Keep your customer communications connected with a CRM phone integration

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Customers don’t just call anymore, they email, chat, and send messages across multiple channels. Sometimes almost simultaneously.

While this omnichannel strategy gives businesses more ways to connect, it can also create scattered communication and incomplete customer records. Thankfully, this is an easy problem to solve when you connect your communications systems with your CRM.

With a CRM phone integration, every call, message, and chat is logged, synced, and tied to the right contact profile. That way, your team can deliver service that feels consistent, responsive, and personal.

Key takeaways

• A CRM phone integration connects calls, messages, and chats directly to customer profiles, keeping all data in one place.

• Businesses can integrate via direct connections (e.g. Salesforce and Aircall) or through automation platforms like Zapier, though direct integrations are faster and more reliable.

• Automatic syncing gives agents near-perfect recall, improving accuracy, compliance, and customer trust.

• Real-time customer context leads to smoother conversations, fewer transfers, and faster resolutions.Key features to look for include screen pops, automated call logging, tag syncing, click-to-call, contact synchronization, omnichannel support, and custom workflows.

• Aircall integrates seamlessly with leading CRMs and business tools, creating a single source of truth across all customer communications.

How a CRM phone system integration works

Businesses generally connect their CRMs with a communications platform like a phone system in one of two ways: through a direct integration or via an automation platform.

Direct integrations are built and maintained either by CRM (like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho) or communication system providers (like Aircall). These are usually quick and easy to set up because the integration is native to the tools you’re already using. Once the integration is in place, call data flows automatically between the phone system and CRM. 

With this setup, a customer’s contact record will appear instantly on the answering agent’s screen before they answer an incoming call. Then, once the call ends, everything from caller details to agent notes, to the call outcome is automatically saved to the CRM for future reference.

Automation platforms (like Zapier), on the other hand, create a connection between two tools using defined triggers and actions.They act as a middleman between your CRM system and your phone system.

For example, you might set up a workflow where a new contact is created in the CRM whenever a call ends. While this can be useful, it usually requires building and maintaining custom rules, and the syncing isn’t always immediate.

These setups are pretty flexible, but a direct CRM and phone integration is usually the more reliable choice for fast-moving teams.

TL;DR: You can link a CRM to a communication platform with either a direct integration or an automation platform, but direct integrations give faster, more dependable results.

Why your business needs a customer communications platform with native CRM integrations

Communications platforms with CRM integrations allow your team to instantly see all caller details when answering or making calls – no copy-pasting between programs or constant switching of screens. These might sound like small details, but the benefits of CRM integrations are huge.

Increased productivity

If you aren’t using a communication platform that integrates with your CRM tools, important details must be manually updated before, after, and even during every call. This back-and-forth process will drain your employees’ energy and lead to incomplete customer records.

Furthermore, the time spent digging through dozens of tabs for a specific piece of information is a waste of time—and frustrating—for both your agent and the customer. 

The good news is, a competent CRM phone integration will do this auxiliary work for you and keep a complete customer history within reach. Detailed call information is accessible within your CRM of choice with updated records as soon as the call ends. 

Another benefit is that during peak periods, agents can quickly move to the next customer in the queue, knowing a link to their previous call has already been saved to the correct customer’s file. Once call volume drops, they use the playback to document notes, comments, and directions for colleagues.

Improved accuracy

Accurate and detailed notes are your agents’ secret weapon to providing superior service. They lead to a stronger show of empathy, more-meaningful call-routing, faster resolutions and even help verify your analytics insights while supporting compliance standards.

Still, your agents are human, with imperfect memories. This isn’t their fault: inaccuracies are bound to happen even when call volume is normal, and the seasonal rush only makes these errors multiply.

With a strong CRM phone integration, immediate transfer of information gives support and sales representatives the superpower of perfect memory. Customers and leads will notice when agents recall small details from past interactions as if they happened yesterday.

And even if we all know that “the customer is always right,” it’s also reassuring to know “The call recording never lies.” Easy-to-access evidence will help make training and performance reviews more targeted, and therefore more effective.

Better customer service

A strong CRM phone integration also has the ability to improve the customer experience because it helps agents anticipate where the conversation will go. That is to say, when your reps receive inbound calls via support (or sales) lines, the corresponding customer’s information will be pulled up within the CRM. This ensures your reps are informed and ready to assist the moment they say “hello.”

Without this small bit of foresight, your team will inevitably ask the caller to repeat information, wait on-hold longer, and experience more transfers. Whereas, with the CRM phone integration, these frustrations can be eliminated before the first touch.

Connected customer communications

When a communication system and CRM platform work together, all the details of every call and caller are in one place. Instead of having to rely on scattered notes, your team gets a centralized view of the important information they need for customer communications.

One of the key benefits is that conversations become easier on both sides of the line. Customers don’t need to repeat account numbers or rehash earlier issues, because the agent already has that context on screen. 

Internally, your support or sales team can view customer histories, including the trail of interactions that led up to the current call. This helps them to pick up the conversation without missing a beat.

Say a client calls in after receiving a product replacement. When you have a CRM integration with your phone system, the support agent can immediately see the original issue, the resolution provided, and notes from the last conversation.

Instead of starting from scratch, the agent can acknowledge the history and move straight to confirming satisfaction. This has the potential to turn a repetitive conversation into a positive customer experience and speed up resolution times.

See how Aircall keeps every customer conversation connected. Learn more here.

Features to look for in integrations with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce

Plenty of systems can automate routine tasks, but not every one offers the advanced features that unlock the value of a CRM and communication system integration. Below are the tools you’ll need to streamline workflows, enhance the customer experience, and give your teams a real productivity boost.

Screen pops

A screen pop is an on-screen notification that appears when an incoming call is received, displaying key customer information drawn directly from the CRM. 

Instead of answering blind, agents are able to view caller details like their name and account status, see past interactions, and open tickets before they even pick up. 

Think about a customer who recently logged a support request call back. With screen pops, the agent can immediately acknowledge the issue and provide an update without asking the caller to explain again.This helps to improve the chances of an issue being resolved and customer satisfied before the call ends. 

Automated call logging

Automated call logging ensures that every call made or received through your communication system is automatically recorded in your CRM platform. Rather than needing team members to enter data manually, information is captured instantly. 

When combined with call recordings, automated call logging creates a comprehensive record that makes it easy for anyone on your team to understand the full context of a customer relationship before making outbound calls or answering incoming ones. 

This feature frees up agents to focus on more meaningful customer conversations while also ensuring accuracy, keeping colleagues aligned..

Tag syncing

Tag syncing carries labels applied to your team’s calls in your phone system over into your CRM. This feature makes it easier to organize and analyze communication data at scale. 

For instance, in a sales context, a manager could pull a report in the CRM showing all calls tagged as “Renewal” to help the sales team identify opportunities. On the support front, leaders could see the volume of “Technical issue” calls logged in a given week, giving them clearer insight into recurring challenges.

By syncing tags, you can reduce duplication, maintain cleaner records, and give every team a reliable way to categorize and act on customer calls.

Click-to-call

With click-to-call, agents can initiate calls directly from within the CRM with a single click. This not only saves time, but also reduces errors that can happen with manual dialing.

This feature is especially valuable for a sales team that handles high volumes of outreach. For example, a sales rep working through a lead list in the CRM can simply click each number to connect, while the system automatically logs the call details. 

It’s a small efficiency gain that adds up quickly, helping teams reach more customers with less effort.

Contact synchronization

Contact synchronization keeps customer records consistent across your systems by automatically updating details across both platforms. 

When a new contact is created in your CRM, it appears in your phone system and vice versa. This eliminates duplicate records and ensures agents always have the most accurate information at hand, helping to streamline workflows and reduce friction in every customer interaction.

Omnichannel capabilities

Connecting customer data across multiple communication channels – like email, live chat, and SMS – helps to give teams a full picture of the customer journey regardless of how the customer chooses to reach out.

If a customer emails support about an issue and later follows up by phone, for example, the agent answering the call can see the email thread alongside the call details in the CRM. This continuity prevents customers from having to repeat themselves and helps agents deliver more consistent, seamless experiences and resolve issues faster.

Custom workflows

Instead of relying solely on default settings, custom workflows enable teams to create tailored rules that trigger actions when certain conditions are met. Think tagging conversations, creating follow-up tasks, or routing calls to the right department.

In the context of a sales team, you might set up a workflow where every missed call from a prospect automatically creates a task for the assigned rep to call back. Support teams, on the other hand, could build a workflow that routes high-priority calls directly to senior agents. 

By adapting the integration to your needs, you can streamline operations, reduce manual work, and ensure no critical steps get missed.

Connect Aircall with your preferred CRM to keep all your customer data under one roof

Integrating Aircall with your CRM is simple. Just choose your preferred CRM, whether that’s HubSpot, Salesforce, or another platform, from the app marketplace. Then, connect with a few clicks, and your phone system and customer data are instantly synced. From that moment, every call, note, and contact record flows seamlessly between platforms.

You’ll get automatic call logging, real-time screen pops, and synchronized tags that make customer interactions smoother and easier to manage. And because Aircall also integrates with help desks, Slack, and other business tools, you can unify all communications in one place to create a true single source of truth that keeps every team aligned.

Connect Aircall with your CRM today and give your team a single source of truth. Get started now. 

Published on January 26, 2018.