What Is CRM Integration? How It Works, Benefits and Strategy

According to a 2025 report, the average organization uses 897 applications across departments to conduct business. But how do these tools connect with each other? 

Your customer relationship management software helps you understand and track your relationships with your customers, but in order to do that, it needs data from all those apps. This is where CRM integration comes in. Learn more about this process, and how to do it simply, efficiently, and securely. 

What is CRM integration?

CRM integration is the process of combining your company's various customer-facing systems with your CRM platform. You can integrate your ecommerce store—as well as your marketing, sales, customer service, and communication tools—with your CRM to have a complete picture of your customers and their history with your company. 

Types of CRM integrations

• Ecommerce integrations
• Email integrations
• Marketing automation integrations
• Social media integrations
• Help desk and customer support integrations
• Accounting and finance integrations
• Collaboration tools

Depending on your business and the inbuilt capabilities of your CRM software, you may want to consider the following integrations: 

Ecommerce integrations

A CRM ecommerce integration is foundational to providing better shopping experiences. When your CRM is connected to Shopify, for example, you can manage all your customer information, order data, and transactions in one location.

Email integrations

Email integrations can help you log and track your email subscriber information and send emails directly through your CRM. 

Marketing automation integrations

Connecting marketing tools like Klaviyo and Mailchimp to your CRM can help you combine your sales data and your marketing data, which can, in turn, improve the efficiency of your marketing campaigns. Marketing automation integrations can also help you with lead scoring and personalizing marketing messaging based on a customer’s entire history. 

Social media integrations

Social media integrations can bring crucial information about your customers’ activities right to your CRM. This lets you:

• Run sentiment analysis to gauge customer feelings about your brand
• Route social messages to the right department automatically 
• See detailed analytics that show which content resonates with your audience 

You can also track customer journeys that begin on social media, linking casual followers to sales opportunities and measuring social media's impact on your bottom line.

For customer service teams, social media integration means faster response times and better issue resolution, as they can access customer histories and previous interactions while handling social inquiries.

Help desk and customer support integrations

Remember the last you called customer support and were bounced around between departments? When you connect your CRM with support software, you can see every customer’s history in one dashboard, thus speeding up response times and eliminating the need for repetition 

Accounting and finance integrations

Connecting accounting and finance integrations with your CRM makes managing money much easier. For example, when a sale happens in your store, it kicks off a flow of data across your systems:

1. Your ecommerce platform processes the payment and creates an order confirmation.
2. The transaction data is sent to your accounting software, which records revenue, taxes, and fees.
3. Your CRM captures the purchase details.

With this integration, you record every transaction accurately and consistently. You’ll get more reliable financial data you can use across your business. 

Collaboration tools

Connecting your CRM with tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams helps your team work better together. When someone on your customer service team spots an issue, they don’t need to copy information from one system to another. The integration does this automatically, creating tasks and sending notifications to the relevant departments automatically. And when new people join your team, they get up to speed faster, as important information about customers and projects is connected and easy to find. 

3 ways to handle CRM integration

1. Use applications that work together
2. Write your own code
3. Use APIs

There are a few ways you can approach your CRM integration. This could involve using pre-built connectors provided by your CRM vendor, leveraging third-party integration tools, or developing custom integrations. Consider factors such as ease of use, scalability, and the level of technical expertise required.

Use applications that work together

The first and easiest approach to CRM integration is to use platforms from the same provider or a list of partner providers. These tools sync automatically and communicate well with each other. 

As a first step, check your CRM software’s library of integration options. The Shopify App Store, for example, has plenty of CRM integration options that work seamlessly with the Shopify ecosystem.

However, even with the most robust CRM tool, you may still have apps that do not sync automatically and need to be integrated in another way.

Write your own code

The second approach is to work in-house and write code that allows applications to communicate with your CRM. This approach is less common, since you’d have to implement this for each app separately, and updating and maintaining this can be complex and time-consuming.

Use APIs

The final way to integrate tools with your CRM is by using an application programming interface (API). An API allows applications to talk to one another. APIs can be used to integrate your various apps and systems into your CRM (and to connect information from your CRM to your other systems). 

APIs are readily available, cost-effective, and easy to use, which makes this a go-to approach for many businesses. 

Benefits of CRM integration

• Improved data accessibility and quality
• Personalization
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Greater efficiency
• Automation opportunities

CRM integration offers many opportunities to save time, increase conversions, and improve the customer experience. Here are key benefits: 

Improved data accessibility and quality 

Integrating CRM with other areas of the business can eliminate data silos. Essentially, data that was once anonymous or unattached to any customer segment is now closely integrated with individual customer profiles and accounts or groups. 

You can easily see what different types of customers like to buy. Just label each customer by their group in your CRM system. Then look at what they bought using both your sales records and CRM data. This shows you which items are most popular with each customer group.

Personalization

Whether it’s wishing a customer happy birthday, sending them a discount on an item they’ve checked out but not purchased, or reaching out when an item they routinely buy is running low, CRM integration can help you personalize your interactions with your existing and potential customers, thus boosting sales.

Increased customer satisfaction

Personalized marketing messages and faster customer service responses can boost customer satisfaction and loyalty. For example, you can use your CRM integration to set up rules for how often to reach out to customers based on open rates, thus ensuring customers receive notifications and emails in a way that keeps them engaged but not feeling spammed.

Greater efficiency 

CRM integration offers a way to streamline countless aspects of business operations. Pairing CRM software with enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, for instance, allows you to view important customer data such as demographics and contact information, along with account history, all in one place. 

Moreover, integrating apps like calendars, internal communications, marketing, and even sales with CRM centralizes information and provides organizations with key customer insights that can help increase productivity.

Automation opportunities

Your CRM can do more than just send planned emails. It can check how well you connect with customers using numbers that matter to you.

For example, ecommerce CRM software can assign a score based on whether a customer responds to or interacts with communications from a business, giving the company a better understanding of customer value. It also offers a quick and easy solution for automating repetitive tasks, such as scheduling, billing, or logging hours.

Challenges of CRM integration 

• Data migration issues
• Data duplication
• User adoption struggles

Despite the many advantages of CRM integration, there are some challenges to keep in mind as you implement it across your business. 

Data migration issues

Moving data from old systems to a new CRM can be tricky: Companies often struggle with messy, incomplete, or outdated information. To solve this, clean and organize your data before migration. Using data mapping tools and conducting thorough testing can also help ensure a smoother transition.

Ensure that you always back up any data before migrating, to prevent data loss from an accidental wipe or glitch.

Data duplication

Chances are your various tools have much of the same customer information. Without proper integration, this important information can get lost or duplicated. The solution lies in using integration platforms or APIs that act as translators between systems. 

User adoption struggles

Introducing new CRM systems may require employees to adapt to new protocols, methods, and software. This can create resistance and lower efficiency. To overcome this, invest in training programs, clearly communicate the benefits of the new system, and appoint point people within teams who can encourage adoption and provide support. 

Ensuring secure CRM integrations

You must protect the customer data you collect through your CRM integrations. This involves encryption and clear rules (compliance) to keep everything safe.

Two security elements to implement include:

1. Modern encryption (security protocols like TLS 1.2 or higher) when sending data between systems. This scrambles the information so only authorized people can read it. 
2. Adding encryption to stored data using algorithms like AES-256, which keeps customer info safe even if someone breaks into your database.

Two major privacy laws shape how you handle customer data: GDPR (for European customers) and CCPA (for California residents). Both require you to:

• Let customers see, change, or delete their data when they ask
• Keep track of what data you collect and how you use it
• Get permission before sharing data with other companies

Remember to regularly test your security measures and update them as new threats emerge.

Optimization techniques for CRM integrations

• Implement data cleaning protocols
• Automate workflows
• Train your team
• Update your system regularly
• Monitor integration performance

Implement data cleaning protocols

Your CRM is like a digital address book. If it’s a mess, you’ll never find what you need when you need it. Set up validation rules from day one. These can include:

• Require the @ symbol and appropriate domain structure.
• Enforce consistent formatting (like +1-XXX-XXX-XXXX) and block non-numeric characters.
• Make essential fields mandatory (like contact name, company name, lead source).
• Flag potential duplicates based on matching email addresses, phone numbers, or company name.

These rules can run automatically when new data enters your system. They help keep accurate contact data and improve customer communications.

Automate workflows

Manual data entry is a huge waste of time. Your CRM can handle many tasks automatically.

You can automate numerous processes, including:

• Sending personalized welcome emails when new contacts are added
• Creating follow-up tasks when deals remain inactive
• Scheduling meetings and sync them with your calendar
• Generating notifications when customers engage with your content
• Updating contact records when forms are submitted

Train your team

Your team needs practical knowledge to use the CRM successfully. Create interactive training sessions that focus on real-world scenarios they encounter daily. 

Short, focused training blocks work better than long sessions. Include practice time where team members can work hands-on with the system.

Update your system regularly 

Plan CRM updates carefully to minimize disruption. Start by testing changes in a separate environment to catch potential problems. Always back up your data before making significant updates. 

Create a clear schedule everyone knows about, and document any changes that might affect daily work.

Monitor integration performance

Track how well your CRM integration by monitoring:

• Sync times
• Error rates
• System speed

Watch for patterns in user complaints or system slowdowns. Address issues promptly to maintain system reliability and keep your team productive. 

CRM integration tools

• CRM Perks: Salesforce Sync
• HubSpot CRM
• Remaze Live Chat Helpdesk CRM
• Endear CRM and Clienting

Here are some of the top CRM integration platform picks for Shopify merchants: 

CRM Perks: Salesforce Sync

Salesforce Sync is a CRM integration that automatically sends Shopify order and customer data to the Salesforce CRM platform. 

Salesforce is one of the most popular CRM options, and Salesforce’s Shopify app makes it easy to connect the two platforms. You can create customer accounts, send historical Shopify data to Salesforce, and receive notifications for any syncing errors. 

Salesforce CRM is available for a recurring subscription fee, with plans starting at $19 per month. 

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is a comprehensive CRM platform made for sales professionals—and it also has a Shopify app. 

In addition to CRM, HubSpot offers features for marketing automation and customer service management. With the Hubspot integration, you can sync and segment your Shopify customer data, personalize and automate customer interactions, and tap into data collection and reporting. 

HubSpot has a free option and paid plans starting at $20 per month. 

Reamaze Live Chat Helpdesk CRM

Reamaze Live Chat Helpdesk CRM is a platform with a Shopify app that includes features for customer support and live chat, and it also integrates data from email, social, SMS, and even phone calls. 

Reamaze offers a few different subscription plans, starting at $29 per month. 

Endear CRM and Clienteling

Endear CRM and Clienteling is a CRM integration made specifically for retail businesses. It allows you to manage customer data, personalize email and SMS marketing campaigns, and track outreach efforts across all channels. It also includes features for live chat sales and support.

Endear has three subscription plans, starting at $60 per month. 

Unlocking growth with CRM integration

CRM systems can streamline the process of managing customer relationships by automating data entry, reducing the need for face-to-face interactions, and improving data quality.

Effective, goal-oriented CRM integration turns disparate applications into a cohesive system, providing valuable insights and operational efficiencies. This allows you to better understand and serve customers, streamline business processes, and ultimately achieve sustainable growth.