Before I met my wife, I had never heard of a customer relationship manager (CRM). Of course, I knew businesses had some way of emailing newsletters and sending marketing emails, but I never thought about it. Then Dani introduced me to Infusionsoft, and I discovered there are some very cool things you can do with these tools.

But Infusionsoft is a big, expensive tool. Yes, they've created Keap now, which is less costly but not as effective as using the advanced system.

I'm not selling or promoting Infusionsoft, though. For most small businesses, including myself, it's more costly and more robust than I need. But I do use a CRM. I've experimented with a few low-cost ones, and here are a few lessons I've learned.

Lesson One: Know Your Goals

This lesson is actually in conjunction with the next lesson. If you know your goals, you know what you want to get out of the CRM tool.

For instance, if you're running an e-commerce business, your goals likely are to get new customers and have customers return. Therefore, your CRM needs to work seamlessly with your e-commerce platform.

On the other hand, if you're a coach looking to expand your reach and generate more passive income, your goals would be to build a relationship with your customers (which applies to every business!) and get them into your online courses.

In both cases, you want effective and stable automation processes to connect with your email list based on their behavior (adding items to their shopping cart, opening certain emails, etc.)

Lesson Two: Get a CRM Early

Even if you stay small, if you want even to send one email a month, using a CRM tool is the best way to do it. It doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. Still, a simple way to collect email addresses and send emails through a proper tool allows people to subscribe/unsubscribe and keeps your business professional.

Lesson Three: Customer Support Matters

When selecting any software or service, pay attention to customer support availability. Is it 24/7, by email or phone? Especially when setting things up, having that support can make the difference between throwing your money away and having a functional system in place.

Lesson Four: Ask for Help

Most small business owners do not know how to start with a CRM. It's overwhelming and can be frustrating. However, there are three ways you can handle it:

1. Do-it-yourself with online tutorials and YouTube videos. (little-to-zero cost but takes longer)
2. Hiring a consultant recommended by someone you know or find one through the software provider. (it could be pricey, but usually can get the basics running within a few weeks)
3. Hire a virtual technical assistant. (medium costs but riskier unless you know the person knows the software well)

Lesson Five: Be Patient

Setting up the most robust CRM doesn't mean you'll automatically have new customers. So, unfortunately, "if you build it, they will come" is untrue. But, if you build it, promote and market your business, they will start to come and discover your business. It all takes time!

Lesson Six: Small but Mighty Matters

When you spend time researching CRMs and learning how to market your business, there's always talk about open email rates. Even if your list is small, if it's engaged (i.e., people open and read your emails), that's what matters.

While working as marketing automation consultants, most of our clients had anywhere between 5–25,000 contacts in their CRMs. But do you know how many were active, engaged participants?

Typically, 1–2K were active subscribers, with less than 2–3% email open percentage rates. But, out of those 2,000, 100–150 bought small ticket items. Bigger ticket items were further reduced to 10–20 people.

So, while it looked like they had decent-sized email lists, their businesses depended on a small number of loyal customers.

Now, that's not to discourage you but to show you that size doesn't matter. I have not been actively building my email list or selling services for the past year. I'll admit my contact list is tiny, less than 60 people.

However, it's an engaged list. Over 50% of my subscribers open each email I send out. So, it's small but mighty!

Lastly, I'll close out with the top tools I've used (no affiliate links, so I get no benefit from creating this list) and why I do/don't use them.

Mailchimp — $0 — $17 per month for marketing platform / $0–29 per month for websites and e-commerce

• Advantages: It is a very common tool that can be easy to find help and includes pop-up forms and a marketing calendar.
• Disadvantages: I find it not easy to navigate and limited to single email automations at the lower price-points

ActiveCampaign — $9 — $149 per month (paid annually)

• Advantages: Another common one, so again, easy to find help, and includes marketing automation, subscription forms, and event tracking.
• Disadvantages: Some people find it tricky to navigate the system, and it can be confusing to set up email broadcasts.

ConvertKit — $0 — $25 per month (paid annually)

• Advantages: Simple to set up and, once again, lots of support to get started. The free plan includes unlimited forms, broadcasts, and audience tagging and segmenting.
• Disadvantages: You must pay for the automated email sequences ($9/month on the annual plan).
• ConvertKit is my current platform, but I am still transitioning from my previous CRM, and I haven't encountered any noticeable disadvantages. Like any CRM, it may be tricky to figure out how to create effective automations, but templates are included to get you started.

Remember, everyone starts at zero subscribers. So whether you're just starting with a side hustle or getting into it full-time, adding a CRM to your business makes a massive difference in your longevity, professionalism, and compliance as a business owner.