process and improve your conversion rates.

In conclusion, contact management features within a CRM are a powerful tool for managing your customer relationships. By providing a central location for all customer data, contact management features enable you to gain a comprehensive understanding of your customers and prospects, and to provide them with a highly personalized experience.

Whether you're using your contact management features to improve your marketing campaigns, identify customer issues quickly, or improve the productivity of your sales team, there are many practical ways to leverage this functionality within your business.

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By integrating your contact management with other features within your CRM, you can create a complete picture of each customer, enabling you to deliver a seamless and personalized experience at every touchpoint.

Thanks for spending some time with us and we hope you found this content useful.

Ready to learn more about the key features of CRM? Take a read of some related short guides:

What are Custom Fields? CRM Features Explained
With custom fields, you can capture anything from your customers’ favourite ice cream flavours to their preferred movie genres or even underpants size. Learn more in our beginners guide
What are Chat Bots and Live Chat? CRM Features Explained
In this post, we’ll be diving into the wonderful world of Chat Bots & Live Chat features within a CRM and why they’re such important tools for businesses of all kinds.
What is Sales & Deals Tracking? CRM Features Explained
Today, we’re looking at Sales and Deals Tracking. We’ll cover what exactly it is, how it works, what it does, and how it can be used to improve productivity and customer relationships.

Meet the author - Sam Cassman

Sam is the co-founder and growth marketer at Toksta. He specialises in a diverse skill set including email marketing/CRM, content creation, SEO, PR, programmatic/search advertising, and social media. His 360 skill set allows him to confidently manage the entire customer life-cycle from generation/acquisition, through to lead nurturing, customer conversion and brand loyalty.

An analytical and creative thinker that lives and breathes data but knows thinking outside the box and going against the grain is sometimes necessary to stand out in a saturated online environment.

Learn More About Sam