What does customer relationship management (CRM) refer to?

Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to a technology and strategy for managing interactions with customers. This encompasses the practices, strategies, and software that organizations utilize to analyze and manage customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle. The aim of CRM is to improve customer service relationships, assist in customer retention, and drive sales growth by enabling businesses to gain insights into customer needs and behaviors.

By integrating CRM systems, companies can streamline their processes, improve communication, and ensure that they can personalize their interactions with customers, ultimately leading to a better customer experience. This technology often includes functionalities like sales management, customer service operations, and marketing automation, which all contribute to building long-term customer relationships.

The other options do not encapsulate the full scope of CRM. While options like financial tools and product enhancement approaches are essential for business operations, they do not specifically focus on the broad strategies and systems designed to manage customer relationships effectively. Additionally, methods for conducting market research do not directly pertain to managing customer interactions, which is the core purpose of CRM.