Customer experience is something that no matter how successful you are in business today, you cannot afford to compromise on. You can outshine your competition by creating the best customer experience possible and convince customers that you are worthy of their attention.
A CRM (customer relationship management software) is how you can ensure your clients get the most meaningful moments during their buying journey. A CRM system allows you to analyze the sales process and determine if your small business has the right impact on customers.
CRM technology is the best way to track all your customers, manage leads and follow up on purchasing opportunities. Software that integrates sales, marketing, service, and other solutions will make it easy to manage them all.
How do you choose the right CRM technology for your company? We’re going today to look at the top CRM systems available to assist businesses of all sizes in increasing their customer loyalty and conversion.
HubSpot CRM
There are many things to take into consideration when choosing the right CRM for your small business. A perfect CRM includes everything, from social media marketing to immersive tracking tools. This is exactly what Hubspot CRM offers.
HubSpot CRM offers a variety of inbound marketing tools that you can use to test out. These tools include guidance to improve your SEO performance and tools for ongoing lead nurturing. HubSpot CRM is compatible with Microsoft Office and G-Suite so that you can have a productive environment regardless of your business’s preferences.
It’s easy to monitor what’s happening in your sales pipeline with Hubspot CRM. You can monitor whether customers open your emails and add advanced packages to your service that give you access to advanced automation tools and artificial intelligence. HubSpot has some limitations on your customization options.
The free version is generous but you may need to upgrade to a higher tier or to access add-ons to increase your results.
Pricing
HubSpot pricing starts at a completely free level for unlimited users. You can upgrade to the HubSpot Sales Hub or HubSpot Service Hub for $50 per month. Access to the entire HubSpot CMS is available for $300 per month. A starter growth package costs $113 per user per month.
Pros
Great free option for beginners
Interface intuitive and simple to use
A wide range of email marketing tools are available
Uses a variety of top tools like G-Suite
It’s easy to share with your entire team
Cons
The free tier will not last forever
There are no restrictions on customization options
Who is it best for?
HubSpot CRM is a great choice for small businesses and beginners who want to get into customer relationship management. You can download a free trial to get you started, and there are many training resources available to help you make the most of your investment. You can grow at your own pace with the bonus add-ons.
Freshsales
Freshsales is part Freshworks, which includes a wide range of software tools that can be used to improve your customer and employee relationships. The Freshworks suite includes a variety of features, such as Freshchat, which allows you to chat with bots and Freshcaller for customer service collaboration.
You can access everything depending on your business’ needs, from detailed sales pipeline views to advanced AI technology for self service. Cloud calling technology is available to allow you to access more communication channels. The CRM also includes AI-powered forecasting and contact scoring, predictive analytics and accelerated revenue opportunities.
Freshsales offers a variety of tools, including landing pages creation and tracking page visits, as well as a range of tailored email campaigns. It also provides easy-to-use platform access so employees don’t need to be trained.
Pricing
For basic contact management, Freshsales is available as a free download.
The Freshsales CRM pricing structure begins at PS12 per monthly for growth. This includes visual sales pipelines, sales sequences, and sales sequences. Pro is available for PS29 per monthly with multiple sales pipelines. Enterprise costs PS55 per month and includes audit logs, dedicated account managers, and a dedicated account manager.
Pros
Simple to use
Predictive and intelligent insights
Access to complete integrations
View complete demographics of your target audience
High security technology
Mobile apps for mobile workers
Cons
For large teams, billing per user can be expensive.
It can take some time to fully grasp all of the features.
Who is it best for?
Freshsales can be a great tool if you are looking for a holistic approach to customer support, service and relationship tracking. Freshsales focuses on establishing a connection with your target audience and generating both sales and loyalty.
Sendinblue CRM
Sendinblue’s email marketing software is more well-known than any other customer relationship management tool. This solution can still be very effective in managing your contacts. Sendinblue can be a useful solution for all businesses, and it has an easy-to use backend that doesn’t require any complicated installations or updates.
You’ll get great email marketing automations and solutions, as well as customer data management. You also have the option to send SMS marketing or transactional emails. Smart segmentation is possible. You can arrange contacts according to their behavior or characteristics using a variety of listing options.
Sendinblue is different from other CRMs. It goes beyond email marketing and follow-up, unlike most. To improve your communication with your audience, and to get more leads in real time, you also have SMS marketing and live chat. You also have access to high-quality customer support so that you can get going as soon as possible.
Pricing
Sendinblue offers a free option that allows you to get started. It supports unlimited contacts and sends up to 300 emails per days. For $25 per month, the Lite package can be accessed. This allows you to access up to 100,000 emails per daily. Premium packages are $65 per month and allow you to send up to 1,000,000 emails per day. Enterprise also offers a customized package that gives you access to a host of additional features.
Pros
Convenient functionality and great ease of use
There are many segmentation options available for customers
Email marketing integrations that work
Useful tools for live chat and SMS marketing
For beginners, there is no cost
Cons
Some CRM features are not as advanced as they could be
The free plan is very limited
Who is it best for?
Sendinblue is a great tool for email marketing. You can use it to build your CRM system. It’s easy to use and convenient for beginners. This tool stands out among the rest with its live chat and SMS marketing options.
Salesforce CRM
Salesforce is a name that comes to mind often when you are looking for ways to automate sales and connect with customers more deeply. Salesforce is more than a CRM software. It makes it easy to track all aspects of your customer journey so that you can connect with clients. Salesforce can be integrated with many tools, including Gmail.
Small businesses and startups alike have access to a wide range of CRM tools and resources. These include templates for email marketing and artificial intelligence to help you score your leads. This CRM software is also equipped with many predictive features. Salesforce CRM tools are more than just a tool to manage contacts and leads. They help you build a stronger relationship with customers.
You can personalize your website content based upon user behavior. Additionally, you can collaborate with other team members to find the best way for new sales. Access a mobile app to your small business CRM which streamlines operations and allows you to access it from anywhere.
Pricing
Pricing for Salesforce depends on what you need. For all-in-one support and sales, the Essentials package starts at $25 per user per monthly. The Enterprise solution costs $150 per user per month and the Professional solution is $75 per user. Unlimited power and support can be purchased for the CRM service at $300 per user. There may be additional charges if you need to add more features.
Pros
Great for companies looking to find and manage leads
Email builders and landing pages to communicate with
Many automation tools and features available for teams
With AI insights, it is easy to predict sales and lead values.
Cross-selling and upselling
Cons
It takes some time to get used the functionality.
It can get a bit pricey
Who is it best for?
Salesforce CRM is recommended for companies who want to maximize their sales strategy using a variety of AI tools. Salesforce constantly updates its technology with new products and integrations. This includes advanced lead management, assessment, and predictive analytics.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a great way to improve your customer service and manage customer data. It’s designed for small businesses and offers automation options and customizable modules.
Zoho CRM software allows you to create workflows, manage leads, quickly check out daily tasks, and support employees with a simple SaaS solution. The user-friendly backend is ideal for small businesses. The technology is also affordable and offers a wide range of features.
KPI tracking and forecasting can help increase your revenue potential. Zoho’s CRM platform can track more than just contact information if you are willing to invest a bit more. The enterprise version includes sales funnel analytics and custom data comparisons.
Pricing
Zoho CRM pricing starts at a low price. You can get a free copy that you can access for up to three users. This product is primarily targeted at small home-run businesses. Upgrade to the Standard package for $12 per user per year The Enterprise package costs around $35 per user per month and is billed annually.
Pros
Great free option to get you started
Many useful features, including funnel analytics
Google Analytics and Reports – Powerful integrations
Gamification tools for teams or competitions
Excellent sales forecasting
Cons
It can be costly to acquire the best features.
There are some slow and clunky parts in the UI
Who is it best for?
If you are looking for a comprehensive solution that provides a clear view of the backend of business conversations and sales potential, we recommend Zoho CRM. Access a wide range of analytics and reporting tools that provide valuable insights and metrics into your sales activities. The popular CRM comes with tons and tons of workflow automation tools.
Engagebay
Engagebay is a great choice for startups who need business software that can do the job. Engagebay is a modular marketing and lead generation platform that provides everything you need, from capture to conversion.
Three distinct products are available from Engagebay: sales, marketing, and customer support. Each of these products are intended to be used in conjunction with each other. To create the exact toolkit that you require, you can choose to use one, two or all three.
Engagebay makes it simple to collect all contact information you need using contact forms and web pop-ups. Once you have built your list, you are able to engage them through email marketing automation. Engagebay also provides a comprehensive customer file to give your sales team a complete view of the person they are interacting with. This helps reps deliver the best customer service possible.
Engagebay’s contact manager features make it easy to stay organized. You can also set up lead scores and analyze the potential success of each lead. This will give you and your team a better understanding of which leads to prioritize.
Pricing
You can choose to either purchase Engagebay’s individual products, or the all-in-one solution. There are four pricing options available for the latter.
Their free package is the first. You can send up to 1,000 emails and accumulate as many contacts as you like.
You can upgrade to Basic for $11.99 per month (annual billing) if you require additional features such as email templates. The Growth Plan costs $39.99 per month and includes advanced A/B testing and marketing automation. The Pro Plan will cost $63.99 per month and give you more control over your team, reports, and analytics.
Pros
A free plan is available
Engagebay’s software allows for incredibly flexible and scalable business models
Engagebay is an all-in one solution that helps businesses track and improve their customer journeys
Engagebay’s products have many features, but the interface is very simple.
Service Bay offers a free helpdesk as well as live chat.
Cons
Mobile apps are not available
Engagebay’s higher-priced plans do not allow for advanced analytics or marketing automation.
The pricing options available at Engagebay can be confusing because there are so many things to consider
It is easy to see how the per-user, per month pricing model can quickly add up
Who is it best for?
Engagebay is ideal for small and growing businesses who want to use one platform to manage customer interaction, lead generation and sales.
Service Bay is also a great tool for businesses that have active support teams who respond to large volumes of customer inquiries. This software is all-inclusive and can be used by businesses who don’t wish to use multiple tools.
Pipedrive CRM
Pipedrive CRM, as the name suggests, is about providing you with the best overview of sales processes and contact management. Pipedrive CRM has a simple interface that is easy to use and visually appealing. This will help you improve customer communication and increase your chances of recurring profit. This powerful tool can be used to quickly track contacts and keep track of deals.
Pipedrive CRM’s intuitive user interface makes it easy to manage sales activities and share important information across channels. Your workflow is consolidated in one place so that you don’t have to switch between applications. You can also fine-tune the sales process with tons of tools.
Pipedrive CRM offers many automation options and customizations to improve your sales pipeline. You can set reminders, notifications, and follow-up alerts to help you stay focused on what is most important. You have additional options with mobile apps for Android and iOS. You can even download a Gmail sidebar application.
Pricing
Pipedrive’s pricing is very affordable. The Essentials plan starts at $12.50 per user per monthly, and is billed annually. An Advanced plan is available for $24.90, while a Professional plan will run you $49.90 per user per month. If you opt to pay monthly, the pricing will be a little more expensive. If you bill annually, enterprise plans will run around $99 per user per month.
Pros
A wide range of tracking options to help you manage your contacts
There are many automation options and customizations available
There’s no need to switch between apps, everything is in one place.
Interface with intuitive back-end
Packages reasonably affordable
Cons
There is no built-in email platform, so you will need to use an integration
Basic tools with features such as Slack
Who is it best for?
Pipedrive is a great tool for companies who need to make their sales process more efficient and user-friendly. Pipedrive is an excellent tool for improving efficiency and long-term sales. A decent number of features can be purchased at a reasonable price.
SharpSpring CRM
SharpSpring CRM is relatively new in the field of marketing automation. However, it has been growing in popularity in recent years. This amazing tool is both powerful and feature-rich. It’s also affordable enough to be used by companies of any size.
Sharpspring CRM is designed to help you capture more leads and convert them. With campaign tracking tools, you can also access behaviour-based email marketing features. Chatbots are available to assist customers and create dynamic landing pages for your advertising campaigns. Sharpspring social allows you to connect to customers on the platforms they use. The dynamic form builder makes it easy for clients to reach you.
SharpSpring CRM’s reporting and analytics tools are especially useful as they provide a visual overview of the performance of your campaigns. There are many integrations available with popular tools like Zapier and Twitter.
Pricing
SharpSpring may seem expensive, but it is actually a great value. SharpSpring allows unlimited user access, instead of paying per license. Pricing starts at $450 per month for 1,500 contacts. You can also get 10,000 contacts for $650/month. Unlimited users will cost $875 per month for 20,000 contacts. You can also access customized packages for agencies or enterprise companies.
Pros
Transparent pricing for the whole business
A solid range of automation features
Chatbots and social media
Amazing landing page and dynamic form builder
Analytics and reporting in-depth
Cons
For beginners, there is a slight learning curve
Sometimes there are bugs or issues
Who is it best for?
SharpSpring is recommended for businesses with multiple users who need access to customer data for marketing and sales purposes. SharpSpring is a great option if you don’t need multiple licenses but want everyone to be able to access your CRM.
Insightly CRM
Insightly, a web-based CRM solution, is also available as an Android and Apple app. This tool can be integrated with G Suite or Microsoft 365. You can integrate the platform with many pipelines to manage customer data and contacts. You can track your customers and assign tasks to team members.
Insightly’s Business Intelligence capabilities from Microsoft PowerBI can be a great addition to your experience. You can track historical and current data within your CRM platform. This allows you make better decisions based on observable trends and metrics. Insightly offers many clear, concise dashboards that allow you to track.
Insightly is a great option if you are looking for a simple solution that can be used in a variety of environments, including Chrome.
Pricing
A free trial is available to give you an idea of the features you can expect. However, you cannot test certain enterprise features. The Plus version costs $29 per user per monthly, while the Professional version costs $49 per user per month. Enterprise costs $99 per user per month, if billed annually
Pros
You can use it on any platform, even your smartphone
Great integrations with Chrome browsers
A wide range of analytics and tracking features
Get real-time insight into your sales
The backend is easy to use
Cons
Version limited edition free
Some syncing features aren’t as effective as they should
Who is it best for?
If you are looking for a CRM that you can use with your existing business management tools, we recommend Insightly. You have access to everything, from the Browser app for Chrome to intuitive tools you can access via your smartphone.
The best CRM for small business use
There are many CRM options available that can be used by small businesses. It used to be that a CRM was only available to large businesses with a significant sales team and a budget. With an affordable package or even a free level, anyone can get started quickly. Finding the right CRM for you is the challenge.
A CRM that allows you to integrate all your sales pipelines and track every step of the customer journey from phone calls to emails is a good choice. Perhaps you need a CRM that allows you to track MailChimp campaigns and see customer responses to messages using lead scoring.
There are many options, from Freshsales and Pipedrive to Agile CRM and Sugar CRM. We recommend that you try the product with a free trial, or a free tier at first. This will allow you to see how the features can transform your customer relationships before you commit too much.
