Globally, the number of email users is almost 4.6 billion and over 376 billion emails get sent daily. However, 49% of the average number of emails that a user receives every day can be deemed as spam. So, while email is undoubtedly one of your top business communication channels, strengthening its performance is essential.
From marketing materials and order confirmation to shipping details and invoices, emails carry information that supports the customer journey end-to-end. Hence, you must manage customer data efficiently and use the right customer relationship management (CRM) email tool.
Let's now explore the nitty-gritties of picking the best CRM email tool.
Importance of Email Performance Tracking in CRM
As a business grows, data accumulates fast. Fortunately, a reliable CRM platform helps all team members to work with the same data and engage in real-time tracking for strategic decision-making.
And in case of emails, getting immediate feedback on their performance helps you to:
- Retract initiatives that aren't generating desired results
- Improve projects with potential to enhance email engagement
- Focus on tactics that are most effective
You also gain valuable insights into these key metrics:
1. Open Rates
This metric indicates the percentage of your emails that a customer opens – a measure of their interest level. Hence, if customers perceive your brand and products as interesting or useful, you will likely see a high open rate.
However, a low open rate can signal disengagement or the fact that customers don't find your messages valuable enough. However, it's an opportunity to decode the kind of topics that intrigue them or if there's another communication mode that works better, like SMS.
2. Click-Through Rates
Tracking click-through rates helps improve your email outreach backed by insightful data. For example, you can decipher the kind of language, subject lines, or action buttons that hook customers and convert them.
Click-through rates also indicate the level of urgency you can create among those interested in your offerings. After all, not everyone who opens your email will click on a shopping link. Hence, besides monitoring open rates, watch out for click-through rates.
3. Bounce Rates
If your emails don't get delivered (or bounce), even the most engaging content won't work. A bounce rate higher than 2% is especially bad news for email marketing. So, you must ensure all email addresses in your database are valid and accurate.
Picking the Best CRM Email Tool: Crucial Features
Ideally, the tool should have features that offer valuable insights into your customers and adapt to the business's growth. These are the core features to look into:
Key Metrics for Performance Insight
With the right CRM, you can study your email performance in detail, beyond bounce, click-through, and open rates. The top tool will offer actionable insights into the behavioral patterns and trends of customers. This translates to a better understanding of:
- Email Deliverability
You will be notified if your campaigns end up in spam folders. You can also figure out where the issue lies, work on it, and ensure that messages hit inboxes consistently.
- Engagement Rates
Undoubtedly, a decent tool will help track open and click-through rates so you know how effectively your content clicks with the target audience. But the best tools will also alert you on spam complaints and unsubscribes. Hence, you can improve your messaging for a more powerful impact.
- Conversion Tracking
It's not enough for the audience to just open your emails or click on links and then do nothing. Ultimately, you want them to sign up for your newsletter, make purchases, or take other actions aligned with your business goals. Hence, the CRM email tool should show that your emails are driving such actions.
Integrations for Connecting the CRM Email Tool with Other Platforms
If your CRM email tool can integrate with other platforms or tools, it will make operations streamlined and simplify life. You can:
- Sync contact data and history of email engagement automatically
- Leverage third-party tools to customize emails better or analyze data in multiple ways
- Visualize customer journey across different platforms
Can the CRM Email Tool Grow With Your Business?
You cannot ignore scalability when selecting a CRM email tool. That's because email marketing demands will shoot up as your business grows. And the CRM software must be able to deal with increasing email volumes and segment the audience in different ways.
Choosing a scalable CRM email tool also means you won't have to stress even if your email strategy gets increasingly sophisticated. Also, consider investing in a tool that provides AI-powered insights to support long-term growth.
Don't Ignore Email Validation
Every year, around 23% of an email database becomes obsolete. So, you must regularly check the validity of email addresses to minimize bounce rates and maximize reach and revenue.
Advanced validation tools can check the quality of email addresses and eliminate contacts that are fake, inaccurate, invalid, or risky. And they seamlessly integrate with all major CRM email tools. How does this help?
- Instead of wasting money on storing poor-quality data in the CRM, you focus on authentic leads likely to convert.
- Email deliverability increases, meaning a larger percentage of your prospects views your emails.
- Your workflows become smoother and you can devote more time towards creative thinking.
Steps for Picking the Best CRM Email Tool
These three simple steps can help you select the perfect tool:
- Research
Study multiple tools to identify those that have your desired features. Find out if the support team can address your doubts and queries efficiently. Ensure you can reach an actual person in case of technical or operational glitches.
- Test
After shortlisting tools, get a good understanding of their features through trial runs or demos. Compare two or more tools across different parameters to see which one better suits your business needs.
- Invest
Opt for the tool that aligns with your organizational goals closely. Avoid picking one just because it costs the least. Also ensure the tool is easy to set up and integrate with other platforms.
The Right CRM Email Tool Can Make a World of Difference
In a world where email continues to be the backbone of marketing and communication, deriving maximum value from the same makes sense. And a well-chosen CRM email performance tool can do just that. Besides assessing deliverability, engagement, and conversion, you can improve workflows.
Moreover, you can scale your business without worrying about managing large email volumes and a growing customer base. Just remember to research, test, and then invest in a tool that best meets your needs. And before getting started, leverage automated validation tools to ensure your email database is clean.
To make things even easier, Melissa integrates seamlessly with all major CRM platforms - helping you maintain high data quality and validate emails instantly within your existing workflows.
Explore all Melissa integrations here.
