Every business needs marketing software for several reasons, including keeping records, managing finances, and more.
In marketing, software tools help you track sales, profits, and sometimes customer data.
There are many tools, and you can find them by searching online.
But looking for the right software tool would be like buying a car. You will have to go through all of them before finding the one you want or providing what you want, in order to help choose the exact car you want to buy.
You need to know what you are looking for and how to use it to get the results you want.
To help in your search, I’ve compiled5 of the best marketing software applications for tracking sales and profits.
5 types of marketing software tools you can use
Hubspot
An all-in-one marketing software that brings together marketing, sales, and customer data within a single unit. It automatically records data such as emails, calls, and website visits from customers.
It shows you the kind of marketing efforts that lead to better sales and are capable of generating revenue. With AI-powered features, it groups buyers into levels based on their purchase behavior. It also gives you a fair view of the things that help turn efforts into sales.
Salesforce Sales Cloud
Salesforce Sales Cloud focuses on how to manage opportunities brought in by customer conversations. It records the history of buyer data and gives you a fair idea of the buyer behaviour of your customers.
With its built-in AI assistant (Einstein), it assesses data provided by sales, uses records to measure the income made on sales, and provides knowledge to use for future activities. It also
organizes reports and creates dashboards that help the management team monitor performance as well as identify new sales methods.
Pipedrive
A software that helps businesses focus on the right activities capable of bringing in more sales by setting reminders and grouping follow-up tasks.
It helps you to identify the best channels to use in selling your products and or services. Additionally, it traces sales performance and organizes reports.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a cost-effective software that provides a balance between marketing, sales, and support. It organizes sales responsibilities and helps you manage the data of interested consumers.
Using its AI assistant (Zia), it provides effective recommendations and alerts to mistakes made when selling.
It creates dashboards and reports on the products that are selling and the channels that help get consumers who show interest in such products.
It also assesses and measures sales income to increase profits.
Google Analytics
A free software tool that traces customer conversations on websites and apps. Google Analytics records big data on consumer behaviour and marketing performance.
It measures activities that make a person decide to buy and lets you know whether your contributions towards the business are rewarding or not.
It also combines multiple Google ads, which enables visitors on your website to actually take that step to buy a product or go for the service.
2 Steps to follow when choosing the right marketing software tools
Define your business goals and strategy
When buying something, you go for what meets your preferences and satisfies your desires, and not what others tell you to buy.
As such, you must select a software that will achieve your desired goals.
You must;
- Identify specific objectives
- Assess current abilities
- Map the point of customer interaction
Identify key features and integrations
Take a look at your business goals and choose the software with the right features that will give you the satisfaction you aim for.
For instance, if your goal is to identify where to find customers for your product or services, then the software tool must have the necessary built-in CRM tools to support this command.
The features should be able to work together to achieve a desirable outcome.
The built-in tools in the software must perform their assigned task well enough to ensure that the data obtained from all features can be used as a whole.
For example, after knowing where to find customers for the product, you will want to know whether the product is selling or not.
This means combining data from a CRM feature with a feature that analyzes that data.
This creates a balance between the two features to help your business.
Determine your budget and resources
Every software tool comes with costs.
You need to know how much you are spending on it, how much it costs to maintain it, and what it will cost to replace it.
Also, assess whether you have the means to support its use.
Ensure that the portion of funds distributed to it is sufficient so that money meant for other projects is not used.
To make that possible, you need a well-laid-out plan that helps you invest money the right way to reduce the cost of operating your business.
Research and evaluate all options
Conduct a detailed search on marketing software tools and what it offers. Run free trials and test runs to find the right one for you.
Go through comments and case studies, test usability, and engage in effective training.
Consider the scale and the needs of the future
As a business grows, new goals are set, and resources are assessed to determine whether it is necessary to achieve those goals.
As such, the software tool you choose must have the right features to help with the outcome you desire.
For instance, after grouping buying behaviour, you may want to know what kind of content will convince them to visit your website occasionally.
In view of this, the software tools chosen must have a feature for assessing whatever content you come up with, i.e., video, text, and photos, which is exactly what your audience wants.
The data given should tell you whether what you create is preferred by customers and the rate at which the website is visited, helping to come up with good measures to achieve the business goals.
This prevents loss and misuse of resources.
Final thoughts
Tracking sales is necessary for the growth of businesses. Every business has goals they want to achieve, and to do that, there is a need for sales to bring in the desired revenue. Knowing how to properly trace the results of your sales lets you know the best course of action to take to get the outcome you want. Do not just sell, track it.
