What Is The Best CRM Software For Small Business In 2021?

What is Small Business CRM Software?

CRM Software for small business is a tool that enables you to manage customer interactions and support. Basically, it helps you keep track of the contact details, preferences, and other useful information of present and prospective customers.

CRM tools can help you understand your customers and boost your sales through lead scoring. Research shows that 90% of startups fail because they focus more on product development than on customer relationships.

Therefore, small businesses need to implement this tool to achieve success.

If you still need to be convinced further on why CRM is essential for your small business, keep reading. This article will share some of the best CRM tools for small businesses on the market and tips for choosing the best one matched to your business.

Why is it Important for Small Businesses to Use a CRM?

With the ever-increasing market competition, excellent customer interaction and immediate support can give your business an edge over your competitors. By integrating a quality CRM into your small business, your customers are more likely to receive a better level of service and satisfaction.

In addition, businesses that want to improve their sales performance will significantly benefit from a CRM solution. This is because CRM solutions can help streamline the business workflow, allowing you to utilize your time more efficiently and increasing your small business productivity.

For example, integrating a CRM solution in your business operations can automate filling customer profiles with data. Rather than switching between two programs to execute the process, CRM software can do so automatically, leaving employees free to work on other tasks, such as spending more time with customers.

Optimizing the system can help everyone in your company’s sales pipeline reach their targets more quickly, leading to more closed deals and overall improved sales performance.

Another benefit of implementing CRM for small businesses is that it lets you capture more leads. Other than this, you can use CRM software to keep track of your leads throughout the sales process, allowing you to create more personalized marketing campaigns that can lead to more closed deals for your sales department.

What Makes an Ideal Small Business CRM?

If you are a small business or startup, you are probably wondering what makes a good CRM. Well, the best CRM for small businesses needs to be cost-effective. Since you are still growing your business, you want a solution that will not break the bank but can even offer your business’s most essential features.

User experience is also vital for any small business CRM. You cannot implement the software if you can’t use it. Something else that we believe is important is integration. Your CRM software of choice should be compatible with most tools and services, especially those you are currently using.

What to Look for in a CRM?

With so many CRM software products on the market, finding the one best matched to your small business can be overwhelming. To help identify the best CRM solution for small businesses, we took time to research and studied companies that have implemented them.

Overall, the most critical features that stood out for most of them include cost, usability, integration, and customizability. Below are features that you should look out for when choosing CRM software.

Workflow Automation

Having workflow automated software means a streamlined workload in your business. This just means that with sales CRM software, you can automate several actions within the program to optimize your workflow system.

For example, it can automate sending messages to your sales team whenever a potential client fills out the company’s online form. Because of this, workflow automation is a feature you should consider in your CRM software.

Reporting

A good small business CRM program should have the reporting feature, which can help define your marketing and sales data more clearly.

This feature can help analyze and understand how well your marketing campaign is faring by showing you several metrics like leads, sales, outbound calls, and others.

However, this will depend on the software’s available reporting capability, so you also need to consider that when choosing a CRM software solution for your business.

Customer Data Management

Customer Data Management is another feature you should look for in your CRM software. Customer data management allows the organization of customer data more effectively.

This feature can be helpful if you’re looking for ways to understand better your target customers and how you can address their specific needs. This is particularly important if you’re making customer-centric decisions for your business.

Ease of Use

Its ease of use is another crucial factor to consider when choosing a CRM for small business. This is particularly crucial if you’re planning on using your CRM software daily. Easy-to-use software can reduce the time needed to learn how to utilize this software solution effectively.

You want to ensure that the platform requires little training, and you can access and interpret information without much difficulty. If it doesn’t feel intuitive, it won’t be useful in helping you attain your goals.

Exceptional Customer Support

Customer support is another primary consideration when seeking the best CRM for small business. With adequate customer support, you can quickly address any concerns or issues that arise while using a particular CRM software.

Furthermore, they shouldn’t just provide excellent customer support when needed, but they should also be easily accessible through various contact points, such as email, phone, and live chat.

By being readily available through various platforms, you’ll have an easier time getting the information you need to maximize your CRM software.

Top 6 Best Small Business CRM Software in the Market

So this is where the rubber meets the road in this article, what follows are what we feel are the top 6 best small business CRM Software available currently on the market – in no specific order.

Copper

Pros:

Copper is a user-friendly CRM software that can help you manage leads and workflows. It is effortless to install, and you will be done in just 5 minutes. Plus, if you are a regular G-Suite user, you will be pleased to know that it integrates well with the platform.

It is a top CRM for small business. It will make your life easier with features like smart identification, automated data entry, customer and lead tracking, drag-and-drop functionality, and custom filters. Other features include optimizing sale contacts and sending alerts when deals are starting to go stale.

Cons:

Although Copper is incredibly user -friendly, there is still a bit of a learning curve when integrating it into your business operations. You may also need to do some manual work when it comes to exporting data from Excel.

Pricing:

Basic plan: around 24 AUD per month/user and is billed annually

Professional plan: approximately 62 AUD per month/user (billed annually)

Business plan: around 150 AUD per month/user (billed annually)

Nimble

Pros:

Nimble is a good choice for your small business if social media integration matters to you. Its interface is easy to use, but it also integrates well with platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email, G Suite, and Office 365.

Also, Nimble can predict activities and contacts based on user behavior. What’s more, its Contact Record Feature can combine lead information and cross-channel contact into a single profile.

Cons:

On the downside, it may be challenging to keep track of closed deals. Android users also find that their app version is of poor quality compared to that of iOS.

Pricing:

Contact plan: around 15 AUD per month/user (billed monthly)

Business plan: around 32 AUD per month/user (billed monthly)

HubSpot CRM

Pros:

This software probably the most popular CRM software worldwide due to its simple yet efficient interface and extensive range of features that other CRM software have trouble competing against.

In addition, it is a CRM software small business owners can use for various tasks like assigning and tracking deals, managing data in a detailed dashboard, recording customer interactions, keeping up with other contacts, and other crucial business processes such as marketing automation.

Want more data? Well, you will be pleased to know that software can let you view detailed reports, performance, and contact/sales activity.

It integrates well with Microsoft Office, G-Suite, WordPress, and hundreds of other apps and services. Besides, you can link it up with your Outlook or Gmail and even know when clients open their email (because who doesn’t?).

Cons:

While the free version can help you boost your sales, you may need to upgrade to a paid version with more powerful features. Plus, HubSpot has limited customization options.

Pricing:

• The core version is free.
• Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, and Service Hub add-on package: approximately 63 AUD per month/user (billed monthly)
• Growth Suite (all-inclusive): around 143 AUD per month/user (billed monthly)

Freshsales (Web, iOS, Android)

Pros:

Also referred to as Freshworks, this CRM software is an excellent tool for businesses of all sizes. It mainly focuses on marketing and sales, making it an excellent option for sales software for small businesses.

It has an easy-to-use interface, with the focus being on the user experience. With this software, you will enjoy powerful features like workflow automation, track events, and 360-degree customer view, among others.

Users love its dashboard, allowing immediate access to emails, reports, phone calls, and contact management. Plus, it is AI-powered to do lead scoring, so you can prioritize leads that are more likely to convert.

Cons:

The free plan has limited features, and you will need to upgrade to the paid plan to enjoy features like advanced metric reporting.

Freshsales Price:

• Free Forever Startup Plan
• Customer-for-Life Growth plan: around 37 AUD per month/user (billed annually)
• Customer-for-Life Pro plan: around 87 AUD per month/user (billed annually)
• Customer-for-Life Enterprise plan: around 158 AUD per month/user (billed annually)

Zoho CRM

Zoho has various editions, making it one of the best CRM software for small businesses. It is excellent for scaling businesses since it has a great selection of add-ons. Furthermore, it offers customization that will help you grow your small business.

Pros

You can use this small business CRM software to market your brand, organize contacts, offer customer support, and manage leads. It can also be integrated with other marketing tools through social media to capture leads.

Cons:

You may need to consider the higher plans when your business grows.

Pricing:

• Around 9 AUD per month/user (billed annually)
• Around 11 AUD per month/user (billed monthly)

Salesforce

Pros:

This is arguably the most widely used CRM by businesses on the market. It is excellent for small businesses because it provides a basic package known as Lightning Essentials. With this edition, you will get an advanced contact manager with automated follow-up reminders and email integration.

It can help you increase your leads through social media, emails, digital, and SMS messaging advertising. Additionally, it offers more customization and integration options.

Cons:

You may need the pricier edition for more advanced tools.

Pricing:

• Lightning Essentials plan: around 32 AUD per month/user (billed annually)
• Lighting Professional plan: around 95 AUD per month/user (billed annually)

FAQ:

What are the tools that integrate with CRM software?

CRM software can integrate with several tools like sales and marketing add-ons and reporting and tracking tools.

For example, if you’re engaging in email marketing campaigns, then email integrations can help optimize the process. Social media integrations are also helpful for maximizing the potential of your CRM software.

What makes Salesforce CRM Unique?

Salesforce is one the most prominent CRM software on the market, and it’s not without reason. This software is one of the best CRM for small business because it offers diverse functions that will help you drive the most sales and take your leads through a customized customer journey.

Some of its unique specs include marketing automation, lead management, sales data, contact management, partner management, and opportunity management.

With contact management, you will get access to customer’s activities, social mentions, communications, and discussions. Opportunity management, on the other hand, will help you acquire insights and opportunities.

How do CRM systems tackle automation?

CRM systems work by automating three tools, namely sales, marketing, and service. By automating these tools, your employees will say goodbye to the pain of performing tasks manually. Automation prevents repetitive tasks and allows you to follow up with your leads to convert them to customers.

What is the difference between CRM and ERP?

While CRM is software designed to boost business sales and improve customer relations, on the other hand, ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning is a type of software used across various departments of a company. In short, CRM is customer-centric, while ERP is geared towards internal operations.

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