Customer relationship management (CRM) software is revolutionizing how small businesses operate. CRM software helps companies understand their customers better, anticipate their needs, and optimize their sales and marketing processes.
The internet has changed how companies do business and how consumers purchase products. Business CRMs organize data about customers in a centralized location, usually accessible through the internet.
It collects and organizes data businesses use to improve customer service, increase sales, and build customer relationships. With the help of CRM, companies can target their current customers more effectively and generate leads more efficiently.
What Is CRM Software & How Does It Work?
Business CRMs manage customer data and interactions. It helps businesses better organize and access customer data, track customer interactions, and share this information with colleagues.
CRM software is becoming increasingly important for companies to build relationships with customers and prospects and help the business to grow.
In 2023, CRM software will be more powerful than ever before. It will be centralized and empowered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and mobile integrations, allowing businesses to provide highly personalized customer experiences.
AI technologies can evaluate customer needs, predict pain points, and analyze customer data, location, interests, and more.
CRM software collects customer data from various sources, such as customer surveys, website visits, and social media interactions. This data is then stored in a central database to create customer profiles.
The profiles then track customer interactions and provide insights into customer behavior. You can use this data to create targeted marketing campaigns, personalize customer service, and improve customer experience.
Why Should You Invest in CRM Software?
Investing in CRM software is a great way to improve customer relationships, increase sales, and better understand customer needs.
CRM software can benefit your small business by organizing contacts into one location and tracking how these contacts interact with the business.
One of the main benefits of CRM software is that it helps manage customer relationships. Customers can communicate with a business through CRM platforms through email or chat. Business CRMs are capable of responding to these interactions using AI technology.
Another benefit of CRM software is improved customer service and loyalty. It allows companies to track all customer interactions, learn from the data, and adopt a more personalized approach to future conversations and sales opportunities.
This information saves your employees time and streamlines the sales-to-order process.
CRM software can also help increase sales. It helps streamline the sales process, build a sales pipeline, automate key tasks, and analyze your sales data. Process improvement is a key benefit of CRM tools.
Using CRM software can also help you better understand your customer’s needs.
It allows you to track customer interactions and identify sales opportunities, record service issues, manage marketing campaigns in one central location — and make information about every customer interaction available to anyone at your company who might need it.
Anticipating customer needs becomes easier and provides a better customer experience.
How Can You Choose the Right CRM Solution?
Choosing the right CRM solution for your business can be a daunting task. With over 1000 CRM solutions available, it is important to have a list of requirements before you begin and understand what challenges you are looking to solve with the CRM.
Many CRMs come with a free three or four-week trial to ensure the implementation process is quick and easy. This period will help you understand if the CRM system meets your requirements.
Identify Your Goals
When choosing a CRM solution, there are several key steps to consider. Firstly, identify your business goals.
You must clearly define business objectives and understand why your business needs a CRM solution. Your goals include increasing sales, tracking and improving sales productivity, and customer retention.
Evaluate Features
Evaluate key features. Choosing a CRM that understands how they communicate is best. It should also be quickly configured. Data that you use should be easy to import and export without needing extra work or training.
Consider Support and Integrations
Consider support and integrations. One of the most important factors for a CRM solution is customer support. It is common to encounter glitches while using a CRM, so you need to ensure that the vendor has a good customer service team that is quick to respond and provide help.
Research Pricing
CRM software prices are related to how many features and users you need. If you’re a small business, you’ll have plans starting start from $12 to $20 per user per month. If you need advanced packages, you’ll pay between $50 and $150 (per month/per user). The greatest expense is for CRMs that cost $300 or more per month per user.
8 Best CRM Software Programs
Here are the top CRM software programs that best benefit small business owners.
1. Zoho CRM: Best for Startups
Zoho CRM is a CRM system that helps businesses manage their sales, marketing, and customer support activities. It offers many features to help businesses streamline their processes, policies, and people in one platform.
Main Features
- Salesforce automation
- Canvas Design Studio
- Process management
- Journey orchestration
- Omnichannel
- Analytics
- Sales enablement
- Performance management
- Predictive sales
- Customization
- Marketing automation
- Team collaboration
- Remote work
- Mobile apps
- Security
- Developer Platform.
Pros
- Quick and easy setup
- Great analytics and reporting
- User-friendly interface
- Fast and seamless integration options
- End-to-end customer engagement
- Contextual communication
- Effortless team management
- Workflows and custom fields
Cons
- Tutorials needing improvement
- Limited features for low-tier users
- Limited app integration options on lower plans
Pricing Structure
The pricing structure for Zoho CRM depends on the plan chosen. The Professional plan costs $35 per user per month on a monthly plan or $23 per user per month on an annual plan. The Standard plan costs $14 per user per month annually, while the Enterprise plan is $40 annually.
2. Breyta: Best for SaaS Companies
Breyta is a next-generation CRM platform that works for pre- and post-sales teams. The platform features one-click integrations that allow users to get a single view of their customer data.
Features
- Conversation tracking
- Migration assistance
- Reports and dashboards
- Signal list
- Third-party integrations
- Onboarding assistance
Pros
- Customizations
- Variety in user bandwidth options
- Free Version
Cons
- The annual pay discount is not competitive
- No in-depth solution offerings
- New startup with limited user reviews
Pricing Structure
Bretya offers an all-free tier for one user that provides limited CRM solutions and access to the Breyta CRM platform.
You can join an annually paid plan beginning with the Starter tier for $22.50/month. The Pro tier is $44.10/month, and the Premium tier is $89.10/month. Each plan is per user. The Premium plan has unlimited user seats, while the next step down, the Pro plan, caps at 25 seats.
3. Monday.com: Best for Teams
Monday.com is a powerful team management software enabling teams to collaborate, communicate, and track project progress. Its key features make it ideal for project managers to manage sales funnels, new product launches, and customer retention initiatives.
Features
- Project data visualizations and dashboards
- Project Automation
- Deep and extensive integrations
- Customer support
- App Marketplace
Pros
- Ease of use
- Customization
- Time tracking
- Intuitive mobile app
- Integration capabilities
Cons
- Per-user pricing
- Difficulty tracking time and expenses
- The app is not streamlined and is limited
- Integration problems
Pricing Structure
Monday.com’s pricing starts from $0 monthly for two users and goes up based on your chosen plan and team size. The Basic plan is $10 per seat billed annually. They offer Standard and Pro plans priced at $14 and $24/per user, billed annually.
A monthly option is also available but not discounted, so the yearly plan is recommended to save 18%. Students and nonprofits can receive discounts on these plans.
4. Pipedrive: Best for Simplicity
Pipedrive is a CRM tool that helps sales teams keep track of leads. It allows users to create profiles for each prospect and track their interactions throughout the sales funnel. Any call, email, or SMS message gets logged to see each lead’s stage.
Features
- Customizable email campaigns
- Task automation
- Contact data collection
- Webhooks
- Open API
- AI-powered sales assistant
- Customizable pipelines
- Centralized communication
- Lead generation, qualification, and prioritization
- Pipedrive integrates with over 300 tools
Pros
- Simplicity and functionality without losing power
- Ease of setup and use
- Closer communication and customer management
- Chatbot, call, and email solutions
Cons
- Limited open deals and custom fields per company on lower plans
- Customer service and support issues
Pricing Structure
Pipedrive has four tiers of pricing plans: Essential, Advanced, Professional, and Enterprise. The Essential plan is $14.90 per user per month, payable annually, and contains tools that you need to get started with a sales CRM.
The Advanced plan is $24.90 per month per user, payable annually. The Professional plan is $49.90 per month per user, payable annually. The Enterprise plan is $99 per month per user, payable annually.
5. Salesforce CRM: Most Comprehensive CRM Platform
Salesforce CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management used by several large organizations. It integrates with many well-known accounting systems to help businesses streamline their billing processes from new orders.
Features
- Contact management
- Customer engagement tools
- Workflow creation
- Task management
- Opportunity tracking
- Collaboration tools
- Analytics
- Intuitive, mobile-ready dashboard
Pros
- Customization
- Cloud-based functionality
- Technical and training support
- Overall cost and pricing
Cons
- Affordability
- Hidden fees for third-party tool integrations
- Requires an internet connection to use
- No control over downtowns and periodic maintenance schedules
Pricing Structure
The pricing structure for Salesforce CRM starts at $25 (per month/per user). You’ll pay $100 monthly for using the Salesforce CRM if you have four users. Additionally, Salesforce offers a pricing tool called CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote Software). This tool lets you use accurate prices regardless of your configuration.
6. Zendesk Sell: Best for Customer Support
Zendesk is a well-known cloud-based CRM software businesses use to optimize their sales funnel.
Zendesk is customer-centric as it offers a variety of customer service solutions for businesses to improve their customer experience. It is designed to help sales teams reach their goals and increase productivity.
Features
- Email automation and tracking
- Custom dashboards and lead scoring
- Sales force automation
- Marketing automation
- Customer support
- Mobile and social, reporting and analytics
- Community forums
- Ticketing system
Pros
- All-in-one lead generation and customer service platform
- Chat, phone, email, and social media all in one place
- Customization options
- Reporting and analytics
- Integration with third-party applications and systems
- Supports multiple languages
Cons
- Cost per agent being higher than its top competitor
- Customer service access is limited
- Call quality issues
- No international numbers
Pricing Structure
The pricing structure for Zendesk Sell includes the Sell Team plan, which is $19/month, the Sell Growth plan, which is $49/month, and the Professional plan, which is $99/month. These are billed annually per user. There is also an Enterprise option for $150 per user per month.
7. Insightly: Best for Project Management
Insightly is a customer relationship management (CRM) software designed to help businesses of all sizes manage their contacts, opportunities, projects, and tasks. It provides a comprehensive set of features that enable users to track leads, create reports, and automate processes.
Features
- Contact and account management
- Opportunity and pipeline management
- Task and activity management
- Desktop integration
- Customer contract management
- Integration with email clients such as Outlook or Gmail
Pros
- General Usability
- Mobile support
- Robust mobile app
- File sharing
- MailChimp integration
Cons
- Slow platform
- Limited file storage space
Pricing Structure
Insightly offers three types of account plans. Start with their Plus plan for $29 per user per month annually. Their most popular, Professional plan bills $49 per user per month annually. Businesses with high volume can opt for their Enterprise tier for $99 per user per month, billed annually.
8. Freshsales: Best for Lead Management
Features
- Salesforce automation
- Contact & account management
- Opportunity & pipeline management
- Task/Activity management
- Dashboards
- Unified customer record
- Workflows
- Sales sequences
- Deal management
- Chat campaigns
Pros
- Ease of use
- Free plan option
- App integration
- Simplified reporting
Cons
- Software taking longer to load with heavily loaded databases
- Fewer third-party integrations
- Reports not available in the free plan version
Pricing Structure
The pricing structure of Freshsales consists of three plans: Growth at $15.00 per user per month, Pro at $39.00 per user per month, and Enterprise at $69.00 per user per month. There is also a forever-free plan with zero limits on the number of users.
Final Thoughts
The best CRM software for small businesses in 2023 will be the one that best meets the unique needs of your business.
With the ever-changing technology landscape, it is important to research different CRM software options and ensure that your chosen software fits your current plans. When selecting the right CRM software, consider security features, scalability, and integration capabilities.
Business CRMs can help you retain customers and stay in the know about how they interact with the business. They also help you identify areas to improve processes to streamline the sales-to-order process.
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