“Semrush is one of a kind in the sense that the company knows exactly what the pain areas of marketing agencies tend to be. This is because its products are targeted at them. I think marketers or marketing agencies need a product tailored just for them, and Semrush CRM is exactly that.”

Pulkit Agrawal, Founder & Managing Director at UR Digital

Challenge: Modernize an SEO agency

Prior to using an agency CRM, UR Digital, an Australian SEO agency, experienced several common pain points:

1. Outdated and time-consuming reporting cycle.

Updating clients on the progress of their campaigns is a key part of client relationship management, but it can also be time and resource intensive—especially for smaller agencies.

“We used to provide fortnightly position tracking reports to clients, which we believe was old school,” says Pulkit Agrawal, UR Digital’s founder and managing director. “The days of creating PowerPoint presentations for clients are gone. We needed something that could present reports to clients dynamically.”

2. Lack of a cross-functional CRM tool was restricting the agency’s ability to collaborate effectively on client campaigns.

“With multiple team members responsible for various aspects of campaigns, there were often instances where client requirements were not effectively communicated,” he explains. “Minutes of meetings were in multiple email threads, which made it difficult to access them all easily.”

3. The struggle to find a suitable workflow to manage client data.

According to Pulkit, important client data was buried in a plethora of spreadsheets and folders. “Imagine managing the work of 10 clients on spreadsheets,” he says. “Just imagine the number of sheets we’d have after a single technical audit for a 10,000-page site!”

Perhaps the biggest challenge for UR Digital, though, was finding a single holistic tool that could solve all of these issues simultaneously. This was the key for Pulkit.

“The objective of a CRM is not just to manage client relationships,” he argues. “Online marketing agencies need ways to effectively manage and implement their campaigns and present them to clients.”

Pulkit continues, “When looking for a CRM, these were our primary concerns. We needed to ensure every aspect of the client’s campaign was being recorded, tracked, and presented dynamically.”

Step 1: Make reporting dynamic

As an existing Semrush user, the CRM tool was a logical choice for UR Digital, although Pulkit notes that his agency still vetted the platform via an “exhaustive” trial. More importantly, the centralized, multipurpose nature of Semrush CRM ticked all the key boxes.

The tool’s Client Portal feature has been particularly transformative. It allows clients to review dynamically updated campaign data in near real time without the need for presentations or PDF reports and can be securely accessed by the client at any time.

For Pulkit, this has been a game-changer. “With PDF reports, you need to download, store, and share them manually,” he says. “With an on-demand online portal for reporting, the process is a lot easier. It doesn’t hold up your work or make your team waste precious time on creating and sharing simple reports.”

“Calls for updates from clients disappeared after we set up this tool. It has saved us countless hours, which we can use to improve their campaigns.”

It’s not just the agency that has benefitted either. Clients love the change, although some were a bit skeptical at first.

“We tell our clients that we will not send them reports,” he says, “and they are like ‘what agency doesn’t report?’ Then we explain that they will have access to their own portal where they can login whenever they wish and get their data in near real time, and our clients are like ‘wow, that is impressive!’”

“We tell them, ‘check your reports after a drink on Friday night or whenever you wish—there’s no need to wait for us!’ Clients laugh, but they love it. It saves tremendous time and resources. It’s a win-win situation for everyone,” Pulkit explains.

Step 2: improve workflows and segregate client data

The Semrush CRM tool has also solved the agency’s workflow management and communication issues, with the Projects, Tasks, and Docs features proving particularly useful.

“I am now able to prioritize the tasks for my team a lot better,” Agrawal says. “All the history of a client is always there for any team member to view, and updates are easily traceable. That is extremely helpful.”

“Semrush CRM has helped me get all the journey on one single platform,” he continues. “Not having a headache due to shifting tools and Excel sheets is a big bonus. It has saved me some cash, and a lot of time for my team as well.”

Results: Automate time-consuming tasks

For UR Digital, the impact from using Semrush CRM has been significant.

It has allowed the agency to allocate time and resources far more effectively. Team members can now automate time-consuming tasks such as report creation and focus instead on working to improve client campaigns.
This has led to a better outcome for clients too. With more time spent on campaigns than management tasks, UR Digital has been able to segregate clients and adopt a dedicated account-based approach—resulting in better client ROIs.
The tool has also drastically improved the agency’s client management workflows, with client data and information accessible in one location (and for multiple team members). This has meant key bits of information, updates, or client communications are no longer overlooked or even lost, allowing the team to collaborate more efficiently with clients.

Key Takeaways

Finding the right tool to streamline client management, automate reporting, and empower clients with access to data is worth the search effort.

Adapting automation technology, such as on-demand reports with Semrush CRM, and sharing its benefits directly with clients can have a double positive impact. It saves your company time and impresses clients with your savvy approach to doing business. They get what they want, when they want. You get to focus more time on delivering them results.
Find a CRM tool that meets your specific business needs and put time into learning and experimenting with tools during an extended trial period to ensure you have the right fit.

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