9 CRM Statistics You Never Knew You Needed to Know

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is considered an asset to busy sales professionals. It’s not a panacea for every pain point sales teams encounter, but a good CRM system centralizes customer data and helps agents surface the right information at the right time. Of course, its success lies in how often—and how well—the platform is used.

Whether you’re shopping for a new CRM or upgrading from an existing solution, keep these stats in mind when making your purchasing decision.

90% of sales professionals work in weird places, even the bathroom

Sales agents report working in the shower, at the movies, during dinner—even in the bathroom. You need a CRM that can keep up with your sales team, no matter where they are. Waterproof CRMs aren’t a thing, but a good CRM system includes feature-filled mobile apps that let agents access its customer database and other mission-critical sales tasks.

Small businesses spend around $16 per user on a CRM

The typical small business currently spends about $16 per user on their customer relationship management software. Most small companies and soloprenuers can absorb the cost for a small team, but costs can quickly add up as organizations scale. However, business owners can expect to spend almost double that amount by 2025—about $30 per user (adjusted for COVID-19). Fortunately, most CRM vendors offer a price break with an upfront annual payment.

The median salary of a CRM administrator is $53K

At the time of publication, the average salary of a CRM administrator is $53,000. By comparison, a Systems Administrator Generalist earns about $63,000. However, it’s not unreasonable to expect CRM Admin salaries to experience a post-pandemic surge. HubSpot CRM reports a 64% attendance increase in its online sales training certification course as the need for virtual CRM training grows.

82% of people believe technology should play a major role in addressing privacy & data protection

Over 80% of people believe technology should have a “major role” in protecting data and addressing privacy concerns. CRMs collect a large amount of client and customer data that vendors—as well as the businesses that use them—have a responsibility to protect from safety breaches. Keep this in mind when making CRM purchasing decisions and when creating internal systems designed to protect its data.

47% of CRM users say quality customer data is ‘very important’ for CRM adoption

The biggest surprise of this data isn’t that CRM users in this survey consider quality customer data to be a key factor in a successful CRM adoption. It’s a surprise the figure isn’t higher. Low-quality data is often cited as a major reason CRM implementations fail. At best, faulty data makes it more difficult for sales professionals to find what they need. At worst, it creates embarrassing situations with prospects and customers.

85% of sales agents have made embarrassing mistakes because of faulty CRM data

A hefty 85% of sales agents say they’ve experienced embarrassing encounters with customers thanks to incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise faulty CRM data. The top two scenarios involve calling a customer by the wrong name and having a completely different idea of what the customer wants over what they’ve already asked.

66% of sales professionals would rather get stuck in traffic than update their CRM data

A pattern about customer data management is beginning to emerge. CRM users believe it’s important, and many have suffered the consequences of incomplete or inaccurate data. Yet, 66% of sales pros would prefer getting stuck in traffic rather than spend time updating their client and prospect notes. These figures make a compelling case for investing in a CRM with robust automation tools, and also puts CRM vendors on the hook to make their solutions easier to update.

Majority of businesses say AI will have a ‘major’ effect on improving the customer experience

CRMs are an important part of providing an exceptional customer experience (CX). Vendors are beginning to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate leads, qualify prospects, and even manage customer data sales agents don’t want to bother with. 64% of C-level executives believe AI will not only improve the customer experience but will also improve the agent experience as well.

86% of consumers say they prefer human customer support to AI systems

Even though artificial intelligence is said to improve CX, customers want companies to skip the chatbots. 86% of consumers say they prefer human interaction over AI chatbots when contacting a company. An astounding 50% actually felt that chatbots made it harder to resolve issues.