The Ultimate Guide to CRM Integration

Turn your customer relationship management (CRM) software into a hub for sales, marketing, communication, collaboration, accounting, and other activities through CRM integration with the other apps your business uses. Find out how CRM integration works and see examples of seven different ways integrations can streamline your company’s workflows, reduce expenses, improve productivity, foster customer engagement, and increase sales.

What Is CRM Integration?

A CRM integration connects your CRM system to another app to allow data to flow between them in one or both directions. It improves productivity through workflow automations and by giving you and your team access to all the data (and often much of the functionality) of both systems in a single platform. A CRM integration can completely eliminate the need to toggle back and forth between the two integrated systems.

How CRM Integration Works

Most CRMs have robust tools for contact management and helpful features like phone dialers and email or text marketing capabilities. But some providers lock advanced tools behind higher-tier plans, requiring you to pay for more expensive packages with other features your team may not need. CRM integrations address this issue by providing desired functionality through other apps, eliminating the need for your business to pay for unnecessary features.

CRM integrations also increase CRM adoption by connecting your CRM to other tools your team is using, such as QuickBooks, Trello, or Slack. Integration allows the two software tools to communicate directly.

Data may flow one way or in both directions so that one tool automatically syncs with the other when you take actions using either one of them. In some cases, it even allows for users to access some or all of the functionality of both platforms from either platform.

Many business software platforms have already developed specific CRM integrations (and vice versa) that are included in various subscription tiers and require little or no effort to set up. Alternatively, CRM integrations can be accomplished through application programming interface (API) developer access for custom integrations, or a platform like Zapier, which acts as an intermediary between the platforms to create the integration with “Zaps.”

Popular triggers and workflows with a Zendesk Sell and Slack integration via Zapier

7 Popular Types of CRM Integrations & Examples

Essential CRM integrations can streamline and automate processes, save time and reduce costs, facilitate internal collaboration and data sharing, contribute to lead generation and nurturing efforts, and help any type of business close deals faster. Since CRM software is often first adopted for sales purposes, below we explore some of the most useful CRM integration examples for sales teams:

1. Email Integration

Salespeople often use email as their primary channel of communication with customers. Many also rely on email marketing tactics like drip campaigns and newsletters to nurture leads and move them through your sales pipeline automatically.

With email integrations, you can access your business contacts and emails without leaving your CRM software. It also allows you to use shared templates and behavior-based or timed email drip campaigns (also known as “sequences”) from your CRM to increase productivity and improve lead nurturing efforts.

Plus, many email marketing platforms enable you to build lead generation web forms and either connect them to your social media channels or embed them into your website. As new leads submit forms or subscribe to email updates, the CRM integration automatically adds the new contacts to your CRM database for future manual and automated sales and marketing activities.

Click on the drop-down menu below to see examples of email integrations of CRM apps:

2. Phone & SMS Integration

CRM integrations that connect your phone’s voice calling and short message service (SMS) texting give you two additional channels for engaging customers and leads. Phone integration allows you to make outbound calls, record phone conversations, and log phone calls from within your CRM. SMS integration enables you to create and send text marketing campaigns and follow-ups with contacts via text messages.

Click on the drop-down menu below to see some examples of the best CRM integration capabilities for voice calling and SMS texting:

3. Social Media Integration

Integrating your CRM with your social media platforms enables you to manage posts and comments and track social engagement directly through your CRM platform. It also automates notifications, which in turn allows you to respond faster to your customers and leads when they reach out to you via social networks.

Click on the drop-down menu below to see some of the best social media integrations for CRMs:

4. Marketing Automation Integration

CRM integration with marketing automation software allows you to easily monitor the status of leads and manage activities in your sales pipeline. You can even set up triggered marketing actions based on customer activity recorded in your CRM. For example, when a contact subscribes to one of your emails, the CRM tells your email marketing tool to start sending a series of drip marketing emails to the new prospect.

Salesforce & Mailchimp Integration

Mappings in Salesforce and Mailchimp Integration

How to map form fields when integrating Salesforce with Mailchimp (Source: Mailchimp)

The two-way integration between Salesforce and Mailchimp enables you to sync contacts between the two apps. You can automatically save Mailchimp subscribers as Salesforce leads, send targeted emails to various lead lists, and view marketing campaigns and reports in Salesforce.

Not a Salesforce user? Discover other CRM providers that integrate well with Mailchimp by reading our guide to the best CRMs for Mailchimp users.

5. Collaboration Integrations

Not all CRM providers have integrated team communication tools for sending emails automatically, assigning tasks and goals, collaborating, or notifying teammates of updates. In the absence of CRM features like these, you can integrate your CRM software with your favorite collaboration apps. This increases productivity and efficiency by reducing the need to manually send messages and updates across the team.

Click on the drop-down menu below to see examples of CRM integrations with various team collaboration software:

6. Ecommerce Integration

Integrating CRMs with ecommerce platforms creates a smoother sales process through automatic syncing of contacts, products, and orders between the two platforms. If you are looking for the right CRM to use for your online store, check out our top picks for the best ecommerce CRM software.

Click on the drop-down menu below to see some of the most robust ecommerce-CRM integrations:

7. Accounting Integration

Integrating CRM software with small business accounting software enables bookkeepers and accountants to keep track of bills and invoices under each customer or company. Users can manage payments and accurately record revenue sources from within the CRM platform, which saves time and eliminates human error in manually uploading financial data.

Click on the drop-down menu below to see some of the most beneficial accounting CRM integration examples:

Pros & Cons of CRM Integration

CRM integrations provide a plethora of advantages for streamlining businesses and sales processes. However, there are potential drawbacks that hold some companies back from using them. We’ve listed some of the top pros and cons to help you decide whether to integrate your CRM with one or more of the other software tools your business uses.

Benefits of CRM Integration

More accurate data and less manual entry: Integrated systems increase data accuracy and reduce the risk of mistakes by syncing and centralizing records. This reduces or even eliminates the need for manual or multiple points of data entry. Plus, fixed mistakes will update across all platforms in real time.
Increased efficiency: Connecting systems across departments eliminates the need to access several programs to manage all areas of a project. For example, integrating accounting tools with your sales CRM enables you to automatically generate and send invoices to customers when projects are marked complete.
Reduced training time and costs: Training employees to use your CRM and other software is expensive and time-consuming. When employees use interconnected systems and can use the tool with which they are most familiar, it streamlines training. Plus, shared knowledge makes sales training faster and more efficient, and letting your team members use their preferred interface increases adoption.
Optimized marketing and sales efforts: CRM integrations provide you with detailed insight into customers’ spending habits and online activities so that your sales reps can go into conversations knowing more about the prospect. You can also deploy highly targeted automated marketing campaigns based on these factors as well as your customer profiles, behavioral triggers, and CRM features like tags and lead scoring.
Opportunities to boost revenue: A centralized database indicates what else customers may want or need based on what they have already purchased, as well as data gleaned from your customer profiles and personas. This creates opportunities to increase revenue through upselling as well as cross-selling by sales reps and through marketing automations.

Potential Drawbacks of CRM Integration

Added costs: Integration needs tend to pop up over time as your business grows and shifts, leaving you with surprise costs. The more well-defined your sales process is, the better you can accurately budget for needed CRM integrations or determine whether upgrading to a higher-tier CRM plan would be more cost-effective.
Data mapping issues: One of the more common challenges with integrating a CRM with external software is the mismatch between data field names and types, as they vary from app to app. For example, Salesforce permits a single address field, while other business apps may have two fields for this entry, causing an inaccurate migration or syncing of data.
Information and options overload: With so many apps to choose from, it can be overwhelming to pick the best providers for your business. While integrations expand CRM functionality, they don’t always simplify things.
Loss of human touch: CRMs can automate many different types of business processes, including communication. While this streamlines transactions and processes, some clients still prefer human interaction, and some customer support and service issues are best handled person-to-person.
Data privacy and security risks: Whenever you use a third-party provider for CRM integrations, there is the risk of sensitive data being used for fraud or vulnerable to data breaches. It’s vital to prioritize data security when choosing software, including measures to prevent unauthorized access and ensure both at-rest and in-transit data encryption.

Bottom Line

CRM integration plays a huge part in connecting the various software tools your company uses to streamline its business processes. Plus, integrations can help your business save money by providing the functionality you need rather than upgrading to more expensive CRM providers or plan tiers. When choosing software, look for providers that integrate with your CRM and the other tools that keep your business running smoothly, effectively, and securely.

The Ultimate Guide to CRM Integration

What Is CRM Integration?

How CRM Integration Works