Marketing Automation For Dummies

Chapter 5

CRM Integration

In This Chapter

Planning your CRM integration

Connecting data and database fields

Troubleshooting common issues with CRM

Connecting your customer relationship management system (CRM) and your marketing automation tool unlocks many of the powerful features that improve your communication between marketing and sales and allow you to move to more advanced marketing programs. It also enables closed-loop return-on-investment (ROI) reporting on marketing campaigns (you can see ROI contributions from sales and marketing in one report).

Connecting a CRM system and a marketing automation system is not a simple task. Of all of the problems typically seen with failed implementations, a bad CRM connection is in the top three reasons for failure. The issue is complicated by the fact that every company uses a CRM system in a different way, and not always in the way that CRM systems were intended to be used. In this chapter, I prepare you to look at your CRM system usage and take a flexible approach to make your integration work better.

I show you how to plan your integration between your marketing automation tool and your CRM system. I also cover how to go over your ...