What is CRM email integration?

CRM email integration refers to the act of syncing your customer relationship management software with your email system or email marketing platform. Find out more about the two and how they help you move your business up to the next level.

Why integrate email with CRM software?

Email correspondence is one of the best ways to keep in touch with your customers and build solid, lifelong relationships with them.

And it’s actually an essential part of your sales and marketing strategy, as it’s used in so many ways at different stages of your customer’s journey with your business.

How your team members use email could make or break that sale – and, seriously impact your productivity and profit as a business.

Integrating your CRM platform with your email client and email marketing platform is a smart move if you’re ready to take your business to the next level of growth. 

It helps you speed up and – in many cases – automate your sales and marketing processes so your colleagues are free to nurture your contacts and concentrate on converting them into paying customers, without losing hours manually moving contacts around, copying and pasting emails, or compiling lists for bulk emails.

What exactly is a CRM email integration?

CRM integration happens when you connect your emails up with your CRM so the two pieces of technology speak to each other. 

Depending on which CRM platform and email client or software you use, there may be a simple, plug-in solution to connect your email inbox to your CRM account so it syncs up in real-time. 

However, a custom API integration between your CRM and email may be the best solution to make sure the two systems connect seamlessly and improve your workflow.

CRM email integration examples

Whichever type of sales CRM you use, for example, Hubspot, Pipedrive, or Zoho, you can sync it up with a host of email providers and email marketing platforms, including:

• Gmail
• Outlook
• Yahoo Mail
• AOL Mail
• Mailchimp
• Mailerlite
• Flodesk
• ActiveCampaign

A CRM integration specialist like Hanley Digital can connect virtually any two software systems together using a bespoke API integration, so you can use your CRM data to send emails more effectively and get better results.

What can I do if I integrate my CRM with my email?

Syncing your CRM with your email management software allows you to achieve much more, and make everyday business processes much easier.

With a two-way email sync, your two systems speak to each other and all information is automatically synced between your email account and your CRM system without the need for time-draining manual data entry.

Using your integrated systems you can create and send emails out via your CRM, design email templates to automate everyday processes, send bulk emails to groups of contacts, and schedule emails to be sent out a peak times for your audience.

Here’s an example of how email integration works.

When you receive new incoming emails into your inbox, it can automatically adds the contact’s email address to your CRM.

This means you can create a customer profile, track email and phone interactions with your customers, save email threads to monitor activity, and keep track of emails that close deals within the CRM (so you can send more of them!).

You have a clearer view of your customer journey and it becomes much easier to convert your audience members into paying (and returning customers).

You may initially spend a little time setting up new automations and processes. For example, creating a welcome email sequence for new sign-ups, or designing a cold pitch template to send out emails in bulk.

However, it will help your entire team in the long run when it frees them from losing hours to the process of data entry and allows them to focus on what they’re best at. 

What does integrating my CRM with my email marketing do?

Similarly, if you already use an email marketing platform like Mailchimp or Mailerlite there’s a lot you can do to make your life easier through a custom CRM email integration.

An email integration inside your CRM lets you automatically capture new leads and enter them into your marketing databases.

You can segment audience groups to send more relevant email campaigns, personalise emails to increase open and click through rates, and automate campaigns to go out at popular times of the day and year to get through to your audience when they’re most likely to buy.

Can’t I just use my CRM email features?

In short, yes, maybe. Many CRMS have email features that allow you to do many of the things we’ve mentioned so far in this blog, and if you have limited email requirements, that could be sufficient.

However, most businesses find that if they want to take email marketing seriously, they need a dedicated email marketing platform for its extensive features and capabilities.

With a proper email marketing platform, you have better deliverability rates for every email, the ability to analyse email success rates, more sophisticated design and automation options, larger capacity for bulk emails to thousands of people, and higher potential to boost your sales performance.

Where to start with CRM email integration

Hopefully, this blog has got you thinking about the potential of email and email marketing to give your business a boost and start to increase your productivity and profit.

Hanley Digital specialises in helping you to harness the data you already have and use it to grow your business, powered by custom software solutions.

We bring your CRM together with all your other business tools, like email or email marketing software, to streamline how you work, sharpen your customer experience, and get you huge leaps closer towards smashing your business goals.

Plus, we’re with you every step of the way so we can ensure the technology you use as a business grows with you, supports you through each level of growth and allows you to say yes to every opportunity.

If you’re curious about how CRM email integration could grow your business, we’re here to give you all the answers you’re looking for.

Let’s start with a free consultation to see where you’re at and how we can get you get where you want to be. Contact us on hello@hanleydigital.com or 0114 4055 330.