Streamlining interactions with contacts is made easier with the use of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Luckily, there are numerous modern CRM solutions, specially designed for small businesses, that provide various features at reasonable prices. This enables small enterprises to upgrade their software easily as their requirements evolve.
Choosing a CRM that works seamlessly with your company’s processes and budget can be challenging due to the abundance of options available.
To facilitate making an informed decision, this article compares five of the top customer relationship management (CRM) tools.
Before proceeding, it’s essential to review the basics of CRM.
Without further ado, let’s dive right in.
Can you elucidate on customer relationship management programs?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is created to offer the benefits of a traditional management system. The responsibility of implementing this system lies on the newly hired sales team. By utilizing a CRM system, businesses can promptly address customer requirements. Additionally, automated features present in various CRM systems streamline administrative as well as customer service tasks.
What is the Typical Cost of Customer Relationship Management Software?
The price range for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software varies significantly. Basic CRM software packages start at £7 per user per month, while more comprehensive and feature-enhanced subscription plans can range from £40 to £150 per user per month.
Fortunately, most CRM providers offer versatile plans, allowing you to start with a simple version and upgrade as per your evolving requirements.
How do you know it’s time to invest in a customer relationship management system?
- Managing customer data across multiple digital channels can be challenging, making it tough to determine which channels are a priority. With a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, you can consolidate this data and obtain insights into the most efficient methods of communicating with customers as well as staff.
- If customers have been voicing discontent with our customer service, it’s an indication that we should invest in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to improve their experience. This system would also allow us to respond more promptly to customer inquiries.
- When there is no consistent system for sharing information, teams may use a variety of software to exchange data and files. If there are disparities between team members concerning sales and customer service, implementing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system could standardize the data and make it easily accessible to all personnel within the organization.
- For the scalability of your business’s software design, it is crucial to avoid relying on manual reporting. Implementing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to monitor sales, marketing, and customer service data is essential.
- Determining the customers that bring the most value to your business can be challenging. Without proper guidance, this process can lead to missed opportunities for potential profits. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform can aid in the quick and easy identification of high-value clients, enabling your business to allocate resources in the appropriate areas.
- Monitoring lead flow is becoming more complex, making it challenging to identify areas where performance can be increased to boost sales. An efficient customer service system can aid in lead tracking and prioritize efforts based on the stage of the customer lifecycle.
Guidelines for Selecting the Best Customer Relationship Management System for Your Business
Define Your Requirements Before Searching Elsewhere.
Before selecting a CRM solution, it’s crucial to determine precisely what your business needs. One company may prioritize expanding its customer base, while another may aim to boost brand awareness. Evaluate your goals and choose a CRM system that can support them.
Integrating with Other Enterprise Software
Our primary objective should be to integrate and synchronize all company applications. For instance, if email and social media are the primary channels for promoting the brand and driving sales, it’s essential to choose a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that is compatible with these communication methods. Additionally, keep in mind that a CRM system was acquired to efficiently manage customer interactions.
The Level of Personalization Feasible
While choosing a customer relationship management system, it’s crucial to confirm that it can be tailored to your specific needs. Opt for a platform that grants ample customization options for your company. Fundamental attributes like access permissions, reports, and dashboards should be adjustable in a suitable CRM.
Give it a Try
The prime way to determine whether a software programme is appropriate for your business is by assessing it. We advise picking a customer relationship management system that provides a free trial period of a few days before requiring payment. Fortunately, customers can try out any of the tools we recommend here at no charge. Additionally, some platforms offer free lifetime subscriptions.
Additional Business Applications Provided by the Vendor
As your business expands, you may necessitate a variety of applications including email and social media marketing tools, accounting, project management, and HR management. For added convenience in the future, you may prefer a provider that offers more than just a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. You could potentially save money by selecting a developer that provides multiple applications.
Pricing Models
When choosing a CRM programme, cost should be taken into account, as it may have exceptional functionality and user experience, yet be unaffordable. Hence, we suggest examining the price plans to determine the anticipated expenses of any future updates and expansions of attributes and capabilities.
The suppliers we’re suggesting typically have three or more price tiers that offer different sets of features.
Consistency in Customer Support Services
Response time should be considered when choosing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) service provider in case of any anomalies or issues. Since problems are common with digital platforms, it’s important to select a provider that can resolve any difficulties promptly.
Having discussed why a CRM system is crucial and the features of a good one, we can now provide an overview of the best options.
Top Five CRM Tools for Startups
ZOHO’s Bigin CRM
Bigin is one of the leading customer relationship management systems created for solo entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Starting at just $7 per month, this customer relationship management solution is ideal for startups with limited marketing budgets. Its user interface is uncluttered, simple, and easy to use, albeit less advanced than the more sophisticated CRM systems.
Right from its inception, this system has been developed as a sales-focused Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, empowering individual businesses to configure each pipeline step to meet their specific needs.
Key Features of Bigin
- Pre-installed email and phone capabilities
- Workflow Automation
- Easily customizable dashboards displaying your customer service metrics in various formats
- Control over Actions
- Besides Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, Zapier and MailChimp, ZOHO’s other business applications are also compatible with it.
Drawbacks
Zoho’s Bigin has some limitations, including restrictions on the number of custom fields that can be created and incompatibility with other essential programs like Zoho Books.
Pricing
Bigin has three packages – one free and two premium. The Express plan is priced at $7 per month, which is more affordable than the Premier plan that costs an additional $12 per month.
Zoho offers a 20% discount if you opt for annual payment for any of their plans. The free bundle allows users to explore the platform and its basic features, while the paid plans offer additional capabilities.
Source: Zoho.com
Freshsales
Freshsales is a CRM platform designed to optimize the sales process, offering a comprehensive automation solution for streamlining daily tasks associated with sales teams.
Our sales team can effectively engage with high-quality prospects, gain relevant insights, and leverage the power of AI to identify which prospects need more attention using Freshsales technology.
Freshsales is the ideal software for small businesses seeking to automate their sales process and improve productivity and efficiency.
Key Features of Freshsales
- The platform should integrate various forms of contact, including phone, email, WhatsApp Business, iMessage for Business, SMS, and a customised chat software.
- The platform uses AI to understand various leads and their likelihood of being converted to paying clients.
- The platform automates the distribution of sales assignments to the right sales representatives and manages workflow processes.
- By integrating with Slack, the platform enables contextual collaboration.
- FREDDY AI offers various useful features such as lead generating bot, automatic profile enhancement, and out-of-office detection, which can assist decision-making processes.
Drawbacks
Freshsales’ advanced features, like time-based process automation, chatbot capabilities, and comprehensive metric reporting, are only available in the most expensive plans.
Pricing
Freshsales provides a free plan and three premium plans that can be upgraded monthly. The Pro and Enterprise tiers are priced at $39 and $69 per user, respectively, for up to 1,000 marketing contacts. More information on the pricing and features included in each plan can be found below.
As per the information available on freshworks.com.
Pipedrive
Small businesses worldwide rely on Pipedrive, a well-known Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, to streamline their sales operations and nurture customer relationships throughout the client lifecycle. Pipedrive features a user-friendly and visually pleasing interface, making it easy to use.
Pipedrive is an effective choice for lead generation, pipeline management, contact management and deal tracking. It is primarily a sales-focused customer relationship management system. Learn more about customer relationship management on our blog.
Key features of Pipedrive
- Pipedrive offers a lead management system that simplifies the process of identifying the most promising leads with the help of a rating system.
- Pipedrive’s AI-powered automation technologies enable the automation of administrative tasks such as follow-up emails. Pipedrive’s machine learning capabilities can also suggest which processes can benefit significantly from automation.
- Pipedrive allows the customization of metrics to measure progress towards set objectives.
- Pipedrive logs all forms of contact information, including calls and emails.
Drawbacks
Pipedrive does not have an in-built email system, so integrating with MailChimp is necessary to enable email communication within the app. Furthermore, it does not provide a free tier that is often offered by competing CRM software.
Pricing
Pipedrive provides four premium tiers: Essential ($12.50 per user per month), Advanced ($24.90 per user per month), Professional ($49.90 per user per month), and Enterprise ($99.90 per user per month). A comprehensive list of features and costs for each plan is provided below.
About Data Mining on Pipedrive.com
Keap
Keap is a CRM system created to boost productivity of small businesses. It enhances sales pipeline and contact management, allowing users to create and manage their sales leads database efficiently. Contacts can easily be imported from other CRMs, spreadsheets, and business card scanning among other sources.
Keap’s main goal is to help you identify new leads and pinpoint the most potential ones to increase your closing rate. Besides improving conversion, this software also enables timely follow-up on past interactions, crucial in maintaining excellent customer relationships after conversion.
Key features of Keap
- Tools that enable automation of sales and marketing through integrated triggers for customer behaviour
- Integration of online stores with physical retailers
- Robust reporting and analytics tools to evaluate outcomes and prepare for the future.
- Email tasks, such as sending follow-up messages, can be simplified by utilising email marketing tools such as automation software and email templates.
- Integrate with hundreds of available applications, including Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zapier, QuickBooks, WordPress, and many more.
Drawbacks
New users might find the vast array of options overwhelming. For this reason, Keap provides a free plan that enables you to try out the service before making any financial commitments.
Pricing
Keap’s Lite package costs $40 per user per month, while Pro and Max plans cost $85 and $100 respectively each month. The maximum number of contacts per user is limited to 500 on all plans.
Website: keap.com
Introducing Snov.io
Snov.io is an all-in-one platform that automates sales and marketing outreach, offering unparalleled opportunities for collaboration. With its robust customer relationship management system, users can quickly create, manage and cultivate lists of prospective customers, enabling them to connect at the right time. The platform also provides advanced capabilities for lead generation, email verification, and tracking.
Snov.io stands out for its core features:
- Multiple pipelines are available.
- Deal stages
- Limitless collaboration
- Lead and contract notes
- Automatic tracking of deals with captured data
- Sales-lead tracking based on tags
- Uniformity in email access
Snov.io, a cloud-based customer relationship management system, empowers you to efficiently track the progress of your sales team, offering a clear view of the pipeline and keeping everyone in the loop, thus boosting the likelihood of closing more deals.
Drawbacks
As this customer relationship management system is still relatively new to the market, the unveiling of promised exciting features is happening gradually.
Pricing:
Explore the complete range of services offered with Snov.io’s free plan, which is available permanently. If you require additional features, the paid plan starts at $33 per month (or $39 per user per month) and offers unrestricted user access.
Final thoughts
After reading this article, you should now possess the information required to make an informed decision while choosing a customer relationship management system for your enterprise. It is crucial to locate and contract proficient app developers to ensure the task is accomplished to the best possible standard. Ensure to opt for a system that caters to the requirements of your enterprise and budget.
It is not mandatory to choose pricier premium plans simply because they offer services which you might use occasionally. If you intend to buy a customer relationship management system for the first time, it is advisable to commence with basic plans and move up to costlier options as your requirements grow. The fundamental features that are integrated into most CRM systems are sufficient for a majority of regular usage scenarios.
