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You know the term CRM, Customer Relationship Management, but it might be hard to explain why it matters to your bank or credit union. With customer relationships at the heart of banking, and technology ever evolving to help, CRM is now the norm across many industries and for good reason.

The worldwide drive to gather and analyze customer data to strategically improve the customer experience has led to enormous growth in the CRM market. It is now the largest enterprise application software category with the CRM market expected to reach more than $163 billion by 2030 . So, if your bank or credit union shares that drive, you’re not alone, and a CRM might be in the picture for you. Whether you already have a CRM or you’re considering it for your bank or credit union, here’s a quick refresher on why it matters.

What is CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It’s a better way of managing relationships with customers and potential customers – better for the customers and better for the banks and credit unions.

CRM refers to software you license to better track and manage customer data such as their core account information, online banking, bill pay, card services, and more. It also helps your bank or credit union keep track of customer interactions, and provides a better picture of what comes next. CRM organizes the information into a clear and easy-to-use customer profile that stays up-to-date and thus improves every customer interaction. 

This information can help banking staff across all business lines, from a pop-up message for front-line staff that it’s the customer’s birthday or that they qualify for a particular cross-sell, to a notice for a Loan Officer that it’s almost a customer’s final payment. These personal timely messages equip employees to offer exceptional customer service.

Although CRM is a software application, it is so much more than IT-managed technology. It significantly streamlines work for banking staff, which increases productivity and morale, and leaves more time for customer engagement.

Best of all, CRM can be used and customized to fit each bank or credit union’s unique processes, creating the best fit for that institution. While CRM can automate processes and ease workloads, it can also get specific, enabling bankers to anticipate and target customers’ needs such as anticipating an upcoming auto loan or college savings account. These details and connections improve the overall customer experience making the customers the best advocates for your bank or credit union.

Who is CRM for?

CRM helps many industries, including banking, enhance their customer service, sales and workplace processes. CRMs have become more and more popular and are now used by 91% of companies with 10 or more employees.

A banking CRM can enrich every part of banking from onboarding new customers, to providing reliable customer support, to incentivizing banking staff. By readily presenting a 360-degree view of each customer to each staff member who needs to see it, a CRM saves time, energy, and money, and most importantly deepens the customer relationship.

CRM is for banks and credit unions of all sizes. For a new or existing company’s best chance at growth and success, they now need a CRM. What might have worked in years past is shifting as technology enhances ways of managing customer relationships.

Why does CRM matter to your bank or credit union?

Focusing on customer relationships is key to good banking. Developing and nurturing existing customer relationships costs less and offers higher ROI than attracting new customers. But CRM offers more than financial incentive to banks and credit unions.

A CRM puts the focus on customers and streamlines processes to make that possible. This makes a CRM as helpful for customers as for bank and credit union staff. A CRM allows pertinent employees see all a customers’ information, which saves time during customer interactions and makes for easier and more personalized follow-up. With a CRM, employees can personalize automated messages, target specific interests, and segment customers.

With CRM common among businesses, employees expect this customer information to be readily available so they can put it to good use and spend more time with customers and less time on tedious tasks. Employees and managers appreciate the smoother, clearer ways of tracking employee performance and incentives. Everyone feels better seen and appreciated.

The benefits of CRM are countless, but these six stand out for banks and credit unions.

6 Ways CRM Benefits your Bank or Credit Union

1. The bottom line. Improving customer relationships is the best investment. Opening new accounts for existing customers costs a bank or credit union less than marketing to acquire new customers and repeat customers spend more. For every dollar spent on a CRM, $8.71 is returned on that investment according to Nucleus research. A CRM makes good sense for the bottom line.
   
   
2. Customer satisfaction. The heart of CRM is better customer relationships, a chance to make customers feel seen, known, and valued. With a real-time picture of each customer, bankers can anticipate their needs and make timely offers to meet those needs, which increases retention, cross-sales, and customer satisfaction. Happy customers are eager to refer others to your bank or credit union.
   
   
3. Ready insights for marketing and service. A CRM offers one central system of communication and reporting, which streamlines workflow and improves customer service. It also allows for easy, up-to-date reporting. Those reports can immediately be pulled and used as insight into new campaigns and other marketing as well as timely check-ins with customers to follow up.
   
   
4. A 360 View. A CRM offers a clear and complete view of all customer activities, across all departments. From frontline staff to top management, the customer’s profile, activity, and history are all readily available. This eliminates missed chances at building relationships and cross-selling, as well as avoiding redundant offers, which can negatively affect the relationship. It also avoids duplicating work across departments, which frees up time and morale.
   
   
5. Increased staff productivity and satisfaction. A CRM can make workflow processes and follow-up easier, more consistent and faster. This means less time on tedious tasks and more time focused on customers. Assigning tasks, creating referrals, tracking sales pipelines, and managing cases can all be streamlined, which increases all staff productivity and satisfaction. Plus, with mobile access the information can be available anytime and anywhere to keep employees and managers up-to-date and connected while on the go.
   
   
6. Marketing Automation. A CRM can help you target and personalize marketing. You can mine customer data, segment customer groups, personalize the touchpoint, and automate the process, whether it is an email, phone call or direct mail campaign. A CRM can help you create your own marketing campaigns and customer journeys and report on successes.

When is a bank or credit union ready for CRM?

Only you can know when your bank or credit union is ready for a CRM. But if two or more of these signs are true, it’s likely time.

6 Signs it’s time for a CRM

1. Your customer data is scattered in Excel, email, IM, or post-it notes.
2. You can’t see across departments for sales, marketing, and service efforts.
3. Your reporting is limited and difficult.
4. You have work processes that could use automation and consistency.
5. You manually track your employee goals and incentive plans.
6. You want to grow, and your work processes will not easily scale.

How 360 View Can Help

Considering a CRM for your bank or credit union? With more than 20 years of successful implementations in the financial industry, 360 View is a CRM Platform developed for bankers by bankers who understand the special needs of banks and credit unions. If you'd like to know more, check out our Getting Started with CRM Guide or schedule a demo to see our product up-close.