CRMs (Customer Relationship Management)

Once your local community exceeds about 20 people, it can be hard to remember important information about all of them. This is where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software can come in.

A CRM can help you:

• Flag community members who have been absent for a while, so organisers can check in with them

• Track how community members have engaged with the group, to evaluate different activities

• Keep track of who to prioritise for one-on-one chats

• Choose events based on member’s interests or needs

• Notify members about opportunities based on their interests

• Identify members that could help each other with their goals, to make introductions

Sample CRM systems

• Google Sheets - Google Sheets can make a basic CRM, with rows being members and columns containing information about each member. There are some Google Sheets CRM templates available online (e.g. here).

• HubSpot - HubSpot is a free CRM software.

• Notion - Notion is free when using its personal plan and can function as a CRM. See this article on using Notion as a CRM.

• Airtable - AirTable is a free database system that can be used for CRMs. It can also accept responses from participants via forms. More here.

If you’d like to learn more, feel free to get in touch with Eve from EA Cambridge (em623@alumni.cam.ac.uk) to hear about their experiences using these systems.