Wondering If You Should Be Using Small Business CRM Software? Taking care of customer relationships is like having a whole list of friends, which you have to track in some way or the other. Struggling to keep track of all the leads in your business? Want to stop using handwritten notes that no one can read?
You certainly have a thousand and one good reasons to find the best CRM (or GRC in French, Customer Relationship Management) for your SME.
This sales management software will help you streamline your communication with your customers as well as your prospects, but will also help you optimize your time while improving results.
There are a lot of CRMs out there, so it’s important to ask yourself what you need before getting impressed with the messages from your marketing teams. Here are some things to keep in mind:
ease of use
You will be making full use of your CRM; Maybe every day. If it’s not easy to use, you probably won’t use it. And it will not help you achieve your goals.
Cloud
Having a cloud-based CRM for your team is important. This will allow them to access customer details from anywhere in real time, thereby increasing their productivity and of course your bottom line. Nucleus Research found that 65% of companies using a smartphone-enabled CRM have exceeded their sales target.
Bonus: Cloud-based SME CRM is secure, fast and easy to integrate with other applications you use… I’m saying that, I’m saying nothing.
track your conversion funnel
You should be able to follow your contacts throughout the sales process. From meeting them to building loyalty with your brand.
This means that your CRM software should be able to automatically send emails based on the behavior of your leads, schedule follow-up phone calls for your team, and more.
ease of integration
Much more than a simple contact list, your CRM needs to be fully integrated with all of your devices.
Without going into too much detail, you should be able to add a form to your site, automatically launching scenarios based on a visitor’s registration page…. Etcetera.
number of online resources
While it is relatively easy to understand what automation marketing is online, each CRM is different. Therefore it is important to check the quality of the resources available on the site in order to be effective as soon as possible.
Best CRM for SMEs in 2021
Got a better idea of ​​what you’re looking for? Let’s move on to the part that interests you, the top 5!
5. Drip – BtoC, but not only that
Drip is one of the leading CRMs for e-commerce. It’s powerful, has a beautiful interface, and is very easy to use for any business.
This management software makes it easy to create automated workflows and email campaigns. You have the option of building your emails through a relatively efficient page builder – perfect if heart scares you.
Drip also offers easy list segmentation, conversion tracking, content personalization, intent-to-buy marketing. With tags, events, and custom fields, you can learn and track everything you need to know about your customer testimonials.
You can easily integrate Drip with all the best third-party services like email services (like Gmail), lead generation software, WooCommerce, Shopify…… There are also lead generation workflows on Facebook and Instagram.
Properties :
- efficient automation;
- advanced contact management using tags, custom fields and events;
- easy integration with third-party services;
- activity Report;
- Division;
- Personalization of content based on behavior;
- Monitoring of e-commerce users;
- personal conversion follow-up;
- SMS.
price ,
Plans start at $19/month (about €16) for 500 active contacts. Email sending is unlimited and chat support is available (in English only, unfortunately).
You can try Drip Free for 14 days.
4. SendingBlue – Simple as Hello
Sendinblue is a powerful email service that has all the necessary features to function as a full CRM too.
If I were to sum up this CRM tool in 1 word, it would be “Simplicity”. It’s not the most comprehensive or powerful, but it’s probably the easiest to use and the resources/training available to get started are excellent.
Unlike many other CRMs, they offer SMS and chat services to integrate into your site. This live chat solution allows you to stay in touch with customers and prospects in real time (be careful though to be constantly connected to answer them).
Properties :
- easy segmentation and optimization;
- Powerful Marketing Automation Tools;
- Transactional email with reliable delivery;
- landing page creation;
- integration with Facebook Business Manager;
- detailed report;
- automatic optimization of sending time;
- A/B testing;
- SMS and Chat Marketing Tool.
Pricing Structure:
Start for free (up to 300 emails per day) then from €19 for 10,000 emails sent per month.
3. HubSpot – The Rolls Royce of SME CRM
HubSpot is undoubtedly the market leader for SMBs looking for an efficient and affordable CRM solution when they start out.
HubSpot is easy to use and offers a wide range of CRM tools to manage the customer journey and build loyalty. It also offers free lifetime plans with limited (but effective) features.
The CRM interface is pleasant and allows you to centralize your entire sales process directly on your dashboard. If you want more customer data (and who doesn’t?), you can view all contacts and access their activities or your team’s performance.
HubSpot also has a mobile app for iPhone and Android, email templates you can use in minutes, real-time notifications, tracking of sent messages, phone call schedules, and more.
You can also connect HubSpot to Gmail or Outlook to automatically record activity, capturing each email.
Be careful though, HubSpot SME CRM is one of the most expensive tools on the market when you’re not using the free version.
Properties:
- optimizing email sequences for prospects and existing customers;
- make phone calls directly from CRM;
- Receive real-time notifications;
- Integration with popular tools like Salesforce, Shopify and Microsoft Dynamics;
- Store an unlimited number of users, customer data and up to one million contacts;
- Integrate with over 300 applications;
- Create custom filters to sort contacts;
- Email, schedule tasks and create tickets.
Pricing Structure:
Basic CRM software is free, but you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan (starting at $50/month) for more powerful features. You can also upgrade to the Growth Suite (CRM, Marketing, Sales, etc.) for a single user from $113/month.
2. Pipedrive – Simple and Efficient
Pipedrive is definitely the most user friendlyDesigned to be quick and easy. Thanks to its funnel management function, you get a view of your entire sales process and can therefore be in control with ease.
Pipeline Management has a clear visual interface. The tool easily integrates with your online messaging service (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) and allows you to create simple reports, access sales forecasts (based on your past results). PipeDrive also offers an iOS and Android app for accessing your CRM from anywhere.
Unfortunately, this CRM doesn’t offer automatic segmentation yet. But it’s so simple that you can identify your hot leads manually. Perfect for 90% of SMEs, but there is one factor to keep in mind before choosing this one.
Properties:
- mobile alerts and email reminders;
- Easy integration with Google Apps, Trello, Zapier;
- API for easy integration for developers;
- integration with classic messaging services;
- customizable email templates;
- iOS and Android mobile applications;
- sales forecasting and trend analysis;
- Backup and encryption to ensure the security of your data;
- Great for prospecting.
Price :
Plans start at €12.50/month per user (billed annually).
1. Active Campaign – Editor’s Favorite
ActiveCampaign is an SME CRM used by over 100,000 companies in over 170 countries. A true leader in automation marketing, it will allow you to automate anything you can think of.
Newsletter creation? Automated scenario? Monitoring your automated sales process? Integration of an automated chat on your site? Hyper-driven landing page creation? This is the promise of American CRM.
Well… it’s not all about the benefits. Although easy to use, the design of the tool is far from being the most user friendly, But once you put the 2000s style aside, you quickly find your pleasure to start your own marketing campaigns.
Properties ,
- mobile app ;
- creation of automated scenarios;
- landing page creation;
- managing your sales process;
- instant messaging service;
- SMS Marketing;
- complex division;
- Ultra complete learning base;
- Responsive Customer Service.
Price :
ActiveCampaign isn’t the cheapest tool on the market, but it has the advantage of billing you per contact (and not emails sent).
From $9/month for the Lite version, to $49 for the more complete version.