CRM for logistics and transportation companies: fitches, costs, and examples
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Our company has worked on multiple projects in the logistics and transportation domain and according to our experience, customer relationship management software is the best solution that you could get for this industry.
Сorresponding to the Allied Market Research logistics automation involves integration of such software as logistics application including SRM systems to improve the efficiency of logistic processes. The global logistics automation market was valued at $49.7 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $147.4 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 11.9% from 2021 to 2030.
So, we have decided to share our expertise with you and bring some light to the CRM services for logistics industry.
Relevant videos about transportationCRM for logistics 🎥
What is the Transportation CRM system and how can it help your business
CRM stands for customer relationship management; it is a business software aimed at enhancing efforts in the communication with customers and sales in general. Transportation CRM can be incredibly important for logistics business since it keeps all the data in one place and helps avoid manual errors or other issues, associated with information.
So, let’s take a closer look at the major benefits of the CRM for transportation companies.
It increases sales
By keeping the sales data in one place, the transportation CRM system can automatically analyze them. It builds streamlined step-by-step sales processes that are understandable by both your customers and employees. As a result, using a transportation CRM system leads to increased profits and enhanced effectiveness. According to FinancesOnline, sales improvement is the most noticeable benefit of this type of software. Not to mention that about 50% of companies that use transportation CRM experience improved productivity.
Detailed analytics
We’ve already covered the fact that the transportation CRM for logistics companies is easily capable of high-quality automated analytics, however, it is important to note how vital this benefit is for the logistics domain. If you have a logistics company, you’ve probably faced the need to plan the fastest routes, improve the shipping, and work with huge amounts of data manually. Logistics CRM can analyze the routes that satisfy your customers most and help you find the best ways to ship goods right to their doorstep.
Improved customer segmentation and communication with leads
A pain point for every business, and logistics isn’t an exception. To communicate with loads of customers you need to have focused and experienced staff, and still, they will have to segment the customer base manually. With a transportation CRM for logistics companies, your staff will be able to segment the customers according to different criteria. It will make the communication with leads much simpler since your employees will be able to track every message and automate this process.
Cost-efficiency
Despite the fact, that logistics CRM might be a big investment, it will pay off well. It reduces the probability of manual error, so you won’t be wasting your budget on fixing them. Transportation CRM can also unload your staff which will lead to cutting costs as well.
Transportation CRM development consulting
If you've always wanted to make your own CRM - come to us! Please contact us and one of our experts can assist you with any queries you may have!
Essential features for transportation CRM software
Now when you know about the key benefits of CRM for transportation companies, let’s figure out what features are essential for this type of IT product.
Automated data processing
The main goal of any CRM system is to automate routine manual processes, so an automated data processing feature is a must-have for logistics software. This may include:
- request processing, which will help your staff gather and process customer requests for any of your logistics services;
- assigning tasks, which might severely unload your managers and help them focus on something more vital for the business. It also can remind the employees of the unclosed deals;
- managing orders, which will ensure that your customers always can reach you and get a fast response.
Optimization of marketing processes
Extremely effective feature, that will make your CRM an irreplaceable helper for your logistics business. It will allow you to send marketing emails about new deals to your customers. Automated communication also allows to follow-up the customers, and builds a strong feeling that communicating with your logistics company is easy
Forecast revenue growth
Since most logistics CRM systems must be able to use technological benefits for data processing, you may count on forecast revenue growth as well. This type of freight management software will allow you to learn which time will be most profitable for your business, or how to make your logistics company earn more. This way, the workflow you have will be much more effective.
Tracking process
Logistics CRM system is able to track sales processes. This way, it will not only notify you about the unclosed deals but will also show you the bottlenecks of your workflow. Logistics CRM for transportation companies can also find out which types of customers are the most beneficial ones and then automate the leads tracking process since you’ll know who to contact to make more profits.
Revenue tracking
You can set goals and monitor how your business achieves them. And a logistics CRM system might be the best helper with it. Due to the fact that it stores all data in one place, it can track your revenue and build advanced statistics on that. It will show you how you can improve the profits of your logistics company using the CRM software benefits.
CRM for logistics companies: ready-made VS custom
There are plenty of ready-made options for transportation CRM. And there are lots of companies in the world offering you the development services to create custom-tailored one. Both of these solutions have their pros and cons, so let’s take a closer look and find out what will suit your business more.
Ready-made logistics CRM system
A ready-made CRM for transportation companies is a software product created by a software provider that is meant to fit the needs of different businesses. Usually, the payment is subscription-based and this type of CRM software for logistics has a limited set of features.
Advantages
- Ready-made logistics CRM usually have faster launch since they are pre-made and you can simply set up the right configuration before you start working with them.
- They don’t need major investment, so you can count them as a budget-friendly solution.
- Ready-made logistics CRM can have a moderate level of customization. Usually, you might be able to implement more features or third-party services to them, but this isn’t guaranteed.
Disadvantages
- The level of customization in ready-made logistics CRM isn’t enough to set it up for your business needs specifically, so they won’t meet all of your business requirements.
- The subscription-based payment can turn out to be almost half of what you’d pay for a custom CRM logistics development.
- Third-party services or other features integration might be difficult.
- You don’t own the solution and there is always a risk that your provider will stop supporting their product.
Custom logistics CRM system
The custom logistics CRM system is a software product that a development company creates for your business exclusively. It satisfies your business needs and meets your unique requirements. You can choose what features you want to see in your logistics CRM system, however, it will be more time- and cost-consuming.
Advantages
- Created exclusively for your business, custom logistics CRM system is built according to your requirements so will meet your business needs.
- You own the code, the product, and all the documentation for it. If your logistics CRM system will have innovative solutions implemented, you will be considered an innovator.
- There is the greatest level of customization since you choose what gets to be in your system.
- You can update it and scale the software when your business needs change.
- You can choose to integrate third-party services of any kind during the development or even on the post-release maintenance stage.
Disadvantages
- It is more expensive than a ready-made solution.
- It takes more time to implement and you might need to teach your staff how to use new software. However, some companies provide this service along with the development.
Custom CRM for logistics costs: a real-case example
So, as you can clearly see, a custom CRM system for logistics has one huge disadvantage and it is its cost. Let’s take a closer look at this downside and figure out how you can fix it if you wish to get a custom and unique development.
RexSoft’s team has created a CRM for logistics companies, so we can base the average pricing on it. The software product we created took us about 1100 hours to develop. Here is its functionality:
- The logistics CRM system we created can connect a customer with a dispatcher.
- There is a mobile application for both sides of the business; customers and dispatchers. Customers can leave a request through this app.
- This logistics CRM system can store various data, for example, pictures of the goods attached to the customers’ requests.
- The tracking system implemented into this logistics CRM allows customers to view the route of the driver.
For these CRM services for logistics industry, we’ve engaged a team of six people, each of whom made their own contribution to the creation of this software product. Here is the time estimate we have:
| Specialist | Time spent |
|---|---|
| Project manager | 80h |
| Software architect | 40h |
| Designer | 200h |
| Front-end developer | 360h |
| Back-end developer | 320h |
| QA | 110h |
Overall, the paycheck for this custom logistics CRM development from scratch was $40,000. So, this is what you should expect from software like this. However, here are some tips on how to make software development more cost-efficient.
Work with offshore developers
Usually, they have lower rates. As a Ukrainian company, we provide our clients with a moderate paycheck but if they’d worked with a nearshore company, they'd have paid more.
Work with outstaff companies
This way, you can engage developers to work on your project part-time or power up your in-house team if you have one.
Choose Fixed-Price payment
This will allow you not to go over a budget that you’ve planned to spend.
Start with an MVP and see how it works
It costs cheaper and sometimes a quality MVP can work for you for some time until you have assets to continue the logistics CRM development.
Bespoke logistics CRM system examples: RexSoft’s projects
As a company with extensive expertise in software development, RexSoft has a portfolio of transportation CRM systems developed from scratch. Our team can combine business and technical views on the project to enhance the value of the IT product and deliver a solution that is 100% effective.
Read on to see the examples of our work!
Logistics CRM example: iMover
The application for the best experience in Long Distance and Local moving. It unifies the work of five companies under one admin panel and makes the moving process much easier. This logistics CRM system has a functionality that allows storage, staff, and other work processes management.
Being a solution for a niche domain, iMover is software that combines out-of-the-box and custom solutions, which makes it cost-efficient. It’s fast, responsive, and user-friendly which guarantees it a higher customer satisfaction rate.
For this logistics CRM development, we used top-notch tech, like AWS, Cloudflare DNS management, Laravel PHP, and ReactJS.
Brokcars - CRM for freight brokers
Freight brokers CRM is aimed at the transportation of used cars in the US. It enables the connecting between the dispatcher and a customer, store loads of data, and build a seamless workflow simplifying the work processes for our client’s business.
This application also has a built-in tracking system, allows to sign papers with an e-signature, and automates the request processing. Our specialists created it in around 4 months of work, and our customer’s needs were completely satisfied.
Transportation CRM software BUSON
We developed this transportation CRM system to make it perfect for vehicle tracking, route calculating, and order management. This CRM system for logistics improves the security and transparency of the transportation processes since it allows our customers to integrate it into different applications to buy or book tickets.
The administrators of this transportation CRM can view statistics of ticket sales from different platforms via API, track the buses' movement on the map, get notifications about any malfunctions or unplanned stops, and check vehicles stats.
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If you’re looking forward to making your logistics business more efficient, a transportation CRM system is software that can help you reach this goal. So, choose the right logistics app development partner, ensure that you know what your requirements are, and you’re ready to go and shift the grounds!
Our team would be more than happy to help you on your way.
faq
What is a CRM system for logistics?
CRM stands for customer relationship management; it is a business software aimed at enhancing efforts in the communication with customers and sales in general.
Why does my logistics business need a CRM system?
CRM can be incredibly important for logistics business since it keeps all the data in one place and helps avoid manual errors or other issues associated with information. It is also incredibly effective to enhance profits and automate sales processes.
How much does a custom logistics CRM system development cost?
An average CRM system will take from 3 to 4 months to develop and costs about $40,000.
Bogdan Misiurenko
Business Development ManagerSkilled, experienced specialists from RexSoft are ready to answer any questions regarding the design and development of IT products.
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