So you’re building a CRM, huh. You’re willingly entering a saturated market that’s dominated by a few key players. Let us just say that we admire your courage. We’re rooting for you!
Yes, designing a CRM is hard. But not impossible. We’ve helped numerous clients do just that. And with great success might we add. In that article, we’ll cover seven best practices we’ve uncovered in our experience.
Let’s dive right in.
Onboarding
Settling on a CRM is a tough decision. You go through dozens of options. See which features are core and which are bells and whistles. Have endless conversations with your team. Why this much fuss? — Because once you commit, it’s a huge pain to go back.
This is why onboarding should be in focus for the whole design process. Once users get in, and they’re happy, they will commit long-term.
In our experience, we’ve split onboarding into three major sections: migration, sandbox and customization. Let’s cover all three aspects.
Frictionless Migration
CRMs are only as good as the data they hold. Users can’t experience the full value of your CRM until their customer data is in place. Depending on the business, users might be transitioning from:
- another CRM
- a spreadsheet
- or even a mix of tools.
Whatever their starting point, the migration process must be as smooth and straightforward as possible.
Provide intuitive import tools that can handle a variety of formats, and offer clear guidance throughout the process. If migration feels complicated or prone to errors, users may lose confidence early on.
A seamless migration ensures users reach their first "aha moment" quickly, when they see their data fully integrated and functional in your CRM.
The Role of a Sandbox Mode
For users hesitant to import real data immediately, offering a sandbox mode can be a game-changer. A sandbox environment allows them to explore the CRM’s core features with preloaded sample data, showcasing its capabilities without any perceived risk.
By highlighting key features and competitive advantages in a safe, exploratory space, you can build user confidence and demonstrate value from the start. This also solves another problem.
With brand new users, empty states are not your friend. They disable users from experiencing the tool before deciding whether to commit.
Customizing the Onboarding Experience
CRMs cater to a wide range of industries, user types, and business needs. Before onboarding even begins, it’s essential to identify your audience.
Are you guiding a sales team? A marketing department? Or perhaps a small business owner? Understanding who you’re onboarding allows you to tailor the process to their specific needs and expectations.
Customization ensures relevance, making users feel seen and understood. This approach not only streamlines their learning experience but also fosters stronger connections with your platform.
Know thy customer
In B2B scenarios, decision-making is often complex, involving multiple stakeholders with varied concerns. Extensive user research is your roadmap to understanding these dynamics.
Start with the users’ pain points: What problems are they trying to solve? What processes are they hoping to streamline? Why are they migrating? Which CRM are they dumping and why? Well-researched answers to these questions are a treasure trove for your marketing team.
Here are a couple of essential activities:
Deep interviews
Deep interviews are something that you absolutely have to do with a certain frequency. Younger products that have doubts about their value prop should do them more; products that are more mature don’t need that as much. There's not better place to learn about your customers. Remember: interviews give you stories, while quantitative data helps understand how common these stories are.
Deep interviews are typically unstructured long-form conversations with your (potential) users. The best way to conduct those is to ask open-ended questions and let users talk about their experiences. You should do your best to avoid steering the conversation towards the results you want to get. This is more difficult than it sounds. Ideally, as an interviewer, you need someone who doesn't have a stake in the game.
User interviews help validate your product idea. Usability testing helps validate the execution. Now let's cover the latter as well.
Usability testing
In a nutshell, a usability testing session is having users interact with a piece of software (coded or prototyped) in real-time. That way, you can spot usability issues and solve them. Typically, you would need 5 users to evaluate one group of features. That said, you should be careful about cramming too much into an interview: that way you will dilute the findings.
Usability testing sessions are an essential part of the process. For CRMs those are vital, since messing up usability will undermine retention and adoption. Users tolerate poor usability only if they have no alternative.
Below, we included an example of a usability testing deliverable. It shows a UI fragment and the feedback that users had while interacting with it.
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Quantitative methods
Quantitative methods do one important thing. They tell you the scale of your qualitative findings. For instance, you’ve spotted that it’s common for users to migrate to you from HubSpot. Quantitative methods will tell you how common it is.
Typical quantitative methods include surveys, questionnaires, product analytics, etc. The collective customer intelligence you get from all the activities we outlined will help you ensure optimal user retention.
Don’t stop at web
In today’s fast-paced business environment, the ability to update CRM data on the go is a basic user expectaton. A robust mobile version of your CRM ensures users can manage their workflows anytime, anywhere. Mobile compatibility isn’t just a convenience — it’s a necessity for modern CRM adoption.
Here’s an example of mobile version of a CRM dashboard we designed:
Clear Modularity and Intuitive Navigation
CRMs are typically composed of multiple modules, such as sales, marketing, contact management, administration, etc. These modules help users compartmentalize features, making the CRM’s offerings more digestible. However, the success of this approach depends on clear information architecture.
The goal of information architecture is to put things where users expect to find them. The more common something is used, the more prominently it should be displayed. A good exercise in this regard is card sorting. See a basic example below.
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Card sorting exercises can help you design logical categories and labels for your modules. Complement this with usability testing to validate your choices and ensure users find the system intuitive. A well-organized CRM reduces cognitive load and empowers users to focus on their tasks.
Solid Design Operations for Cohesion
With numerous modules and often multiple designers involved, maintaining a cohesive design across the CRM can be challenging. Establishing strong design operations (DesignOps) is critical to ensuring consistency.
By aligning design standards and processes, you create a seamless user experience that feels polished and professional. In this case, cohesion may go beyond a simple design system. While a design system, may ensure that the building blocks are the same, the rules of their usage may be inconsistent unless someone is paying attention.
Leveraging Integrations for Efficiency
One of the most frustrating aspects of CRM use is the manual effort required to update statuses, add comments, or record information. Integrations can alleviate this burden by automating repetitive tasks and reducing data entry.
Focus on key integrations, such as calendar syncing, email tools, and presentation software. Conduct user research to determine which tools your audience relies on most and prioritize those integrations. By streamlining workflows, you’ll enhance user satisfaction and drive adoption
Case Study 1: Ravel
The challenge
When Ravel approached us, the product was essentially a manual service that involved lots and lots of spreadsheets. Needless to say, such a service is barely scalable. The way the service worked back then, it attracted mostly founder's business associates and other personal connections.
Results
Our biggest achievement is turning a manual service into a streamlined web app that enabled Ravel's sustainable growth. Another thing we did was designing a website to help attract new clients and convert them. In short, our design enabled Ravel to enter the market in full swing.
What we did
To transform Ravel, the team conducted comprehensive user research to identify pain points and preferences. This was followed by creating a streamlined user interface with enhanced navigation and appealing visual elements, aligning it with the new brand identity. Regular testing and feedback cycles ensured that the product met user needs effectively, leading to the successful implementation of the final design.
Case Study 2: Xilo
The challenge
We started our work with XILO by redesigning their flagship product. XILO Customer Forms is what led us to a long-term collaboration.Since then, we had improved all their products – Dashboard, Agent intake forms, and marketing website. With new improved products, XILO team raised $2m in a seed round and started their path to product growth.
The result
Post-collaboration, Xilo boasted a sleek and modern interface that enhanced usability and user satisfaction. The platform's functionality was significantly improved, leading to increased user engagement and a more robust positioning in the industry.
What we did
Our approach began with in-depth user research and competitive analysis to identify key areas for improvement. We then reimagined the user experience with a fresh design that prioritized ease of use and aesthetic appeal. Following the design overhaul, we implemented iterative testing and feedback sessions to refine the product further, ensuring it met users' needs and expectations effectively.
Bottom line
Onboarding is the foundation of any CRM’s success. By prioritizing seamless migration, providing sandbox options, customizing onboarding experiences, and leveraging user research, you set the stage for long-term user engagement. Add mobile compatibility, clear modularity, strong design operations, and thoughtful integrations to the mix, and you’ve created a CRM that not only meets but exceeds user expectations. In a competitive market, these are the elements that turn trial users into loyal advocates.
