What is CRM?

At the heart of any successful business lies its relationship with customers. This is where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) plays a pivotal role. CRM refers to the practices, strategies, and technologies that companies use to manage and analyse customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle. The primary goal is to improve customer service relationships, assist in customer retention, and drive sales growth.

What is CRM Software?

CRM software is a tool that supports these CRM strategies by managing customer information, tracking customer interactions, and automating sales, marketing, and customer support functions. It’s designed to compile information on customers across different channels — or points of contact between the customer and the company — which could include the company’s website, telephone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials, and social media.

Benefits of Using CRM Software

Implementing CRM software brings a multitude of advantages:

• Improved Customer Segmentation: CRM software allows businesses to segment their customer base based on various criteria such as demographics, purchase history, and preferences. This enables targeted marketing efforts and personalised communication, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates.

• Streamlined Workflow Automation: CRM systems offer workflow automation capabilities, automating repetitive tasks such as email follow-ups, lead nurturing, and appointment scheduling. This saves time and ensures consistency and efficiency in customer interactions.

• Enhanced Customer Retention: By tracking customer interactions and satisfaction levels, CRM software helps businesses identify at-risk customers and proactively address their concerns. This proactive approach to customer retention can significantly reduce churn rates and increase customer lifetime value.

• Improved Forecasting and Planning: With access to comprehensive sales and customer data, CRM software enables more accurate forecasting and planning. Businesses can analyse trends, identify opportunities, and anticipate customer needs, allowing for better resource allocation and strategic decision-making.

• Integration with Third-Party Tools: Many CRM systems offer seamless integration with other business tools and applications, such as email marketing platforms, accounting software, and e-commerce platforms. This integration facilitates data sharing and ensures a unified view of customer interactions across all touchpoints.

• Scalability and Customisation: Modern CRM software is designed to scale with your business’s growth and can be customised to meet specific requirements. Whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise, CRM systems can adapt to your evolving needs and support your long-term growth objectives.

• Improved Internal Communication: Sharing customer data between different departments will enable you to work as a team and help optimise the customer experience – each employee will also be able to answer customer queries more efficiently.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Market Size

According to research conducted by Precedence Research, the global customer relationship management market was estimated at USD 69.56 billion in 2023. It is anticipated to reach approximately USD 215.72 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.4% from 2023 to 2032.

Exploring Naming and Domain Strategies of Top CRM Software Companies

In the following section, we’ll examine some of the top CRM software companies. Our focus will centre on their naming and domain strategies, revealing insights into how they’ve developed their brand identities and solidified their online presence in the market.

Namepicks 

monday.com

monday.com is a leading cloud-based Work OS, where teams create workflow apps to manage their processes, projects, and everyday work tasks. The company was founded in 2012 and launched in 2014 by Roy Mann and Eran Zinman in Tel Aviv, Israel. Initially named daPulse, the business had to navigate through an unexpected challenge – its name.

The original name proved problematic, often attracting mockery from both employees and external observers who couldn’t see the connection between the name and the company’s offerings. 

When we were first starting out, our priority was on building the best product we could, and less so on the name. Based on what we felt was the essence of our tool, a platform to help you keep your finger on the pulse of your team, we identified with the concept of a pulse. After searching for domain options, the only website available was dapulse!

Roy Mann, CEO and Co-Founder of monday.com

It seemed that the decision to name the company daPulse was more about the availability of a domain name than establishing a meaningful link to its products, leading to frequent jokes and teasing. The name even drew comparisons to a hip-hop artist rather than being recognised as belonging to a serious cloud software provider.

I knew it was really bad when I went to TV for the first time in my life and all the anchor could focus on was how bad the name Dapulse was.

Joel Goldstein, monday.com

Recognising these challenges, in 2017, the company rebranded to monday.com. The rebrand was a strategic move that allowed the company to better align its brand with the project management industry and expand its customer base. The new name, chosen for its simplicity and ease of remembering, made it more accessible to people. Additionally, ‘monday.com’ was a suitable name for a project management tool, as it suggests the start of a new workweek and the organisation that comes with it.

I always struggled to find a way to describe what our tool does in a sentence, but I can easily describe it in a word: monday. In becoming monday.com, our vision is finally encapsulated in our name.

Roy Mann, CEO and Co-Founder of monday.com

Using the .com extension in a brand name is a common strategy among premium domain owners, evident in well-known examples such as Booking.com, Crypto.com, Tiger.com, Cars.com, Trip.com, Blockchain.com, and Cats.com. This method makes it easier for customers to find and remember the brand, offering direct access. It also reduces dependence on third-party platforms, improving the customer experience and boosting the brand’s online presence.

Close

Close is a CRM platform specialising in streamlining sales processes and improving customer relationship management for a variety of businesses. Founded in 2013 by Steli Efti and Nick Persico, the company is based in San Francisco, California, and caters to clients from numerous sectors.

Close embarked on its journey with Close.io, and in 2019, made a significant leap by upgrading to the exact brand match domain Close.com. The Close.com domain was registered back in 1996 and was briefly associated with a social network that failed to achieve long-term success.

In a blog post, the founders of Close unveiled the reasons behind transitioning from the .io to the .com domain. This decision was primarily driven by the company’s desire to align its digital presence with its growth and to accurately convey its evolved image in the market.

The .io domain extension, a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) that is assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory, has been a popular choice among tech companies and startups, perceived as trendy and modern. However, this trendiness comes with its own set of challenges and potential risks. 

For Close, which started as a startup and matured into a stable, established business, the .io domain increasingly seemed limiting in reflecting its expanded scope and scale. Acquiring Close.com involved persistent effort over more than five years, marked by continual follow-ups and numerous offers. This journey exemplifies Close’s commitment to its brand, clearly signalling its stability and resolve to maintain a significant presence in the CRM industry.

A lot has changed since those early days. We’ve become a much more mature business with thousands of happy customers. And as the years went on, we acquired more customers and more people calling us “Close,” which is the name we’d been adopting internally as well. Beyond just the benefits of properly aligning our brand with the .com name, we knew that owning this domain would illustrate to future customers that we’re here to stay for the long haul. 

Close’s team

Zoho

Zoho presents a comprehensive suite of applications designed to enhance business efficiency, collaboration, and productivity. This diverse range spans essential business functions from Customer Relationship Management (CRM), email services, and office suites to project management, invoicing, email marketing, and social media management. 

We believe that software is the ultimate product of the hands and the mind. And we take pride in creating products and solutions that help solve business problems, anticipate needs, and discover opportunities to help you grow.

Zoho

Zoho leverages the power of its CVCV domain name, Zoho.com. CVCV (consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel) domain names are highly sought after in the branding world due to their brevity, memorability, and adaptability. These attributes make them invaluable for establishing a strong online presence, crucial in connecting with users and generating web traffic. Short, easy to pronounce, and catchy, CVCV domain names resonate well across diverse languages and cultures, making them especially appealing to global businesses. 

Teamwork

Teamwork.com is а web-based software company headquartered in Cork, Ireland. The company creates task management and team collaboration software. 

Teamwork was founded in 2007 by Peter Coppinger and Daniel Mackey under the name Teamwork Project Managers, shortened to TeamworkPM.

The founders, Peter Coppinger and Daniel Mackey, always envisioned their product under the name ‘Teamwork.’ However, their initial attempt to acquire the Teamwork.com domain was met with a prohibitive price tag from the domain squatter, far exceeding their financial capabilities. Facing this obstacle, they had to opt for Teamworkpm.net, a compromise that, while functional, didn’t quite capture the essence of the brand they envisioned.

If you’re talking to someone at a bar about your company, they just won’t remember TeamworkPM.net. One of our competitors is Basecamp, which has Basecamp.com. If someone is comparing Basecamp.com against TeamworkPM.net, many will choose the .com because it has credibility and the right image. 

Peter Coppinger, CEO of Teamwork.com

Despite this setback, the duo’s belief in the potential of their business remained unshaken. They continued negotiations with the domain owner, committed to securing the ideal domain for their brand. After persistent efforts and several years of back-and-forth, they acquired the Teamwork.com domain, investing $675,000 – a significant portion of their company’s reserves.

Teamwork.com wouldn’t have grown to be the global success it is today unless I got out of my comfort zone. From seeing a gap in the market and doing something about it to start Teamwork.com, using all of our money to “buy our name back,” running a bootstrapped business for a long time, and even expanding our footprint globally, it all wouldn’t have happened if I was not willing to take risks.

Peter Coppinger, CEO and Co-Founder of Teamwork.com, in an interview with Maria Angelova

Securing Teamwork.com enhanced the company’s online presence and boosted its credibility. The investment in the domain name proved to be a catalyst for growth, leading to an influx of larger clients and increased referrals.

Did the risk lead to a reward? Big time. And that reward was worth it. To this day it was the best business decision of my life. Sales skyrocketed. Having the domain name Teamwork.com gave us the credibility we needed and we started getting bigger customers and more referrals. At this point, everything took off at lightning speed and we had a brand identity we could build upon.

Peter Coppinger, CEO and Co-Founder of Teamwork.com, in an interview with Maria Angelova

Similar to the approach adopted by Monday.com, the business has incorporated its full domain name into its brand identity. This ensures people will remember “Teamwork.com” and go directly to the site, as opposed to passing via third-party platforms, thereby increasing the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Act!

Act! is a customer relationship management (CRM) software and marketing automation software platform designed to cater to the unique needs of small and mid-sized businesses. This comprehensive tool offers a range of features such as customer management, sales process management, opportunity tracking, pipeline management, personalised campaigns, automated workflows, customer activities, calendar and email integration, prioritised task lists, real-time metrics, and others.

The original name for the software was Activity Control Technology, followed by Automated Contact Tracking, before finally using the acronym. 

Every business with customers needs CRM – it’s simply foundational to how modern business recognizes, analyzes, and leverages its customers and prospects.. The idea that you’re “too small for CRM” is a popular myth. Many Act! customers are so-called solopreneurs – sole proprietors running their own businesses. Part of what makes that possible – or at least optimizes and professionalizes their approach to CX – is a CRM platform. The ability to automate personalized client communications goes way beyond “Hello {first name}”.  Being able to segment your customer base to target promotions, identify add-on opportunities, or automate renewal communications saves time, sure. It also ensures that every customer receives relevant, timely communication from your business, and that “contact integrity” drives greater retention. You need CRM because you need customers.

Patrick Curley, CPO

Act! can be found on their exact brand match domain name Act.com. Three-letter .com domains are rare and valuable due to the fact they are easy to remember and can be used as acronyms for companies with longer names. With only 17,576 possible three-letter combinations, all .com variants are already taken and can only be acquired through resale. Considering that there are more than 150 million .com domains currently registered, owning a three-letter .com domain is a mark of prestige and represents a significant investment in the brand’s long-term visibility and recognition.

Highlights

Among the 200 CRM software companies on our list, 179 have opted for a .com domain for their online presence. Customers worldwide naturally tend to trust .com as it has been dominating the internet for decades.

160 of these companies have gone a step further by securing exact brand match .com domain names. This strategic decision is pivotal in bolstering online trust and credibility, elements that are essential for establishing lasting customer relationships and securing a competitive advantage. EBM domains make it easier for customers to find and remember the company, which can lead to increased activity and conversion.

4 companies use a dash in their domain name, which can make the domain name harder to remember and create confusion.

While we make every effort to ensure the data on our site is accurate, complete, and up-to-date, we cannot guarantee its reliability. Our data is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or other advice. We strongly recommend that you independently verify any information before relying on it.

Premium domain names are a valuable asset for any brand. They can help you establish credibility, improve your search engine rankings, and make it easier for customers to find and remember your website. If you’re interested in learning more about how premium domain names can benefit your brand, don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.

Other resources

branding CRM CRM software Customer Relationship Management domain domain name domain names domains naming