2015-11-16

A successful business does not only rely on having superior products and services or the most reasonable and sometimes insanely jaw-dropping prices. A smart businessman knows that any form of customer engagement and interaction at any and every point is crucial to the success and/or demise of his or her endeavor. By providing customers and potential clients with positive customer experience at every point, businesses improve the probability of making repeat sales and sales growth, strengthen brand recognition and loyalty, and widen their customer base.

CRMs, or customer relationship management software, are developed to help companies achieve all that and more. CRM systems help companies gather and store information on customers across different channels and then use that information to analyze market trends, customer behavior, and more. The aim of CRMs is to give business the data they need to improve customer relationships, retention, and drive sales growth.

Business experts here at Finances Online have tested all popular CRM solutions available on the market and chose ten services that we think are the best out there.

1. PipelineDeals – Score 9.7/10





PipelineDeals won our Best CRM Software Award for 2015

Definitely a leader in the CRM category. With an impressive score of 9.7/10 PipelineDeals turned out to be the best service in our test and was distinguished with our Best CRM Software Award for 2015 as well as our Great User Experience Award. It also has a perfect 100% user satisfaction rating. It offers flexible pricing and a great free trial plan that lets you try out their services on your own to see if they fit your company’s needs. You can sign up for PipelineDeals free trial here.

PipelineDeals provides users with a system that allows them to manage their contacts, qualify leads, and track leads and deals within a singular, cloud-hosted application. On top of gathering relevant customer information, PipelineDeals also aids businesses in managing team members, delegating tasks, monitoring sales and marketing campaigns. The system offers both sales engagement and CRM while giving users daily pipeline images of their business, including real-time deal status updates, and 3D charts on a comprehensive sales dashboard. Accessibility is one of PipelineDeal’s strongest features, as users can access the system from a laptop, desktop, or any connected mobile device.

Users can easily get to pages that store all activities, people, documents, and events related to a single deal, making it easy for them to retrieve the information they need to make smart business decisions. Learn more about their features and pricing in our detailed review of PipelineDeals.

2. Salesforce Sales Cloud – Score 9.6/10

Salesforce Sales Cloud is easily a very recognizable CRM platform. The system boasts an extensive list of very advanced features bannered by a very simple, elegant, and intuitive interface, easy customization for tabs, fields, and user interface, real time data access via mobile devices, and integrations with leading social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. Salesforce Sales Cloud also flaunts an impressive and superior third-party integration with top business systems and applications, which includes more than 1,700 apps covering sales, customer service, marketing, IT, administration, finance, and human resources.

Pricing for Salesforce Sales Cloud may be above average compared to other competing systems, but with its extensive feature set and very beautiful, smart, and agile interface, users definitely get their money’s worth. You can learn more about this software in our detailed review of Salesforce.

3. Nimble – Score 9.6/10

With Nimble, you get a CRM system that focuses on social relationship management. With a universal inbox as the central piece of your system, you can easily connect and engage customers across social networks. Customers these days simply go on to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to praise or criticize a product, post reviews and recommendations, and lash out for poor customer service etc. Nimble allows users to be aware of these posts, document them, and gather details about the customers and store them all in one place. This capability and more helps Nimble users understand their customers better, study trends, identify customer patterns, and come up with better solutions.

Deep integrations with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn make Nimble an ideal platform for businesses that are relying heavily on social media to drive their business forward. You can get more information about their features in our detailed review of Nimble.

4. InfusionSoft – Score 9.5/10

A leading name in the CRM market, InfusionSoft is quite expensive compared to other popular CRM systems out there. But while it carries a very heavy price tag, the value it brings to the table is quite high, Many users have testified that their ROI raised meteorically shortly after they started using the system to help them manage and foster their customer relationships. That said, it should be known that InfusionSoft is not a simple CRM solution for simple needs.

InfusionSoft has a wicked learning curve that users who do not have any previous technical skills and knowledge in operating a CRM system will need a lot of time to even understand its basics. But once you get fully acquainted with the system, you’ll quickly see why many businesses are raving about it. Automation possibilities with sales and marketing are just the tip of the iceberg. You can learn more about the features and pricing of this software in our InfusionSoft review.

5. Workbooks – Score 9.4/10

Workbooks comes with all the necessary CRM features for managing client relations and interactions. These tools include customer account portals, contact timelines with detailed employee interactions and workflow automation that immediately creates follow-up projects that are patterned on the parameters the user predefines. This customer relations program also allows file sharing, enabling several employees to have simultaneous access to client data, and real-time sharing that allows users to collaborate together.

Workbooks is an awesome platform that can be implemented by various departments, ranging from finance, commercial, fundraising, membership, communications, marketing, HR, ICT, policy and research. The platform is very flexible and can be configured easily to suit particular business requirements and preferences. There is a drawback though. Workbooks caps its user limit at 25 people. For more information about the software read our detailed review of Workbooks.

6. Zoho CRM – Score 9.4/10

Zoho is among the top names in the industry. Banking on a storied history that traces back to the PC era, long before iPhone was even a concept, Zoho has made a number business software and systems that have served many business across many industries. Today, Zoho is a leading entity in mobile platforms, ranging from relationship management processes to marketing to sales and inventory management to customer service.

Zoho CRM Mobile presents businesses with a powerful mobile platform. It is packed with all the features you expect from a fully-entrenched desktop solution, except that you can have it all via your smartphone or your tablet. Zoho has browser based applications that can be accessed anytime and anywhere and through a string of the most popular operating systems and devices (Android, iPhone, and iPad). The system is also perfect for users who need to work offline as the system automatically synchronize the data once connectivity is on. Find more information about this software in our detailed review of Zoho CRM.

7. Salesnet – Score 9.3/10

Salesnet’s greatest strengths stem from its user-friendly interface and string of basic yet very functional features. Businesses get contact, sales, lead management functionalities together with reporting and forecasting capabilities. With Salesnet, users can transfer leads, accounts, and other customer information into the customer relationship management (CRM) system in CSV format. Users can also create, save and share import configurations and definitions for subsequent imports.

Salesnet CRM integrates with Outlook, allowing users to synchronize contacts, appointments and tasks seamlessly. On top of that, users can link both sent and received messages in their email to contact records automatically. Salesnet’s reporting tools make it easy for users to track and forecast sales and marketing efforts. The software also has a mobile functionality that offers access to the platform via any smartphone or tablet web browser. Get more info about pricing and features of this solution in our review of Salesnet.

8. Podio – Score 9.2/10

Created by Citrix, Podio is basically a project management platform that can offers CRM functionality among others. It offers a variety of integrations with many leading and popular third-party applications and systems, ensuring that it is a good fit for systems and apps that you are already using in your setup. The platform is also loaded with an API that enables you to make changes to its configurations so you can make it work depending on your changing needs. Another interesting feature is that Podio instantly plays well with Google Apps right off the bat.

Podio works well with iOS and Android devices and on web browsers too. That means you can access the system anytime and anywhere, making Podio an ideal application for teams, companies, and groups that want a flexible way to collaborate and communicate. You can learn more about this tool from our detailed review of Podio.

9. Hubspot – Score 9.2/10

HubSpot is an inbound marketing platform loaded with features and tools that can be translated for sales operations. Technically, HubSpot is intended for marketing and sales purposes but it does possess several features that make it a useful CRM platform. Users enjoy online marketing tools including landing page creation, content management, SEO, social media, and blogging. HubSpot also offers email marketing automation capabilities.

Sales professionals and experts also like HubSpot for its flexible sales features and tools. The system hosts a plethora of applications that can be used for sales-related purposes such as email management, lead management and CRM. Other features include analytics, a mobile app, and a myriad of integrations with other business systems and applications. For more information about its features read our review of Hubspot CRM.

10. Pipedrive – Score 9.1/10

PipeDrive is an effective sales management slash CRM platform built for small and medium sized enterprises worldwide. With its useful and effective sales management features, you get to monitor all aspects of sales management and get a good overview of your sales, and come up with intelligent decisions and determine your business priorities. Developed by sales experts and the best web app developers, PipeDrive will surely change the way you do sales management.

PipeDrive provides users with an efficient and user-friendly sales management program that will do more than just give you an overview of your business sales. You can find out more about this app in our review of PipeDrive.

The post Top 10 CRM Software Solutions For All Business Types appeared first on Financesonline.com.

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