You may have invested a lot in a new CRM for your e-commerce store. Maybe you need it for handling subscriptions, abandoned carts, and customer data. But getting started with the software isn’t always simple.
Enterprise CRMs are usually tricky and costly, which won’t suit you until you’re running a large business. Regular e-commerce platforms handle transactions fine, but they’re not built for real CRM work like customer segmentation or payment optimization.
So, your team won’t be able to utilize the CRM well, and your plans may fail. Let’s break down all the reasons why CRM adoption fails and how to turn things around.
1. The CRM Is Difficult to Install and Maintain
Most enterprise CRMs are built for large firms with dedicated IT teams. Installation takes weeks. You need tech skills to modify workflows, set permissions, and change fields to log in user data. Your team might be busy running the store. Customer service is answering tickets. Fulfillment is packing orders. For any small or medium e-commerce business, that’s way too complicated.
Then there’s the maintenance side. You need to check frequently if the updates are actually working. When something isn’t working, you have to wait for tech support. Or, you need to do it yourself. If you run a small business, you probably won’t have time for all this.
So, platforms like WooCommerce are simple to use, but aren’t designed to work like a CRM. Enterprise solutions have the features, but require tech know-how.
Solution
For a small business, you want a CRM that’s up and running in no time, but also easy to use. So, pick a CRM designed for small e-commerce businesses.
Something like Sticky CRM lets you get started quickly with minimal setup. No technical expertise required. Your team can start using it the same day. Being a SaaS-based platform, you won’t have worries about maintenance.
2. You Lack the Features to Understand Shoppers
Your e-commerce platform can help you tackle product listings, shopping carts, and checkouts. It might seem like a CRM, but it’s not designed to be a CRM.
You can see basic order history. But if you try to segment customers by purchase behavior, it’ll be difficult. You can’t follow up with customers who did or didn’t respond to an upsell email. The team will need separate tools for email, analytics, and customer tracking.
These platforms don’t have features to help understand your customers or connect with them. They show what customers ordered, but not who your most valuable customers are or when to follow up with them.
So, you may use multiple tools to track this information, or just miss out on sales opportunities completely.
Solution
You want an e-commerce CRM designed to foster relationships with customers, not just transactions.
Look for tools that group your customers automatically. This can be based on how often they buy, how much they spend, or what products they like. Find features that send follow-up emails when someone abandons their cart or when someone hasn’t bought in a while.
3. Your Current Setup Can’t Optimize Payments
Standard e-commerce platforms offer only basic payment features. If a customer’s payment fails, the sale is lost. They can’t automatically try a different payment gateway to buy what they need. There are other problems that you must consider.
- These platforms also can’t route payments smartly. Maybe Stripe has lower fees for US customers, or Razorpay might work better in India.
- They can’t switch payment methods based on where the shopper is located or which option works best for them.
Enterprise CRMs have these features, but using them for a small or medium-sized business will be too expensive. You’ll need a dedicated team just to manage everything. So, if you try to adopt such software, you are bound to fail.
Solution
Start by looking at your payment data. Check which payments are failing and where you’re paying the most fees.
Then choose an e-commerce CRM that connects to different payment processors and sends payments to the right one automatically. Use your most reliable processor for expensive orders. For international customers, set up processors that work well in specific countries.
Test it with a small batch of transactions first. Once you see it working, apply it to all your payments.
What’s the Best Way Out?
The best or ideal solution for all these adoption problems is to use a CRM made for e-commerce businesses. Such an example is Sticky CRM, which comes with multiple features to help you out.
- Simple Set-up – For instance, you don’t really have to install or maintain it. Create an account, link it with your e-commerce store via direct app connectors or API integrations, and you’re all set.
- Smooth Payments – It supports all the popular payment providers like Stripe Connect, Braintree, and NMI. You can accept payments directly on your site without redirects. Sticky can route transactions through the best processor to reduce fees and failed payments.
- Know Your Buyers – The CRM tackles more than 25 e-commerce metrics and gives you 15+ dashboards to understand shoppers better. You can filter shoppers by metrics like Customer Lifetime Value, Average Order Value, and MRR.
Plus, the CRM comes with PCI-DSS Level 1 security for keeping your data safe. So, it’ll probably solve all your data protection worries.
If you need help setting up the CRM, you can hire Sticky.io experts from a trustworthy team like CodeClouds. They’ll identify the issues you’re facing and help you integrate the CRM smoothly into your workflow.