Best CRM Software
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PRODUCTS
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PRICE GUIDE
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BUYER'S GUIDE
Buyer's Guide
By Manogna Matta, Market Analyst and Technical Content Writer at SelectHub
CRM software is a crucial element in managing your sales process and improving both conversion and retention rates. Customer relationship management systems do exactly what they sound like - manage your organization’s relationships with your customers. The most robust, all-in-one CRM platforms typically involve elements of marketing automation, sales force automation, client management and customer service
In this guide, we’ll start by going over what customer relationship management software is and help you choose the right platform for your business by providing a top CRM software list, requirements, pricing, features and more.
Executive Summary
- Customer relationship management software helps streamline critical parts of the sales process like building relationships, managing leads, closing deals and supporting customers post-purchase.
- The platform enables marketing teams to create targeted, personalized content at various stages in a customer’s journey.
- Key features include contact management, lead management, sales force automation, campaign management, dashboards and reports.
- CRM systems offer many benefits, such as better data organization, improved collaboration, and enhanced sales and marketing performance.
- Be sure to consider requirements like mobile accessibility, scalability, type of CRM, integrations and user interface to find the right fit.
- We recommend asking software providers targeted and specific questions about the system and vendor support before committing to a purchase.
What Is CRM?
Customer relationship management (CRM) is the set of processes and practices a business uses during customer interactions. It includes anything related to client engagement — sales and service-related tasks, follow-ups, customer behavioral analysis, forecasting, and more.
Companies use customer relationship management strategies to connect with customers on various touch points like calls, texts, emails and social media. The ultimate goal is to create positive client experiences and enhance customer loyalty. Nowadays, the term “CRM” is more commonly used to refer to the technology systems that help businesses manage customer lifecycles, workflows, purchases and post-purchases.
What Is CRM Software?
CRM software is a system that helps sales, marketing and customer service teams optimize business processes. It acts as a contact database for prospect, lead and customer information. Sales and marketing teams can capture, analyze, store, track and act on data to increase lead conversions.
The system helps organize scattered data like customer details, sales notes, marketing campaigns and KPIs in a centralized platform. By providing accessible data in real time, CRM solutions facilitate smooth collaboration and coordination across several departments. It can improve pipeline visibility and analyze customer data to provide actionable insights for sales teams.
There’s a popular misconception that CRM platforms mostly cater to sales teams. But this dynamic system also provides capabilities like customer journey management, campaign management and next-best action to streamline marketing and customer service operations. Most CRM solutions also have built-in automation to automate processes like lead prioritization, customer interactions, event creation and follow-up reminders.
Companies in today’s hypercompetitive global marketplace need to be ahead of the curve and use industry-specific applications to boost their sales. CRM systems have become widely popular in the past few years and are an excellent choice for customer-facing firms.
According to Grand View Research, the CRM market size was valued at $58.82 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to grow to $163.16 billion by 2030. This begs the question — what’s so special about CRM solutions that everyone seems to be buying one?
What Does a CRM System Do?
Customer relationship management software primarily functions as a contact management system and helps manage customer details and interactions. You may think it sounds like a glorified spreadsheet or contact book, but CRM solutions go way beyond that. They give you dynamic and detailed customer information like — how often clients visit your site, when they open your emails, their buying behaviors, and how likely they’re to purchase again.
It captures and stores all this data automatically, while a spreadsheet is no good if you stop manually updating it. CRM platforms interpret rows of complex information and make data visualization easy and engaging. Here are some other things CRM systems excel at:
- Scoring leads based on demographic and social data
- Personalizing interactions
- Automating task reminders
- Providing deeper data insights
- Creating a centralized and smooth flow of information
What Doesn't a CRM Do?
- AI Chatbots
- Chatbot Platforms
- Chatbot
- Cloud CRM
- Complaint Management
- Computer Inventory
- Construction CRM
- Contact Management
- Conversational AI Platforms
- CRM For Commercial Real Estate
- CRM For Consulting
- CRM Insurance
- CRM for Project Management
- Customer Database
- Customer Engagement Platforms
- Customer Profile
- Customer Retention
- Customer Service
- Customer Success
- Ecommerce CRM
- Email Ticketing Systems
- Email Tracking
- Financial Services CRM
- Fundraising CRM
- Help Desk
- Help Desk Software For Schools
- Hotel CRM
- Influencer Marketing
- Issue Tracking
- Knowledge Base
- Lead Management
- Live Chat For Customer Service & Support
- Live Chat
- Marketing Analytics Software Tools
- Marketing Attribution
- Mortgage CRM
- Remote Desktop
- Restaurant CRM
- Retail CRM
- Sales Force Automation
- Service Request
- Ticketing
- Travel Agency
- Venue Management
While CRM applications are valuable and make life easier, they’re unfortunately not genies that can do everything. CRM platforms are only as effective as you use them. They specialize in data management, but if sales teams don’t regularly use them to manage client interactions, systems have fewer data to work with, leading to inconsistent information.
Standalone CRM applications provides many useful features. However, for advanced capabilities like marketing or sales automation, project management, landing pages and invoicing, you need a more expensive all-in-one solution.
CRM solutions aren’t as helpful with backend operations like inventory, warehousing, production and shipping. While they save a ton of time with automation and templates, they alone can’t fix inefficient business processes. CRM systems can’t replicate the human touch, and excessively relying on them without human intervention can reduce sales.
CRM vs. ERP and Marketing Automation
Some ERP and CRM functionalities may overlap, such as automation and revenue generation, creating confusion between the two systems. But they do entirely different things for your business. While ERP is primarily concerned with financial data, customer relationship management software centers around managing and logging customer information.
On the other hand, marketing automation tools help streamline marketing campaigns and automate activities like campaign management, communication management and customer segmentation. These solutions focus on people at the top or middle of the sales funnel, like website visitors or email subscribers.
Does that mean you need separate customer relationship management and marketing automation software? The answer is as inconclusive as the ending of Inception. It mostly depends on you.
Most marketing automation systems allow you to sync data with CRM platforms, ensuring marketing and sales teams are on the same page. But if you’re not looking to invest in two different software, many CRM vendors offer marketing automation as an out-of-the-box functionality.
You can check out our articles on ERP vs. CRM and customer relationship management vs. marketing automation for a more in-depth comparison.
For a quick comparison of the top CRM software, watch the following video, otherwise, read on!
Expert recommendations and analysis on the top CRM applications
Best CRM Software
Now that you have the lay of the land, let’s examine the top CRM software in the market. There’s really no such thing as an objective list of “best solutions.” Ultimately, “best” for you means the customer relationship management software that addresses your company’s needs most effectively.
With that in mind, here’s a quick overview of the highest-rated products according to our analysts.
Zoho CRM: Best Overall
What It Does
Zoho CRM caters to sales teams with capabilities like sales enablement, performance management, automation, lead and contact management, and team collaboration. One notable feature is its AI assistant Zia, which aids productivity, enhances data accuracy and helps users work smarter. With seamless connection to Zoho’s extensive suite of business offerings, it’s a good option for companies looking for a one-stop-shop provider.
Reporting in Zoho CRM. Source
Product Overview
Pricing |
Starting at $14 /user/month billed annually |
---|---|
Company Size |
S M |
Free Trial? |
Yes |
User Sentiment Score |
82% |
Analyst Rating |
91 |
What It's Best For
Capability | SelectHub Analyst Score |
---|---|
Team Collaboration | 100 |
Workflow and Process Automation | 100 |
Dashboards and Reports | 99 |
Sales Performance Management | 98 |
Opportunity/Deal Management | 96 |
Pros and Cons From User Reviews
Pros of Zoho CRM | Cons of Zoho CRM |
---|---|
Work Offline: 70% of users who mentioned this feature suggest that the platform functions well even when used in offline mode. | User Interface: 80% of users who mentioned this feature had issues with the interface and didn’t find it easy to use or adaptive. |
Business Management: The system monitors business performance, populates the website with suitable visitors and keeps a tab on productivity and output, eliminating unmatched customers and removing the hassle, according to 80% of users who mentioned this aspect. | Customer Support: Zoho’s customer support and inquiry resolution isn’t very responsive, according to 60% of users who talked about support. However, the chat support is comparatively better. |
Affordable: 60% of users who reported this element suggest that the software is budget-friendly as compared to other CRM systems and has considerably more adaptive features for the price. | Automation: Automation is limited to the enterprise version and restricts productivity, according to 40% of reviewers who mentioned this aspect. |
Salesforce Sales Cloud: Best for Enterprises
What It Does
One of the best CRM software in the market, Sales Cloud offers a vast array of cloud-based capabilities for sales teams. Besides basics like pipelines, contact management, lead management and dashboards, it offers email integration, file capabilities and more.
Advanced features such as territory management, AI and partner management make it an attractive option for large companies. As part of the extensive Salesforce ecosystem, it can seamlessly integrate to provide marketing, service, commerce and analytics services.
Salesforce Sales Cloud’s Activity Management Dashboard. Source
Product Overview
Pricing |
Starting at $25 user/month billed annually |
---|---|
Company Size |
S M L |
Free Trial? |
Yes |
User Sentiment Score |
86% |
Analyst Rating |
87 |
What It's Best For
Capability | SelectHub Analyst Score |
---|---|
Dashboards and Reports | 97 |
Product Management | 96 |
Team Collaboration | 92 |
Platform Capabilities | 92 |
Opportunity/Deal Management | 90 |
Pros and Cons From User Reviews
Pros of Salesforce Sales Cloud | Cons of Salesforce Sales Cloud |
---|---|
Integration: 85% of reviewers who refer to this feature noted that the software supports integration with several platforms and various organizational departments. | Cost: 90% of reviewers who refer to pricing noted it’s on the higher side, especially for small businesses. |
Centralized Client Database: Salesforce Sales Cloud offers powerful data management, according to 95% of reviewers who mentioned contact management. | Loading Time: The system is slow to load at times, according to 90% of reviewers who mentioned this aspect. |
Ease of Use: The system is easy to use, as noted by every user who reported this feature. | Training: 60% of reviewers who mentioned this element felt that it takes time to learn navigation and that using the system requires a lot of training. |
HubSpot Sales Hub: Best for Lead Management
What It Does
Equipped with a multitude of sales functions, HubSpot Sales helps users save time by easily managing processes. Its user-friendly feature set includes configurable pipelines, quote tools, templates, meeting scheduling, sales automation, playbooks and call tracking. You can easily extend its capabilities by adding other HubSpot products to achieve coverage across the entire customer lifecycle.
Pipeline Management in HubSpot Sales. Source
Product Overview
Pricing |
Starting at $18/month (includes two users) billed annually |
---|---|
Company Size |
S M L |
Free Trial? |
No, but a less advanced software version is available free of cost. |
User Sentiment Score |
86% |
Analyst Rating |
85 |
What It's Best For
Capability | SelectHub Analyst Score |
---|---|
Document Management | 100 |
Lead Management | 96 |
Opportunity/Deal Management | 94 |
Dashboards and Reports | 87 |
Customer Communication Management | 87 |
Pros and Cons From User Reviews
Pros of HubSpot Sales Hub | Cons of HubSpot Sales Hub |
---|---|
Ease of Use: 88% of people who mentioned usability find the system user-friendly. | Training: While the interface is intuitive, there’s a learning curve and a need for training, according to 63% of users who mentioned this aspect. |
Workflow Organization: 91% of people who reviewed this aspect said the system helps with task tracking and organization. | Cost: Every reviewer who mentioned this element said the solution is pricey. |
Sequencing Features: According to 71% of users who mentioned this capability, the platform’s sequencing features are useful. | Email Management: Regarding this feature, 75% of users said email templates and sequences could be better. |
Dynamics 365 for Sales: Best for Workflow & Process Automation
What It Does
Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 for Sales is loaded with functionality, including AI, that boosts selling activities, marketing efforts and productivity. It delivers a real-time, 360-degree customer view, prescriptive insights and recommended actions. Other features range from contact management and interactive dashboards to partner relationship management and sales insights. Both cloud and on-premise deployment are available.
Sales Forecasting in Dynamics 365 for Sales. Source
Product Overview
Pricing |
Starting at $40/user/month |
---|---|
Company Size |
S M L |
Free Trial? |
Yes |
User Sentiment Score |
83% |
Analyst Rating |
84 |
What It's Best For
Capability | SelectHub Analyst Score |
---|---|
Workflow and Process Automation | 100 |
Dashboards and Reports | 98 |
Opportunity/Deal Management | 95 |
Document Management | 91 |
Product Management | 90 |
Pros and Cons From User Reviews
Pros of Dynamics 365 for Sales | Cons of Dynamics 365 for Sales |
---|---|
Customizability: 77% of users who mentioned this feature like the solution’s customizable business processes. | Training: It’s hard to find certain workflows, and the system requires training, according to 86% of users who mentioned this aspect. |
Interface: Regarding the ease of use, 69% of people said the interface is user-friendly. | Difficult Implementation: Every user who mentioned this element said the system is difficult to set up. |
Support: Every user who reviewed this element said the support is useful. | Cost: Regarding this aspect, 86% of users said the solution is expensive. |
SAP Sales Cloud: Best for Team Collaboration
What It Does
SAP Sales Cloud delivers basic and advanced capabilities, including account management, lead routing, billing, sales force automation, predictive analytics and mobile accessibility that provide real-time data to users anywhere. It also offers productivity tools and seamlessly integrates with marketing, service and other customer management products for a unified experience.
Forecasting in SAP Sales Cloud.
Product Overview
Pricing |
Starting at $57, full pricing model available on request |
---|---|
Company Size |
S M L |
Free Trial? |
No |
User Sentiment Score |
79% |
Analyst Rating |
83 |
What It's Best For
Capability | SelectHub Analyst Score |
---|---|
Team Collaboration | 100 |
Opportunity/Deal Management | 94 |
Dashboards and Reports | 87 |
Lead Management | 86 |
Sales Performance Management | 84 |
Pros and Cons From User Reviews
Pros of SAP Sales Cloud | Cons of SAP Sales Cloud |
---|---|
Inbuilt Analytics: The platform offers native analytics features that are very helpful for campaigns, according to 100% of users mentioning this element. | Integration: Of users who reviewed this functionality, 61% mention the application lacks basic integrations such as campaign tools, LinkedIn, Outlook and more. |
Ease of Use: An intuitive design makes the software easy to use without much technical knowledge, according to 90% of users reviewing this feature. | Support Team: 60% of reviewers mentioning customer support said the service team gives delayed responses and doesn’t offer desired results. |
User Interface: 85% of users who mentioned this feature appreciate the Fiori UI and find the design very easy and attractive to work on. | Mobile App: The mobile app isn’t user-friendly, according to 100% of users reviewing this aspect. |
Expert recommendations and analysis on the top CRM applications
Primary Benefits
The right CRM systems brings a bevy of benefits. With a CRM platform deployed, your company can expect:
Better Data Organization
CRM solutions let you store all relevant information like customers’ social, personal and demographic data in a unified single-view platform. The contact management capabilities aid in decision-making and eliminate clutter and data deduplication. You can also use views, tabs and dashboards to understand data in a visual, comprehensible manner.
Sales reps can easily learn about customer interests from previous interactions, allowing them to create relevant sales pitches and improve customer communication. They can also use filters, templates and tags and grant hierarchical data access to certain groups for better data distribution.
Enhanced Customer Experience (CX)
CRM software helps track customer interactions, including calls, texts, emails and website visits. With a central profile for each client, you can manage all customer data from any channel or device where the customer chooses to interact.
Salespeople can use this information to determine the appropriate way to contact and upsell or cross-sell opportunities. You can customize client engagements to cater to unique needs and preferences. According to a report, 49% of customers say they’ll become repeat buyers after a personalized shopping experience.
With marketing and sales automation, you can tailor communication and follow up at the right time based on a customer’s recent activity. Many CRM solutions also offer advanced email management capabilities that help track email deliverability, conduct surveys and assess customer feedback.
Improved Collaboration
When a business is large enough to establish separate departments, proper coordination often becomes difficult. A major advantage of CRM systems is that they help improve collaboration throughout the entire internal process. This prevents sales, marketing and service teams from operating in silos.
Users can communicate and leave notes and comments to help contextualize customer interactions. Cloud software gives the option to collaborate, update and access data offline, something beneficial for work-from-home and remote teams. You can also set reminders, arrange meetings, record customer data and track the team’s progress to boost collaboration and performance.
Greater Marketing Performance
CRM systems help improve your marketing game with the help of:
- Segmentation. You can split your contacts into groups based on shared characteristics, which enables targeting when sending campaigns.
- Workflows. This lets you create email sequences ranging from simple to complex.
- Social Media Marketing. Integrating with networks like LinkedIn and Facebook allows you to closely monitor every aspect of your social media campaigns.
- Campaign Management. This feature lets you oversee marketing campaigns across multiple channels and mediums. Analysis tools make it easy to track how each campaign performs.
- Metrics. You can view and report on all critical KPIs to get a clear idea about sales cycles, where your teams excel and where they need to improve.
High-quality Sales Performance
Sales forecasting enables sales teams to make better business decisions. It helps analyze data stored in a CRM system to discover recurring patterns and insights into customers, products and competitors. Incorporating these insights to enhance product development, sales strategies and customer interactions translates to improved sales for your business.
You can identify and nurture quality leads from multiple sources. This means your sales reps won’t have to chase leads that are less likely to convert. It also reduces keystrokes, logically sequences process steps, triggers next steps or reminders, delivers alert notifications and offers simple desktop integration.
Workflow automation allows sales reps to focus more on converting leads, reduces human error, and saves time and resources. By automating routine, manual tasks, the platform facilitates higher efficiency, greater productivity and increased ROI in the long run.
Expert recommendations and analysis on the top CRM applications
Basic Features & Functionality
It’s important to do your research, as customer relationship management software has a wide range of capabilities, and the features will vary from provider to provider. However, here are some standard features found in the majority of products:
Contact Management | This is the entire point of customer relationship management software, so this requirement revolves around making sure the contact handling is sufficient for your current work processes. CRM applications may have email auto-response integration and follow-up reminders, along with the ability to display key information on each lead. |
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Lead Management | This is another critical function that allows your sales department to nurture leads, qualify leads and use a lead scoring system to determine the priority of contacts. |
Sales Force Automation | Automate tasks like inventory control, sales processing, customer interaction monitoring, sales forecasts and performance analysis. |
Sales Pipeline | Often represented in a visual layout, a sales pipeline makes it easy to view the progress and stage of each deal. Common functionality includes a drag-and-drop interface, data summaries, an organized format like a Kanban board and contact records. |
Dashboards and Reports | If you want one source of truth for data, dashboards are non-negotiable. They break complex datasets down into visuals like charts and graphs so anyone can understand the trends and patterns. Similarly, reports provide detailed snapshots of performance based on specific metrics or timeframes. Export and share abilities facilitate strategy. |
Mobile CRM | Mobile functionality has become standard, whether through a dedicated CRM application or via a mobile-responsive design. Click-to-call, pipeline and contact editing, scheduling, notes, and messaging are some of the useful features that support on-the-go work. |
Campaign Management | With this feature, you can manage a wide array of marketing efforts and collect data to determine which campaigns work and which need improvement. Support for email and social media campaigns are the most common, while others include SMS, direct mail and additional avenues for reaching your audience. |
Omnichannel Support | Orchestrate and track customer interactions across several channels like emails, messages, social media platforms and website engagement. |
Expert recommendations and analysis on the top CRM applications
Advanced Features & Functionality
Depending on your needs, you may want to consider CRM platforms that offer advanced functionality. Some common features include:
Artificial Intelligence | With the growth of AI over the past several years, more and more CRM solutions are including these capabilities. AI can deliver intelligent chatbots, guided selling, image recognition, data analysis, workflow automation, next-step recommendations and more. |
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Marketing Automation | Acting as a central pillar of customer relationship management, marketing automation allows you to scale marketing activities through workflows and triggered actions. This means you can batch email a list of 1,000 subscribers at the click of a button and automate drip campaigns. Common features include email marketing, A/B testing and analytics. Marketing automation also incorporates website capabilities such as landing pages and signup forms for lead generation, which are synced to the CRM application database so form fills are automatically entered into the appropriate fields. |
Territory Management | Best for large companies with extensive sales reach and complex requirements, this feature helps manage different sales territories. Functionalities include tailored reports, quota distribution, hierarchies and realignment modeling. |
Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) | A sales tool that can be integrated into a CRM solution or included as a module, CPQ facilitates the B2B selling process. It provides a product catalog, quote management and price controls to shorten the sales cycle, streamline processes, reduce errors and more. |
Help Desk Tools | Whether incorporated directly into the customer relationship management software or as an integrated product, this feature lets you execute customer service with a unified view of a client’s entire relationship with your company. Case management, an online knowledge base, a call center and support chatbots are a few primary features. |
Expert recommendations and analysis on the top CRM applications
How To Choose Software
Requirements
With so many vendors in the market, it can get overwhelming to decide what’s the best CRM software for you. Jumpstart your search by considering the following aspects:
Preferred Features: It’s vital to explore the “why” behind getting a CRM. Why exactly do you need it? What are the most common problems you face? Which features can help solve them? Your software options should excel in marketing automation, contact management, reporting and pipeline management.
They should also provide alerts, reminders, calendar integration, communication templates, tracking, opportunity and project management, quote/proposal management and lead scoring.
Mobile Platform: CRM applications that you can access anywhere, on any device you want, are especially beneficial if you have remote or hybrid teams. It’s a bonus if you can use the platform offline, something helpful in cases of spotty service.
Budget: You need to be honest about your budget and how much you can afford to spend. Thoroughly consider all variables like the number of users, hidden costs and maintenance fees before making a purchase.
Business Size: There are different CRM solutions available for businesses of all sizes. As small and midsize businesses (SMBs) generally manage a higher volume of interactions and activities for each customer, they need a feature-rich CRM system to facilitate the process. On the flip side, large-scale operations need more sophisticated security models, collaboration apps and platform functionalities.
Type of CRM: There are three main types of applications in the market — collaborative, operational and analytical.
Collaborative CRM is good for businesses with multiple locations and communication channels and allows teams to be on the same page. Operational CRM gives a high-level overview of customer lifecycles and helps keep customer-facing teams more organized and efficient. Analytical CRMs are for companies that have a lot of data and need assistance optimizing it.
For more information, check out our article, Types of CRM Software, which covers what each type of CRM system offers and how it can uniquely benefit a business.
Integrations: Your ideal solutions should integrate with your preferred apps, enabling you to streamline communication. Systems that sync with your calendar, eCommerce, webinars and other communication tools are handy.
Scalability and Customizations: What customizable features does the software offer? Does it come with any pre-built templates? What about scalability options?
David H. Deans, a technology and media consultant, said, “Assuming that the software has the basic features, the ability to customize the solution is essential because no two CRM systems use cases are totally identical.” Investing in a solution that can scale up is a good idea so your business doesn’t risk outgrowing its software capabilities.
Vendor Support: Does your vendor provide hands-on customer support? What data security and privacy measures do they have in place? What do their installation, onboarding and training processes look like? Choose CRM providers with industry-specific experience and expertise to meet your business requirements.
User Experience: “Instead of focusing on the depth and breadth of features, consider the software's ease of use. The way it benefits the users to do their job is most important” Dean said. CRMs that are intuitive and easy to use help save valuable time and money that would otherwise go into costly and time-consuming software training.
Deployment
Along with the above-stated requirements, the deployment method also greatly affects the type of CRM platform a business can use. Cloud CRMs and on-premise solutions are two such systems.
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud model provides many advantages for companies, including reduced upfront and maintenance costs, as well as automatic upgrades to the latest version. It also comes with greater flexibility, as users can access it from anywhere with an internet connection. Additionally, cloud systems have closed the security gap so that previous concerns over data security are now much less viable.
On-premise solutions, by contrast, don't rely on vendors and don’t require an internet connection. There are also vastly more customization options.
Generally, the type of deployment that’s best for you depends on your company size. Small and midsize businesses usually opt for cloud CRM applications, as they lack the IT resources and technical expertise required from on-premise software.
Large enterprises have more flexibility, and the best choice comes down to internal needs. For example, whether a cloud CRM system would integrate well with legacy on-premise software, such as ERP software.
Pricing Considerations
How you deploy the customer management software will have a significant impact on cost and how much you pay upfront versus over the long term. The biggest difference is the base cost of using the CRM platform.
With a cloud product, you pay an ongoing subscription fee, usually based on the number of users. On-premise software, by contrast, involves a license purchase - one-time or recurring depending on the provider. While most CRM vendors charge monthly or per person, organizations can also opt for annual payment plans (some vendors tend to reduce monthly costs if businesses opt for yearly billing).
For small businesses, low-cost CRMs that cost between $10-$20 per license per month are available. Additional capabilities with deeper integrations can range anywhere from $20 to $50 per month. These are best suited for SMBs.
For enterprises that require advanced capabilities and integrations to connect with their heavy tech stack, CRMs usually range from $50 to $80 per user per month. High-end solutions with advanced customizations, extensive implementation and migration support cost around $250+.
Beyond that, you need to also consider the total cost of ownership - every cost associated with operating the customer relationship management system. Common additional costs include:
- Version upgrades
- Add-on capabilities
- Services such as data migration or customization
- Training, particularly for large, complex software
- Maintenance, more a concern for on-premise software where the vendor isn’t responsible for keeping the CRM application up and running
- Implementation support
See prices for the top CRM applications... Plus get important questions to ask.
How To Implement a CRM
Installing customer relationship management software with a poor or even no strategy, is the number one reason for lagging adoption, low CRM system utilization and overall project failure. After making a list of requirements and purchasing a CRM platform for your business, it’s time to finally set it up and use it. In order to maximize the effectiveness of a CRM system:
1. Assess the Costs and Benefits
Draw up a budget plan taking into account implementation steps like migration, training and onboarding. Keep in mind that your general expenses may increase due to various setting-up costs. Productivity and profits may dip a little during user adoption and as your teams get comfortable with new guidelines. Calculate the costs and benefits six months and twelve months after adoption to assess how useful the product has been.
2. Assign a Team To Handle the Process
Dedicate a person or team to manage a smooth transition from your previous system to a new CRM platform. The team should ideally have one person from each department, including sales, marketing, service, project management and IT. They should be able to:
- Handle any technical issues that may happen
- Prepare CRM training and answer employee questions leading up to implementation
- Make an implementation timeline with key dates for milestones
- Create a list of implementation tasks and monitor their progress
- Ensure all employees are on the same page whenever there’s a process update
3. Create an Implementation Timeline of Key Events
Some of the major tasks include:
- Data Migration:s Make an action plan for how and when you’ll transfer and import files into your system. It’s a good idea to do a test run with a small data set to get the hang of the solution. Adjusting to new layout or data entry fields may take time, so don’t rush this step.
- Platform Customization: If you’re a medium or enterprise business with many teams, it becomes essential to personalize the CRM system’s layout, dashboards and navigation to fit different needs. You also need to set up notifications, automation, custom fields and filters and give permissions for different types of data access.
- Third-party Integrations: Connect the CRM system with the business apps you use. Assess how compatible they are with each other.
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User Training: The vendor or an IT expert can give a detailed rundown of how the system operates. You can also conduct live sessions, create training videos for different modules and make FAQs that employees can refer to.
The most important implementation goal is, Deans said, “to get the intended users to adopt the CRM software, and then ensure they know how to use it to achieve their desired business outcome.” It’s critical to thoroughly complete this step as faulty training can lead to lost time, resources and data. -
Test Drive: Make custom reports, tabs, templates and follow-ups to test the platform. Sales and service teams can do multiple rounds of testing, assess collaboration tools, and make trial video and audio calls from the system. Checking for errors will make operations smooth when the CRM platform goes live.
Deans advises to “Get your CRM platform users involved in the final selection process (demo and proof of concept testing)” because we need to research and assess the solution “from the end-user's perspective, not the sales manager's.” - Go Live:s This step should happen gradually in different phases. Whenever any issues arise, be sure to notify the implementation team to make the process more efficient.
4. Regularly Evaluate User Feedback
Monitoring and measuring the CRM platform implementation progress is vital. Take note of its benefits and rectify errors to reduce productivity issues. You can run into common implementation issues like poor adoption rate, insufficient training or technical troubles, so it’s useful to have a plan of action to solve these challenges.
Lastly, create an easy feedback loop and make it a point to assess it regularly. This is not a one-time thing but rather an ongoing process. It helps evaluate where the solution falls short and if it’s time for you to get a better platform.
Expert recommendations and analysis on the top CRM applications
Questions To Ask Yourself
Use these questions as a starting point for internal conversations:
- How does my team communicate and collaborate?
- What will help me better measure my team’s performance?
- Which relationships and workflows do I need to manage?
- What’s a more important requirement — cost-effectiveness or customizable advanced features?
- Will a collaborative, analytical or operational CRM platform suit my needs better?
- Will an out-of-the-box software do, or would I need a custom CRM platform?
- What apps, integrations and extensions do I use on a daily basis?
- Is on-premise or cloud-based deployment better for my organization?
- Who’ll use the software consistently (managers, sales reps, marketers)?
Questions To Ask Vendors
Use these questions as a starting point for conversations with vendors:
About the Software
- What level of customization is available? What about templates? Do they cost extra?
- Are marketing and help desk capabilities built in, offered as part of a larger product suite, or do they require third-party integrations?
- How intuitive is the UI — navigation, wording, feature accessibility and screen layout?
- Can the software help communicate with leads on multiple channels?
- Does the platform offer alerts, follow-ups, reminders and calendar integration?
About the Vendor
- How often are updates and enhancements offered, and do they occur automatically? Does this impact the software's accessibility?
- How much customer support do you provide? Is there an existing knowledge base? Does it come at an extra charge?
- How long do implementation and onboarding take?
- Does your company have a proven track record of customer success?
- What security and redundancy protocols are in place to protect data?
Expert recommendations and analysis on the top CRM applications
FAQs
Should I consider a free CRM platform?
While free CRMs seem affordable and risk-free, they’re not scalable and have reduced functionalities that may hinder your sales and customer service progress. They also don’t provide data privacy and consume a lot of time and resources.
If you’re a small business that can do with limited features, free CRM is a good option. However, if you’re looking for data privacy, support, core functionalities and customizations, paid solutions are better.
How do I know I need a CRM application?
- You’re finding it hard to manage the lead flow.
- You lack clarity as to what your sales teams are up to.
- Your customer data is hard to locate and interpret.
- Your customer service is falling short.
- You don’t know which leads you should prioritize.
What are some examples of CRM software?
There are various CRM solutions available that offer dynamic functionalities like lead tracking, marketing automation, contact management and lead scoring. Zoho CRM, Salesforce Sales Cloud, HubSpot Sales, Dynamics 365 for Sales and SAP Sales Cloud are some of the top CRM platforms in the market.
What does a good CRM platform look like?
A good CRM is easy to use, provides remote access, integrates with your favorite business apps and optimizes your sales processes. Workflow automation, customization, lead management, tracking and reporting are other features to look out for.
Expert recommendations and analysis on the top CRM applications
Next Steps
CRM solutions streamline critical parts of your sales process, enabling you to stay on top of leads and follow-ups to build customer relationships more effectively. It allows marketing teams to create targeted, personalized content delivered at critical stages in a customer’s journey.
Customer relationship management software improves communication, collaboration, efficiency and overall effectiveness of marketing efforts. The right platform provides countless benefits, so it's important to do your due diligence and get the best CRM for your company.
If you need further help, check out our free comparison report for more information on the top CRM software vendors in the industry. Good luck!
Product Comparisons
- Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. HubSpot Sales
- Zoho CRM vs. HubSpot Sales
- Zoho CRM vs. Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Act!
- HubSpot Sales vs. Dynamics 365 For Sales
- Dynamics 365 For Sales vs. SAP Sales Cloud
- Zoho CRM vs. Dynamics 365 For Sales
Additional Resources
Top 10 CRM Software Leaders by Analyst Rating (of 1692 products)
(of 1692 products) GET THE IN-DEPTH REPORT- Accounts and Contacts Management
- Customer Communication Management
- Dashboards and Reports
- Documents Management
- Leads Management
- Opportunities/Deals Management
- Partners and Vendors Management
- Platform Capabilities
- Products Management
- Quotes, Orders, and Contracts Management
- Sales Performance Management
- Social Engagement
- Team Collaboration
- Workflows and Process Automation
- Integration and Extensibility
- Mobile Support
- Professional Services and Maintenance
- Training
- User Support
- Vendor Information
Products found for CRM Software (Page 2)
amoCRM
amoCRM is a messenger-based multifunctional sales management solution. It helps users manage digital pipelines, keep leads engaged using behavioral triggers and streamline core processes like lead nurturing, task assignment, sales analytics, campaign and communication management and performance tracking.Available with cloud-based deployment and full-featured mobile access on iOS and Android, it enables fast deployment and on-the-go accessibility to build a powerful sales stack.
Method CRM
Method CRM helps small businesses effectively manage relationships with prospect, leads and customers. Designed to be used with QuickBooks, it offers lead management and customer management modules. Additional features include app integrations and no-code system customization.
NetSuite CRM
NetSuite CRM is a cloud-based software offering a real-time, 360-degree view of customers. It ensures a continuous flow of information for opportunities, sales orders, fulfillment, renewal, upsell, cross-sell, and support. Some of its capabilities are sales force automation, marketing automation, partner relationship management, quotes and order management, and sales forecasting. It supports businesses of all sizes across a broad spectrum of industries. Integration with existing e-commerce and ERP offerings eliminates the costs of having multiple applications for each business unit.
Sage CRM
Sage CRM is a platform that consists of marketing, sales and service modules, which organizations can use individually or in a fully integrated suite. The solution is targeted at small and mid-sized businesses.The product can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud. Mobile apps for iOS and Android devices provide sales professionals with flexible access to customer data, calendars and other key information.
Bloomerang
Bloomerang is a complete system allowing nonprofit organizations to manage donor relationships, events and fundraising. Its emphasis on donor engagement and retention supports company growth.Capabilities include email marketing, online giving, grant tracking, donor surveys, data segmentation, dashboards, reporting and prospect research. Deployment via Amazon Cloud Services provides security and scalability. It’s available to both U.S. and Canadian organizations.
SugarCRM
SugarCRM is a comprehensive platform that effectively manages the customer lifecycle with a set of modules that support each stage of the funnel. It helps organizations locate prospects, nurture leads, close more deals and retain customers. Some capabilities include quote management, forecasting, campaign management and a customizable interface.It supports multiple currencies and 35 languages with the option to develop support for additional languages. It can integrate with mobile device management offerings as well.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign provides cloud-based marketing services, with robust capabilities ranging from automation and reporting to lead scoring and contact segmentation. It’s ideal for businesses of any size, as it offers a flexible, device-agnostic deployment model. It also functions as a marketing-oriented CRM with different integrations and exporting options to assist sales. It provides machine learning that can be used on data including phone calls, emails and sales. Machine learning enables predicting win probability and using predictive sending. Customers can also take advantage of a consultant directory with certified consultants from different countries.
Infor CloudSuite CRM
Infor CloudSuite CRM is a cloud-based system that helps companies cater to and understand customers through sales, marketing and customer service activities. It helps with operations and handles outreach. Users can identify opportunities, streamline sales projects, forecast business-related decisions and generate growth with its analytics. Cloud deployment and ERP integration help implement a strategic approach for maximum business growth.
SharpSpring
SharpSpring is a cloud-based sales and marketing platform that facilitates building automation rules to send customers with dynamic content or targeted emails based on their interests. It also provides adequate support for marketing agencies.Features include behavior-based email, campaign tracking, dynamic landing pages, a blog builder, anonymous visitor ID, a form builder, reporting and analytics, social media management, and integrations. Lead scoring helps track a lead’s page visits, demographics and engagement to enhance nurturing efforts.
BenchmarkONE
BenchmarkONE, formerly known as Hatchbuck, is a cloud-based CRM product that helps users automate many of the processes surrounding their relationships with customers. With an affordable pricing model and deployment availability, it’s best suited for small businesses. Its features, which focus on automating marketing activities, span across easy email creation, drip campaigns and form building. Additional features such as analytics and contact importation help it stand out from its competitors.
Zendesk Sell
Zendesk Sell (formerly Base, acquired by Zendesk in 2018) is a web and mobile-based application that helps businesses manage their sales, marketing and customer service operations seamlessly. With a sales automation module, pipeline visibility, communication management and insightful reporting, it is usable by both B2B and B2C businesses to cut down on manual overhead expenses and improve operational efficiency and accuracy.
Maximizer CRM
Maximizer CRM is a sales and marketing solution that provides functionalities such as client management, a sales pipeline, customer support, campaign management, marketing automation and more. With about 90% customer satisfaction, it offers insights for business growth. A custom API and integration options add value to processes. It helps increase sales, build relationships, provide customer support and fit business needs with different deployment options based on requirements. Users can access it on mobile devices to access information and send updates on the go.
Pega CRM
Pega CRM is the customer relationship management suite offering from global provider Pegasystems. The Customer Decision Hub acts as the platform’s foundation and leverages predictive analytics and AI to drive immediate actions grounded in intelligent data.Furthermore, the platform is built using Pega’s Situational Layer Cake™, enabling agility and tailored experiences. Every element from processes to data models is organized into layers, making it easier to support multi-dimensional efforts. Based on model-driven architecture, the system doesn’t require any coding knowledge. And organizations have the option to run the software on Pega’s cloud, their own cloud or a third-party cloud.
Ontraport
Ontraport provides a cloud-based set of solutions that help small businesses handle marketing and sales processes. The all-in-one design allows users to seamlessly switch between tasks and access information from a central location.Users can leverage the capabilities to store and track contacts, send multichannel messages, automate sales processes, create landing pages, analyze metrics, engage in e-commerce activities and more.
SalesNow
SalesNOW is a mobile and web-based platform that helps nurture customer relationships. Designed for sales and service reps, it helps increase management visibility, enhance the sales team’s effectiveness, optimize reporting and access visual reports. Customer service, lead management, its product database, consulting services and email integration are some of its notable strengths.
SAP CRM
SAP provides a cloud-based customer experience suite built on the SAP C/4HANA framework, delivering marketing, sales, e-commerce, customer data and service capabilities. Features include sales automation, ABM, augmented intelligence, real-time data, multichannel campaigns and inventory management. Organizations can choose specific products for more focused functionality or implement all five to gain a comprehensive ecosystem.Analyst’s Note: In addition to SAP’s cloud products, it also offers SAP CRM, a well-established solution for clients looking to deploy on-premise. While SAP currently supports the on-premise version for thousands of customers, has continued to release product enhancements and hasn’t yet indicated any plans to sunset the product, it’s possible that may change.As of November 2019, SAP’s Director of Product Management stated that SAP may choose to forego extension of mainstream maintenance beyond the current guarantee of 2025. Assuming that remains the case, he recommended new customers avoid looking into SAP CRM and instead consider S/4HANA (for those in need of ERP functionality as well) or C/4HANA (for those interested specifically in customer experience capabilities).In light of this, our analysis focuses solely on C/4HANA’s cloud products.
Contactually
Contactually is an AI-powered cloud-hosted SaaS tool that enables users to personalize client communications at scale. It can help users follow and nurture leads, build new clients, maintain existing client relationships, and drive business growth.It streamlines operations through automation and increases efficiency while cutting costs. It was acquired by Compass in 2019 with a focus on the real estate industry.
monday sales CRM
monday sales CRM is a cloud-based solution that helps businesses manage their end-to-end sales and sales enablement processes. It optimizes productivity by providing complete visibility into the sales pipeline. Users can access sales, customer and company data in a centralized location.It allows sales teams to manage multiple sales funnels, update deal stages and add columns to the interface. Build custom, real-time dashboards to gain insights on business-critical metrics. Other capabilities include lead management, contact management, automation and native integrations.
Slack
Slack is a prominent software platform that ranks 18 among all Project Management Software according to our research analysts and 22452 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Starting from $8, Slack is priced affordably, has offered a free trial in the past and is most fitting for business of all sizes. Slack can be deployed in the cloud and on-premise and is accessible from a few platforms including Windows devices.
LeadMaster
LeadMaster is a cloud-based solution that enables organizations to manage their leads, customers and sales pipeline. Its capabilities include lead management, email marketing, web integration, analytics and a virtual call center. Businesses can track their leads and customers from beginning to end and identify the most effective marketing campaigns. Additionally, it helps automate sales processes and close more deals.
JobNimbus
JobNimbus is a combination of CRM and project management software that can help you manage your tasks and documents related to your projects. Customized specifically for the construction industry, it helps businesses take end-to-end control of their projects and job-sites. With the help of a mobile app, contractors can update the status of projects on-the-go from their iOS or Android-powered smartphones. It lets users monitor and assign schedules, assignments, notes, project estimates and invoices.
Drip
Drip is a reputable software application that ranks 58 among all CRM Software according to our research analysts and 180 crowd-sourced reviews from 2 sources. Starting from $49, Drip is priced at a low cost, commonly offers a free trial and is most applicable for all company sizes. Drip can be deployed in the cloud and on-premise and is accessible from a few platforms including Windows and Linux devices.
SuiteCRM
SuiteCRM is a customizable, open-source solution by SalesAgility that helps users create business process models, automate workflows, streamline sales, marketing, product development and customer service operations. Flexible deployment options let businesses gather actionable insights to guide critical business and strategic decisions. It supports businesses of all sizes.
monday.com
Monday.com uses a visual, collaborative approach to help teams manage a range of marketing tasks. As a cloud-based platform, it syncs all information on a single, accessible dashboard and eliminates manual entry errors. This enables team members to make important decisions together, keep track of details and deliver projects on time.Organizations can customize it for the management of projects, tasks, people, ad campaigns, bug tracking, CRM, customer projects and more. Monitor project statuses off-site using mobile devices. It integrates with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Adobe Creative Cloud and more.
Crexi
Crexi is a premier platform that ranks 61 among all CRM Software according to our research analysts. Starting from $0, Crexi is priced free of charge to start and is most fitting for all business sizes. Crexi can be deployed in the cloud.
SAP
SAP is a solution for small and midsize companies that connects functions and departments for operational excellence. It maintains business continuity and minimizes impacts during economic turbulence to help users expand their remote workforce. Users can meet their IT goals with on-premise and cloud-based scenarios that share a user experience, data model and code line. It supports multiple revenue capabilities, like subscription and consumption-based billing. It can improve decision making and improve productivity with a digital base to support critical business processes. Users can simplify their IT environment, accelerate business processes and do more with business intelligence. It is supported by machine learning, the internet of things, blockchain and big data.
Kajabi
Kajabi is a high-profile software platform that ranks 63 among all CRM Software according to our research analysts and 267 crowd-sourced reviews from 2 sources. Starting from $129, Kajabi is priced moderately, offers a free trial on occasion and is most applicable for larger sized corporations. Kajabi can be deployed online.
Outreach
Outreach is a high-profile solution that ranks 64 among all CRM Software according to our research analysts and 280 crowd-sourced reviews from 2 sources. Outreach is most suitable for any business. Outreach can be deployed in the cloud and is accessible from a limited set of platforms including Windows devices.
LiveChat
LiveChat is a customer service chat app that allows companies of all sizes to more easily connect with website visitors and supports the efforts of sales departments as well. It offers capabilities for complete communication and measurement via chat, agent monitoring, ticketing, e-commerce, engagement and reporting. It can be deployed across multiple websites and used on mobile, desktop and web-enabled devices.
Womply
Womply is a high-profile software platform that ranks 66 among all CRM Software according to our research analysts and 253 crowd-sourced reviews from 2 sources. Starting from $69, Womply is priced for those with smaller budgets, offers a free trial on occasion and is most fitting for small-to-mid-sized businesses with less than 1000 employees. Womply can be deployed online.
Salesforce Health Cloud
Salesforce Health Cloud enables healthcare providers to store, track and monitor health records while building stronger relationships with patients. It assists healthcare professionals in providing more comprehensive care by knowing and meeting patient expectations. The easy-to-use interface allows patients to gain real-time connections with medical teams. When combined with Salesforce Service Cloud, it gives providers a more precise view of patient information such as demographic, lifestyle and health to better serve customers.It allows users to access data from various sources, including wearables and EHR/EMR platforms, as well as view critical information such as past patient health records, current and past medications, and appointments.
LiveOps
LiveOps is a promising platform that ranks 3 among all Call Center Software according to our research analysts and 3 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Starting from $95, LiveOps is priced more economically and is most applicable for medium-to-large-sized corporations. LiveOps can be deployed online.
HoneyBook
Designed for entrepreneurs and small business owners, HoneyBook helps simplify business processes. It lets users manage projects, book clients and accept payments through a comprehensive platform. Users can automate workflows, create contracts, invoices and proposals, and manage contact forms and leads to save time and money. It offers a free trial.
Highspot
Highspot is a distinguished platform that ranks 22 among all CMS Software according to our research analysts and 38 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Highspot is most suitable for businesses large and small. Highspot can be deployed online.
Salsify
Salsify is a prominent software tool that ranks 23 among all CMS Software according to our research analysts and 30 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Salsify is most suitable for mid-to-large-sized businesses. Salsify can be deployed online.
Seismic
Seismic delivers a unified suite built to help enterprises facilitate sales enablement across the customer lifecycle. It supports the efforts of marketing, sales enablement, sales and channel teams.Users can leverage it to improve the selling process via digital content management. Features include automation, content delivery, sales analytics, training, engagement and channel sales analytics. It also offers dozens of popular integrations for extended functionality.
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Pricing Guide
See the Price/User for the top CRM systems… plus the most important considerations and questions to ask when shopping.
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