Updated on 27 November 2023

Best CRM Software

Want to use the best CRM software platforms but don’t know where to start? If so, read on to learn everything you need to know about them!

The Logician

Trademark of a Living Legend

Updated on 27 November 2023

The Absolute Best CRM Software Platforms for Your Business

Owning a business is not a task that you can take lightly. There are dozens of elements to consider, hundreds of things to do, and even more stuff that require your undivided attention. And one of those things is your relationship with customers, both existing and potential ones.

Customer relationships are a key element of every successful business, which is why so many prominent companies pay extra attention and go the extra mile to ensure that they have sound relationships with customers. One way they do this is by using CRM software platforms.

Not only are CRM software platforms one of the ways that businesses handle customer relationships, but they are also one of the most effective tools to do so.

In this article, I will tell you all about CRM software, including what it is, what it offers, the technology behind it, who benefits from it most, the challenges and advantages you’ll face by using it, and much more. So, by the end, you’ll be well-versed in the workings of CRM software, and you’ll know if you need it. Let’s dig in!

What Are CRM Software Platforms?

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software platforms are robust tools made with one purpose – to help businesses manage their interactions and relationships with current and potential customers.

These platforms provide you with a central place where you can store customer data, track your interactions with customers, and share this information within your company.

So, with a CRM software platform, you’ll get all the information you need to keep your relationships with customers active. Also, these platforms provide you with automation tools and great management features that allow you to make your relationships even better and use them to grow your business further.

Note

Some CRM software platforms also come with features like sales forecasting, email integration, and lead management.

In addition, you can use a CRM software platform to understand what customers want and then offer it to them, effectively boosting customer satisfaction and sales. CRM software platforms can serve all kinds of businesses, from retail and finance to healthcare and technology, as they help streamline operations and improve customer loyalty.

Types of CRM Software Platforms

CRM software platforms have come a long way since they first showed up on the market. Nowadays, most CRM tools offer a wide set of features that can help you complete all kinds of tasks and not just manage customer relationships. However, there are still many that serve more specific purposes. I’ll go through them all below.

Operational CRM

Operational CRM software platforms focus on streamlining various business processes, like marketing, sales, and customer service. With this type of tool, you’ll get tools for automating your day-to-day tasks, enhancing customer interactions, and managing leads.

Tip

Operation CRM is best for those who need help organizing their daily operations and making their day-to-day processes more efficient and productive.

Analytical CRM

This type of CRM focuses on analyzing customer data so that it can give you insights into customer behavior, preferences, and trends. It’s great for improving your overall sales strategy, engaging in personalized marketing, and boosting customer satisfaction.

Tip

Analytical CRM is best for companies that have been experiencing decreases in sales and need to find a way to get people to buy from them again.

Collaborative CRM

Collaborative CRM software platforms emphasize communication and collaboration between different departments of a company. It ensures that all your employees have access to the same customer data and that they have reliable and fast methods for coordination and communication.

Tip

Collaborative CRM is best for companies who have trouble setting up a fast and efficient communication channel for their employees.

Strategic CRM

Strategic CRM encompasses the long-term planning and implementation of CRM efforts to create a business strategy that puts your customers first. Namely, it helps you create an operation process that makes sure your customers are your top priority. With such a CRM, you can enhance customer loyalty and increase customer lifetime value greatly.

Tip

Strategic CRM is best for companies that want to establish a competitive advantage in the market by providing stellar customer experiences.

Sales Force Automation (SFA) CRM

SFA CRM software platforms focus entirely on sales-related activities. They automate various sales tasks, including lead management, opportunity tracking, sales forecasting, and performance analysis. This type of CRM helps you optimize your sales process and improve its efficiency.

Tip

SFA CRM is best for companies that want to boost sales as much and as soon as possible.

Marketing CRM

Marketing CRM software platforms automate marketing activities and help you build and track marketing campaigns. With such a platform, you can automate your email marketing, lead nurturing, and social media management strategies. Also, you can create targeted marketing campaigns and boost the effectiveness of your overall marketing efforts.

Tip

Marketing CRM is best for those who want to improve their marketing strategies and make their marketing efforts more streamlined by automating various tasks.

Customer Service CRM

Customer service CRMs focus on managing customer complaints, questions, and support tickets. They include features like live chats, ticketing systems, knowledge bases, and self-service portals and allow you to enhance your customer support system significantly.

Tip

Customer service CRM is ideal for companies that are looking to improve their customer support.

Mobile CRM

Mobile CRM software platforms are designed for smartphones and tablets. They allow you and your employees to access customer data, update information, and collaborate with other team members on the go. In other words, they enable field-based employees to have access to all the information they need, no matter where they are.

Tip

Mobile CRM is best for companies that have many field-based employees who are constantly on the go and don’t always have access to computers.

Of course, you don’t have to choose a CRM that can only serve one purpose, as there are many options out there that offer a mix of the above-mentioned services.

The Technology Behind CRMs

A few types of technology lay the foundations of CRM systems. You can learn more about three of them in the following sections.

CRM Software

The software that CRM tools use lumps all your customer information in one place, enabling you to have easy access to it at all times. Usually, CRMs collect information like contact data, previous contact histories between you and your customers, and purchase history.

Then, they put all that data in comprehensive reports, which you can download and use however you like.

These reports help you see how your employees interact with customers and allow you to anticipate customer needs. How? Well, for example, the reports allow you to notice what customers ask the most.

Let’s say that they constantly ask about shipping updates. In this case, you’ll be able to meet this specific need by allowing customers to track shipping in real time.

The main goal of CRM software is to make customer interactions more efficient and productive. They do this by helping you anticipate needs but also allowing you to automate tasks and reduce the time it takes for customers to fulfill a request.

Cloud-Based CRM

Cloud-based CRM software platforms allow you to see real-time data no matter where you’re at. Also, they make accessing the data convenient, as they enable you to do so via computers, phones, tablets, and laptops. Thus, they boost accessibility and productivity.

However, there is a downside to these systems. Namely, if you use a cloud-based CRM platform and you go out of business, the customer data that you’ve acquired over the years can become compromised. Another downside is that these types of CRM platforms usually cost more than in-house programs.

Important

Cloud-based CRMs can also cause problems during mergers as they might not be compatible with the systems that the other party uses. And if that’s the case, it will be hard to merge the data of both parties into one comprehensive system.

AI-Powered CRM

As AI (Artificial Intelligence) evolves, more and more people are implementing it into their CRM platforms. Industry analysts expect that AI will boost the effectiveness and quality of CRM software platforms greatly in the near future.

That’s because it has the ability to enhance the speed of sales cycles, lower the costs of support calls, automate even more tasks, and prevent loss through fraud detection. However, as of now, the fusion between AI and CRM is in its early stages but is expected to develop at fast speeds.

The Most Common Features You Can Expect from CRM Software Platforms

Every CRM tool you find will come with its own set of features and services. However, most of them have a select few in common, including the following:

Account and Contact Management: Comprehensive account and contact management is a core CRM function that most tools are equipped with. Contact management allows you to sort contacts by the accounts they’re related to, allowing you to obtain key information like email addresses and phone numbers. So, if someone wants to contact a person working in a specific department in your company, they can easily do so by referencing the contacts associated with the account.
Opportunity Management: Opportunity management allows you and your employees to track a sales prospect through its various stages, take notes on customer needs, forecast the likelihood of closing the prospect, and track prospect quotes. As the sales prospect goes through the sales stages, you can assign a percentage chance to the deal closing and mark if the sale has a risk of falling through. If a sale is marked with a high percentage of falling through, the salespeople at your company will be notified through the CRM platform and will be able to try closing the deal and addressing customer concerns so that the deal is successful in the end.

Note

Opportunity management doesn’t always have to be about sales. It can also help you manage potential clients.

Lead Management: Lead management features can help you boost sales and increase your company’s revenue. The lead management section of CRM platforms usually works like this: first, a lead is found and filtered into the system; then, the CRM will store the lead’s contact information and provide additional features that will help you pursue the lead. What’s best about this is that CRMs can filter leads from all kinds of sources, including events, online visitors, forms, etc. Also, they can filter important demographics and show you critical information about sales prospects, such as job titles, company revenue, size, etc. This will help you to filter out leads that aren’t worth pursuing with ease.
Sales Analytics Dashboards: Most CRMs come with straightforward dashboards that display a wide range of analytics for sales departments. Typically, they show historical sales data that can help you see which sales activities lead to closing deals. Some of that historical data includes profitability analysis, customer segmentation, team performance, and more.

Difficulties with CRM Software Platforms

Whether or not you face challenges with your CRM software platforms depends a lot on how familiar you are with using it, as well as on your overall technical skills.

Some of the most common issues that people have faced with CRM platforms have to do with the overwhelming amount of features they offer, as well as keeping information up to date and adapting from one platform to another.

Let’s start with the most common challenge – the overwhelming amount of features. Namely, most CRMs come packed with features that serve a multitude of purposes.

This can be overwhelming for many people, especially those who don’t know how CRMs work yet. Most companies solve this problem by simply ignoring the features they don’t need and focusing on mastering the ones they do.

For instance, the majority of people who use CRMs solely focus on opportunity management and contact management features. However, I feel that that’s a shame since CRMs can give you much more than better customer relationships. And since you’re already paying for the whole package, it would be a waste if you don’t try to use everything that your CRM offers.

So, my advice for overcoming this challenge is to either find video tutorials or knowledge bases that can help you learn about all the features that your CRM offers or find an expert who can hold a few classes and teach you and your employees everything you need to know.

Another common issue that users have with CRMs is keeping information up to date. This is especially difficult when contacts change emails, jobs, companies, or even phone numbers. So, the best way to face this issue head-on is to perform periodic cleanings of your CRM.

Lastly, there’s the problem of hiring people who have previously worked with a different CRM software platform than the one you use.

As I mentioned, CRMs come with a wide range of features that you and your employees have to figure out in order to use them effectively. Some employees might want to keep doing things as they did before, which won’t work if they are used to a tool different from yours.

So, the best thing to do here is to train a few people to show new employees the ropes and guide them in using your CRM.

Implementing CRM Software

According to various reports, most companies manage to implement and go live with their CRM software in less than a month. So, you can probably guess that implementing CRM software can be a challenging process, so it’s best that you task a team of competent employees to see the whole thing through.

The whole process can be broken down into several steps, and you can learn what each step entails below.

Step 1: Assessment and Planning

Needs Assessment: The first thing you need to do to kickstart the CRM implementation process is to identify the specific requirements of your business. Here, you need to understand what you want to achieve with your CRM, whether it’s increasing sales, improving customer services, managing and enhancing your relationship with customers, etc.
Goal Setting: Next, you need to set clear, achievable, and measurable goals for the CRM implementation. Define what success looks like for you and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that can help you track your success.

Tip

The most commonly used KPIs to track performance include renewal rates, MRR, ARR, net new revenue per month, churn rate, customer lifetime value, and customer acquisition cost.

Step 2: Choosing the Right CRM Software Platform

Research: In order to choose the right CRM software platform for your business, you need to explore different CRM options that meet your requirements and budget. I’ll show you how to do this in more detail below.
Customization: Make sure to choose a CRM that allows you to customize your settings and align them with your processes and workflows. Also, ensure that the platform can be integrated with third-party tools and systems.

Step 3: Data Migration and Cleanup

Data Assessment: Once you choose a CRM platform, you must evaluate your existing customer data and cleanse it to eliminate duplicates, outdated information, and errors.
Data Migration: Now that your data is in good order, you need to migrate it to the CRM platform that you chose. The migration process differs from tool to tool, but most CRMs have detailed tutorials on how you can migrate your data without issues.

Step 4: Training and Adoption

Training Programs: Once all your data is transferred into the CRM, it’s time to teach your employees how to use it. You can hold training courses and provide additional resources to your employees so that they learn.
Adoption: Give your employees a few days to learn the theoretical aspects of the CRM. Then, encourage them to start using it and address any questions or issues they might have. Using the CRM will be the best and fastest way for you and your employees to learn.

Tip

You can also hire a person who’s well-versed in the ins and outs of your chosen CRM to hold a few training sessions at your company or even online.

Step 5: Testing and Feedback

Testing: Conduct extensive testing to ensure that the CRM software platform is functioning correctly. This will also allow you to fix any bugs or issues quickly.
Feedback: Ask your employees about their experience so far with the CRM. Address their concerns and make adjustments if needed.

Step 6: Data Security and Compliance

Security: Implement security measures like encryption and access controls and do regular security audits to ensure that your customer data is protected.
Compliance: Ensure that your CRM system complies with all the relevant data protection regulations.

Step 7: Launch and Continuous Improvement

Launch: Once your employees have been trained and the platform has been tested, you can launch it across your company.
Continuous Improvement: Monitor CRM usage and track how the implementation is going. You can use monitoring tools to do this and also get feedback from employees to gauge if the platform needs further improvements.

Who Needs CRM Software?

The largest user base when it comes to CRM software platforms is definitely B2B companies. However, CRMs can help many other types of users, including the following:

Sales Teams: CRMs are excellent sales tools as they provide sales reps and managers with the information they need throughout the whole sales process. One of the most useful tools that CRMs offer to sales reps is a 360-degree view of potential customers, including their personal information, preferences, needs, and more. This tool allows salespeople to make smarter selling decisions and close sales much more easily.

Note

Sales managers can also benefit greatly from CRMs as, via a CRM, they can monitor and track their team members and see who’s hitting goals and who’s not.

Business Development Teams: Business development reps can use CRMs to start their negotiations and interactions with prospects and record everything they’ve discussed with them in the CRM. Then, they can use the recorded data to create a profile and hand over the prospect to a sales rep.
Marketing Teams: CRM platforms can help marketing teams keep up with everything that the sales teams are doing and adjust their campaigns accordingly to help out their colleagues in sales. Also, CRMs allow marketers to segment targets and pass over leads to the sales team.
Customer Service Teams: As you know, CRMs can help you provide better customer support and enhance your relationships with customers. Thus, customer service teams can use CRMs to track their interactions, see which issues and questions customers usually have, determine who should follow up with the customer if need be, and more.

How to Choose the Right CRM Software Platform

When you’re choosing a CRM software platform, you must take into account the following features and services so that you can make sure that you pick the right option:

Your Requirements: Your needs and requirements are by far the most important elements to consider when choosing a CRM software platform. So, take your time to list everything you need from a CRM and determine what you need it for – is it for improving communication with customers, enhancing customer service, boosting sales, etc?
Must-Have Features: Some of the must-have features that your CRM needs to offer include contact management, sales pipeline visualization, marketing capabilities, visual dashboards, reporting, sales automation, email marketing automation, and integration.
Ease Of Use: Make sure that the CRM you choose offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface. That way, your employees will be able to learn how to use it much quicker, and using the platform will be easier for them.
Price: Finding a CRM that’s within your budget is essential. Also, finding one that offers a free trial is great, as you’ll be able to try it out without wasting money and see if it’s the right fit for you.
Scalability: Your CRM should be able to grow along with your business. To find such a CRM, look for a platform that allows you to increase the volume of data and users whenever you want without compromising your performance.
Customization: Make sure your CRM allows you to customize your platform. This will allow you to set up the software in a way that matches your processes so that your workflows remain intact.
Integration: Ensure that the CRM integrates seamlessly with other tools that your company uses, such as accounting software, email marketing tools, and customer support apps. Also, check if the CRM provides API access, as this will allow you to add custom integrations and third-party apps to your system.

Best Email Marketing Tools

Email marketing can be very effective if done right. To do it right, you can use one of the email marketing tools mentioned in this article!
READ THE FULL GUIDE

2.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact

1.

Ongage

Ongage

3.

MailerLite

MailerLite

READ THE FULL GUIDE

Mobile Accessibility: Mobile accessibility will allow you and your employees to access customer data and manage tasks from anywhere in the world, which will, in turn, enhance your overall productivity. This is especially important for companies that have employees in the field in addition to the office.
Customer Support: Getting a CRM that offers reliable and reachable customer support is essential as it’ll help you with training your employees and fixing any issues you might have.

Top Features to Look for In a CRM - The Logician’s Insights

Before we wrap this deep dive into CRM software platforms, I’ll share some of the features that I’ve found to be most helpful when using CRMs. You can take these into consideration as well when you’re choosing a CRM for your business.

Reporting Features: Reporting features will help you improve your sales, marketing, and other strategies and make them more effective. Some of the features to look out for in this case include forecasting capabilities, pipeline analysis, activity reporting, performance metrics, and advanced analytics.
Productivity Features: Some of the features that will help you boost your team productivity include email integrations, sales engagement tools, smart contact lists, call, text, power dialers, bulk outreach, sales triggers, and task players.
Training Resources: Training resources will be extremely helpful to you when you’re teaching your employees how to use the CRM. So, look for a platform that offers tutorials, webinars, and written documentation like how-to articles and guides.
Free Trial: Free trials are super useful as they allow you to try out a CRM without spending any money. They allow you to see if the CRM is the right solution for you before you commit.
Mobile App: A native mobile app will allow you to always stay on top of things no matter where you’re at. So, finding a CRM that offers one will be a big plus for you.

Conclusion

All in all, CRM software platforms can help you in many ways, whether it’s to improve your relationship with customers, boost sales, create a more productive sales pipeline, or enhance your customer service. As you can see, CRMs can be used for a wide range of purposes, and you can even get ones that are more tailored if you want to.

But remember, no matter which CRM tool you use, make sure to take your time implementing it because it won’t be as effective if you set it up wrong.

Frequently Asked Questions

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is a tool that helps companies manage and analyze customer interactions and data. It provides a central platform where you can find all the information you need about your customers. Also, it allows you to do a wide range of tasks, such as sales automation, marketing automation, customer service processes, tracking leads, managing contacts, forecasting sales, and more.

One of the reasons why you should use a CRM software platform is to keep track of your contacts and give a better, more streamlined communication line to your employees. Also, you should use it because it can help you improve your customer service and experience, which, more often than not, results in increases in sales.

A wide range of employees can use CRM software platforms, but the ones who do so the most include sales, marketing, billing, and customer service teams. You can use a CRM platform in virtually all departments of your company, whether it’s HR, finance, operations, sales, IT, or anything else in between.

Implementing a CRM software platform can take some time, as it involves choosing a suitable option, installing it to your servers, training your employees to use it, running tests to see if it works right, and lastly, launching it officially.

There are quite a few types of CRM software platforms that you can use. However, the three main ones include collaborative, analytical, and operational CRM software platforms.

Some of the best CRM software systems include Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Insightly, Zoho, Monday, Zendesk, and Workbooks.

CRM software platforms start at around $12 per user per month, which is the price offered to small businesses. As for larger companies, they can cost anywhere between $50 to $150 per user per month, while more powerful plans can start at $300 per user per month and go well above $1,500 per user per month.

Yes, you can set up a CRM system for free. There are many free options to choose from, and most of them offer a good set of features that will help you manage a small business with ease.

A CRM ticketing system is a type of help desk tool that’s built into the CRM and allows you to offer support tickets to customers. With this system, you can boost your overall customer support and help customers with whatever issues and questions they have.

To use your CRM software platform successfully, you need to add all your existing data to it, add your employees, customize your settings to fit with your workflows, set up your dashboard, enable reports, and launch it on all your employees’ devices.

The Logician

Trademark of a Living Legend

Find Your Fellow Associates

Support means everything, especially in the digital world. Expand your network and extend your knowledge - make sure to join the association!

Discover My Association

Best CRM Software

The Logician

$25/month

$25/month

$25/month

$0/month

$0/month

$0/month

$55/month

$55/month

$55/month

$9.9/month

$9.9/month

$9.9/month

Frequently Asked Questions

The Logician

Find Your Fellow Associates

Best CRM Software

The Logician

$25/month

$25/month

$25/month

$0/month

$0/month

$0/month

$55/month

$55/month

$55/month

$9.9/month

$9.9/month

$9.9/month

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is CRM Software?

Why Should I Use a CRM Software Platform?

Which Employees Use CRM Software Platforms?

How Do I Implement a CRM Software Platform for My Business?

What Types of CRM Software Platforms Are There?

Which Are the Best CRM Software Systems?

How Much Does a CRM Software Platform Cost?

Can I Set up a CRM System for Free?

What Is a CRM Ticketing System?

How to Use CRM Software?

The Logician

Find Your Fellow Associates