Customer relationship management software, commonly known as CRM, is an essential tool used by companies to formulate and improve their sales strategy and outcomes. CRM incorporates most client-company interactions and helps businesses understand, retain, attract and win over their customers.
Nowadays, companies have a wide variety of CRM software to choose from, each being different in terms of scalability and customizability. Here's a candid review of five major CRM platforms to help you choose the right one for your business.
Salesforce CRM
Salesforce CRM, developed by Salesforce has won several awards for being one of the best CRM tools in the market. SalesForce has modules to support all the stages of client management including chat, analytics, support and service, community management, and even marketing. Due to the premium features and higher prices, this CRM software is best utilized by medium to large-sized corporations.
Features
- Lead Generation
- Lead Management
- Highlight top leads
- Track client data
- Marketing and Sales Automation
- Analysis of Sales Data
- Partner Management
Pricing
$25-$300/user/month depending on the edition.
Pros
- The vibrant SalesForce ecosystem ensures that all your customization requests can be met easily.
- Highly accessible due to the availability of Android and iOS apps.
- Displays real-time data from dashboards on mobile devices.
- ‘Feed First’ feature helps you sieve through data and track important deals.
- Create complex reports and sales forecasts with detailed analytics as required by large corporations.
- The marketplace has tons of ready-to-use plugins to integrate with other 3rd party applications.
- 24/7 customer support team to help all users.
Cons
- Requires extensive training for users.
- SalesForce is a cloud-only CRM and not suitable for organizations that prefer to host their CRM locally.
- Additional products that integrate with SalesForce are expensive.
- The customization, implementation, and training costs can be prohibitive for many companies.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a CRM software that’s just perfect for small and medium-sized organizations. It provides a complete customer relationship management solution for sales, support, service, inventory and stock management, and marketing.
Features
- Lead Management
- Contact and company database management
- Social Media integration
- Task Scheduler
- Marketing/Sales Automation
- WebForms and email marketing
Pricing
Offers free forever plan for up to 3 users. Paid professional plans at $12- $20/user/month
Pros
- Extremely flexible and customizable
- Ready to use integrations with other Zoho applications and services
- Offers mobile apps for the sales staff who are always on the go.
- User-friendly and easy to use
Cons
- Not customizable for large corporations with unique requirements
- Many organizations outgrow Zoho pretty quickly
Hubspot CRM
Hubspot offers one of the best free CRMs and their completely free core CRM handles all the basic sales tasks adequately. Customers have to pay only if they want to use the extended sales and marketing modules, making this a great option for early-stage start-ups and small-scale enterprises. This is also a great option for companies on a tight budget with not a lot to invest in CRM software.
Features
- Build and segment contact databases
- Log emails
- Assign leads and tasks
- Track progress of deals
Pricing
CRM- completely free. Sales Hub pricing ranges between $35-$120/user/month. Most companies outgrow the free CRM functionalities soon after starting, so opt for it only if you intend to use the paid versions.
Pros
- Cost-effective
- Supports up to 1 million contacts
- Centralizes contact database, ensuring lesser log times
- Highly intuitive interface which is extremely easy to use
- Frequent software updates
- Robust online support in the form of academic resources, blogs, and a helpful community
Cons
- Relatively new, lightweight CRM.
- Advanced reporting and analytics that enterprises require aren’t available in base editions.
- Limited customization options
Freshworks CRM
Freshworks CRM is a CRM software developed by Freshworks that enables businesses to stay on top of their customer experience. The highly intuitive and powerful UI ensures great performance when integrated with businesses of varying sizes. Freshworks CRM helps businesses build, nurture, manage and retain leads with ease.
Features
- Built-in phone and email syncing
- AI-based lead generation
- Smart workflow automation
- Customizable reports
- Visual dashboards
Pricing
Free for small teams with limited functionality. Professional plans start at $12.00/month/user
Pros
- Easy to deploy and implement
- Extremely customizable
- Calling, email functionality within the CRM
- Frequent updates that better the UI
Cons
- Relatively new software, the integrations’ ecosystem is still developing
- Advanced analytical and reporting dashboards aren’t available
Sugar CRM
SugarCRM is one of the best open source CRM software available and counts over 50,000 companies as customers. Sugar CRM has garnered over 7 million downloads and is available in 9 languages. As the application is extremely customizable, it can be put to good use by large companies that need to personalize their customer relations and improve brand recognition. Currently, the company promotes only the paid versions.
Features
- Lead Generation
- Lead Management
- Integration with Phone
- Email Integration
- Marketing Automation
- Social Media Integration
- Track Deals
- Calendar Scheduling
Pricing
Sugar Sell and Serve plans at $80/month supporting up to 10 users. Sugar Market at $1000/month for 10,000 contacts
Pros
- Highly customizable
- Availability of numerous communication channels
- Highly intuitive platform
- Neatly and conveniently designed dashboards
- Integration of a useful Campaign Wizard feature that helps in designing, creating, and running marketing campaigns
Cons
- A bit on the expensive side
- Professional and enterprise plans vary only on the number of users rather than functionality
As CRM software helps businesses build better customer relations, better conversation rates, and grow revenue generation rates, they are an integral part of business operations. Based on customer data from multiple interaction channels, companies can develop their sales funnels and create better marketing campaigns.
Use the analysis above to weigh your options and choose the CRM software that bests suits your company to improve your customer experiences, and grow your business.