List of 10 Best CRM Tools

Forging meaningful relationships is key to securing bigger returns for your business. In doing so, you can turn interested parties into loyal customers and potential investors into worthwhile business partners or connections. Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms help make this a reality with the way they afford users a quick and easy way to communicate with your clientele and other relevant parties to your business, especially with COVID-19 forcing most people to stay home.

As such, a lot of CRM software can be found on the market, offering various modes and features to bridge communication gaps, from contact list management to instant messaging. Should you have trouble picking one that suits your needs the best, we have carefully selected 10 of the best CRM tools based on their usability, features, and capabilities, among other factors. These products are recipients of top scores in our reviews and high ratings from users.

CRM is now considered the nucleus of a business, a primary driver of sales and revenues. Sales teams use it to automate sales processes, store all contact information and interaction in one easily accessible location, and solidify customer relationships. These are all important in the context of the customer lifecycle. CRM tools can be used to permeate, influence, and affect all the phases of the customer lifecycle, from establishing initial awareness to conversion as buying customers, up to the stage of reinforcing loyalty and winning them to your side as advocates and promoters of your business.

With that being said, there is a likelihood that CRM platforms are being underutilized by users, with many only leveraging familiar features like contact management and some of the communication channels afforded. In fact, 43% of users capitalize on less than half of what the software has to offer. While it’s true that some features are more beneficial than others, exploring a platform’s full capacity to perform can help streamline your operations further. For instance, using mobile CRM, on top of traditional CRM, has helped companies reach their sales quotas by 65%.

Moreover, knowing what the platform can really do might give you more options for communication with customers and potential investors who are on COVID-19 lockdown. In case you need more proof, there are a lot of CRM statistics on the internet that verify the platform’s full range of benefits.

Another concern is the number of worthwhile options on the software market. We’ve got you covered in that regard as we present the 10 best CRM applications you can avail of right now.

1. HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is a free CRM tool for businesses that still packs a punch when it comes to robust and effective features. These functionalities include social media, customized views, company database, drag-and-drop communicator, and website, phone, and email integration. You can get started with this application quickly and need not change your existing workflow. The product offers the essential basic features and does not confuse users with complex bells and whistles. For these reasons, it is suitable for small and large businesses in any industry and niche.

With HubSpot CRM, you can create detailed company and contact profiles as the platform organizes all facts obtained from customer contacts with you. It provides a single dashboard that your team members can access to stay updated on company activities. The vendor has an appealing free trial where you can tinker with the features at no cost. 

HubSpot CRM

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One of the main advantages is you can connect this system to all the places where you conduct your sales process such as phone, websites, social media, email, etc. Plus, it integrates smoothly with leading business solutions such as Dropbox, SugarCRM, Pipedrive, Snapengage, Gravity Forms, Bigcommerce, Google Dynamics, Google Chrome, Base CRM, and more.

2. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is another excellent CRM tool for business and a strong contender on our list of 10 best CRM software tools. It organizes your leads in a manner that gives you a clear overview of your sales process and empowers you to focus on important deals. Plus, you can utilize this solution to efficiently manage your organization’s sales pipeline. In fact, you can switch modules on and off as per your needs without any effect on your service quality. Key features include sales reporting, timeline view, simple data import and export, contact history, and email integration.

The vendor offers a convenient 30-day free trial for its three paid packages. Pricing starts from $10/month/user (annual billing) for the basic Silver plan and goes up to $63/month/user (annual billing) for the Platinum plan. You can use Pipedrive free trial to experience how it can enhance your sales process.

Pipedrive

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Pipedrive is an ideal option for companies that do international business as it is available in 13 currencies and supports a range of major and minor currencies. Its open API configuration allows it to blend smoothly with top business applications such as Zoho CRM, MailChimp, RightSignature, Zapier, Dropbox, and more.

3. Salesforce CRM

Salesforce CRM allows you to track all customer details in one place so that you can nurture more leads. Then, you can utilize its main modules such as sales data, marketing automation, lead management, partner management, and contact manager to track these leads and convert them into profitable deals. One of the highlights is that your team can use this app to be productive anywhere—in the office or field. The mobile apps for iOS and Android offer real-time data from dashboards as well as custom reports.

Salesforce CRM’s Opportunity Management module provides insights on opportunities. The Contact Manager module offers a complete view of important customer details such as discussions, communications, social mentions, and activity history. The vendor offers a great free trial plan that lets you try out all key features first.

Salesforce CRM

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With the Sales Collaboration module, you can track deals and search for competitive information. The Reports and Dashboards functionality allows you to gather data for in-depth reporting and analysis. The vendor offers five paid packages with pricing starting from $25/month for 10 users.

4. NetSuite CRM

NetSuite CRM is a product of Oracle that offers companies a complete view of every customer they have. The best thing about it is that it provides information regarding consumers steadily. This means regardless of the customer lifecycle stage they are in, you can gain more insights about purchasers continuously. With this, you can provide the best experience and service to them every time.

To that end, you can maximize the robust tools that NetSuite CRM offers. One of those is integrated contact management. This arranges data on every interaction with a customer. Because of this, anybody can access the communication history and act accordingly. You can use all the features for free for a period of time to see if the software matches your needs. 

NetSuite CRM

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Other than that, NetSuite CRM has a component that enables you to manage your partner relationships. This helps you work with other businesses with ease by making visible every marketing activity on a daily basis. The solution has more to offer than those mentioned above. For example, it has sales force automation, sales forecasting, and an employee workflow tracker.

5. monday.com CRM

monday.com CRM can rival any of the top 10 leading CRM solutions here. First, the platform allows you to customize your very own dashboards and workflows to fit your every need. Second, it has tons of integrations that extend its capabilities. Stack these with its if-then rule-based automation, you can easily create and manage a CRM platform just for you. 

Moreover, monday.com has a highly-visual dashboard packed with other powerful features like collaboration tools, visualizations, automatic report generation, and dashboard templates. Thus, you can manage both CRM processes and team management processes under one roof.

monday.com

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Also, it allows users to share dashboards with your clients. This is very useful if you’re in the B2B industry, especially consultancy. Furthermore, you can even leave live comments on visuals to make reports and the like more understandable. Also, this is great for collaborative brainstorming for strategies and tactics. 

Plus, you can access your monday.com CRM tool on mobile, thanks to its iPhone and Android apps. Lastly, paid plans start at $39 per month billed annually for five users. 

6. CRM Creatio

CRM Creatio serves as a unified platform for boosting the productivity of marketing, sales, and service teams. The platform offers end-to-end solutions through three modules, namely, Marketing Creatio, Sales Creatio, and Service Creatio. Each module comes with tools and features to meet the unique needs of marketing, sales, and service departments.

Marketing Creatio, for instance, helps users track website activity to identify potential sources of leads. This module also comes with an intuitive campaign designer, along with features for setting up target conversion rates and monitoring campaign progress. Meanwhile, Sales Creatio makes it easier for teams to manage not only orders and invoices but also contracts, products, and services.

CRM Creatio

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Lastly, through Service Creatio, self-service options such as knowledge bases boost the productivity of reps, allowing them to focus on more important tasks. This module also allow users to create a unified service catalog that improves the regulation and delivery of service processes.

Aside from its versatility, one of the best features of CRM Creatio is its flexible pricing. Each module can be purchased on its own at various pricing plans. Businesses also have the option to go for a CRM bundle that includes Marketing Creatio, Sales Creatio, and Service Creatio, priced according to number of users.

7. Freshsales

Another robust CRM solution is Freshsales. This software is designed to increase the productivity of your sales team. It incorporates advanced tools that automate crucial stages of the sales cycle, including gathering and nurturing leads, contact management, and managing the sales pipeline.

One of Freshsales’ prominent features is Freddy AI, an advanced technology that offers insights on scoring leads, identifying potential deals, and determining which deals have the highest closing potential based on deal activities, such as engagements. With such an intuitive tool, sales teams will know which deals need to be prioritized to improve sales performance.

Freshsales

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Freshales is also equipped with easy-to-use tools that make contact and pipeline management more efficient. These tools enable the sales team to create detailed profiles of qualified contacts. These details include a complete timeline of activities each contact has been involved in, giving the sales team a complete view of each contact’s status in the sales pipeline. Freshsales also enables sales reps to create filters that can help them segment their contacts according to behaviors and activities. Furthermore, sales teams can create workflows based on daily, weekly, and even monthly activities to make sure that everyone in the sales team is aware of their goals.

A CRM tool that strongly supports optimizing productivity, Freshsales offers a full-featured mobile app, which enables sales reps and other members of the sales team to remain up-to-date on their tasks and contacts even while on the road.

8. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is an award-winning CRM solution that offers SMBs and large enterprises free and reasonably priced packages. A full-featured CRM software, Zoho CRM reinforces the foundation of your lead and contact management, sales pipeline management, and control of purchase by providing you with powerful tools to streamline these core business processes. Using Zoho CRM’s automation capabilities, your teams can improve their efficiency as they no longer have to spend time on time-consuming and repetitive tasks and focus instead on building a good relationship with your customers.

Aside from its powerful automation functions, Zoho CRM also offers robust customization tools. Zoho CRM’s customization function applies to the overall solution—this means Zoho CRM is flexible enough for you to modify it according to how your business operates. You can create templates for various processes, account settings, and more. Also, you can build advanced business logic using Zoho CRM’s low-code scripting function. Furthermore, Zoho CRM has a journey orchestration feature, which allows you to customize customer journeys.

Zoho CRM

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What makes Zoho CRM even more ideal lies in its capability to adapt to drastic changes and help businesses do the same. As part of its latest development, Zoho CRM launched the Remote Sales Office feature. This is an add-on that comes equipped with Cliq, Meeting, and ShowTime to help your sales team continue communicating seamlessly with customers and prospects while working from home. Moreover, Zoho CRM also has a dedicated application that supports iOS and Android devices, which gives you and your teams more mobility. When it comes to integrations, Zoho CRM can be integrated with over 400 third-party applications such as Google G Suite, Slack, Panda Doc, PayPal, HubSpot, and more.

In terms of cost, Zoho CRM is available for free, with paid plans that start at $18/month for every user.

9. Zendesk Sell

Formerly known as Base CRM, Zendesk Sell is designed for B2B and B2C industries’ sales teams. It comes equipped with a robust set of tools that enable sales professionals to have clear pipeline visibility, generate high-value leads, effectively manage contacts or customers, as well as gain actionable sales insights through the platform’s full-funnel analytics.

Generating high-value leads while lessening the burden on sales teams is one of Zendesk Sell’s strong points. This is made possible by automating contact and lead scoring to enable the sales representatives to identify which lead they need to focus on. Zendesk Sells also ensures that sales professionals have a complete view of each contact’s profile and history of activities.

Pipeline visibility is another area where Zendesk Sell excels. The platform provides sales teams and sales professionals with an intuitive interface that enables them to access prebuilt reports that give them insights into the sales and deal trends, as well as conversion estimates. Furthermore, as a powerful CRM solution, Zendesk Sell ensures accessibility and convenience with its cloud-based platform and mobile app.

10. Kommo

Last on our list is Kommo, formerly amoCRM. The platform is billed as the world’s first messaging-powered CRM tool. It allows users to engage clients on popular messaging tools like Facebook Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp, Instagram, WeChat, and Viber, among others.  With these, companies will be able to communicate on any messenger app that their customers prefer. Kommo supports other communication methods such as phone and email. The solution provides a unified inbox for every conversation. This way, customer service representatives will consistently be communicating with the right context.

Another key feature is Kommo’s Salesbot. This is an AI chatbot with a natural language processing enhancement. It is smart enough to detect client intentions and identify leads. It can respond with custom templates according to your workflow design. Speaking of workflow design, Kommo provides you with a visual no-code chatbot builder. It allows you to set up your own logic trees and auto-actions. The builder allows you to gather data, send files and media, and many more. With the centralized inbox, users can easily ask for help, notify a colleague, ask a colleague to join a conversation, and many more.

Kommo also has a Digital Pipeline feature. You can use this to automate lead nurture activities such as showing ads and trigger actions like sending an invoice. As with other top platforms, the product provides real-time reports that you can use to gauge performance and optimize your processes. With this, you can easily build data-driven strategies. Additionally, you can access the platform via its full-featured mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. You can integrate it seamlessly with other tools including QuickBooks, MailChimp, and Stripe among many others.  Lastly, pricing starts at $15 per user per month.

Supercharge Your Sales Team and Processes with CRM Tools

CRM platforms have become even more relevant, given today’s business landscape as companies are compelled to work through the pandemic to stay afloat. One of the foremost concerns of business is maintaining contact with one’s clientele, and this is made possible by picking a highly functional CRM software. In doing so, you have several avenues, through which you can communicate with your customer base, to leverage.

With ecommerce gaining more ground due to the pandemic lockdowns, you can drive your previous physical traffic to your digital store and social media accounts through your CRM platform. In addition, you can monitor every conversation and track changes in customer requests, keeping you on top of your clientele’s best interests. An effective multifunctional tool like Hubspot CRM and the others on this list let you do all that and more.

In case you’re still having trouble making a decision, you can look at the current CRM trends like IoT and voice tech and see how these developments can be used for your operations.

By Adam Goldberg

Adam Goldberg is a senior market research analyst and one of the key customer experience technology and CRM pioneers working for the FinancesOnline review team. He has been cooperating with FinancesOnline for over 5 years now. During that time Andrew has analyzed more than 2,000 CRM solutions and he’s well-known for his honest reviews and his unique perspective on challenges and opportunities posed by customer-centric innovation. He’s a strong believer in business process automation and the role it plays in customer data management, conversational intelligence, and customer engagement. His work has been mentioned in many major publications and media sites, including MSN, Springer, TheNextWeb, and CIO.