As we set out to set up our online stores we realize that having an online store is not just about it, we need to fulfill those orders with speed and accuracy. If you fail to do so, your customers will lose confidence in your store. The fix, using order management CRM, which is more than just a customer relationship management software to manage these orders.
Order management is what you need to keep your store running. Let’s understand the process and some key concepts so that we can link it better to CRM order management.
A customer enters your online store, views a few products, and then starts adding them to the cart. Next, it will checkout while paying. On the company side, they will receive a notification that an order has been placed, and the warehouse will start packing the order. Once it's packed it will be ‘ready for shipment’ and the customer will see the ‘ready to be shipped’ status on their tracking via the tracking number they received on the order confirmation email, shortly after placing the order. The company will then ship the order and when it has reached your doorstep and you’ve received it, the status will be changed to ‘order fulfilled’. With this the process is complete.
To carry out this process efficiently, businesses rely on order management systems that connect all the departments, and together the team fulfills it. Here marketing sends confirmation, thank you emails, sales sends more offers, the warehouse team works on the order, and so on.
CRM and Order Management
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is used by companies to effectively manage their customer relationships. It records the history of customer interactions at every touchpoint, generating analytics and insights to identify potential sales opportunities.
CRMs offer features such as automation, contact management, lead nurturing, and customer service management. Additionally, they provide integrations with other applications, creating a centralized platform for managing your organization. With a single CRM, you can oversee aspects of your entire organization.
Moreover, CRM systems can facilitate order management with ease. Since you are already tracking customer interactions within a CRM, you can seamlessly manage customer orders in it as well.
How CRM can assist in order management
- Centralizing your Customer Data
One of the reasons CRMs are popular is because they can centralize every channel from where you interact with your customers. This includes your website, email, phone, etc. With this centralization, you can track the customers who place orders, and put them into a cart, thus making it an order management CRM. From your sales team to the warehouse, everyone gets informed and starts working on orders straight away.
- Catalogue and Quote Management
When you receive an email or message inquiring about a specific product, it becomes easier for your staff to respond quickly with the information right in front of them. In SuiteCRM order management, you can create catalogs with product prices along with services. Based on this it can generate professional quotes, product specifications, and estimated delivery times.
- Order Processing and Tracking
Everything is centralized as the whole company stays informed about the order placed, the special request received and the order delivery time is cut back as the processing quickly begins.
- Invoice Management
In SuiteCRM with order management, you can create, issue, and share invoices to track orders. If you connect this order management CRM to your website for online tracking, your customers can enter their order numbers and track orders.
- Sending Personalized Messages
After someone places an order through your website, it's time to build a connection with them. You can send a thank you email, then follow up with a promotional email to buy more related stuff given you have the history saved. With the information you gather about a customer over time and their interaction with your brand, you can personalize the messages.
- Customer Services
When your service reps know the complete client history, they can provide better services.
- Cross or Upselling Opportunities
Teams use shared inboxes and can easily communicate with customers. This is an added bonus for all customer-facing teams where they can manage emails, and marketing campaigns to keep customers engaged. They can send them promotional emails or vouchers to increase sales.
Best practices for CRM order management
- Integration with Other Systems
SuiteCRM has a suite store where you can find numerous predesigned apps to help you customize your CRM. You can integrate these plugins or even connect an ERP, to better manage your order processing. Similarly, you can integrate payment gateways to streamline order processing.
- Get Custom Features Developed
The best part of having an Open Source platform is that you can always add customization to SuiteCRM. You can get custom modules, and features developed from CRM developers and get custom features fitted to your business.
- Add Automation
To save time on repetitive and mundane tasks you can set up flexible and customizable workflow automation. These are trigger-based and automatically get the job done. For instance, sending an order confirmation email once an order has been placed.
- Providing Real-Time Access
Admins can define hierarchies and provide real-time access to their users. This creates a safe space for storing sensitive information for the relevant users having access. Additionally, all users can view real-time important information to break data silos.
- Reports
Managers can track their team members' activity and to-do lists. With standard report modules, top managers can get insights and better evaluate the results of their strategies in achieving their goals and execution. Order management crm can benefit from reports as you can view if orders were delayed and why and other related stuff that can assist in improving order management.
- Enhance Customer Service
Document management allows the team to store, review, revise, and share important documents such as step-by-step guides, manuals, policies, and more. With case management, you record and manage customer interaction history, this gives your rep a complete picture of customer issues and makes it easier to resolve the case.
- Integrate Chatbots
Chatbots are natural language processing bots that can use AI, generative and predictive analysis to chat in a human-like tone. You can get these chatbots developed, feed them company-related information and they can act as an assistant for your teams by helping them fetch necessary information from the database and communicating with customers via self-service portals, etc. Read more here.
Conclusion
SuiteCRM customized for order management ensures that all your orders are on schedule and your work processes are on track. Being one of the best mobile work order systems, SuiteCRM has it all to streamline your order management processes on the go and take your business to the next level.
By integrating CRM with order management functionalities, you can revolutionize your fulfillment process. Centralized data, streamlined tasks, and valuable insights lead to improved customer satisfaction and increased operational efficiency.
Ready to take control of order fulfillment by integrating CRM with order management? Work with CRM experts to streamline order management, boost customer satisfaction, and drive business growth with integrations and custom development. Here at RT Dynamic we are CRM experts and can assist you in making order management CRM.
