Linking Your Customers to Your SugarCRM
by
Angel Magaña Michael Whitehead | September 2010 |
Open Source
SugarCRM is a popular Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
It is available in both free open source and commercial versions, making
it an ideal way for small or medium-size businesses to try out a CRM
system without committing large sums of money.
In this article by
Angel Magaña and
Michael Whitehead, authors of the book
Implementing SugarCRM 5.x,
we will discuss important topics, such as capturing customer leads and
requests for information from the public website directly within the CRM
system, efficiently tracking customer service requests, and related
product/service flaws to improve customer satisfaction. We will also
discuss the development of a customer self-service portal in conjunction
with the CRM system to allow clients to file or monitor their own
service cases.
(For more resources on SugarCRM, see here.)
Surely, the most important goal of any CRM system is to make your
customers feel positive about your company and to make them feel that
exciting things are happening at your company, such as the following:
- That the employees they are in contact with are caring and well-informed
- That new and better information systems are coming into place
- That your company is responsive to product and service issues, and cares about its customers
Limiting CRM system access to only the employees of a business will
certainly affect the first of the aforementioned items positively, but
not necessarily the other items. To really improve a customer's
perception of your organization, one of the biggest improvements you can
make is to allow customers to interact almost directly with your CRM
system. Some of the activities that make this possible are as follows:
- Capturing customer leads and requests for information from the public website directly within the CRM system.
- Efficiently tracking customer service requests and related
product/service flaws to help improve your offerings and customer
satisfaction.
- Developing a customer self-service portal in conjunction with the
CRM system to allow clients to file their own service cases, check on
the latest status of a case, and to update their own customer profile.
Most of us in our own lives can forgive or understand if a family
member, friend, or supplier lets us down a bit, or makes a mistake—as
long as they communicate with us honestly and effectively. In addition,
with early detection of any errors, corrective action can always be put
in place more quickly. Integrating your CRM system more directly with
your customer is no more complicated than this—promoting more effective,
more accurate, and timely communications with your customers. The net
effect of such actions is that your customers feel informed, valued, and
empowered.
Capturing leads from your website
Capturing leads from your company's website directly into your CRM is
one of the greatest early initiatives you can implement in terms of
streamlining business processes to save time and effort. This section
will guide you through the manner in which this can be accomplished with
SugarCRM.
In the past, setting up a process similar to the one just described
would have required the expertise and assistance of a programmer and
your webmaster. Coordinating everyone's efforts to accomplish the goal
would sometimes become a task in and of itself. Days may have elapsed
before your lead capture form finally made it up to your website.
Fortunately, those days are behind us.
SugarCRM includes a tool that allows you to quickly and easily create
a form that you can use to capture leads from your website. Through
this tool, you will be able to select the fields corresponding to the
data you wish to capture and also create a ready-to-use web form. Let us
set up a web lead capture form through SugarCRM's tool.
p style="margin-left:40px;margin-right:40px">The lead capture
tool is specifically designed to import data into the Leads module only.
Should you choose not to use the Leads module, or you wish to use a
similar technique to capture data within a different module, you should
use SugarCRM's SOAP API to accomplish the task.
To begin the setup process, hover over the Marketing tab and select Campaigns. On the shortcuts menu on the left-hand side, click on Create Lead Form, as highlighted in the following image:
After clicking on it, you will see a screen that permits you to
select the fields you wish to capture through your form, as illustrated
in the following screenshot:
The field selection process is quite simple. On the leftmost column
of the three that are presented, you will see a list of all the fields
corresponding to the Leads module (including custom fields).
To select a field for your form, simply drag-and-drop it from the
field listing on the left onto one of the two rightmost columns.
It is best to visualize the layout of the form that will be produced
as one similar to the edit or detail view layouts. Fields can appear
next to each other, horizontally or vertically, but only within one of
two columns. Most organizations prefer the vertical approach, which is
the technique we will apply. However, feel free to experiment.
Proceed to select the fields to match the preceding image, plus any
other fields you may wish to include. Note that required fields are
marked with an asterisk, as they are within the Edit view screen. You
must make sure to include all your required fields to ensure that the
process will work as expected.
In addition, you will notice that we have selected the Lead Source
field. Doing so will allow website visitors to make the appropriate
selection corresponding to what drove them to your site. Click on Next once you are satisfied with your field selection.
Now you need to set some final parameters, as illustrated in the following image:
You will undoubtedly want to modify the Form Header. This
value corresponds to the title of the page that website visitors will
see in their browser, so you will want to tailor it to reflect something
a bit friendlier than the generic text.
The form we are building is no different than any other web form you
may have encountered in your day-to-day web browsing. As such, it too
will include a button for visitors to click and send the data they typed
in. If you prefer the label of the button to read as something other
than the default label of Submit, change the Submit Button Label accordingly.
The Redirect URL and Related Campaign fields are also quite important. The former is used to specify a URL that a visitor will be sent to after clicking on the Submit
button on your lead capture form, while the latter is used to associate
a particular marketing campaign to the form. Establishing this
relationship is critical as it will help you properly measure the
effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Lastly, the Assigned To option allows you to define a user to
whom the Leads will be assigned upon being entered into SugarCRM. You
may want to consider creating a specific user, such as WebCapture,
and assigning the Leads to that user. Doing so will permit you to
quickly identify records that entered your system through the web lead
capture tool versus other means.
Click on Generate Form after you have applied your edits and you should see something similar to the following:
The default form should now be presented within SugarCRM's HTML
editor. This is a handy capability as it allows you to manipulate the
look and feel of the form to make it conform to the already existing
look and feel of your website. However, you may wish to ignore that, as
additional options allow you to more easily integrate it into your
website. To access those features and save the form, click on the Save Web To Lead Form button.
SugarCRM provides the convenience of a fully formatted, ready-to-use web form which can be downloaded by clicking on the Web To Lead Form
link. However, if you prefer, you may copy the code displayed in the
box and then embed it into one of your already existing pages. The
second approach would save you the hassle of having to modify the
cosmetic aspects of the default page to match your site.
To start receiving data into your SugarCRM system, simply place the
form on your web server, fill out the fields and submit the form. Make
sure that the server on which it is placed is able to access your
SugarCRM system or it will not function.
You can test it by opening the form in your web browser and submitting data, as shown in the following image:
Assuming everything is working as expected, the records will
automatically appear within the leads module of your SugarCRM system
without any intervention on your part or that of other users. In
addition, e-mail notifications of new records will automatically be sent
to the defined assigned user to inform them of the new entry so they
may act upon it. Through the use of add-on modules, like SierraCRM's Process Manager,
further actions, like the scheduling of follow up calls, can also be
automated. Remember, all of this can happen automatically and herein we
begin to see the real benefits of a CRM system.
There are few things quite as satisfying as driving along in the car,
and receiving an e-mail on your BlackBerry telling you that a new lead
has been received. Especially, when you know that it all happened
automatically!
From a process perspective, the concept of having every new lead
automatically entered into the CRM system makes it quick and easy to
convert that lead into a contact, enter details of new sales
opportunities, or include them in e-mail marketing campaigns—all without
any data transcription errors, or lost leads, due to human errors.
One note of caution:
most lead capture sites capture as much as 50% bad data. Some visitors
to your site will enter anything they fancy in the form; potentially
polluting your database. This highlights another reason why it is
beneficial to enter them by utilizing a username such as WebCapture. Doing so would allow you to easily filter leads to only show those created by WebCapture and in turn allow you to cleanse them, either by deleting them or performing other data integrity checks.
Customer self-service portals
After automating the lead capture process, the most common step that
follows in linking your customers into your CRM system is the
self-service portal.
Just as it sounds, this i s a software system that enables your
customers to exchange information with your organization in a completely
autonomous manner. In this initial implementation, we will show you how
to implement a system that allows customers to submit and manage
service cases directly within your CRM system.
Most of us have had the experience of needing to contact a call
center to address a customer service issue or other matters. Usually,
that process involves staying on hold for some time time. If you are
lucky, the time that you stay on hold is not long, but at the same time,
spending 30 to 45 minutes on hold or being transferred around is not
unheard of. To make matters worse, you usually need to make these calls
during normal business hours, meaning you are not able to tend to your
normal work while you are burning time on hold.
The fundamental capability that the self-service portal provides is
empowering customers by allowing them to contact you at a time that is
most convenient to them. Customers are no longer bound to specific
business hours, nor must they wait in a call queue or navigate a maze of
phone options. If they need your company's help to resolve an issue,
they simply go to your website and submit their issue.
Likewise, customers do not need to contact you directly to check in
on their previously submitted cases. They simply visit your website
again and they will be able to review their cases.
This functionality works hand-in-hand with the Cases module that is
built into SugarCRM. Typically, users would leverage this module to
track service calls that they receive from customers. Through this
functionality, all members of the organization are kept up-to-date on
any issues that a customer may be experiencing at any given time.
The Bug Tracker module complements the Cases module quite well by
providing a central repository where all known product flaws can be
tracked. In turn, all cases resulting from any of these flaws can be
related to a given bug, allowing you to measure the impact it is having
on your customers. Together, they can be used as very effective tools
for not only providing customer service, but also prioritizing product
development needs and improving customer satisfaction.
However, that process can be inefficient, as it relies on a user to
enter the data to produce a case in the first place. Empowering the
customer in such a way that allows them to directly interact with the
Cases module not only makes it easier for you to get feedback and become
aware of problems, but it also gives customers the feeling that you
care to hear what they have to say about their problems. That is the
goal that the self-service portal hopes to accomplish.
Self-service portal configuration
Before we get too deep into the specifics of configuring and using
the self-service portal, you must first understand some important
boundaries.
First, although this is a built-in feature of the Enterprise Edition
of SugarCRM, it is not a feature of Community Edition. To obtain this
functionality, we must use the combination of a SugarCRM add-on
available on
SugarExchange.com, plus an open source
CMS (
Content Management System) named
Joomla!
If you are already using another CMS package or cannot use Joomla! for
other reasons, you will not be able to utilize the functionality
described in this exercise.
The second and last important note is that, at the time of this
writing, the add-on did not support versions of SugarCRM Community
Edition higher than 5.2.
Now that we have a clear understanding of some important limitations, let us begin the process of deploying this feature.
Installing Joomla!
Assuming you have already installed SugarCRM Community Edition on the
target server, you have already established the perfect environment for
installing the Joomla! CMS package. Like SugarCRM, it too leverages the
LAMP or WAMP system software platforms. Just like SugarCRM, it is also
an open source application.
Our exercise will use
version 1.5 of Joomla! (Full Package). It is assumed that you have
already successfully downloaded and installed it onto your server. If
you require help with the process, visit the Joomla! website to review
its documentation and obtain further assistance.
Assuming Joomla! is operational, proceed to access the administrator page. It should resemble the following:
Let us leave it at the admin page for now.
 |
Install, configure, and administer a robust Customer Relationship Management system using SugarCRM
|
(For more resources on SugarCRM, see here.)
Installing the SugarCRM portal component for Joomla!
Our next step will be to download and install the Sugar Portal for Joomla add-on. This add-on will act as a bridge between Joomla! and SugarCRM to provide the functionality that we are seeking.
You can download it from the Sugar Portal for Joomla project page located at the following URL:
The Sugar Portal for Joomla consists of two Joomla! components, to extend its functionality as follows:
- com_sugarbugs: This links the Joomla! portal to SugarCRM
using Sugar's SOAP communications facility to provide searching,
creating, and editing of software bug reports.
- com_sugarcases: This links the Joomla! portal to SugarCRM
using Sugar's SOAP communications facility to provide searching,
creating, and editing of services cases.
Our example will focus on the cases component.
In order to install and use these objects within Joomla!, you will
first need to define a portal user within SugarCRM. This will represent
the set of SugarCRM credentials that Joomla! will use to communicate
with the CRM system.
Within the admin area of SugarCRM, create a new user—typically with the username Portal, and the Portal Only User
checkbox selected. This user will be used exclusively for this purpose
and will not be a valid login for SugarCRM as a normal user. This is
shown in the following screenshot:
IMPORTANT: You must
download and read the installation instructions (install.txt) on the
Sugar Portal for Joomla project page BEFORE proceeding. The document
contains important information pertaining to configuration changes that
must be manually applied to SugarCRM in order to enable the portal
functionality.
Next, you must use the administration area within Joomla! to install
the various components needed by Joomla! to link to SugarCRM. You should
first install
com_sugarcases and then
com_sugarbugs. Assistance on installing Joomla! components can be found at
http://www.joomla.org.
Once the components are successfully installed within Joomla! we need
to configure them so that they communicate with your instance of
SugarCRM. Let us take a look at the process of configuring the SugarCRM
cases component.
In Joomla !, select Components Sugar Cases | Configuration|. Update the Password, Sugar Soap Location, and Username fields to reflect the portal user and password combination created earlier in SugarCRM.
You will also need to enter the URL that corresponds with your
installation. The URL can be easily obtained by looking at the address
field on your web browser while working within SugarCRM. For example,
your test installation may indicate a URL of http://127.0.0.1:88/sugarce52/ or http://sugarcrm.example.com/ (as shown in the following screenshot). In either case, you will want to append the text soap.php at the end of it, so it reads as http://127.0.0.1:88/sugarce52/ soap.php and http://sugarcrm.example.com/soap.php respectively. Save your changes when done.
You will then be given the opportunity to select the SugarCRM case
record fields that you wish to display within Joomla! Leave it set to
the default settings for now, as shown in the following image. You can
always modify it later should the need arise.
Lastly, you will need to add SugarCRM cases to the Joomla! menu system so that website visitors are able to access it.
To add the menu option, select Menus | User Menu and click on New. Select Sugar Cases and enter Support Cases for the Title. Set the Access Level to Registered and verify that Show the Title Page is set to Yes under the Parameters (System) section. Click on Save when done. The following screenshot shows how menu options are added:
That should do it for the Joomla! side, but how do we tie the data in SugarCRM to a specific Joomla! user?
This is accomplished by means of the portal fields on a contact
record. Switch to SugarCRM and access the contacts module. Select a
random contact and access its edit view screen. At the very bottom of
the screen you should find the following:
The Portal Active checkbox enables/disables portal access for the current contact record. The value specified in the Portal Name
field is of greater importance as it is used to establish the
relationship between a Joomla! user and a SugarCRM contact (this is
displayed in the following figure). In turn, that allows Joomla! the
ability to display and manage cases related to the specified contact.
Enter a value in the Portal Name field and enable the Portal Active checkbox on the record, and save the record. Take note of the value you specified in the Portal Name field as you will need to create a Joomla! user with the same name as described in the next section.
Creating a new Joomla! user
Use the Joomla! administration menu to navigate to Site | User Manager, and then click on the New icon to create a new user. Once you have entered the user information (note that you need to set Group to Registered), click on the Save icon. Make sure that the user that you have created matches the value from the Portal Name field from SugarCRM.
Using your new self-service portal
You should now be able to use your self-service portal. Log out of
Joomla!, and log in to the regular Joomla! website as the new Joomla!
user that you just created by navigating to http://localhost/joomla.
Click on the link for Support Cases. From here, you have choices for Home (which lists all cases that relate to your user), New (to create a new case), and Search
(to look for a specific case). Note that the following image
demonstrates a default Joomla! page. You will most likely want to modify
it to match the branding of the rest of your website or general
corporate imagery and style guidelines. Rest assured that such
modifications can be made through standard CSS modifications and Joomla!
customization techniques.
Click on New to create a new case. Enter a name for the case, and a description, as shown in the following image:
Upon clicking on Save, the case is submitted and entered into SugarCRM. Within the portal, you should see the following:
Now, switch to SugarCRM and take a look at the Detail view screen of
the contact associated with the Joomla! user who has just submitted the
case. This is depicted in the following image:
As you can see, the case was not only entered into SugarCRM, but it was also automatically linked to the corresponding contact.
While we have only illustrated self-service case management
capabilities here, it does serve the purpose of highlighting
possibilities rather well. This component uses the standard SOAP
interface for SugarCRM and by investing some development time to further
the related Joomla! components, you could create all sorts of customer
self-service applications, such as document sharing portals, project
tracking portals, and so on.
This sort of technology use is only going to grow faster and faster
in the coming years. Now that you have seen what it can do for a
business, do you really want to compete without these tools against
companies that are using them to their full potential?
Summary
In this article, we have covered two key techniques for linking your
CRM to the outside world, and more specifically to your current and
potential customers.
Lead-capture applications are simple to set up, and have immediate
impact on the bottom line in terms of both creating revenue, and cutting
administration costs.
Developing customer self-service portals is a key technique to
maximize the return from your CRM investment. They keep your customers
better informed and happier, while improving efficiency and reducing
costs in the customer service and support areas.
From here, the sky is the limit. The future will hold many new
developments in the CRM field. One widely anticipated trend is that CRM
systems act as their own portal—offering carefully controlled and
regulated direct access to the CRM for customers and suppliers. This
will allow them to see only that information and navigation capability
that the system is set up to allow them.
|
|
Install, configure, and administer a robust Customer Relationship Management system using SugarCRM
|
About the Author :
Based in Los Angeles, California, Angel currently works as a
CRM consultant helping businesses of all sizes realize the benefits of
SugarCRM. He is a seasoned veteran of the technology world, initially
getting his start in the CRM industry back in 1996 with GoldMine
Software (now FrontRange Solutions). During his years at GoldMine he
authored numerous technical documents, and contributed heavily to
development and product management efforts that helped make GoldMine a
leading and award-winning solution.
His affection for open source software began in 1998 when he started
exploring Red Hat Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP; a combination now
widely known as the LAMP stack. As an advocate of open source
technologies, Angel has continually focused on emphasizing their
feasibility and viability in relation to CRM and small business needs.
SugarCRM first caught his attention in 2005. Impressed by what he
saw, Angel quickly moved to familiarizing himself with its capabilities,
and shortly thereafter deployed his first instance. Since then, Angel
has continuously refined his SugarCRM skills while also sharing his
knowledge with others as an active member of the SugarCRM user
community. In addition to his numerous contributions on the SugarCRM
Forums, his projects on SugarForge.org have earned him two "Project of
the Month" recognitions. Angel also maintains a blog at
http://cheleguanaco.blogspot.com, where he shares additional insights on customizing and troubleshooting SugarCRM.
Away from the computer he is an avid soccer fan and regularly writes
about the local soccer scene for LAist.com. When he is not playing,
watching or writing about soccer, he is out running, riding his bike or
enjoying the outdoors. He is fluent in English and Spanish, with a
little French in between. His two dogs are a constant source of
amusement.
Michael Whitehead is a leading authority on the design and
implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
Michael’s experience and expertise spans a thirty year career in
software architecture, design and development as well as business
management and ownership of multiple technology organizations. Among
many other accomplishments Michael is the contributing author of the
SugarCRM Open Source User Guide.
Michael has authored this book for entrepreneurs and small/medium
business leaders, like himself, to help propel the success of their
businesses through the disciplined application of CRM best practices.
More than just a practical guide for the implementation of SugarCRM,
this book explores and explains the business implications—and
benefits—of customer relationship management for the small/medium
business.
Michael is currently the founder and President of The Long Reach Corporation (
www.thelongreach.com).
Long Reach blends real world CRM expertise with commercial open source
technologies to develop and deliver cost effective CRM solutions for
small/medium business and divisions of large enterprises. Long Reach
offers a full range of SugarCRM implementation, customization and
training services. Long Reach is also the developer of Info At Hand™, a
complete, commercial-grade, customer-centric business management
solution built on SugarCRM Open Source.
Books From Packt
