While Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has been around for several decades, the biggest game-changer in recent years has been the migration of this software to the cloud. Unlike the standalone desktop systems of the past, newer light-client CRMs are faster, nimbler, feature-rich and far more user-friendly. They also are more cost effective for medium to enterprise users, too.

As this software enters the next cloud-powered generation, there ample CRM statistics that all digital marketers and Software as a Service (SaaS) experts should be aware of. In this post, we’ll delve into the most pertinent and up-to-date 2017 CRM statistics to help keep you ahead of the curve.

CRM Will Become a $40 Billion Industry in 2017

Over the past few decades, CRM has grown from fledgling software service into a thriving worldwide industry. According to Forbes, this industry is currently experiencing rapid growth, estimated at 27% year-over-year for Q4 2016. In the last year alone, it was valued at $36 billion. For 2017, experts are projecting that its value will exceed $40 billion.

                                                                                                                                                                                           Chart Source: Super Office.

Of the major services providers, five dominate. These include: Adobe (26.9%), Salesforce (21.1%), Microsoft (20%), several other systems tie in for the fourth place spot, and a declining Oracle (-3.4%) is in at fifth place. As the previous top contender, Oracle is trying to reinvent itself to stay competitive. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company opted to buy Netsuite for $9.3 billion during the second half of 2016 in efforts to stay in the CRM game.

CRM Adoption Rates

A common struggle for software makers is adoption. Onboarding rates and usage levels are determined by a number of underlying factors that include elements such as usability, user-friendliness, ease of navigation, the layout of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), system settings and more. However, CRM adoption rates for newer cloud versions of this software tend to actually be a bit higher than one might suspect.

According to Destination CRM:

“Firms with high end user adoption rates get high marks for the education they deliver to sales teams on how to get the maximum benefit out of using their CRM application. In fact, of the 8.7 percent of companies that received ‘exceeds expectations’ ratings for the quality and quantity of the CRM application training they deliver, 71.2 percent reported that more than 90 of their reps actively used their CRM system.”

CRM Magazine reports that adoption rates for this software remain stable and are quite high. On the low end of the spectrum, they average about 24%. But some businesses are reporting CRM adoption rates as a high as 90%. On average, the adoption rates are about 47%, with the most important two factors being technical and customer support.

Cloud is King

Cloud is slowly becoming king of the SaaS industry, and is well on the path of replacing client-based software in the short years ahead. A Software Advice study from 2008 found that 88% of CRMs were operated as on premise systems. Fast-forward to the present day, and 87% of CRM systems are now cloud powered. 

The cloud also makes it possible to power mobile CRM systems. According to the findings of a Nucleus Research report, 65% of companies that are using a mobile CRM solution are meeting or exceeding their current sales quotas. As compared to companies that are not using these solutions, just 22% of them are meeting or exceeding their sales quotas.

Most Demanded CRM Features

Over the past 25 some-odd years, CRM systems have greatly evolved. Feedback from growing and adept user bases has resulted in the culling of the most demanded features. An Inside CRM report reveals that, from top to bottom, these features include: “Ease of Use” (65%), “Schedule Management” (27%) and “Data Snapshots” (18%).

What's the ROI on CRM?

For businesses that are looking to add a system such as CRM, the first question that will be asked by decision makers is: What can we expect for ROI? According to Forrester, it’s pretty healthy. A study they conducted polling 2,000 employees that were using Microsoft’s Dynamics found that ROI, when a system is properly integrated, can exceed a whopping 245%.

According to the Forrester study:

• 50% of teams improved productivity
• Sales productivity and uplift was 5%
• Consultation time was reduced by 10%
• Revenue increased by 2%
• Customer service labor cost was reduced by 40%
• Labor costs overall decreased by 20%
• Marketing budgets saved at least $75,000

As these numbers break down, an organization that implements CRM for 50 users with an average annual salary of $60,000, in which half an hour per day per employee is spent on gathering information, 15 minutes on entering and linking data across systems, and 10 employees have reporting tasks, will be missing out on $1,116 per day, $27,083 per month, and $325.000 per year.

2017 CRM Statistics

Here are some of the most recent CRM statistics, many courtesy of EcommerceCRMSoftware.com's excellent reviews and research.

• Without CRM, 79% of leads fail to convert (Pardot)
• Bad data sources result in 30% of all leads failing (Cyber Sphere)
• The CAGR on CRM is 15.1% (Forbes)
• CRM generated $36 billion in 2016 (Forbes)
• The ROI on CRM is approximately $5 to every $1 invested (Baseline)
• Adoption rates for CRM are 26% (Salesforce)
• CRM gives businesses a 65% boost in sales quotas (Innopple Technologies)
• A 41% revenue increase is realized with CRM (Trackvia)
• Social CRM improves retention by 26% (Nucleus Research)
• CRM is used for email marketing 60% of the time for small businesses (MarketingCharts.com)
• Leads that are nurtured in the CRM system convert 47% of the time (Annuitas Group)
• Conversion rates can improve by 300% with CRM in place (Cloudswave)
• Average purchase value can improve by 40% with CRM (Cloudswave)
• Lead cost is reduced by 23% with CRM (Cloudswave)
• Customer service can improve by 47% with CRM (Capterra)
• Overall, 74% of businesses using CRM report better customer relationships (Software Advice)

CRM Infographic

In closing, here’s a detailed CRM infographic we created to help drive home some of the key points in this report.