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CRM for Financial Services: Key to Great Customer Experiences

The finance industry is extremely competitive. As such, every major player within it is constantly focused on delivering the best possible customer experience. Luckily, there is software that helps do precisely that — a CRM for financial services.

Yet, not all business leaders are aware of the power these systems hold, particularly for the finance sphere. Thus, we’ve decided to take some time to discuss CRM implementation in the context of financial services and share with you some of the key details about this technology.

Let’s get started.

How a CRM for Financial Services Differs

In simple terms, a CRM platform is used to manage a company’s interactions with clients, keep track of communication history, and facilitate collaboration among the sales, marketing, and customer support departments.

While this holds true for a financial CRM just as much as it does for a manufacturing or retail one, there are slight distinctions we ought to discuss. You see, when it comes to the finance industry, organizational workflows tend to differ.

Naturally, investment firms, venture capital funds, banks, and financial advisors focus a large portion of their work on dealing with funding requests, mergers and acquisitions, and the like. The entire business is often centered around this. Of course, such a unique set of services requires a solution that considers any potential nuances.

Read up on the Key Features of a CRM in Banking

Hence, a CRM for financial services will often need to cater to the requirements of different teams (e.g., marketing, sales, accounting, advisory and payment processing), that regularly interact with existing or potential customers.

Further, even the acquisition of new clientele isn’t always standard in finance, with many relying on word-of-mouth and personal referrals. As you can imagine, a good CRM platform should have customizable workflows that account for that.

Who Benefits From a Financial CRM

In finance, there are several business areas that benefit significantly from effective CRM implementation. Let’s briefly touch upon each one so that we are on the same page.

Sales and Marketing

The fact that the sales and marketing departments are the main ones to leverage a CRM is no surprise. These two areas of the business are responsible for attracting new customers, moving leads down the sales pipeline, and working on establishing lasting client loyalty. Naturally, they require software that can help with that.

Regardless of whether you run a bank or a private equity firm, you’ve definitely got sales and marketing teams that are eager to automate workflows, centralize client data, and capitalize on in-depth analytics that a CRM can provide.

Customer Service Department

Unsurprisingly, the customer support team also relies heavily on a well-functioning CRM. After all, to help clients quickly and effectively, it’s important to know their unique profile and history with the company.

Plus, many financial CRMs actually connect with contact center solutions. Not only because such an integration allows for the relevant client profile to be pulled up quickly whenever a call is received, but also because customer service departments are eager to streamline workflows. Since a CRM allows the information gathered during a call to be swiftly uploaded to the database, it is immensely helpful.

Discover how a CRM Improved FinTech Firm’s Customer Service

Risk Management and Compliance Teams

When it comes to trustworthy financial services, robust risk management and strict compliance adherence take priority. Financial losses, reputational damage, and hefty fines are just a few of the issues your company may face by overlooking these critical factors.

Fortunately, with the financial CRM systems in place, your staff can better manage possible risks — from non-compliance to data breaches and fraudulent transactions. Thus, making your business more reliable and legally secure.

It becomes possible thanks to the CRM’s capabilities to automate compliance processes, check regulatory requirements, and ensure customers’ data is collected in accordance with them.

Plus, modern CRMs smoothly integrate with artificial intelligence and machine learning models to promptly handle large volumes of data and analyze behavioral patterns. This allows your team to quickly identify suspicious activities and manage risks more effectively.

Loan and Mortgage Officers

The high demand for mortgage and loan services makes these institutions key players in the financial industry. Hence, it should come as no surprise that financial CRM is actively being utilized in this regard.

Specifically, it can accurately assess credit scores, thus providing a comprehensive picture for underwriters before making lending decisions or offering tailored programs. Additionally, CRMs automate the application handling process, thus both reducing paperwork and speeding up approvals.

Accounting and Audit Professionals

CRM-powered financial systems can turn out to be a powerful tool for assurance services. Primarily, CRMs bring all the crucial information about a client’s financial records (e.g., tax returns, bank statements, wealth management, and incomes), thus providing quick access to all the necessary data. In many cases, this level of financial visibility is also supported by custom accounting software that ensures accurate synchronization between CRM data and accounting records.

With the robust CRM at their hand, accountants can effortlessly access real-time reports on client finances and transactions. Thus, streamlining financial planning through accurate forecasting.

Payment Processing Team

Payment processing used to be a tough thing, and the need to switch between several platforms to accept transfers made it even more complicated. However, today it’s possible to integrate CRM payments to accept all transactions within a single platform.

This way, you collect all the crucial information in one place, whether it’s transaction history or customer payment preferences. This empowers you to promptly address any issues, establish a better user experience, and improve overall payment workflow management.

Financial Advisory Team

Lastly, in the financial sector, a CRM platform can be a useful tool for a company’s advisors. Whether it’s using CRM for wealth management, retirement planning, or tracking client transactions, it assists financial advisors in providing more personalized offerings.

As such, CRM becomes a valuable and powerful tool to help clients meet their unique goals and boost their satisfaction. So, while CRM software may not be implemented for financial advisors primarily, they would definitely benefit from having access to it.

7 Crucial Features of a Finance CRM

Now that we’ve established how a CRM for financial services may differ from platforms used in other industries, let’s take a look at the main features this tool should possess.

1. Contact and Deal Management

Contact and deal management is arguably the most essential function of a financial CRM. Having the ability to keep track of contacts, record any and all interactions, schedule calls, and see which stage of completion a deal may be at is a must.

Moreover, many modern CRMs allow you to attach contracts and other financial documents to the client’s record. Thus, ensuring that all your teams are working with the latest information and have a complete customer view to provide best-in-class service.

Don’t forget that without accurate contact coordination systems in place, your company may struggle with lead management and sales, as potential customers will fall through the cracks. Of course, this will reflect negatively on the bottom line and is something that any leader should focus on avoiding.

Learn how a CRM Improves Lead Generation

2. Workflow Automation

Another important feature of any CRM, but especially one that is implemented in a busy business like finance, is automation. Getting rid of manual tasks is a top priority for organizations that are overwhelmed with repetitive work like data entry, onboarding, frequent follow-ups, and the like.

Find out about the Powers of Hyperautomation

Thanks to a CRM’s workflow automation features, you can set up triggers that will carry out a series of actions whenever a specific event occurs. Thus, minimizing the need for human involvement.

For example, if a regular customer reaches out to inquire about an investment opportunity, but your team needs time to conduct a reliable assessment, automated emails can be created to keep them updated. That way, even if the financial advisory team takes some time to get back with a response, the clients know that they haven’t been forgotten.

3. Low-Code or No-Code Customization

We’ve touched on the importance of workflow automation. It brings plenty of benefits for business, but the overall process may require both time and investment.

Now, imagine being able to achieve automation using simple, intuitive low-code or no-code tools. Typically, they come with drag-and-drop interfaces, which makes them incredibly simple to leverage.

CRMs equipped with such features may become the gift that keeps on giving. They empower non-technical teams to build automated processes, reduce errors, improve efficiency, and lower operational expenses.

So, though this feature is not mandatory, it will definitely help your team get things done faster and independently.

4. Marketing Campaign Administration

No CRM system is complete without a campaign management feature. After all, the marketing team will need to rely on customer insights to target and personalize promotional initiatives accurately.

So, if you’re on the hunt for a truly effective financial CRM, make sure your chosen tool has in-built business intelligence capabilities that can be used for customer segmentation, behavioral insights, and tracking of promotion performance. These functions will empower your marketing team and allow them to launch multichannel campaigns that deliver a maximum ROI. Who wouldn’t want that?

5. Data Analytics

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that reporting and analytics are an absolute must within a financial CRM. Since the solution already serves as a centralized resource of customer information, it would be a shame not to capitalize on all these details to uncover trends and patterns.

Financial services are largely centered around data anyway. Hence, your team will easily interpret the intelligent dashboards powered by data science and artificial intelligence that a CRM will showcase.

Take a look at the Impact of AI in Business

Overall, it’s a good idea for a financial CRM platform to deliver insights on sales and revenue levels, client’s portfolio investments, marketing initiative results, staff efficiency, and the like.

6. Security and Data Protection

It’s worth noting that fintech apps contain plenty of sensitive data, so before implementing a CRM, it’s important to check its security measures. Ideally, it should provide features like encryption, multi-factor authentication, and role-based access control to double down on customers’ private data protection.

Depending on the purposes for which you utilize CRM, it may require additional functionalities. For example, a CRM for wealth management should include features like automated compliance reminders, client risk profiling, and investment goal tracking. Otherwise, how will customers be sure they are sharing their financial data only with trusted financial advisors?

7. Complementary Software Integration

Lastly, when implementing a CRM for financial services, don’t forget to check that it can integrate with other software that your business frequently uses. It is essential for good performance in the long run.

For instance, you might have accounting software like QuickBooks and require the CRM to sync invoices and contact detail updates into it. If the chosen CRM platform doesn’t allow that — you might face unnecessary difficulties with data synchronization.

Check out how we Integrated a CRM with QuickBooks

Similarly, your finance business might be working with document management software, contact center solutions, and other valuable technologies. Customer-related data should sync seamlessly across all these platforms because that’s what will bring true efficiency.

How to Choose the Right Financial CRM

Given that financial CRMs can be employed for a variety of purposes, you’ve probably guessed that there are plenty of such tools out there. This variety is like a double-edged sword: you have plenty of options to choose from, but it can be easy to get lost in the sea of choices. So, let’s skim through the hints to help you pick up the best one for your business.

Assess your business goals: Determine why exactly your business needs a CRM. Is it for wealth management, client relationships, financial advisory, or something else?
Highlight essential features: Create a shortlist of the features your CRM should have, like sales data collection, lead and compliance tracking, customer segmentation, etc.
Consider user interface: Without an intuitive UI/UX design, even the best solution will fall short. So, make sure the robust CRM you’re keeping an eye on can be easily utilized by your team.
Be aware of implication costs: Consider all the costs associated with the implementation — from setup to training and maintenance. If the CRM you choose is priced higher than you initially planned, assess its long-term value for your business.
Check recommendations and reviews: It’s always a wise move to glance over the recommendations and user reviews about the CRM you’re planning to implement. This will give you a picture of possible pitfalls and the main benefits of the system you are going to employ.

Time to Implement a CRM for Finance

As you can see, there is a lot to unpack when it comes to implementing a CRM platform for finance. With the unique workflows of the businesses operating within this sector, it is natural for leaders to want a solution that can cater to the dynamic nature of their daily routines. Luckily, modern CRMs are up for the challenge.

So, if you’re looking to obtain a new solution for your company or customize an existing one — don’t hesitate to contact Velvetech. We specialize in the delivery of top-notch CRM implementation services and would be happy to help with whatever you require.

About the author

Paul Jackson

Focused on CRM consultancy in his professional life, Paul shares his hands-on experience in the automation of business processes with Velvetech’s blog readers.