• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 22, 2022

Email teams are not alone in their frustration with CRMs. But they have particular reason to be aggravated, judging by Top 5 Complaints of CRM Users & How To Address Them, a new paper from Validity. 

Here are the main gripes about CRMs, and suggestions for how to deal with them: 

1. I can’t effectively personalize email campaigns — Marketing Manager

Email teams rely on CRM data like contact and behavioral data to personalize their campaigns. But if the data is inconsistent or scattered, the campaigns may not work.  

The answer: “Implement data standardization routines and deduplication automated jobs. If you’re not sure where to begin, start by identifying the fields references by dynamic content and the desired format the value should be in.” 

2. The company is making uninformed business decisions — Executives 

The paper reports that 86% of  CRM users rely on CRM data to create forecasts that drive business decisions. However, the data can contain errors that affect the accuracy of the forecasts — and thus the bottom line.  

The answer: Brands should automate data entry where possible “to prevent human-made errors. Since at least some amount of human error is unavoidable, consider automating your data quality efforts to occur after data entry.”

3. Customer relationships are at risk because I can’t find important information in the CRM — Sales representative 

CRM systems tend to be overly complex and are not easily navigated. Friction can result with customers when sales team act only on surface-level information like contact details (name, job title, company size, etc.). 

According to the paper, “CRM vendors indirectly admit their systems are not built for the end user…consider implementing a solution from a trusted software vendor that partners with your software provider.” 

4. The CRM admin is taking forever to import lists — Sales and Marketing

The paper states that import requests “quickly pile up and bog down the CRM admin, reducing their productivity and putting the overall quality of the company’s data in danger.” 

The answer: “Let your admins focus on improving your business process instead of important lists by bringing the power to import lists to your team for free for life.”

5. Employees are breaking data compliance rules — Security & Compliance Team 

Mishandling of data, whether accidentally or on purpose, can result in privacy violations. For instance, a prospect might sign up with their email address to down an eBook, which gets stored in the CRM. But the person never opted in, and they start receiving email campaigns.  

The answer: Formalize company privacy security training across teams make sure everyone knows how to safely and legal handle CRM data.