Businesses can’t survive without customers, regardless of industry. Therefore, companies that want to be successful have to find an effective way to build and maintain their customer relationships. One of the best ways to improve your customer relationships is to implement CRM software.
What is CRM software?
Customer Relationship Manager (CRM), by the most straightforward definition, is a process of managing customer relations in your business. But it can also stand for a mindset, an approach, or a software solution.
CRM software was developed to make the process of customer management easier and less time-consuming. It helps businesses track and manage customer interactions, and record interactions between a business, its prospects, and existing customers.
The benefits of CRM software
CRM software gathers all customer data into one place and allows businesses to drive growth and profits. Among other things, it makes it easier for companies to:
- Improve efficiency – Having all your business data in one place makes for better workflow, easier team collaboration, and better project management.
- Have more transparency – Everyone in your organization gain visibility on your business processes, fostering more clarity, and better teamwork.
- Retain customers – By relying on a single source of truth, everyone can work with greater confidence, assuring better customer relationships in the long run.
- Increase sales – Streamlining the sales process, building a pipeline, automating tasks, and analyzing your sales data will lead to increased sales and sales productivity.
Choosing the right CRM software
Choosing the right tool for your businesses is no easy task with thousands of CRM software solutions to choose from. From simple tools to more comprehensive solutions, it can get overwhelming quickly. And the truth is that there is no right or wrong answer – it all depends on your business needs.
Read on: 20 CRM Features to Make the Sales Process Faster
To make your evaluation process easier, we did the hard work for you and tested most of the best CRM tools out there. Here is our selection of the 23 best CRM tools on the market.
Every CRM software listed here:
- Is relatively easy to use with little setup time
- Has unique features that stand out from other CRM software
- Is by a trustworthy provider, with regular updates and high security
1. Scoro
Scoro CRM software helps to coordinate your sales process and improve your team’s performance with a complete set of features, including sales pipeline management, project & task management, collaboration, billing, and reporting.
Top features:
- Manage your leads in a pipeline view and easily drag-and-drop them from one stage to the next
- Get an instant overview of each client, including contact details, quotes, communication history, linked projects, etc.
- Get the tools to manage your sales process, projects, calendar, invoices, and more
What’s interesting about this tool: Scoro saves more than 50% of the time you’re currently spending on reporting, meetings, and double data entry.
Pricing: From $26 user/month
Try Scoro free for 14 days
2. Accelo
Accelo is an end-to-end cloud-based professional service software utilizing simple and impactful tools to manage the business, carry out projects, develop the quality of work of staff and grow the customer relationship.
Top features:
- It provides a holistic view of updated business data and financial performance and leaves you to identify and focus on the most profitable client work
- It provides a centralized client interaction platform integrating client’s communications, and activities and works for easier access to client information
- It provides resource management optimization where it predicts and scales resource availability based on capacity and pipeline for optimum staff allocation.
Pricing: Pricing is from $24 a month, per product and user with a minimum of 5 users.
Check out this list of Accelo alternatives!
3. Sugar CRM
Sugar CRM gives you an overview of the entire customer journey and the contextual intelligence needed for a complete customer view and opportunity anticipation.
Top features:
- Account management
- Opportunity management
- Sales collaboration
- Pipeline management
- Process automation
What’s interesting about this tool: Create multiple personalized dashboards to optimize for short-term and long-term goals.
Pricing: From $80 user/month
4. Salesforce
Salesforce connects sales to service, marketing, and beyond — so you can find selling opportunities throughout your business.
Top features:
- Contact management
- Sales collaboration
- Lead management
- Email integration
- Sales forecasting
What’s interesting about this tool: Salesforce gives you an accurate view of your entire business with comprehensive forecasts.
Pricing: Sales Cloud starting from $25 user/month
Check out this Salesforce alternative!
5. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales management tool for small teams that visualizes your sales pipeline and helps to make sure important activities and conversations won’t get dropped.
Top features:
- Contact history
- Email integration and tracking
- Goal setting and reporting
- Google apps integration
What’s interesting about this tool: Pipedrive has completely redesigned the world of CRM from a bulky system to an easy-to-use solution.
Pricing: From $12.50 user/month for an essential package
6. WORKetc
WORKetc is a single cloud computing platform with integrated CRM, projects, billing, help desk, reporting, and collaboration capabilities.
Top features:
- Project management and client access
- Custom fields
- Gmail and Outlook plugins
- Customer account history
- Billing featuring multi-currency
What’s interesting about this tool: By integrating support cases directly inside all areas of WORKetc, you can ensure the customer is always looked after.
Pricing: From $78 user/month for two users
Check out this WORKetc alternative!
7. Insightly
Insightly is a powerful CRM tool with a project and business management features.
Top features:
- Lead routing for timely lead management
- Workflow automation
- Email management
- Relationship linking
What’s interesting about this tool: Insightly CRM is tailored for any level of experience – from first time CRM users to sales experts.
Pricing: From $29 month/user
8. Keap (formerly Infusionsoft)
Keap is a software designed specifically for small businesses that organizes your customer information and daily work in one place, freeing you up from repetitive tasks, so you have more time to focus on growing your business and delivering great service.
Top features:
- Gmail and Outlook integration
- Personalized communications
- pre-written email templates
What’s interesting about this tool: With Smart Forms, you can collect the specific info you need right away when you add a new lead.
Pricing: From $79 per month
Read on: New Software Onboarding – The What, Why, and How
9. Freshdesk
Freshdesk combines customer relationship management with the automated help desk. This way, you’ll have more insight into your customers and can serve them the best.
Top features:
- Powerful ticketing
- Customer management
- Scheduled reporting
What’s interesting about this tool: With Freshdesk, you can help your customers get instant answers by creating a knowledge base that is available whenever they need it.
Pricing: From $15 user/month
10. Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM helps to reach out to prospects at the right moment, engage with them across every channel, and close more deals the smarter way.
Top features:
- Email integration for instant overview
- SalesIQ for visitor Tracking and sales intelligence
- Campaigns for email marketing
- Social for Social Media marketing
What’s interesting about this tool: Zoho CRM lets you turn routine tasks into contests and watch your salespeople compete to add the most notes or send the most emails.
Pricing: From $15 user/month
Check out this Zoho Alternative!
11. Creatio (formerly bpm ‘online)
Creatio is a unique synergy of unified CRM and intelligent BPM platform that connects the dots between marketing, sales, and customer service.
Top features:
- Account and contact management
- Intelligent data enrichment
- Communication panel
- Lead generation
What’s interesting about this tool: The knowledge base takes on features of social networks — users can like posts and share ideas and comments.
Pricing: From $30 user/month
12. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM makes it easy to organize, track, and grow your pipeline.
Top features:
- Manage your pipeline with total visibility
- Log sales activity automatically
- See everything about a lead in one place
What’s interesting about this tool: HubSpot CRM is part of a full suite of sales productivity tools that sync up with your inbox and make every aspect of selling easier.
Pricing: From €36.80 per month
13. Apptivo
Apptivo CRM software helps to increase sales by following through on all prospects and closing deals.
Top features:
- Sales pipeline
- Conversions
- Web lead capturing
- Mobile CRM
What’s interesting about this tool: Take full control of how each app looks and customize it by adding or removing existing fields that pertain only to your business.
Pricing: Paid plans from $8 user/month
14. NetSuite CRM
NetSuite CRM takes the guesswork out of forecasts with real-time sales data, complete visibility into opportunities, and a rich set of forecasting tools.
Top features:
- Streamlined lead-to-cash processes
- 360-degree view of customers
- Forecasting, upsell and commission management
What’s interesting about this tool: In addition to offering traditional CRM capabilities, NetSuite CRM delivers quotes, order management, commissions, sales forecasting, and integrated e-Commerce capabilities.
Pricing: On request
Check out this NetSuite CRM alternative!
15. PipelineDeals
PipelineDeals CRM gives salespeople and their managers the ability to organize and develop their customer relationships while offering unparalleled visibility into each stage of their sales pipeline.
Top features:
- Mobile access.
- Sales pipeline visibility
- Account customization.
- Data importing.
- Custom list views.
What’s interesting about this tool: Download the iPhone or Android apps to access your sales pipeline from your mobile device or tablet.
Pricing: From $25 user/month
16. Zendesk (formerly Base)
Zendesk Sell is a sales force automation software to enhance productivity, processes, and pipeline visibility for sales teams.
Top features:
- Zendesk live chat
- Automated outreach
- Activity reporting
- Prospect list building
What’s interesting about this tool: Zendesk has a unique feature called auto-dialer, which will call people on your list. When one call is completed, the next number is automatically called, keeping reps engaged.
Pricing: From $93 user/month
17. Microsoft Dynamics 365
Microsoft Dynamics CRM drives sales productivity and marketing effectiveness through social insights, business intelligence, and campaign management in the cloud, on-premises, or with a hybrid combination.
Top features:
- Customer Opportunity Management
- Reports and sales analytics
- Mobile CRM
- Sales Forecasting
What’s interesting about this tool: MS Dynamics brings digital intelligence into each deal, so you can predict customer needs and meet them with the personal attention that builds relationships and revenue.
Pricing: From $63 user/month
18. Nimble
Nimble automatically updates itself with the relevant prospect and customer information from dozens of data sources.
Top features:
- Contact Management
- Sales & Marketing Automation
- Deal Pipeline and Reporting
- Email Tracking and Analytics
- Android and iPhone App
What’s interesting about this tool: Let Nimble automatically create and update contact details to save time and have more accurate CRM data.
Pricing: $19 user/month
19. Odoo
Odoo is an open-source ERP and CRM software with top-notch usability.
Top features:
- Customizable dashboards and forecasting
- Automated activities based on sales scripts
- Real-time messaging to enhance collaboration
What’s interesting about this tool: Turn sales & purchase orders into invoices in one click and track them through their payment with a sales add-on.
Pricing: From $12 user/month
Read more: Odoo alternatives for work management.
20. Less Annoying CRM
Less Annoying CRM is a simple and user-friendly tool designed specifically for small businesses.
Top features:
- Contact management
- Calendar and tasks
- Leads and pipelines
- Easy customization
What’s interesting about this tool: Less Annoying CRM is for simple processes and small companies – no hassle.
Pricing: $15 user/month
21. Capsule CRM
Capsule CRM lets you store and manage all your business contacts in one place. All relationships, not just customers. Manage contacts, leads, customers, vendors, and more.
Top features:
- Add notes and store emails
- Attach documents, agreements, proposals, and other files
- Add and complete tasks that need to be done for each contact
- Share contacts with co-workers, ensuring you all have a single up-to-date view of them
What’s interesting about this tool: Capsule CRM gives you a quick summary of opportunities on the go via the sales dashboard, including potential values, where they’re up to, and what needs to be done next.
Pricing: From $12 user/month
22. Podio
Podio is a flexible and highly customizable online hub for work and team communication.
Top features:
- Assign tasks, attach files, and discuss details within the solution
- Share encrypted & large files
- Automate your sales pipelines, project budget tracking, and more
- Get an overview of your company with visual dashboards
- Automate your workflows
What’s interesting about this tool: Podio’s workflows feature enables you to add if-this-then-that logic to Podio apps. For example, instruct your app to create a task whenever an item is created or when a particular update is made to an item.
Pricing: From 24$ month/user for a full suite of features
23. Freshworks CRM
Freshworks CRM is a good option for high-velocity sales teams and makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to attract, manage, close, and nurture their leads.
Top features:
- 360° Customer view
- Lead scoring
- Auto profile enrichment
- Segment and organize your team
- Appointments, tasks, and notes
What’s interesting about this tool: Freshworks CRM has a built-in phone that enables you to make and receive calls.
Pricing: Paid plans from $29 user/month
We hope you found some potential options for your company from our software list. As a next step, start testing these solutions until you find the most suitable one! And keep in mind that the choice of software depends on your business nature, company size, workflow, current software, and business processes.
