Best CRM Software to use in 2024

CRM Software reviews
Salesforce crm logo

Salesforce

Fully scalable to meet your demands, track every interaction with a complete overview of your customer.

HubSpot

HubSpot is an easy to use crm and has a free version to get you started with great onboarding help.

Zoho

Very easy to use and automate aspects of your business, especially on the sales side, conect seamlessly with your customers.

Last Updated on 07/04/2024 by Gaz S

What is CRM Software?

CRM is an acronym that stands for customer relationship management. CRM software for small business has a number of benefits that help you identify and understand your customers. Therefore, you won’t have to worry about losing money due to incomplete data.

The main benefits of CRM include:
Improved informational organization – CRM software enables you to store a vast list of clients and any crucial data regarding them. It also makes accessing them more convenient with cloud-based storage.

Enhanced Communication – CRM allows employees to offer similarly high level of service by being able to access the same customer information. CRM makes detailed customer information accessible to whoever needs it.

Improves customer service – With CRM software, as soon as customers contact your company, your sales rep will be able to easily retrieve all available activity regarding preferences, past purchases, and anything that might be useful in finding a solution.
Other notable benefits include:

• Efficiency for multiple teams
• Automation of everyday tasks
• Improved analytical data and reporting

Best CRM Software Reviews.

When it comes to picking the right CRM software when you are presented with lots of different options, you have to consider these factors.

Accessibility on your platform.

Look at CRM Software system requirements to see what platforms it supports. Some CRMs only work with Windows PC and using a MAC could be an issue. Another consideration is how the software is accessed on your device’s operating system.
Web-only access gives users access from anywhere there is internet connectivity. It can be hosted on your PC or the cloud. Hosted – SaaS software is web-base only and it is hosted in a ‘Cloud’ environment. Finally, desktop-only access might limit where you can access your information. For instance, it can only be used from the computer where the CRM software is installed.

Team Adoption.

The CRM software should be designed with the sales representatives in mind. If they are excluded, most initiatives conducted through CRM may fail. This is because they will see the software as a tool for managers to monitor them and force compliance.
The software should prove its value to these sales representatives by alleviating common problems and aiding them to win deals. Once they notice they are benefiting from the software implementation, they will all support it.

Intergration with other applications.

Ensure the system integrates with other apps. You are not purchasing CRM software as an extra collection to the existing systems. You are purchasing it to streamline the operations. This is why it is important to integrate with other systems or applications that you have.
The software should integrate with an ERP or any other accounting software, your business’s website, a HR software, billing, and e-commerce site to record transactions, and the existing marketing solutions. It should also integrate with Google G-Suite and Office 365.
Also, ensure you can easily transfer the existing data information to the new system. Most software will allow you to import data from other systems.

Can the software grow along with your business?

One of the most important things in a business expansion is growth. The software you select should be able to grow as your business expands. Find a CRM that is flexible and is capable of growing alongside your company. This ensures the investment you are making in the present works for the future as well. Installing a new CRM software once your business grows is an unnecessary hassle that can be easily avoided with a proper program event if it means spending a little more.

CRM software review

How will CRM help to improve my business?

Customers are the lifeblood of every business. Therefore, relationships with customers determine the success of your business and this means using CRM software. Without CRM software, a huge portion of your marketing leads is not converted to sales. A CRM software will make the most out of your business marketing tools – social, email, market communication. With this software, both marketing and sales will have a complete view of prospects and lead so that they can develop and target engaging communications to turn leads into customers.

What are some of the best features in a CRM?

Here are important features to look for in CRM software:

Workflow automation – Look for CRM software that makes your life easier by automating the workflow.

Customisation – Business is different, and the best software can cater to your unique needs. Some CRM solutions allow you to select what features to include in your package.

Contact management – Store contact data such as social media accounts, names, and addresses in a searchable database. CRM software allows a business owner to set up custom rules and comes with sales force automation to allow your team to be more productive.

Interaction tracking – Track interaction history and add notes to document communication with specific contacts.

Lead management – Manage the process of converting prospects into customers or leads by identifying, and moving leads via the sales pipeline.

What is CRM Software?

Want to know what CRM is? check out this complete guide to CRM by Zoho.

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What is the best CRM Software?

1. Zoho Review

Affordable, beautifully designed interface with commendable features, Zoho CRM is one of the best among them all. This cloud-based software is best for small, large, and medium-sized companies to create leads.

Zoho CRM launched in 1996 in the USA. To this date, it has served more than 150,000 businesses in more than 180 countries. Many leading firms are using this software to build leads, engage customers, and to earn revenue. Above all, it works as a bridge in integrating business with social media platforms and LinkedIn.

The AI-powered sales assistant of Zoho provides advanced interpretation, solution, and business-related prediction. Due to these high-level features, businesses can spend more time expanding their network.

Zoho review homepage

Features

In a nutshell, Zoho CRM software provides the kit of the best custom tools to add value to the business. Along with this, you can run the entire company with the integration of 40+ other apps. Here are some of the highlighted features of this award-winning software;

Omnichannel

With this new feature of Zoho, you can interact with customers through email, phone, social media, and customer portals. However, you get the notification when any new person interacts with your brand. You can get the lead of the person visiting the website, reading an email, or interacting through social media.

Sales enablement

Zoho provides the right set of tools to generate price quotes and access sales scripts. However, you can save time by permitting your partners to view or add information at the portal. Above all, you can access all of your calendars from one portal.

Marketing automation

Zoho CRM ensures to provide a single platform to all of your marketing and sales teams. However, here you can quickly generate leads by segregating customers. Along with this, you can nurture your data by providing relevant content at every single step. In marketing automation, you can compare Google ad campaigns against sales to monitor the ROI. Above all, you can send notifications and invitations to all of your leads and contacts with a single click.

Apart from the above points, you can get the advantage of many other functions like;

  • Tons of customization options
  • Get real-time reports and insight into the ongoing trends.
  • Create groups, tag other people, and share updates with the feature of team collaboration
  • Zoho provides graphs for predictive sales.

In short, it starts work by bringing the offline sales process into your CRM and then process the rules based on your criteria. At the final stage, you get the clean data in your CRM to review the information.

Ease of use

The beautiful and user-friendly interface is straightforward and easy to use.

In the default view, you get the open tasks; today’s leads, amount by stage, and closing of the ongoing month—all of these bars save the extra time of sales personals.

However, the black menu bar on top offers the link for the key sections. Thus, it’s possible to access all the menu items from the top bar.

This cloud-based CRM software is compatible with Android and iOS. The Android and iOS mobile apps are the plus point of Zoho CRM making this one of the best online CRM software that you can get today.

Above all, flawless security is the top priority of Zoho. However, they do everything to protect the data of their customers without compromising their rights.

Pricing

The standard and starting package of Zoho CRM comes in $12/month. However, in free traits, it has mass emails, custom dashboards, and scoring rules. The pricing packages come with the monthly and annual billing facility. However, by choosing the yearly package, you can save up to 20%.

There are four  packages:

• Standard package: $12/month
• Professional package: $20/month
• Enterprise package: $35/month
• Ultimate: $45/month

You can try any of the above packages with the free trial period. However, the enterprise package is the most popular among all of them. Along with this, you have the flexibility to cancel or switch plans anytime.

Conclusion

In the end, we can say that it is capable customer management software. But it has the issue of a high price. Irrespective of the price, it offers excellent value through tons of tools to collect the business leads. However, automated workflows are performing flawlessly with artificial intelligence to boost the salesman’s potency.

2. HubSpot Review

HubSpot is one of the leading CRM platforms. HubSpot CRM was founded in 2006, so it’s been around for over 14 years, which makes it one experienced CRM software.

The reputation of HubSpot is in the innovative marketing technology solutions. Along with this, HubSpot has built it’s foundations in marketing automation, social media campaign management, and CRM. In short, HubSpot targets companies that want to spend less time logging data. It keeps contacts in one centralized, customizable database.

The main business sectors that are getting the advantage with HubSpot CRM:
• Construction
• Retail
• And Real estate, along with many other

It is a platform that is best for B2B and B2C activities. However, with the visual dashboard, you can keep track of your entire sales funnel.

HubSpot crm review homepage

Features

HubSpot is all in one software solution to manage the web content, create landing pages, and manage social pages. The long range of standout features include;

Marketing Hub

In HubSpot, with the feature of a marketing hub, you get the chance to grow traffic. Along with this, you can easily convert leads and prove ROI with this all-in-one marketing software. However, it is a tool through which you can run entire inbound marketing campaigns. However, take a start with email marketing, lead capture forms, landing pages, and other analytics.

Sales Hub

In the sales hub, you can close more deals swiftly by using productivity-boosting inbuilt tools. There are special tools for every step to enhance performance. However, the whole suite of sales features helps to shorten the deal cycles and improve close rates.

Services hub

In the service hub, you can connect with the customers to enhance their expectations. Happy customers are the guarantee for the business’ growth. In short, the service hub has all the tools that you need to build efficiency in customer service.

CMS Hub

It is a newly added feature in HubSpot. However, it gives you the liberation to edit, create, and maintain secure and SEO-optimized websites. HubSpot gives freedom to build the site with or without a developer. You can start 14 days of free trial with website themes, drag and drop editors, and SEO recommendations.

Ease of use

The all in one CRM platform is user friendly and very easy to use. You can install this software on Android and mac. Along with this, it comes with the in-person and webinars training sessions for guidance.

However, you can easily manage all activities, like traffic and connection management, on one platform. HubSpot is the winner of the best CRM software award for 2019 due to its user-friendly features. There are the following ways through which you can keep the business logging easy;

  • Helps to manage the business info so that you can keep the dealing smoothly
  • You can see everything about your lead from one platform
  • HubSpot helps to analyze the business’ metrics and neatly organize every single detail
  • You can integrate the HubSpot tools with the third-party platforms easily.
  • Above all, you can register yourself free of cost to get an in-depth insight into leads.

However, HubSpot CRM is a certified Google partner who is providing solutions to all niches and industries.

Pricing

The HubSpot is making the best solution for industries at zero cost. It provides free contacts up to 1,000,000 with unlimited data storage. Along with this, you can add your entire team for marketing and sales. But the premium features come with the cost of $800/month with state-of-the-art features.

  • Marketing hub (free of cost)
  • Sales hub (free of charge)
  • Services hub (free of charge)
  • CMS hub (come with the demo with 14 days free trial)

The customer satisfaction score is 97%, with 4.5 stars. The positive rating is enough to show that people are enjoying free of cost services.

Conclusion

It’s a reality that HubSpot is working to grow business teams. There are more than 79000 customers in 120 countries are using this platform to attract and engage customers. It is suitable for small businesses because of its free of cost. But you will have to pay to get the upgrade and add-ons in the premium package.

3. Salesforce Review

Salesforce is the cloud-based CRM software that offers applications for small, mid-size, and large companies. However, the main focus of this platform is on sales and customer relations. It is an American based company which started services in 1991. The famous Marc Benioff founded Salesforce. Due to user-friendly tools, this San Francisco based company grabbed 6th spot in the top 100 CRM companies. However, the primary services are:
• Sales cloud
• Service cloud platform
• Marketing cloud
• Commerce cloud
• And community cloud

In short, it among the best software to store the customer numbers and keep track of customer’s activities. Along with this, it holds the record of people who visit websites, their emails, and more.

Salesforce review homepage pic

Features

Salesforce is a CRM solution that brings companies and clients close. Above all, it’s like a one-stop shop that sorts things like marketing, sales, and commerce. These features are helping customers to make things better;

Pipeline marketing

Salesforce helps the customers at all stages from gathering and qualifying leads. Above all, it also helps to convert leads into potential and loyal customers. However, with pipeline marketing, you can lessen the lead leakage by automating the follow-up. Along with this, you can track the leads in the sales funnel. In short, it’s the best opportunity for effective contact control and user engagement.

Salesforce automation

With Salesforce automation, customers can easily take an insight into the client’s journey. As a result, you gain information and then use it to develop customer-oriented plans. However, all of these processes and tools help to move the sales funnel faster. Along with this, analytics are here to see the sales drive and improvement.

Marketing automation

Salesforce is the trusted CRM platform for more than 150,000 companies to grow the business. However, it is the platform where you can improve communication with clients. Above all, salesforce helps in processes, from marketing to sales, with the best tools. In short, salesforce helps in the following ways;

  • Helps to get and close more deals in a fast way
  • Increase customer loyalty, satisfaction, and user experience
  • Above all, it helps to control and operate the business from anywhere

Ease of use

Salesforce is one place that helps to store all info in one place. Above all, the state-of-the-art security feature helps to keep the data secure. Salesforce makes sure to keep the clients’ chat personal, relevant, and up to date. However, the easy and user-friendly interface is serving with 45% higher customer satisfaction. Along with this, salesforce is providing 43% better marketing ROI and 37% more sales income. Above all, it enables users to send and view the data in multiple languages.

Salesforce allows us to customize the software according to the unique processes. However, it creates custom objects, fields, rules, calculations, and views. Above all, you can manage and see all reports and analytics form one dashboard with a single click. In short, it’s a hassle-free platform that does everything without wasting time and money for software/hardware development.

Pricing

You can try salesforce with 30 days of a free trial. However, for the test, you don’t need a card and any software installation for working. Thus, if you like the tools, then you can go to buy the packages. So, here are these pricing plans that more than 10 million people are using;

  • Sales essential edition is $25/month for up to 5 users
  • The Professional edition is $75/month that is suitable for any size team
  • Enterprise edition is $150/month that is customizable and best for the large companies
  • Unlimited edition in $300/month with unlimited CRM support and power

All of the above plans come with many features and services to ensure client comfort. Apart from the above packages, you can start the free 30-day trial anytime.

Conclusion

In the end, we can say that using salesforce in your enterprise can magnify the value of the business. But it works best if you know how you can customize the tools according to the business needs. If you see the usage and customization, then it will surely help

4. Freshsales Review

The USA based CRM that launched in 2011, is trying to make all of it’s processes easy for all of it’s business customers.

Freshsales customer relationship management is best for small, large, and medium-sized businesses. It uses better management tools to attract customers, manage and close the leads. Also very useful is the  efficient artificial intelligence, you can use inbuilt phone calls and email to target potential clients.

Along with this, you can segregate highly potential leads who are giving signals of sales-ready behavior. In short, Freshsales is a cloud-based CRM that manages the interaction of business with existing and new clients. Above all, it is one of the leading platforms with the trust of more than 40,000 customers.

Freshsales review homepage

Features

Freshsales is the client-oriented software that gives everything that business need for success. As a result, you don’t need to juggle around multiple tools and separate reports. 

Customization

In this notable feature, you have the option to personalize your account. For this, you can design the fields that reflect your business modules, areas, and sales activities. Above all, you can filter to find the specific record to perform bulk action. In short, through customization, you can save the time of the sales team.

Performance

Freshsales boost creativity and offerings with real-time notifications. Customers have access to this information from one place. As a result, the process of data import and migration is just a few clicks away. Other than that, you can perform the following things;

  • Schedule appointments
  • Engage with the leads through email, phones, SMS, and live chat sessions
  • To save time on manual work, Freshsales introduced an automation feature

The team collaboration comes with Freshconect and Freshdesk. In Freshconnect, you can add any of your team members in conversation.  

Pipeline management

In the presence of Freshsales, you don’t need to watch the reports with difficulty. The built-in pipeline command has all info about deals, including;

  • Sales deals
  • Rotten deals
  • Multiple sales pipeline
  • Weighted pipeline
  • And sales goals along with other ongoing actions

Security

The excellent built-in security system restricts access from unknown resources. However, the algorithm does anything to save the data from unwanted access. Above all, it also keeps an eye on the changes made across the account. For the ultimate security, the business can choose to have an account hosted on the EU data center.

Ease of use

Freshsales is a lightweight and user-friendly solution that ensures the uninterrupted working of businesses. The easy to use CRM software works perfectly with the Android and iOS operating system. Above all, the 360-customer view offers full details about customers, discussions, meetings, and tasks.

In short, with the help of Freshsales, everything is just a single click away from the customer. Along with this, it integrates with the Google calendar, Freshdesk, and many other apps to ensure good service. However, the 24/7 live support is available to solve the queries that you have related to the working. In short, less pricing, AI assistance, and tons of customization options make it more appealing for customers.

Pricing

Freshsales comes with the 21 days free trial to check the services before actually investing here. Above all, you don’t need to have a credit card to register yourself. You can make the payment through a visa, PayPal, or bank transfers. The basic package starts with $12 and comes with many free features. These are different pricing plans;
• Blossom: $12/month and $19 if billed monthly
• Garden: $25/month and $35/month if billed monthly
• Estate: $49/month if billed annually and $65/month if billed monthly
• Forest: $79/month, and it only comes with the annual plan

Blossom and garden packages are best for small and growing businesses. On the other hand, the estate and forest packages are best for larger teams and enterprises.

Conclusion

Freshsales made it possible to run the business with a kit of unique tools like one-click and sales lead tracking. Along with this, here, you can follow clients and convert them into traces by sending emails. Above all, the inbox automatically gives priority to the emails from the contacts and leads. However, in the presence of all these traits, you can choose Freshsales as your reliable ally. But it is a bit expensive for startups. Along with this, you can’t access the analytical reports in the free version.