Digital Marketing

10 Best CRM Software: Features, Pros, and Cons

May 2, 2022
REIN

Businesses, small or complex, need customer relationship management software (CRM software) to build and engage with their connections and scourge for clients and leads. CRM software can be hosted on-premises or in the cloud. When choosing the best CRM for your business you need to know its pros and cons and if they are perfect for your business. Here we have listed out the 10 best CRM software out in the market for small businesses along with its pros and cons as well as features. Let’s check out what they are at a glance and then get into details.

  1. Salesforce
  2. Monday.com
  3. Pipedrive
  4. Oracle Netsuite
  5. Zendesk
  6. Freshworks CRM
  7. Hubspot
  8. Keap
  9. Zoho
  10. Quickbase

Here’s Why These Are The Best CRM Software

1. Salesforce

Features

  • Salesforce has an intuitive user interface.
  • There are lead and account management tools to track deals from initiation to competition.
  • There is a built-in email integration with Outlook and Gmail.
  • There are customizable dashboards and reports updates in real-time.
  • Case management routing allows team members to escalate or scan issues for rapid resolution.
  • The upgraded features include collaborative forecasting and automatic lead scoring
  • There are various tools to create sales orders, quotes, contracts, and product catalogs.
  • The Einstein relationship Insights, an AI-powered research agent learns from your interests and behaviors and automatically finds relevant business connections for you.
  • Training resources and a user-based customer support community help in issue resolution and crowdsourced troubleshooting.
  • Real-time Facebook chat on Messenger for support and guidance is available.

Pros

  • It is the best choice for heavily-regulated businesses that have highly specific limitations and needs.
  • Its comprehensive feature list is the best in the market.
  • It is the best CRM software for small businesses.

Cons

  • The system is complex and difficult to use with each upgrade.

2. Monday.com

Features

  • Monday.com has a spreadsheet-like interface.
  • Its dashboard can be customized.
  • There are 8 data visualization options including kanban boards and Gantt charts.
  • WorkForms can be synced with monday.com and can be used to create feedback, request, and/or order forms.
  • WorkForm can also be used to track and manage the results.
  • Users can check the time taken to complete, competition rates, total views, and more with WorkForms.
  • Monday.com can adapt from Waterfall to Agile to sprint planning.
  • You can also use it to track workloads in real-time.
  • The Workdocs feature allows the communication of documents through boards, charts, dashboards, and chat tools. This feature updates in real-time.
  • This software has sales pipeline management tools, marketing outreach tools, and lead capture and tracking tools.

Pros

  • It is the perfect choice for Waterfall and Agile project environments.
  • It is a cost-saving solution for businesses managing follow-up projects after a sale closes.
  • This software is the best CRM software for small businesses because of its affordability.

Cons

  • The initial service plan has only one Kanban view and one dashboard.

3. Pipedrive

Features

  • It is known for its visual sales pipeline with which you can know a deal’s exact stage.
  • It has a drag and drop interface with you can add contacts or move deals.
  • Pipedrive can collect leads from your we form interactions and chatbot.
  • It has superb communication tracking, workflow automation, and reporting tools.
  • Pipedrive’s AI can analyze your business’s past performance and give recommendations to improve your sales.
  • The built-in automation tool can be used to ser activity notifications.
  • There is a full-featured mobile app available too.
  • It gives 24/7 customer support through email or live chat.

Pros

  • The software can be set up in a few minutes with no technical skills.
  • It is apt for sales professionals.

Cons

  • Goal-setting and team management tools are available for higher plans.

4. Oracle Netsuite

Features

  • The tools offered by Oracle Netsuite offer total visibility into your business’s call-center, online, and in-store interactions with customers.
  • Its customer profiles can organize information from various touchpoints, emphasize transaction history as well as predict future shopping behavior.
  • It also records customer interactions on your websites like what they added to their cart or wish list.
  • It can also track responses to marketing campaigns and other company communications.
  • The software will automatically add shipping and tax rates when your convert quotes to sales orders.
  • It also recommends upselling offers while making a purchase.
  • The software combines common customer relationship management tools with customer data analysis.
  • There s a built-in partner relationship management module that can organize your efforts on joint marketing, partner sales forecasts, and commission distribution.

Pros

  • It can calculate sales order shipping data and taxes.
  • You can know where your customers shop, whether at a physical location or online.
  • It is popularly used by small eCommerce businesses.

Cons

  • For solo business owners, this software can be feature-heavy and complex.

5. Zendesk Sell

Features

  • It offers a customizable sales pipeline, a team document repository, and basic reports.
  • The admin can assign individual team members with pipeline deals.
  • The smart lists can help your sales department segment and filter leads.
  • There are email-tracking tools for the marketing team to track customer engagement.

Pros

  • The collaboration tools keep onsite and remote workers on the same page irrespective of their location.
  • It is the best CRM software for small businesses as they provide high customer support.
  • This software is commonly used across support, marketing, and sales teams.
  • The Zendesk support informs the support team about a customer’s journey.
  • Higher upgrade plans provide advanced call analytics, sales forecasting, and document storage space.
  • They also have the features of unlimited email templates and bulk emailing.
  • The role-based permissions give you the ability to control who can access what in the CRM.

Cons

  • The software has a clunky user interface.

6. Freshworks CRM

Features

  • Freshworks CRM is for sales professionals who have to receive and make calls as this software captures the data that these calls generate.
  • You can sync your existing mobile number with this CRM.
  • You may also buy a new toll-free number or a local number from over 90 countries.
  • Built-in phone options include a widget to make calls, conference calling, call transfer, and call recording.
  • You can configure agent extensions to enable quick call routing.
  • Custom ringtones can also be set for the caller to hear before it is answered.
  • Phone-tree messages and customized greetings personalize and brand your company.
  • This software also includes website visitor activity tracking, email sync, list segmentation, and account and deal management.
  • Freddy AI is its artificial intelligence tool that offers smart chatbots, deal insights, and predictive contact scoring.
  • It has different plans such as marketing-only tiers and sales-only tiers.

Pros

  • Freshworks offers excellent communication tools.
  • Its AI features help in conducting dynamic lead scoring.

Cons

  • Its plans have user limits that complicate scalability and budgeting.

7. Hubspot

Features

  • Hubspot’s free plan includes around 90 report templates that can be selected and arranged on customizable dashboards plus simple automation tools and a meeting scheduler.
  • The free plan gives full access to only 2 users but gives unlimited users access to view reports and perform some administrative tasks.
  • Its popular reports include sales activity insights, sales funnel metrics, and deal forecasts insights on individual sales agents’ performance and team productivity.
  • You also get reports on email and chat conversations in the inbox that can be accessed by the team.
  • Hubspot’s paid version provides a custom report builder to access the exact metrics you require.
  • Custom filters can fine-tune reports to get detailed insights on individual deals to website traffic.
  • The new operation hub that Hubspot added gives the user the ability to add third-party tools, automate business processes, and clean and sync customer data.

Pros

  • It comes with a resource library that has an expansive list of free business tools and templates.
  • Hubspot’s free plan is for CRM newbies who might want to sample service, marketing, and sales tools.

Cons

  • Apart from the basic tier, other plans are quite expensive for small businesses.

8. Keap

Features

  • Keap has a migration team that can move all existing data of your company from other CRM into Keap for free.
  • It provides training materials and one-on-one coaching.
  • An extensive online library and live chat support are available 24/7 along with email and phone support accessible on weekdays.
  • You can sync the customer data from other platforms like Constant Contact or MailChimp.
  • It also features a Checkout Forms tool with one-click upsells and embedded promo codes. In these forms, you can also add colors and branded logos.
  • Its initial plan features,
  • Lead capture tools
  • Contact management tools
  • Client invoicing tools
  • Scheduling software
  • Email sync with Outlook and Gmail
  • Automated text message marketing is triggered when a customer completes a web form for example.
  • The plan upgrades offer,
  • Built-in reporting tools
  • Customizable dashboard
  • Automated sales pipelines
  • Email templates
  • List segmentation

Pros

  • You can keep all outreach efforts and customer activity data in a single location.
  • It is the best CRM software for small businesses and solopreneurs.

Cons

  • All plans under Keap need an onboarding fee of $500.

9. Zoho

Features

  • Zoho has a mobile app for Android and iPhone users that has the following features:
  • It has the same functions as the desktop version.
  • You can edit your CRM data offline.
  • You can log customer visits and calls, and attach files and voicenotes.
  • There is a global search tool.
  • A voice-activated assistant is another feature of the app.
  • You can even send an email, schedule activities, set reminders, and plan your day.
  • A mao integration provides nearby prospects and leads.
  • There is an easy-to-use feed to support mentions and comments.
  • Zia is Zoho’s AI tool that can help you to initiate a phone call, change a feal’s status, add notes to existing records, and create new client records.

Pros

  • Remote work can be done seamlessly.
  • Budget-friendly plans.

Cons

  • Free plan has too few features.

10. Quickbase

Features

  • This is the best CRM software that requires some coding skills to create a finished CRM software means you can customize it.
  • You can change certain components with no downtime at all.
  • Changes are made in a sandbox environment which means you need not take the entire CRM when updating.
  • Each service plan gives you access to a library with hundreds of app samples.
  • Once live, you can find these features in it:
  • Reporting tools
  • A business app integration tool
  • File attachment space
  • Drag and drop workflow automation

Pros

  • The software is quite adaptable.
  • You can build your own CRM with it.

Cons

  • It requires more technical aptitude.

The Bottom Line: Which is The Best CRM Software in 2022?

Well, if you want CRM software that is rich in features, we’d suggest Zoho since it has an app with which you can access all of its features. Is your mobile phone down or is your PC not working? You can easily switch between the app and its desktop version as they both offer you the same features.

However, if you are a developer and are interested in adding your own CRM features, Quickbase is your choice. With its flexible environment, you can put your coding knowledge to work to create a customized finished product saving you from paying for features you don't need

Best CRM Software FAQs

1) What is CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and is a technology with which you can manage your company’s interactions and relationships with potential and existing customers. The goal here is quite simple: make improvements in your business relationships. The CRM system will help your company to improve profitability, streamline processes, and stay connected with customers.

2) What are the three types of CRM?

The three main types of CRM are:
  • Collaborative: Collaborative CRM helps you manage customer relationships across departments so that when an employee of a certain department, be it sales, customer support, or marketing, interacts with a customer of your company, they can easily pull out the records of all their past interaction details with the other departments of your company.
  • Analytical: Analytical CRM deals with customer data by collecting, organizing, and analyzing it to give you a better insight into what your potential customer wants. It can also help you generate reports to view your cash flow by integrating with your invoice software.
  • Operational: Operational CRM gives you an automated customer dealing experience by streamlining various processes such as marketing and sales through the generation of leads, conversion of those leads into customers, recording their details, and serving them otherwise.
  • 3) What is the most commonly used CRM software right now?

    generally The most popular brand in the CRM software industry is SalesForce. It has everything one needs to run a successful business and is the best CRM software in rampant use. Even amazon uses SalesFirce as its CRM software. It has a Sales Cloud Professional edition that offers features like unlimited custom applications, campaign management, and rules-based lead scoring.

    REIN

    REIN Digital is a leading global marketing and advertising firm focused on providing the best services and partnership. Our journey began in 2015 in Gurgaon, and since then we have been believing in putting in every ounce of effort in order to bridge the gap between our client's present and hopeful future. 

    Throughout these years, we have collaborated with businesses from India as well as other nationals including Australia & the USA.


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