The Need for Integrated CRM: Part 3 – More Proactive Marketing

With Integrated CRM, email marketing applications can be connected directly to the core database, without the need to keep multiple disconnected spreadsheets or software up to date. This makes it easier to deliver highly targeted and personalised email marketing using lists segmented on the individual client’s profile, which could include: 

• Industry sector  
• Accounting software used  
• Type of income and expenses  
• Age and relationship status  
• Financial results.  

To support MTD, a firm may want to invite by email all of its clients who use spreadsheets to do their bookkeeping to a workshop on the benefits of Cloud Accounting. Or, as part of a profit improvement initiative, a progressive practice could invite all its clients in the creative sector who use Xero to a workshop on effective project management that showcases the Projects module in Xero.  

Maintaining lists inside an Integrated CRM is self-managing with little human intervention; as data is updated in the CRM, the lists are updated in real-time. No more manual checks, manual data extracts or delays. For instance, keeping a list of landlords in CRM automatically updated from the tax returns being filed in IRIS/CCH, so that property-related tax news service can be broadcast to just the people who would be interested in this topic.  

Enquiries from forms completed on the website will come straight into the database and be included in mailing lists along with other prospects from networking, referrals and introductions from strategic partners. With Integrated CRM, there is a single place in the practice to record the lawful basis for processing data for GDPR purposes. And, when the contact becomes a client, new client data will automatically flow into practice management systems, with details added to relevant, or removed from now irrelevant, marketing lists.  

Integrated CRM enables firms to carry out client surveys, like the Net Promoter Score® (NPS). This helps everyone become more aware of client satisfaction levels in near real time, creating a practice “heartbeat”; in other words, a practice can regularly check its pulse to see how new initiatives and operations are impacting client satisfaction. A great example here is setting the CRM to send out an NPS survey on completion of a job or assignment within Practice Management.  

Integrated CRM evolves your marketing capabilities by providing:  

Realtime client demographic segmented target lists 

Visibility of potential new upsell opportunities  

More relevant & personalised client communications 

Systemised lead capture from website enquiries  

Analytical data on Lead source  

NPS – Net Promotor Score & client surveys  

Additionally, Integrated CRM allows a firm to leverage powerful marketing automation platforms like HubSpot, Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor which can be used to empower proactive marketing like promoting and managing events, tracking website activity as well as scoring the quality of inbound enquires. 

For further information please download our Accounting CPA White Paper – The Integrated Practice