Contact management software: The top 5 features your small business needs

ByJillian Moss
6488_CRMio%20for%20reducing%20operations%20costs-7a67dbd0

Introduction

If you’re a small business owner, chances are you have an email inbox that’s packed to the brim with messages from clients, vendors, and employees. And while there are many tools available that can help you manage your emails (and even automate some of them), one of the most important aspects of any CRM system is its ability to integrate with other apps and services that help small businesses run more efficiently. Here are five features that every new contact management platform should have:

1. Integrations

Integrations are one of the most powerful features of any contact management software. They allow you to connect your software with other existing or new services and people, allowing you to use your contacts in different ways.

Integrations can be free or paid options for integrating with other apps, services, and people. This makes it easier for small businesses who don’t have access to many IT resources but still want their contacts managed by someone else’s system. It also allows them access to more features that they may not have been able to afford otherwise.

2. Searchability

The more you can find your contacts, the better. And if you’re a small business owner, having to go through dozens of people before finding the right one is just not practical.

Searches are important for a variety of reasons:

  • Finding the right contact at the right time (e.g., when someone needs something from you)
  • Finding contacts without having to call them directly or emailing them repeatedly (this is especially helpful if there’s some kind of red tape involved)

3. Accessibility

To ensure that your customers are able to access their data from anywhere, it’s important for you to make sure your system is accessible. Make sure your website and applications are mobile-friendly and allow users to view their contacts from their mobile devices. You should also consider providing people with an option of logging into their account using a desktop or laptop computer as well as other types of devices like a tablet or smartphone.

While accessibility is an important consideration when choosing an email management software solution, there are other factors such as cost and ease of use that should be taken into consideration as well.

4. Automation

Automation is a powerful tool for small businesses. It can help you streamline your business processes, save time and money, and make your staff more efficient.

The right automation software will allow you to create automated workflows that are triggered by certain events or actions in order to perform tasks or complete projects automatically. This approach can be used for anything from sending emails out of the office based on certain dates (like tax season), scheduling meetings with clients online via Chatbot technology (which saves time), billing clients prior to their goods being delivered so they don’t have any questions later on down the line about payment details, etc.

5. Customization

It’s important to customize your contact management software so that it meets your needs. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as by the software developer, or by you and/or another third party.

The best way to customize a contact manager is through customization by the user themselves using their own preferred interface and style. For example, if someone wants all of their contacts on one page instead of spread across multiple pages they could create an account with CRM.IO and then import all of their existing contacts into this new system where they will be able to see them easily without having to scroll through dozens upon dozens of pages full of information about each person individually.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by contact management software’s features and integration.

With so many features and integrations available with contact management software, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’re considering your options.

  • Integrations: Contact management software has the ability to connect with other third-party systems such as salesforce or Quickbooks in order to automate tasks or generate reports. This can help save time by streamlining the flow of information between departments within your business.
  • Searchability: Having easy access to all of your contacts means that you don’t have to spend time searching through multiple databases for potential leads or customers who may be interested in doing business with you which means more time spent helping people get what they want from their businesses.
  • Accessibility: If someone needs immediate assistance regarding something involving one of their contacts then having an accessible CRM system helps them reach out directly instead of making multiple attempts over email before speaking face-to-face at a conference table which would take longer than necessary because most people prefer talking face-to-face whenever possible.

Conclusion

We’ve explored the basics of what contact management software is, how it works and why it’s so important for your small business. We’ve also shown you how to choose an application that meets your needs and fits into your budget. The bottom line is this: Contact management software can help streamline your workflow, improve efficiency by allowing you to use data across platforms, and provide a unified view of all your contacts. You may not need all five features on this list, but the more features there are in one system and the better those features work the more likely you are to find one that fits perfectly for your business needs.