Quick summary:
- Widespread CRM Adoption: With 91% of companies using CRM and 83% reporting strong results, integrating surveys adds deeper insights by combining sentiment data with customer profiles.
- Preparation is Critical: Success requires mapping data, creating custom fields, organizing contacts, and ensuring compliance with frameworks like GDPR and CCPA before integration.
- Integration in Action: Companies can connect surveys to CRMs via APIs, webhooks, middleware (e.g., Zapier), or manual imports—Sogolytics supports Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, MS Dynamics, and more.
- Measurable Impact: Integration enables real-time analytics, better segmentation, and actionable insights that strengthen engagement, sales, and loyalty.
Customer relationship management (CRM) tools help companies better engage with buyers to improve satisfaction, increase sales, and enhance loyalty. Today, 91% of companies with 10 or more employees use CRM as part of their business strategy.
And according to a recent Capterra report, these tools are paying dividends, with 83% of businesses reporting that CRM solutions are moderately or very effective in helping them achieve marketing goals.
Survey CRM integration offers a way for companies to derive even more value. Put simply, integration ensures that survey data is captured and analyzed by CRM tools along with other relevant customer data. The result is a more accurate and timely view of consumer sentiment that helps improve user profiles and deliver actionable insights.
In this piece, we’ll offer tools and strategies to help your team integrate surveys with CRM tools and explore how Sogolytics supports these efforts at scale.
Preparing Your CRM for Survey Data Integration
Before integration comes preparation. Here, four components are critical:
1) Map your data
Where is your CRM data located? How is it stored? Is it easy to access and modify? Mapping your data helps you find outliers and consolidate key databases before integrating surveys.
2) Create custom fields
Next, you need to create custom CRM fields that automatically capture responses. Let’s say you’re measuring customer sentiment around the deployment of a new chatbot solution. Most CRM tools don’t naturally have fields for this type of data, meaning survey responses may be ignored or incorrectly filed if custom fields aren’t created.
3) Organize contacts and leads to accommodate survey data
Contacts and leads also need to be organized so they can accommodate survey data. In many cases, this means adding new fields and subfields for different types of surveys, along with the scope and timeline of these surveys.
4) Consider compliance requirements
Depending on the type of data you handle and where this information originates, you may be subject to compliance requirements. For example, if you collect data from residents of California, you are typically subject to the CCPA. If you store and use the data of any European Union (EU) citizen, meanwhile, you’re bound by GDPR. While these rules differ in scope and specifics, they share a common theme: Companies must obtain express permission from customers to use their data and clearly indicate how this data will be used.
Before integrating any survey tools, make sure you understand and are prepared for regulatory expectations.
Pro tip: While it’s possible to carry out CRM/survey integration before completing the steps above, companies may find themselves spending significantly more time and money to achieve the same results.
Step-by-Step Integration Tutorial
With preparation complete, you’re ready for integration. Start with these five steps.
Step 1: Create an integration-ready survey
Integration-ready surveys should be clear, concise, and mapped to specific customer attributes or preferences. In addition, they should focus primarily on quantitative rather than qualitative data. While more in-depth survey responses provide a unique perspective on customer preferences, this data is often more difficult to classify than its quantitative counterparts.
Step 2: Configure webhooks or APIs
APIs help connect survey tools to CRMs, while webhooks trigger automatic actions based on survey responses. For example, you might use an API to connect your survey platform to MS Dynamics and then leverage a webhook to notify customer service staff if customer responses meet a specific threshold.
Step 3: Test the integration with sample data
Few things work perfectly the first time. Test your CRM/survey integration with sample data to help ensure accurate outputs.
Step 4: Troubleshoot common issues
Before rolling out integration at scale, identify and troubleshoot common issues. One of the most frequent issues is data duplication across multiple CRM categories, which can negatively impact analytics. If this occurs, further refine survey categories to ensure data is populated only once.
Step 5: Verify data syncing in your CRM
Finally, verify that survey data is syncing in your CRM. In some cases, survey integrations may appear to be working, but data is consistently populating. Regularly verify data syncing to ensure integrations deliver value.
Integration Methods for Popular CRM Platforms
Depending on the CRM platform you use, integration methods may vary.
Common approaches include:
Direct API integrations
Some platforms offer custom-built application programming interfaces (API) that enable connections between survey tools and CRM solutions. The Sogolytics API allows your teams to integrate our survey platform into the application of your choice.
Middleware integrations
Middleware tools such as Zapier, Make, or Automate.io act as bridges between survey tools and CRM solutions. For example, Sogolytics had partnered with Zapier to offer easy integration with more than 2,000 platforms.
Manual export/import integrations
For companies with limited budgets or resources, it’s also possible to manually import or export survey data into CRM. While this process requires more manual effort from staff, it still provides the benefits that come with integrated survey data.
It’s also worth noting that specific tools have different requirements. For example, companies can directly sync their Salesforce accounts with Sogolytics. For solutions such as Zendesk, HubSpot, and Zoho, meanwhile, businesses can leverage Zapier connections.
Next Steps for Survey Integration
CRM and survey data integration can help your business better understand your customers and make better decisions. Depending on the survey platform and CRM solutions you use, integration methods may vary. Common approaches include APIs, webhooks, middleware, or direct integration for large-scale data sets.
No matter the tool you select, however, the roadmap remains similar. Start with preparation to ensure your data and infrastructure are ready for integration. Then, configure and test your integration to produce accurate results. Finally, take the time to regularly verify your survey inputs and CRM outputs to ensure your integration adds value.
Ready to see how survey CRM integration can boost your business impact? Explore Sogolytics integration solutions today.
FAQs
1) What is survey-CRM integration, and why does it matter?
Survey-CRM integration enhances the value of CRM data by providing additional context. For example, surveys may be used to capture snapshots of customer sentiment and combined with existing customer profiles to improve audience segmentation and pinpoint marketing opportunities.
2) Which free survey tools work best with CRM platforms?
Solutions such as Sogolytics Basic lay the groundwork for CRM integration. While free tools such as Google Sheets do offer connections for some CRM platforms, they’re less robust than enterprise-grade platforms.
3) Can I integrate surveys with Salesforce or HubSpot for free?
Yes. Using APIs, middleware, or manual inputs, you can integrate surveys with your Salesforce or HubSpot CRM. The value of this integrated data, however, largely depends on the capabilities of your survey platform,
4) How secure is survey data when integrated with CRM?
The security of your data depends on two factors. First are any governance policies you have in place for your CRM. For example, strict access controls and data encryption help limit your risk. Second is the security of the survey platform itself. If the tool lacks basic protections, your survey data could be exposed.
