How to Build Your Custom CRM Software In 5 Steps: The Full Guide

Converting leads into paying customers should be the priority of your business.

If this has been a challenge, maybe it’s time to build your own CRM or customer relations management software.

A CRM is a tool that centralizes your customers’ contacts and how you’re interacting with them.

With a custom CRM, you can easily find which marketing and sales touchpoints are the most and least efficient in driving conversions, helping you develop strong long-term strategies.

However, how to build a custom CRM?

The answer is not always easy.

In this article, let’s go into the step-by-step to build a CRM so you can achieve business goals.

Why Should You Build Your Own CRM?

One question that might pop up in your mind is: “why can’t I just use off-the-shelf CRM such as Salesforce or HubSpot to manage my customers?”

Ready-made CRMs are rich with features such as omnichannel automation and lead generation tools.

However, not all their features meet your business needs at times.

As a result, you’ll pay expensive subscriptions only to actively use a handful of the available features.

Whether you’re a corporate or a medium-to-large business, a custom CRM will be a better fit if you’re handling thousands of customer accounts.

Using a custom CRM software, you’ll have more control over every aspect of the customer journey and easily align cross-department collaborations between sales, customer service, marketing, and more.

Plus, you don’t have to pay a huge bill whenever adding a user.

The scalability is limitless – the capabilities of your custom CRM can be adjusted as your headcount and customers grow.

5 Easy Steps to Build a Custom CRM Software

Follow the steps below on how to build a bespoke software for a successful CRM implementation.

1. Start with a Strategy

Assess your current budget, timeline, and human resources.

Decide whether the right route to take is by building the software in-house or going with a custom software development company.

Developing a CRM on your own can cost as much as USD 110,000.

This is because you need to pay for the labor as well as the tech stack – both the software and the hardware such as the server.

If you’re short on budget but still aiming for quality, make sure to choose the right software development partner.

Working with an agency can help you cut the overall budget by 50% while ensuring that every output is finished on-time.

No more worrying about hiring costly web developers or deciding which tools and programming language to integrate with your CRM.

2. Decide on the Features to Add

Like any other tech solutions, consider software development methodologies when building your CRM.

Henceforth, decide what features to prioritize in your CRM development roadmap, which are typically categorized across three main functions:

• Sales Module. A CRM helps your team document and automate a range of sales activities from reaching out to customers (calls, demos, email) to tracking hot leads.
• Marketing Module. With a CRM, set up digital marketing campaigns manually or automate every step. Then, track and optimize the results through comprehensive marketing analytics.
• Customer Service Module. In a CRM, your CS team can access an all-in-one suite for aggregating customer tickets, phone calls, emails, and chats – streamlining their work altogether.

Each of these features range in terms of the development time.

Some may be finished in weeks, while more complex functionalities such as a full-on dashboard for managing accounts may extend to months.

To make sure, book a call with a CRM development company and make the right estimations on how your tech investment can yield profitable returns.

3. Plan Out the UX and Architecture

Once you have decided the features to include, designing a wireframe or a mockup will make the build process more efficient as developers have a benchmark set for their outcome.

In parallel, your engineer team will usually come up with a software architecture blueprint.

This is how the structure of your CRM will be based on along with how each of the elements relate with one another to deliver results.

Once the UX and the architecture are ready, review if your plans are aligned with the risks outlined in your proposal – such as the development timeline and final costs.

4. Manage How You Build the Tech

As there’s time-to-market to be fulfilled, prioritize the features you’re going to work on wisely.

Engineers usually use the SPRINT method to make sure that the deliverables are according to the deadline.

In this short and time-boxed period, a project manager will prioritize the features to build based on the factors that have been agreed upon by the stakeholders.

For instance, how much impact can the business achieve by rolling out this feature?

How soon should that happen?

Then, the project manager will decide how many people should be assigned for the feature to be finished on time.

In the flow of a SPRINT, usually there will be developers, UI/UX designers or writers when necessary, as well as QA testers.

In the testing phase, make sure that your CMS does not only work functionally, but also has reliable performance and security.

It is easier to fix now than later when the features are already published.

5. Deploy the Features

Once you have completed steps one to four and you’re sure that your CRM is free from any bug that will take the software down, time to roll it out to the users – in this case, your internal team.

Do not forget to collect their feedback.

Find out what they like and don’t like about the CRM.

Use their criticism as a fuel for your next development plans.

Here are some questions to help you out:

• Does your CRM manage to increase sales team efficiency?
• Does your CRM help marketing improve their campaign management?
• Does your CRM help reduce the number of tickets coming to the customer service department?

If all the boxes are ticked, congratulations – you’re on the right track.