CRM software is vital to the survival of every modern-day business; from your huge multi-national corporations to the tiny garage-based start-up companies. Customer relations management software allows businesses to focus on the important aspects of customer interaction and streamline their processes. It is my hope that this has allowed you to understand a bit more about CRM and decide which software option is for you.
What is CRM?
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. Customer relations software of any kind helps a business to develop and continue its relationships with its consumers. The software aims to help an organization enhance the efficiency of its customer relations and improve customer satisfaction. Customers are an essential part of any organization, and in this day and age it is almost impossible to know all of your customers by name; especially if the business has millions of customers. Though CRM Software helps a business get to know its customers in the first place; it also assists a business in maintaining relationships with them.
Advantages of CRM Software
CRM software is essential for any sized business because it will increase efficiency and eventually overall revenue. There are six main benefits of best CRM Software in relation to a small business’ operation.
Improved Organization of Information
The more data that a business holds on its customers, the more it can tailor its products and services to their wants and needs, which will increase customer satisfaction and overall revenue. All customer data, including all interactions and information should be stored and analyzed, and can be through CRM software. CRM software ties together, sorts, and organizes different departments; allowing all employees to access the necessary information.
Enhanced Communication Capability
CRM assists businesses in improving communication with customers through increasing the company’s knowledge of the customer’s wants and needs. It streamlines communication and means that there is reduction of the possibility that the customer’s time will be wasted with repetition, mistakes, and bog-standard interactions. CRM’s cloud-based software means that all employees have access to the necessary data in order to be able to help each individual with whatever they need. Overall, the software improves and streamlines the customer interaction experience and increases overall customer contentment with the business.
Improved Overall Customer Service
In this day and age, customers have become increasingly impatient, and are used to getting what they want immediately. So, for any business, time is a crucial factor, which is tied up in a company’s level of organization. CRM provides an unprecedented level of organisation for a company. Due to the availability of data to all employees and the streamlining of information that CRM provides, it becomes more straightforward and thus quicker to resolve any issue or situation that may arise. When a customer is pleased with the outcome and timeframe of a company’s handling of their business, their likelihood of remaining with the business is increased, as well as their positive impression which will lead to positive word of mouth.
Automation
CRM software includes an increased amount of automated tools and processes which refocuses employees within a business. If a computer is able to do the standard menial work such as document scanning, data analysis, and other non-customer-facing tasks; it means that employees have both more time and energy to spend interacting with customers and improving the consumer experience. This will not only increase the efficiency and productivity of employees, but their quality of work will hopefully increase in tandem. CRM software was created with the mind to allow a team to focus primarily on the customer, while the software does the actual grunt work.
Increase Efficiency
CRM stores all data in one singular place; from email and call records to sensitive data and protected information. So, it is straightforward to access these resources and make schedules according to them. It allows different departments to work simultaneously on other projects. When employees have the necessary access to customer data, efficiency is increased. Research and development can also use the collected information to analyse customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction; allowing the company to make the needed changes and improvements to optimise the customer experience.
Better Analytical Data
Though data itself has intrinsic value, miscalculation or misuse of this data is a recipe for disaster. CRM software is high-tech and extremely analytical in its processes, which will help the business to ensure that its data is analyzed properly. If a company analyses its data in a way that is wrong, not applicable to the situation, or uses the data in a way they are not supposed to; the analysis could land them in hot water. CRM software does a very thorough job of ensuring that this will not occur.
Top 11 Best CRM Software in 2024
Though the benefits of CRM software for small businesses are absolutely apparent, there are so many options available to choose between. Though there are hundreds of options out there for your small business, we have narrowed it down to what we believe are the ten best available options to choose from when deciding which CRM software to choose from.
1. Monday.com
The best CRM software that we will be looking at comes from Monday.com. Monday’s software allows a business to view and analyze all of the data it possesses; from communications all the way to processes. Monday’s software is well-known for having solid firewalls, including protection and encryption, to protect your company’s most valuable asset; the data it possesses.
There are four available versions of Monday’s software. The basic version is available at (USD) $17 per month, the standard version is $26 per month, and ‘Pro’ is $39 per month, or the Enterprise version is also available. If you are not 100% sold on their software, Monday.com allows a free trial for you to see what they are all about.
The dashboard allows a customizable feature, meaning you can tailor your software to your company’s needs when viewing stats of sales, performance, and processes; also allowing you to set employee’s daily tasks, reminders for follow-ups, and notifications.
2. User.com
Our second CRM option, ‘User.com’ allows a business to operate efficiently with little actual effort. The platform allows you to connect all sales and customer interaction data in one platform and craft its processes to your business’ needs. This platform allows you to build relationships with customers more efficiently.
Similarly to Monday.com, there are four options available for your business; but however, is much pricier than our first option. The free version has limited functions; but the personal interpretation is $49 per month. The business version at &249 per month (which I would recommend), and the Premium version starts at $1349.
User.com allows you to automate your work schedules and your interactions with customers, using features such as Live Chat and Chatbot.
3. Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is probably the most well-known and widey sed CRM software available at the moment. Its dynamics for marketing, sales and customer services stand out; and the Microsoft name does it well too. The ease of use and functionality, including its tendency towards automation has made it a popular choice for many business owners.
The software enables businesses to streamline and organize employee work and their interactions with customers. Customer service is the main focus and clear benefit of this CRM platform; also allowing a large range of customizability for the user.
Price wise, it is in the mid-range; the customer engagement plan starting at $115 and Dynamic 365 at $210 per month, with other add-ons available if required.
4. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is a popular software for smaller businesses with less available capital. The software contains fast mechanisms and streamlined working capabilities; and a lot of the useful features are available free, which makes it an affordable and attractive option.
Though its price is attractive, HubSpot is a fairly simple tool that will not contain as many features as the previously mentioned three software. However, HubSpot is a fast, reliable, and customizable CRM tool; able to withstand both internal and external attacks. Unlike many of its rivals, HubSpot’s free actually has many helpful features; and its price is much easier to swallow than some of its counterparts, ranging from $50 at its most basic to $2400 at its ‘Enterprise’ level.
5. SalesFlare
SalesFlare often used by start-ups and smaller companies. Differently from some of its rivals, it allows data to be collected from social media as well as call recordings and company databases. SalesFlare is relatively straightforward to use and easy on the less-technologically savvy. You can use this software on many different platforms and integrate it with different tools; all while maintaining a steady level of automation.
This CRM software allows a 14 day free trial like some of its rivals, and is on the cheaper end of the scale, at $30-35 per month dependent on the plan you choose.
6. Salesforce CRM
Salesforce CRM is a world-renowned and trusted cloud-centric CRM software. This software is used by massive companies, but also by simple, small start-ups. This tool has been praised for its ease of use, and the features it contains at its easy-to-swallow price.
This platform allows a company to wrap their head around customer wants and needs; including how to retain their business through its data analysis. It is in my opinion, the ultimate solution for selling, customer service, and marketing in any business.
Open-source Salesforce CRM is actually free of cost, but it lacks some of the more developed features. The Lightening Essentials plan is only $25, increasing with your company’s needs. The cheaper price with still outstanding features has made it one of the most popular CRM software in the 21st Century.
7. SugarCRM
Though SugarCRM is not a leader of industry quite yet, it is a growing competitor. SugarCRM allows thousands of businesses to juggle sales and marketing management in one platform. Similarly to some other CRM software, open-source CRM tool is free of charge, and the professional plan, starts at a reasonable $40 a month.
SugarCRM provides automated processes for compliance and other activity, as well as integration with other tools. SugarCRM provides internal support and marketing tools to help businesses optimize the use of their software.
8. SAP CRM
SAP CRM is another famous CRM tool available to support small businesses. This software has been developed to shape and improve customer interaction and increase customer engagement. It can be combined and integrated with other productivity tools like many of its rival softwares.
SAP presents an impressive automated process concerning data analysis and sales reports, as well as presenting your business with the ability to track communication, data, and emails with their CRM software. Its advanced analyzing processes have made it stand out as an interesting new option in the CRM world.
9. Zoho CRM
Zoho is a well-known cloud-based software. Though this software is used by large multi-national companies, it can also be utilized by start-ups and small businesses as well. Zoho’s operational functionality is pretty advanced and useful when it comes to managing and analyzing data, including compliance assistance.
Zoho’s standard plan is available at just $12, professional at $20, and Enterprise at $35 per month, making it one of the more affordable options in the CRM range, with 15 years of experience in the industry.
It provides sales automation to manage contacts, leads, accounts, and deals from workflows and macros. Making it stand out is its AI assistant, Zia; which helps users in navigating the software. Zoho also have their own mobile app.
10. Nimble CRM
Nimble CRM is a Customer Relationship management programme with longevity on their side, similarly to Zoho. Nimble gives businesses a quick and easy system (particularly catering to those not as used to CRM) to stabilize and develop customer interaction and relationships.
Nimble Contact is available for $9 per month, and the larger plan is $100 to $500 per month, depending on your business’ needs. Nimble CRM is a streamlined and technophobe-friendly program which allows you to collect and analyze customer data.
11. Kapture CRM
Kapture CRM, a customer support automation platform, helps businesses deliver exceptional customer experience (CX) across industries, through its state-of-the-art prototype and a simple UI, further backed by intelligent machine learning.
Customizable as per business needs, the CRM solution is trained on the basis of historical data i.e. it helps businesses provide feasible automated responses to their queries.
Kapture pursues seamless integrations with platforms – ERP, Shopify, WooCommerce, Unicommerce, Magento & Logistics Partners as well as deep integrations with cloud telephony sources – Knowlarity, Ozonetel, Exotel and others.
The omnichannel support platform comes with a self-serve portal, live chat feature and the liberty to customize dashboards. Kapture also has a massive knowledge base – the Knowledge Management System (KMS) and Learning Management System (LMS), using which discussion forums for generic queries can be set up and FAQ portals generated.
With an average implementation duration of 45 days, the company allots a dedicated account manager to serve requests 24/7.
Conclusion
There are hundreds of different software technologies available to businesses when assessing their need for best CRM software. Before the internet, businesses would use handwritten communication and rolodexes to keep a track of customers, but as businesses grew, these became outdated and replaced with online technologies. CRM software also connects different departments within a business and helps to organize the information that they hold.
