Table of Contents
We all know the saying “Union is Strength.” But have you ever thought about how it applies to your CRM?
A CRM solely cannot provide the maximum benefits. However, when you connect your CRM with multiple other tools and applications, you can unleash its full potential to boost efficiency by providing an integrated, complete view of your business and customers.
To achieve this comprehensive system, we need CRM integrations that allow you to connect your CRM software with other third-party applications. This post delves into the entirety of CRM integrations for small businesses, helping them make the best choices to optimize their operations and growth.
How do CRM Integrations Benefit Small Businesses?
For small businesses, anything that can reduce manual work and save time is a great advantage. CRM integrations can do more than just that; they can also provide a variety of benefits to help businesses succeed. Let us take a closer look at the benefits of CRM integrations for small businesses.
Unified Platform
Using CRM integrations you can maintain an all-in-one platform to store and view your entire data. It eradicates the need to toggle between multiple applications by displaying all relevant data from the different sources integrated into your CRM as a single dashboard.
Data Synchronisation
Good data quality is key to making your CRM system work well. If your data is incorrect or outdated, it can lead to bad decisions, poor planning, and ineffective marketing campaigns. An integrated CRM consistently maintains accurate and up-to-date data across your different platforms.
Bridge Communication Gaps
An integrated CRM system acts as a bridge between different departments like marketing, sales, and customer service and enables a free flow of communication. For example, the sales and marketing teams can coordinate customer data among themselves to provide more customized services.
Reduced Errors
No more manual data entry and no more errors in data as CRM integrations ensure data accuracy by reducing the risks of losing data during transactions. It also saves the time and effort spent on copying and transferring the data manually.
Improved Customer Experiences
Since customer data is accurate and up-to-date, you can provide enhanced customer service by knowing their preferences, needs, and interests. The customer service teams can also resolve customer issues quickly with the assistance of the integrated data in the CRM.
Increased Efficiency
And, what’s more? CRM integrations will thus improve the overall efficiency of your business processes by eradicating unnecessary manual work, improving productivity, and saving costs.
Methods for Adding CRM Integrations
When you use different products from the same provider, your platforms will be integrated by default. However, this is not the case at all times as you might have already invested in products or services from different providers. In such cases, you can opt for the following measures to include CRM integrations.
- Built-in Integrations
Many CRMs offer built-in integrations with some of the popular applications. You can simply visit the marketplace of your CRM where you will be able to find the lists of integration services they offer. This is the most preferable and easiest method for adding integrations into your CRM, as they do not require any additional technical knowledge and are very suitable for small businesses.
For example,
If you visit the Zoho CRM marketplace, you can find various built-in integrations listed such as:
- Zoho CRM integration for Mailchimp
- Google Sheets Magic Lookup for Zoho CRM
- Slack for Zoho CRM
- Microsoft Office for Zoho CRM
- Google Ads for Zoho CRM
- Using Third-Party Connectors
In case of unavailability of built-in integrations, you can go for third-party connector apps like Zapier, Make, or bardeen.ai. Connector apps help you automate workflows by connecting different applications without any coding.
For example, you can specify a trigger and its corresponding action in Zapier, after selecting the applications you wish to integrate. This is another quick and easy way to add CRM integrations for small businesses.
- Building Your Custom APIs
APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) help different apps talk with each other. Building your own APIs demands strong technical expertise, as it involves coding. For small businesses, developing APIs is generally not recommended unless there is an essential need for a tailored solution to meet specific requirements.
It is advised for small businesses to stick with the simpler methods to integrate applications into their CRM like downloading the built-in integrations or using third-party connectors like Zapier, Make, etc.,
WP Ultimate CSV Importer Pro
Get Ultimate CSV/XML Importer to import data on WordPress faster, quicker and safer.
Must-have CRM Integrations for Small Businesses in 2025
When we say we understand your struggle being a small business owner, we do know the hard work and multitasking you have to put in to sustain your business. So, with all that in mind, we found a few integrations for your CRM to lighten your loads.
Email & Calendar Integration
Emails are the most common form of business communication. It will be a tedious task to switch back and forth between your CRM and whatever mail application you use, to check each of your contacts and send them mail. But with email integrations, you can easily access your inbox inside your CRM helping you reach your customers’ inbox at the right time while saving your time.
You can also integrate calendar or scheduling tools to synchronize your customer meetings and schedules straight from your calendar into your CRM. With the combined integration of both email and calendar tools, you can achieve the automation of reminder emails to your customers at the time of scheduling a meeting or post-meeting follow-ups.
Examples of email & calendar integrations:
- Gmail + CRM (Google Workspace)
- Microsoft Outlook + CRM
- Zoho Mail + Zoho CRM
- Google Calendar + HubSpot CRM
- Vtiger CRM + Google Calendar
- Vtiger + Any Email Platform (Vtiger Email Plus)
Collaboration Integration
Proper internal communication is crucial for businesses to attain maximum productivity. Collaboration integration tools enable you to communicate with your teams efficiently by sending emails, scheduling team meetings, assigning tasks, and notifying updates, all from your CRM.
Examples of collaboration integrations:
- Slack + CRM
- Microsoft Teams + CRM
- Trello + CRM
Telephony Integration
Make calls to your customers just with a click from your CRM. Sounds amazing, right?
Integrating telephony tools or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems into your CRM allows you to make calls directly from the contacts in your system and also facilitates maintaining call records, and customer notes within your CRM.
Examples of telephony integrations:
- RingCentral + CRM
- Twilio + CRM
- Aircall + CRM
Messaging Integration
Similar to telephony integrations, you can also include messaging tools that can be used to send messages to customers via SMS or other messaging applications like WhatsApp.
Small businesses mainly depend on phone calls and messaging as their vital communication sources, making them easily accessible to customers. And so, these integrations are sure to make business-to-customer communications more effortless and streamlined.
Examples of messaging integrations:
- WhatsApp Business API + CRM
- Twilio SMS + CRM
- MessageBird + CRM
Social Media Integration
Another emerging platform commonly used by small businesses for their marketing campaigns is social media. Integration of social media applications like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms with your CRM, gives you access to schedule posts, manage comments, and track social engagement and customer interaction right from your CRM.
Examples of social media integrations:
- Facebook & Instagram + HubSpot CRM
- LinkedIn + salesforce
- Twitter + Hootsuite CRM
Webforms Integration
Webforms make customer information gathering easier. If you possess a webform integration, these forms can be automatically captured as leads in your CRM, when a customer submits their information to your website through the forms.
Examples of webforms integrations:
- Gravity Forms + HubSpot CRM
- Typeform + Zoho CRM
- Smackcoders WP Leads Builder for CRM
Marketing Automation Integration
Your CRM can also be integrated with marketing automation software like Hubspot, Salesforce, and Marketo and email marketing tools like Mailchimp and MailerLite for effective lead nurturing, drip marketing, follow-ups, and other campaigns.
Examples of marketing automation integrations:
- Mailchimp + CRM
- HubSpot Marketing Hub + CRM
- ActiveCampaign + CRM
E-commerce Integration
Need to maintain your eCommerce records in your CRM? No worries. With eCommerce integrations in your CRM, you get to sync all your products, contacts, orders, customer purchase history, and customer preferences in real-time. This helps eliminate the manual work of updating your online store data separately.
Examples of eCommerce integrations:
- WooCommerce + HubSpot CRM
- Shopify + Zoho CRM
- Magento + Salesforce
Accounting Integration
One of the useful CRM integrations for small businesses is an integration with accounting software. You can track and maintain error-free financial data of your sales, expenses, and transactions, helping you make informed financial decisions.
This integration can be an added privilege to the small businesses that own eCommerce websites as it automates the generation of bills and invoices for every purchase and syncs all of that data in your CRM.
Examples of Accounting Integrations:
- QuickBooks + CRM
- Xero + CRM
- Zoho Books + Zoho CRM
Conclusion
Let your integrated CRM handle the multitasking so that you can make the most of your precious time by focusing on the big decisions to make your small business great. Enjoy the full benefits of CRM by adding the above-listed integrations and gain a superior advantage over your competitors. In these modern times, integrating a CRM is no longer a luxury but a necessity! This is your sign to power up your business using CRM integrations for small businesses.
WP Ultimate CSV Importer Pro
Get Ultimate CSV/XML Importer to import data on WordPress faster, quicker and safer.
